Tag Archives: Roofing Leads

9 Qualities of The Perfect Roofing Landing Page

Creating the perfect roofing landing page requires experience, testing, and savviness developed over years of digital marketing campaigns.

At Roofing Webmasters, we’ve crafted tens of thousands of landing pages for roofers over the past decade and have collected valuable data regarding landing page performance.

The following post will outline the best qualities of a landing page.

So much of our time in digital marketing is spent trying to sway people in the direction we desire.

Consider the following landing page calls to action, for example:

Call Now!
Subscribe to Our Email!
Get Your Free e-Book!
Schedule a Free Inspection!

Considering the inescapable volume of advertising and other marketing noise we hear daily, it’s no wonder that most of these calls to action fall on deaf (or overtaxed) ears.

That’s why a well-crafted roofing landing page is so important for cutting through the noise and communicating with would-be clients.

Today, we’ll dig into constructing a winning landing page design (or reoptimizing an existing layout).

Key Takeaway

Landing Pages are Designed to Target a Specific Audience Coming From Specific Marketing Channels.

What is a Roofing Landing Page?

Landing pages are specialized and (often) temporary pages designed for the consumer’s place in the sales funnel. With capable planning, they often enjoy higher conversion rates than traditional website copy.

Of course, their lead-generating power makes them a heavily used tool for advertisers and digital marketing companies.

Best Roofing Landing Page Qualities

Sometimes, a business needs a consumer to see a specific message, service, or offer without the distraction of other website materials.

Many companies achieve this by creating links, ads, and other hyperlinked objects that transport the potential customer to a simple page with a focused message.

That page typically has a header, imagery (or video), short text, a compelling offer, and a call to action.

So, what qualities make a perfect roofing landing page?

Quality #1: It Has a Clear Purpose

It’s easy to jump straight to goal-setting, click-through rates, and higher subscription lists. Try to begin your roofing landing page with a one or two-sentence goal.

Think about what you are trying to get out of this project. Don’t even worry about key performance indicators at the very beginning.

Here are some examples of a landing page vision (or mission):

“I want to earn more metal roofing sales.”
“I want to convince more people to come to our business for maintenance work.”
“I want to generate exposure for a new service I’m offering.”
“I want people to see our wide list of roofing material options.”
“I want potential customers to think about our brand more often.”

Decide what you want from your landing page ahead of time. Obviously, it should coincide with your company’s long-term goals.

It should also naturally link to whatever channel your potential clients are using, which leads to our next point.

Google Ads are a Common Origin Point for Landing Page Traffic.

Quality #2: It Fits the Source & Audience

Where is your landing page traffic originating from?

This extends a little beyond the design of the actual roofing landing page, but consider where people are coming from when they land on this special page.

Is your target audience scrolling through their Facebook or Instagram feed when they haphazardly click on an ad? Are they coming from a Google Ad after searching a related term?

As you design your landing page, consider its traffic source(s) and how rushed, interested, and/or familiar the associated audience is with your business.

For people coming from a more casual social media source, you may need to shorten the content, include flashier imagery, and require less information.

Then again, you might take a little more time to discuss an offer if you’re confident your audience is already interested.

Quality #3: It Uses a Compelling Header

What’s the first thing you notice when you enter a website? The logo might be the first thing, but the header likely caught your attention first.

When it comes to landing pages, your header must instantly convey what the page is all about. The best headers focus on the potential client’s benefit, establishing their stake in the future offer.

An Effective Roofing Landing Page Immediately Draws the Eyes to the H1 Header.

A compelling header communicates the main purpose of the page and draws the eye to your offer’s starting point.

From there, your roofing landing page can begin conveying whatever offer and benefits you wish to present to the audience.

Notice how naturally your eyes fall to the lorem ipsum text and the two calls to action.

However, a weak or overly cheesy header can put a bad taste in their mouth, so don’t focus too hard on being clever.

Quality #4: It Stays Focused in the Copy

Landing pages are meant to be short, concise, and to the point. Many businesses make the mistake of overly selling their brand or their services.

While you need to convey exactly what’s included in the offer, effective copy also continues the focus on user benefits. It emphasizes your target audience’s pain points, your role in addressing them, and how they can respond.

