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E L E C T R I C A L CO N N E C T I O N

A U T UMN 2 0 17

9 5

My four tips for a great website for

your trades business:

1. Ensure your website is mobile

responsive and looks great on

a variety of screen sizes (think

tablet, iPhone, and laptop).

2. Ensure there are clear call-to-

action buttons, such as ‘Call Now’

or ‘Get a Free Quote’.

3. Ensure that the website contains

everything the customer needs to

know in order to get them to click

your call-to-action button, whether

this is a gallery and samples

of your work or a list of trade

qualifications. Your aim is to instil

trust and win them over and laying

out this information in an easy to

read manner is key.

HAVE A GOOGLE PLACES

LISTING PROFILE

Have you ever searched for a

business, say hardware stores, online

using Google and in the results you see

a map highlighting hardware stores

in your local area? These hardware

stores listed all have a Google Places

listing. These listings can be very

powerful in helping customers to find

and connect with your business, plus

they are free to set up.

Google Places listings show

information like address, phone

number, opening hours, photos,

website and even directions. It is also

a place where customers can leave a

review of your business.

Get started by searching ‘Google

My Business’ in Google. Google has a

step-by-step process to help you easily

setup your Google Pages listing.

BUILD YOUR BUSINESS PROFILE ON

LOCAL SERVICE MARKETPLACES

Local service marketplaces are

online tools that help customers list

their job needs and do all the hard

work matching them with quality local

service professionals. A local service

marketplace can provide a great

source of quality local customer leads,

at a fraction of the price of traditional

online advertising methods.

Local service marketplaces provide

trades professionals with a place to

build a business profile, configure

their service area and lead notification

settings and start connecting with

clients – in real time.

When building your business profile

on local service marketplaces, do your

research and consider aspects like:

ǩ

Will this target people in my

geographical area?

ǩ

How will I be notified about

possible leads, via email, SMS or

push notifications?

ǩ

What profile information can I

share on the site?

ǩ

How many visitors does the site get?

ǩ

How credible is the site?

ǩ

Is the site easy to use and easy for

customers to search?

ǩ

Does the site rank well for

common Google searches specific

to your industry?

ǩ

Does the site also allow customers

to leave reviews?

ǩ

If the site has a membership fee,

what other benefits does it offer?

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media can be used for

more than just keeping in contact

with friends and family and sharing

funny cat videos. It can also be a

great way to showcase your

business and stay top of mind with

prospective customers.

Consider having a Facebook

business page where you can post

pictures on your latest projects, maybe

it’s a complete bathroom renovation,

a new deck or a new modern lighting

setup – it’s a great place to highlight

your work. Get support from family and

friends to share examples of your work

as you never know who’s around the

corner looking to get a job done.

HAVE A DATABASE OF

LOCAL CONTACTS

Having useful data about your

customers can lead to an incredibly

powerful sales pipeline. For instance,

Oneflare records over two million

data events per week which helps us

segment, analyse and uncover different

and unique ways we can add value for

our customers.

Having a database makes it easier

to keep in contact with previous

customers, keeping you top of mind

for when they may need to engage you

again or recommend you to a friend.

For example, a few years ago I

used a local handyman. To this day

he still sends me promotions via text

messages every spring as a reminder

to get jobs around the home (gutters,

weeding, etc.) – usually with some sort

of promotion. And the great thing is, he

knows my house and yard already so

the quote is super accurate.

There are many free tools

you can use to record customer

information, like Google Sheets.

However, more advanced customer

relationship management tools, such

as InfusionSoft, allow you to do so

much more. For instance, you can

segment your customers and perform

automated tasks, like send timely

text messages after a job has been

completed asking the customer to

leave a review on popular review sites

such as

wordofmouth.com.au

.

To get ahead of your competitors and

stand out in your local area think about

using a range of digital tactics, like those

listed above. Consumers are searching

for tradespeople online and it’s up to you

to leverage this activity so you can build

a sustainable and lucrative pipeline of

jobs for your business.

Oneflare

www.oneflare.com.au

“Social media can be used for more

than just keeping in contact with

friends.”