Home improvement spending is on the rise, with last year peaking at 60% higher than the previous year.
As an increasing number of homeowners are taking on weekend DIY projects, the number of contractors hired might not be going up with the industry as a whole.
With this shrinking number of contractors being hired, a great website and strong inbound lead generation are more important than ever.
Whether you're an independent contractor or running a team of builders, you know the importance of outbound, or advertising-based, promotion.
But you could be using your own website as a way to generate a bigger footprint for your marketing efforts.
As search engines become the driving force for new business, business websites need to ensure that they're using every tool possible to generate leads.
If you're ready to start improving inbound lead generation for your home improvement company, follow these 7 tips.
1. More Calls To Action
Calls-To-Action or touch points, as they're generally called, offer your customers the opportunity to get into contact with you through your website.
There might be some included on your site already with a button that says “Contact Us” or “Request A Quote.”
There will be a number of people who end up on your website ready to order your services or start talking about prices.
But that's less than 1 in 10.
The rest will leave your website without ever looking back.
Inbound lead generation needs to focus on converting visits into leads in the first place
What your site needs to do is to raise their awareness about what they might need to get them to that decision-making stage.
Other types of CTAs that you should introduce should aim to be useful and informative.
Infographics or an email series that can help diagnose different common home issues will help homeowners figure out when they need improvements.
If your company has helped them diagnose the issue, they'll also look to your expertise when it comes time for a fix.
2. Create Guides and Ebooks
If you create a few guides for seasonal repairs or maintenance, you can give them away for free in exchange for an email address or a phone number.
Once you have customer information, you can track the content that they're interested in and start catering contact to see what services they might need.
For companies that specialize in HVAC systems, think about putting together a guide for making sure your heating system is prepared for winter.
This will empower customers to get to know their systems more intimately and start looking for issues.
If they notice issues, encourage them to contact your company.
After they've contacted you, you can see what other services they might need.
Your home improvement services could be their go-to service for any home maintenance needs from now on.
3. Use A Landing Page
Use a landing page to encourage viewers to download your guides and ebooks.
Tell them what they can expect in a realistic, down-to-earth manner.
Skip the navigation and focus just on your content.
Make it stand out from the rest of your page and give a bullet point or checklisted breakdown of what you have to offer.
Be specific without being overly expository.
This isn't the time for a sales pitch.
This is where you should focus only on this one concept you want to communicate to your visitors.
Once they get your content, they can reach out to you for more information.
4. Publish Unique Content Regularly
People will arrive on your website because they're looking for answers to their questions.
Creating a blog focused on answering questions will allow your visitors to get what they need in a central location.
It will also allow you to share information with customers on a regular basis.
Write short, 1,000-word posts that are relevant to the season or time of year.
Think about what kinds of questions you get on a regular basis and turn those questions into a short approachable post.
End each post with a call-to-action that encourages readers to contact you or to find out more about the subject they're curious about.
The added bonus of publishing unique content on a regular basis is that you'll see your traffic start to increase.
Search engines love fresh content from sites that post regularly.
When customers search for businesses like yours in your region, they'll be introduced to your company high in the search results.
5. Stay In Touch Via Email
Once you've gotten contact information, you've got to turn those leads into sales.
The best way to do that is to show how versatile your services are.
With email, you can give special offers that include discount codes to help you track how well your promotions are doing.
Follow-up with customers based on the content they are reading and downloading from your site.
Think about when the right time would be to check in with them.
For each type of content, they download, make sure you have a different approach with your customers.
Think about what kind of related content you could offer your customers.
You can get them to engage with other content by linking through well-designed emails.
6. Test Yourself
Once you've set up your landing pages and connected all of your downloadable content, start running tests.
Make sure your emails look good, send quickly, and don't bounce back.
Ensure your content downloads quickly and install analytics tracking so you can see which content is being accessed most frequently.
You should also see what kind of additional SEO strategies you could be including on your landing pages.
Make sure you're using keywords and phrases correctly and including them in your meta descriptions.
7. Talk Back
If you get comments on your social media or blog posts, make sure you respond within 24 hours.
You'll find that users will want to stay in contact with you and get more information once you've shown responsiveness.
Inbound Lead Generation Seals The Deal Cheaply
If you're seeing traffic but not seeing the ales to match, your main issue is to convert those visits via an inbound lead generation strategy.
Getting traffic is the first and most important step but if you're not creating leads, you're wasting energy.
If you're ready to turn up the heat on your inbound lead generation, schedule a complimentary strategy call with our expert team here.
Brian Horwitz is a co-founder of Online Visibility Pros, a certified digital marketing firm that specializes in online lead generation for home services businesses, trade contractors, construction companies and a handful of a few other select niche markets. OVP gives these businesses the power to leverage the Internet to generate a steady flow of targeted online leads. 