Your copy is also the perfect place to connect with each reader personally.

As Hubspot’s Christina Perricone puts it, “Compelling copy also speaks directly to the visitor by using ‘you’ and ‘your’ to make them feel engaged.”

As you or your marketing team writes your roofing landing page, take a moment to empathize with the reader and acknowledge their feelings in the situation.

Finally, wrap all those pain points and desire for relief into a final solution statement that leads to your call to action. Speaking of calls to action…

Quality #5: Its CTA Offer Matches the Effort Required

Have you ever started to fill out a survey (for your local grocer, restaurant, etc.), then quit after realizing it would take 15 minutes?

Carry that same mentality into your design process as you craft the perfect roofing landing page! Whether you decide to ask for a full email form or a simple call, make sure you have a tempting offer waiting on the other end.

Remember this rule of thumb: if the reward is greater than or equal to the effort, then adoption rises.

A Free Estimate Offer Involves Very Little Participant Effort, Increasing The Likelihood of Completion.

A free project estimate reduces “friction” because it is available without directly calling the contractor.

An interested homeowner or business can ask for an estimate, and the roofer will get back to them. In return, the contractor receives both the potential client’s number and email.

That’s a win-win scenario for both parties involved!

Quality #6: It Uses an Authoritative Call to Action

You don’t see many landing pages taking a passive stance on your involvement. “Hey, if you feel like it, you can click this button and maybe call our team. You know, if you feel like it.” There’s a good reason for this:

People actually like being told what to do.

It’s true. While many people are naturally wired to resist authority, everyone desires a measure of direction.

Online readers appreciate instructions just as we appreciate highway lane divisions and drive-thru arrows.

Remember, many of the people on your roofing landing page want to be there! Simple directions help them find the relief they need.

A Strong CTA for Roofing Companies Includes Urgency, Clarity, and Direction.

A call to action is most effective when the pain points have been carefully touched on in the preceding copy.

Use the same level of conviction as you link your copy and call to action together.

Your roofing services solve some of the most frustrating situations that homeowners will ever encounter, so don’t be afraid to take authority.

Quality #7: It Incorporates Vivid Images

What your roofing landing page readers feel is just as important as what they learn.

While stirring copy certainly paves the way towards your reading clicking through, you’d be amazed at how much faster images communicate the subject!

Since your landing page readers don’t have time to read 1000 words (as the adage goes), an image is worth even more.

Find Applicable Stimulating Images That Either Touch on Pain Points or the Solution!

Images provide useful tools for creating space around your text blocks and then focusing attention on the call to action.

If you’re torn between two or more high-quality photos, feel free to test them all out and see what works best. The great thing about landing pages is that you can always update and reuse them for future projects!

Quality #8: It Eliminates Distractions

We’ve touched on this a couple of times already, but it’s a point worth dialing down on. Distraction is the enemy of conversion!

If your readers are too busy trying to read through a list of links instead of reading through your offer, the entire purpose of your roofing landing page has been defeated.

Homepages rarely make for fitting landing pages!

A Great Homepage Might Be Too Distracting or All-Encompassing to Serve as a Compelling Roofing Landing Page.

While a well-designed homepage will convert brand searches or even main category searches like “Roofer near me”, it might be too distracting to function as a high-conversion landing page.

Ideally, there should be only one (or a maximum of two) calls to action that are clearly indicated by the surrounding page elements.

For specific PPC queries, a minimalist design that addresses the precise user intent makes a better landing page.

Faded Images Can Support the Call to Action Button Without Distracting From It.

Quality #9: It Changes as Needed

It’s relatively simple to design the perfect roofing landing page. However, goals, audiences, and markets change over time. What works (or doesn’t work) one day can change month to month!

The ideal landing page can be easily adapted to target new audiences and support new marketing channels, so don’t feel overly committed to one particular call to action or image.

Roofing Landing Page Design Services

According to reports, Google Ads alone earned over 264 billion in revenue. Clearly, businesses have faith in the power of advertising.

However, only 33 percent of consumers trust that brands can provide the exceptional customer experience they crave (Exploding Topics).

If your company can learn to better serve potential clients with tailored ads and simplified shopping, you’ll be one step closer to creating the exceptional experience consumers admire so much!

Our team at Roofing Webmasters would love to help you develop deeper client relationships and earn sustained growth for your company.

26 (Insightful) Roofing Sales Tips to Master Your Craft

Let’s be honest: roofing sales are essential to making money in this industry.

Marketing is the first step in promoting your roofing business, but without a comprehensive sales process, your investments will yield zero results.

The following article outlines comprehensive and actionable roofing sales tips to streamline your process and foster growth.

Whether you are a green sales rep entering the roofing game or a seasoned pro looking to break through the glass ceiling, these insights will help you finetune your sales techniques for superior performance and better results.

Tip #1: Establish a Roofing Sales Foundation

The roofing industry constantly evolves and varies by season, region, materials, and structure.

Learning these trends and variables helps you lay the proper foundation for roofing sales.

For example, more consumers today seek energy-efficient roofing solutions, reflecting an ongoing trend for environmentally efficient roofing systems.

As a salesperson, it’s important to monitor industry reports and attend industry events to keep your finger on the pulse of this profitable sector.

Tip #2: Adopt a Positive Sales Mindset

Roofing sales are not for the faint of heart, and developing a positive mindset by cultivating resilience can make or break your success rate.

Sales-based resilience is recovering from setbacks and maintaining energy and motivation independent of the outcome.

Roof salesmen can strengthen resilience by setting attainable goals and celebrating minor victories.

Mental framing is another way to maintain confidence, such as repeating sayings like “each no brings you closer to a yes.”

Tip #3: Prepare to Embrace Rejection

Rejection is part of sales across all industries, so you must prepare for it before entering the field.

With this in mind, you must approach roofing sales like a baseball player, who is considered successful when failing 70% of the time.

Frame each sales rejection as a growth opportunity to leverage the experience into future closings.

This mindset shift contributes to resilience, allowing you to refine your sales techniques and actively build confidence.

Tip #4: Actively Learn and Self-Educate

Keeping up with new roofing products and sales strategies lets you stay on top of your game year-round.

You should also actively pursue mentorship opportunities from successful sales reps inside and outside the roofing industry to ensure you always have access to an outside perspective.

Join certified training programs to refine your skills and gain credible expertise so you can offer the best solutions to your prospects.

Always keep an open mind and invest in yourself through professional sales development.

Tip #5: Use Strategic Prospecting

Investing in diverse channels is essential to maximize your reach when finding sales prospects for a roofing business.

The sales process should be connected to everything from social media marketing and SEO to door-knocking and industry event networking.

Ensuring your presence across all sectors of your consumer base, you keep your sales pipeline full and ready to convert.

Combining traditional strategies with digital innovations allows you to reach a broader audience and streamline your sales process.

Tip #6: Qualify Your Roofing Leads

The lead qualification process can make or break your sales closing rates.

For example, before investing in the sale, identify the prospect’s pain points and budget concerns and ensure they are the decision-makers.

Wasting resources on purported leads that cannot convert hurts your numbers and lowers your energy.

Conversely, investing only in qualified leads increases your close rates and helps you customize your pitch to your target consumer.

Tip #7: Build The Perfect Roofing Sales Pitch

While your sales pitch won’t be foolproof at its inception, trial and error will help you refine it to its maximum potential.

Make sure to balance cognitive information with emotional cues to appeal to prospects on a logical and visceral level.

Presenting unique insights that directly address common pain points fosters trust with potential sales.

A refined pitch tested on a large sample of your target customers can evolve into a high-conversion tool that transforms your roofing business.

Tip #8: Merge Technology With Your Sales Process

Incorporating modern technology into your sales process will reflect well on your business and help increase closing rates.

Examples of technology include drones for efficient roof inspections and digital apps for quick estimates and data-driven insights.

Presenting prospective clients with technologically-driven information becomes part of your sales pitch as it will likely impress many prospects.

This merger can separate your pitch from nearby competitors who rely on obsolete met

Tip #9: Pitch Value, Not Price

Compelling sales pitches relay the value of your roofing service or product rather than its price.

The key is to frame yourself from a position of expertise, allowing you to discuss the problem intelligently and provide an effective solution.

If your service or product’s only differentiation from competitors is its price point, prospects will find no reason to engage with your message.

On the other hand, a clear presentation of long-term value permits potential customers to make a good investment, regardless of pricing.

Tip #10: Practice Sales with Roleplaying

Roofing salesmen can build confidence through roleplaying by practicing various scenarios.

Ideally, each scenario is based on previous experience and sales objections from confirmed prospects.

Think of role-playing as a rehearsal for the real sales pitch, during which you can iron out your delivery and ensure a smooth messaging campaign.

As you gain first-hand experience through these practice scenarios, you’ll be more comfortable with prospect interactions.

Tip #11: Leverage Social Proof (Reviews, Testimonials, Etc.)

Consumers buy from those they trust, so leveraging reviews and testimonials from existing customers is a great way to increase your closing rates.

In addition, encourage current satisfied customers to refer your business by starting a referral program.

As you accumulate more reviews for your roofing business, implement them into your marketing and sales materials to establish credibility.

Prospects who feel comfortable with your company’s reputation are likelier to listen to your sales pitch.

Tip #12: Identify Buyer Signals

A shrewd salesman can detect specific cues that indicate the prospect’s intent to buy.

These cues can be verbal or non-verbal, so pay attention to the prospect’s questions, comments, and body language.

The most seasoned sales professionals use these cues as an opening to close the deal.

The more first-hand experience you gain in roofing sales, the better you will identify these buyer signals.

Tip #13: Confidently Address Objections

In any sales training, you are taught about overcoming objections.

While you can read verbatim from a sales script, addressing objections is more about confidence than words.

When a prospect presents an objection, it’s essential to listen to precisely what they say and provide a customized answer that will reassure them and alleviate doubts.

Your exact words are less important than demonstrating expertise and confidence to increase the closing rate.

Tip #14: Ask for The Sale

During your sales pitch, there comes a point where you must directly ask for the sale.

While there are varying opinions on the best closing technique in roofing sales, confidently asking for the sale is always part of the process.

Typically, the close will involve a summary of the benefits and a request to move forward.

You separate yourself from other salesmen with bad reputations by directly asking for the sale.

Tip #15: Invest in Post-Sale Communication

In roofing sales, the sale does not end after the initial transaction.

The most successful salesmen continue to speak with the customer after the sale.

For example, check in on the new customer to get their feedback on the quality of the services and if they met your presented expectations.

Not only does this communication increase referrals and repeat customers, but it also allows you to monitor the entire sales cycle, which helps in future sales with new prospects.

Tip #16: Provide Customer Service

After a sale, you become a point of contact for your new customer.

With this in mind, providing excellent customer service is vital as this is an extension of your sales.

Providing quality customer service helps foster trust and loyalty, resulting in more referrals and repeat customers.

Conversely, passing the customer service buck to a colleague after the sale can breed customer resentment.

Tip #17: Maintain Contact With Past Customers

After post-sale communication, including customer service, you might think your sales cycle is complete.

Wrong again. Maintaining contact with past customers months and years after their services are completed is vital.

The apparent reason for this is to encourage repeat customers, which increases their lifetime value.

The lesser-known reason is that maintaining contact with past customers helps you sell new ones.

Tip #18: Promote an Official Referral Program

Customers are more likely to refer friends and family when incentivized through an official referral program.

Creating and promoting a referral program entices your best customers to spread the word.

Consider your current customers an extension of your sales department, regularly putting out feelers for new leads.

Because trust and credibility are inherent to sales success, referral programs do a lot of the heavy lifting before you even speak with the prospect.

Tip #19: Live and Breath Self-Improvement

As the founder of Roofing Webmasters and the top digital marketing salesman in the U.S., I’ve honed my skills over 15+ years.

As a roofing salesman, I invite you to do the same for your family’s legacy.

I wake up every morning proud of my dominance in the roofing SEO industry, and you can do the same in the roofing service industry.

Taking your personal growth seriously involves attending industry events and self-educating on essential trends.

Tip #20: Record a Promotional Video

Because it’s easy to share YouTube videos on a website and social media, roofing companies can quickly build trust with prospective clients and make the sales process more manageable.

Creating a professional-looking video for a cost-effective price has never been easier.

Moreover, most smartphones can film high-quality videos and offer video editing tools.

Take advantage of this convenience by making frequent videos that positively feature your company, connecting to prospective clients in new and exciting ways.

Tip #21: Launch a Sales-Oriented Website

Your roofing website should be the top way to interact with your customer base and prospective clients.

With this in mind, site speed is essential so potential customers remain on your site as long as possible. Most importantly, your website has to be mobile-friendly.

Over 57% of users access the Internet through their mobile devices. If your site doesn’t have a functional mobile version, you are behind the eight ball.

Informational statistics and reviews are the best ways to make your website as informative as possible.

Tip #22: Get More Roofing Leads With SEO

SEO leads are the easiest to convert as the prospect has already demonstrated interest in your services before the sale.

In a practical sense, SEO is how Google and other search engines sift through search results to find the most relevant ones.

You want to ensure your business comes up in Google search rankings.

Consider these SEO statistics:

Over 90% of website visits start via a search engine
47% of users click on a top 3 SERP result

Tip #23: Tee Up Roofing Sales With PPC

One of the most effective strategies you can use is implementing pay-per-click ads. For example, investing in Google Ads places your ads at the top of search results.

So if your business is located in Austin, TX, and someone searches “Austin, TX roofing,” your ad will appear.

While PPC costs money for each click, it’s one way to get roofing leads quickly.

PPC pushes visibility to your website without fighting through those challenging SEO rankings.

Tip #24: Develop a Value Proposition

Companies must stand out by giving prospective customers a reason to choose their service.

With a unique sales proposition (USP), you can offer a specific benefit and tell your customer how you plan to solve the problem.

Most importantly, it shows that you can offer the customer something the competition can’t or doesn’t offer.

The best way to separate yourself from the competition is to make your company seem different, as if the customer can’t get the same service from anyone else in the industry.

Tip #25: Monitor Your Reputation

When it comes to roofing sales, your reputation proceeds you.

The first thing a prospect does is check online reviews and the company website.

Positive reviews on Google and other 3rd party platforms provide the social proof consumers covet online.

People often check multiple sources to understand a company’s standing.

With websites like Facebook, HomeAdvisor, and others, customers can find genuine reviews from real customers and develop opinions about that company.

Positive reviews encourage trust, while negative feedback raises red flags.

Tip #26: Manage Stress and Stay Healthy

Health is essential to the sales process, especially in the long term.

I wouldn’t be the top SEO salesman in North America if I did not regularly invest in my health.

The keys to a healthy sales lifestyle are celebrating wins and maintaining motivation.

If you can keep these principles at the forefront, your stress levels won’t become burdensome.

Final Thoughts on Roofing Sales

Over the past 15+ years, I’ve worked with thousands of roofers, and the best salesmen share common traits.

My tips throughout this post will help you make more sales and increase closing rates.

My roofing sales tips are proven and tested, from educating yourself about industry trends to instilling a positive mental attitude.

Roofing contractors often ask me whether top salesmen have an “it” factor that cannot be taught.

I tell them no, it is a learned skill that requires hundreds and thousands of reps.

By entirely investing in your sales process, you can constantly learn and improve and ultimately dominate your service area.

To learn more about the origin of my roofing sales tips, call my personal cell phone at (800) 353-5758.

How I Got Started in SEO | Roofing SEO Podcast

When no one offers a solution to your problem, sometimes you have to become the answer! Through a strange adventure filled with twists and turns, a long-time professional in the home security industry became the founder of an SEO and web design company. Nolen and Jason talk about the history of Roofing Webmasters!

Key Lessons for Roofing Professionals

Marketing is one of the most powerful factors contributing towards roofing company success.
Online marketing grows your digital channel of leads.
It takes dedication to make page one in search results, but the payoffs are huge.
In-house marketing is impractical (and expensive) for most small businesses.

A Brief History

Roofing Webmasters actually grew out of a completely different industry! Years ago, our founder Nolen Walker ran a home security business out of the Dallas / Fort Worth area. When telemarketing began to face strong federal backlash, he saw that online advertising and website optimization was the best way to further his business.

Unfortunately, few local marketing companies had any experience with SEO. Those that did charged a fortune for the most basic services. Their cockiness and patronizing drove Nolen away from their services very quickly!

Dissatisfaction Breeds Innovation

Nolen decided to take matters into his own hands by hiring an in-house team of marketers to promote the business. It was a very expensive proposition at the time, but it laid the groundwork of what would ultimately become Roofing Webmasters! Today, our team consists of over twenty content writers, web designers, programmers, video specialists, and SEO analysts.

We take on the online marketing challenges that are too time-consuming or costly for many roofing professionals to handle themselves.

Local Roofing Companies Show in the Google Map Pack

Crucial Lessons From Our Past

It took years of trial and error to find the well-balanced team of professionals we have today. We learned some crucial marketing lessons during that time.

The most successful businesses typically invest heavily in marketing.
Not all digital marketing firms have the necessary experience to manage SEO.
In-house is an expensive challenge that most businesses can’t manage.
Cockyness isn’t always a sign of expertise.
Clear communication with your marketing team is essential for long-term success.

These are lessons that we continually honor and share as we serve businesses across the country. They are why we strive so hard to provide timely, customized service for our clients. But enough about our business! Why does online marketing matter for your roofing company?

Why Online Marketing Matters

The concept behind marketing is a simple one to grasp: if you want people to know about your services, they have to be told. If you need prospects to choose your team over a competitor, you have to persuade them. Marketing accomplishes both of these goals, providing the necessary information and persuasion to draw clients into your revenue stream.

Marketing is simply part of doing business.

That truth extends into the realm of search marketing, which connects your company brand / website with local consumers on Google Search. With so many people relying on Google to find their essential services, it’s amazing how many professionals in the roofing industry still don’t quite grasp the significance of this type of marketing. Yet there are so many benefits to reap from it!

Expanded Revenue Potential

Think of all the consumers looking for roofing service online! Search marketing provides roofers with the essential visibility and authority needed to earn premium rankings. Scoring page one rankings could land you thousands of dollars in new revenues each year. The best part? Organic search results are so much cheaper than buying leads from a seller!

Enhanced Branding Growth

How people perceive your business is just as important as what you have to say about it, if not more. With a high ranking website on Google Search, people automatically perceive your business as more authoritative and trustworthy. Enhance that site with professional web design, plentiful client reviews, and verified local citations (from Yelp, BBB, etc) for an even stronger online performance!

These are all activities your search marketing strategy should include.

Empowered Customer Service

Be where the customers are. That’s a crucial pillar of business and an even more essential facet of customer service. If your potential clients can’t even find your business online, then how can they find the relief they need? Search marketing enables your company to better communicate with the thousands of homeowners, through your website and other online assets.

Thousands of contractors claim superior skill and expertise, but few take the time to answer the key questions that consumers ask every day.

Keywords on a Roofing Company's Search Console

Online Marketing For New Roofers (Podcast)

The best way to kick off your online marketing is with an open mind and zero assumptions. Marketing changes year after year, and the strategies that guided roofing professionals five years ago don’t always apply to today’s standards. Thankfully, your first steps toward building your brand and earning online leads are pretty simple.

Below, Nolen and Jason chat about claiming your domain name, setting up your Google My Business account, and earning reviews. Be sure to listen in if you’re operating on a tight marketing budget because most of these steps are either free or very low-cost. Let’s get started.

Helpful Tips for Roofing Online Marketing:

Local SEO begins with three key elements: your GMB listing, website, and reviews.
Cheap is better than nothing! Even a cheap website can start building equity for your brand.
Reviews heavily impact your results in local search, so keep asking for them!
Avoid complications later by getting your domain name registered under your business.

Just Starting Out

Even the idea of building your own roofing company is still fresh in your mind. You don’t have any website, specially wrapped trucks, or even a brand. But, you’re in the perfect place to craft a successful, optimized online marketing strategy! It all begins with three simple yet crucial steps.

How to Begin Your Online Marketing

Step #1: Pick and Claim Your Website Domain
Step #2: Claim Your Google My Business Listing
Step #3: Craft Your Starter Website

Depending on the competitive nature of your service area, you should be able to complete these steps for a few hundred bucks (maybe less). First, however, these are tasks you need to nail. So let’s take a little time to dig into each marketing task.

Choosing Your Domain Name

A considerable part of your online branding, the company domain name heavily impacts how easily people find your business. However, so many roofing businesses struggle with the selection process because they’re suffering from outdated strategies. For example, ten years ago, the most powerful domain name you could pick was (city name, plus “Roofer”).

Try employing that same domain strategy today, and you’ll almost certainly fall into the back pages of local search (where no one ever clicks).

When a potential customer makes searches for “(city) roofer” now, they see results dominated by local guides, lead sellers, and listicle articles dedicated to the most experienced contractors in the area. Unfortunately, Google can’t distinguish these domain names from a general search, dramatically reducing the chances for a company with that name to succeed.

In short: don’t pick your city with a generic roofing term for your domain, or no one will ever find you.

Nailing the Domain Name

Aim for uniqueness. If your domain stands out from the established roofers within 50 miles, that’s a serious win. There are a few tactics to distinguish your brand from other roofing companies:

Use a distinct personal name. Example: jimbobsroofing.com
Pick an uncommon symbol. Example: 7wiseroofingguys.com
Try a different domain extension. Example: htownroofing.co
Add your state abbreviation for better results. Example: roofingbrostx.com

Your domain name doesn’t have to be funny or clever to succeed. Just make sure that it’s clear enough for people to remember and Google to distinguish from general industry terms. Follow these guidelines, and you’ll have an excellent start for your online marketing!

Claim Your GMB Listing

If you want your roofing company to appear in Google Maps searches, you must claim and complete your Google My Business listing.

All you have to do is fill out all the necessary contact/location info, answer any industry-related questions, and go through Google’s verification process. Your GMB listing information should be the same details you use for all your other citation sources. When you claim a Yelp company profile (for instance), be sure that even your address abbreviations perfectly match those in your GMB account.

When your GMB listing finally activates – this usually takes a week or two – you’ll also gain access to a company Knowledge Graph when people search your business directly. From there, potential customers can access your reviews, website, company number, and much more! You can even create promotional posts in your GMB account specifically for the Knowledge Graph.

Build Your First Website

One of the great perks of starting an online website these days is that you have access to a host of great starter templates. While they don’t have the same schema coding or professional SEO of designer sites, you can always start with a free template to get the business going. In addition, a functional website contributes to your domain’s searchability as your business ages and earns new customers.

Start by choosing a color scheme and layout that’s appropriate for your community and client type. From there, most templates allow you to add pages for each of your roofing services. You’ll want to consolidate them under a handful of service categories (we generally recommend sticking with four or less) because this makes it easier for people to find their desired solutions. Next, make sure your pages are keyword-optimized, then craft a company blog post at least once a month.

Looking for an SEO Expert?

Building a sustainable roofing business is a real challenge, especially in more competitive markets. Still, these beginning steps will take your business a long way towards creating a successful brand. As your company grows, you’ll be able to invest in more refined website design, PPC campaigns, and social media outlets.

When that day comes, our team at Roofing Webmasters would love to help take your brand to the next level! Our roofing clients regularly earn page one rankings for dozens of keywords, producing higher traffic and better quality leads.

Skin in the Game with Roofer Marketing Dollars (Podcast)

Monthly billing helps businesses save valuable time and effort, not to mention thousands of dollars. That’s because this type of accounting pushes your local search marketing team much harder to produce results. Jason and Nolen talk about the roofing industry, roofing marketing, and some glaring red flags to look out for as you reassess your online investments.

Key Lessons for Roofing Professionals

Transparent pricing and reporting are key in accountable PPC advertising.
Flat fee, lump-sum pricing can trap you in a low-performance search marketing plan.
More expensive doesn’t always mean better in PPC or SEO.

Winners and Losers (in Search)

In local SEO for roofers, there are clear winners and losers. Most people gauge success by rank position, whether their business makes the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP). However, the more experienced marketing professionals know that their clients (and their agency, by extension) truly win when those keyword rankings turn into site visits and roofing leads. That’s what separates the search marketing champions from the rest of the industry.

Winners continually strive to produce higher volume, higher quality, and lower cost leads.

Losers look for surface-level results, the kind that makes them look good on a monthly report. So much effort goes into producing just enough results to maintain their clients, but not a lot into creating long-term success. That’s the unhappy truth for many roofing companies and their marketing agencies.

So what kind of qualities can a roofing professional look for as they hunt for a winning team?

Marketing Quality #1: Expertise

A little obvious, right? Unfortunately, most contractors don’t understand what expertise looks like in the search marketing industry. After all, they (probably) didn’t go to school for digital marketing and advertising! That’s why knowing the critical signs of fundamental expertise is so crucial.

Signs of a Winning Search Marketing Team

Excellent Keyword Rankings (For Their Company)
Great Keyword Rankings (For Their Clients)
Impeccable Communication Skills
Clear, Measurable Service Deliverables
Basic Understanding of Your Industry

Search Marketing Result Assessment Through Search Console

Keyword rankings serve as a resume for companies that work in local search marketing. If they enjoy page one rankings for their primary industry keywords (such as “roofing seo services” or “seo for roofing”), that’s a good sign! Should their clients enjoy excellent keyword rankings in organic search, that’s even better.

Your marketing company should know their craft well enough to explain it to anyone in your staff effectively. Winning search marketers also learn how to communicate their services and deliverables so that you can accurately set your expectations for the coming months. But, of course, all that expertise is specifically adapted to help your business, which in turn demands a basic understanding of the roofing industry. If they can’t understand the lead development cycle for a homeowner or commercial organization looking for roofing services, how can they market those services?

Marketing Quality #2: Accountability

Have you ever received a shady service bill? It’s not a pleasant feeling, especially when you see fees that you didn’t anticipate. Unfortunately, when there’s little to keep a service provider accountable, these sort of shady practices can creep up in any industry. As a relatively new sector, however, digital marketing still lacks many of the safety mechanisms consumers rely on to ensure quality service.

Sly businesses often use sketchy reporting and costing measures to skim money out of your marketing budget without investing it in your local SEO or PPC campaigns. Unfortunately, this practice is prevalent among lump-sum, flat fee service packages where money can easily be distributed wherever the agency desires. At the Roofing Webmasters, we’ve heard this story a lot more often than we’d like.

How can you make sure that your search marketing team is held accountable?

Examine their reporting process ahead of time.
Make sure PPC spend is provided directly through Google (or Facebook, etc.).
Pay month to month instead of an annual or long-term contract.
Keep your PPC and SEO services charged separately.
Talk with their current clients and ask about the process for implementing changes.

Reporting is a fickle thing. On the one hand, industry giants like Google make it their goal to provide thorough, detailed accounts of your spending and results. But, on the other hand, agency reporting and even third-party services tend to blur where your money is going. That’s why it’s always prudent to arrange your PPC billing to go directly through your advertising platforms (Google, Facebook, etc.). Transparent billing prevents marketing agencies from up charging ad costs per click.

Understand your search marketing company’s process for implementing website changes (for SEO) and ad campaign updates (for PPC). If you discover it’s almost impossible to receive updates once your services go live, then it’s wiser to look for another provider. Consider talking with a handful of your prospective marketing agency and see what they have to say about their service.

Marketing Quality #3: Adaptive

When it comes to local search marketing, a successful business must know how to adapt to industry changes. Google regularly shakes up its algorithm so that one type of content buoys to the top while the other sinks to the back pages of search results. For instance, how-to guides and Q&A-styled articles tend to rank very well for consumer searches.

Potential Challenges to Overcome in Local Search

Rank drops
Traffic slumps
Surges in poor quality leads
Technical errors
Industry shifts

September Search Marketing Results in Analytics

When your website traffic takes a dip for a month, how does your local search marketing team respond? There are many potential reasons for the lower volume. If your company quickly works to understand the problem and present a solution, you know you have a winner on your hand. On the flip side, a sluggish (or nonexistent) response could indicate your company doesn’t care.

Ready for Results?

Local search marketing takes time and effort, but an experienced and dedicated team makes all the difference! If you’ve struggled to make headway with your current agency, our team at Roofing Webmasters would love to talk with you. In addition, we offer free consultations for anyone looking to understand their recent search marketing performance.