These Three Things Will Make You the Top Roofer in Your Market

Find out how your website can rank well in online search results to make you the top roofer in your market.

By Scott A. Dennison

I was having a conversation with a prospective client recently and as he described the challenges he was having in successfully marketing his business I could only smile. Not at him or his situation but in the fact that one of the biggest issues that prevents success is all of the nonsense offered up as wisdom and essential steps to getting his phone to ring.

The reality is that there are only a few fundamentals and by simply mastering them, most of the success you seek will be at hand.

It’s reminiscent of the talk that Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi gave to his Green Bay Packers team in July of 1961 after losing an NFL Championship to the Philadelphia Eagles the previous year.

In his book, “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi,” author David Maraniss said that Lombardi gathered his team and told them: “Gentlemen, this is a football,” while holding a pigskin in his right hand. He was speaking about the fundamentals of the game.

Things like blocking, tackling and running or passing the ball are the reasons why one team wins more than another.

So, what I’m encouraging you to do as you read this post is to dismiss most of what you’ve ever been told about Internet marketing of your business and consider only the essential fundamentals of success and/or failure in marketing your roofing business.

These three things, done correctly can yield for you similar results to the 1961 Packers who defeated the New York Giants that season 37-0 to win the NFL Championship. What are they?

First, it’s your understanding of your ideal customer. Who are they? Which part of your community do they live in? What is their primary motivation for buying your products and services? What makes them choose your company over your competitors?

Knowing these things about who your ideal customer is also helps you to call them out in your marketing. It also helps you to use your marketing to disqualify those clients you’d rather not serve anyway.

A common issue with customer selection is when a contractor is qualified to do both residential and commercial roof repair. The problem with this is the buyers are very different. They have different needs and different motivations. If you cannot choose one as your preferred client, they should be marketed separately.

Next, is your website. You have one right? A buck gets you $10 that your site does little to nothing to help you communicate that you have the only solution to the problem your ideal customer wants and is motivated by.

What’s worse is that many sites today are built by graphic artists who by training and instincts will try to build a pretty site. What you want is a site that is effective and helps your customer to choose you and take action on that choice.

Does your site identify your ideal customer “dog-whistle” style somewhere near the top of the page? A primary need of people searching the web for things is to find out quickly if they are in the right place.

If your perfect prospect is a homeowner in the Lakewood area of Colorado with hail damage to their asphalt shingle roof and your words and pictures don’t communicate that clearly, how can you expect them to know your company offers them the best solution to their problem?

How clearly is your call to action or next step presented to site visitors? Has your team identified all of the things that people are currently looking for when it comes to buying services you offer and created content that seeks to help those searchers to get answers?

If not, it’d be a good idea to add that to your to-do list.

Finally, there is visibility. I’ve told my clients for some time that to unlock the door to all of the opportunity in your market, you must be visible where the largest number of your ideal customers will look when they have a roofing issue.

Being found at the top of the Google AdWords is essential if you want to catch those people who have an urgent need for a roofing contractor.

Then, getting things set-up properly to appear in the top three spots in the Google My Business/Map section (in the middle of page one of Google search results for most keywords), can bring a flood of new calls and leads in your front door.

Last but not least is for Google to decide that you have the best website for many search queries for a roofer in your market. When they decide you are better than your competition means they will often include your site in the top 10 organic search results for your keywords.

There is always a percentage of all searches online that are particularly interested in the organic listings on page one; they will visit, read and consider for themselves whether or not you can help them. If they think you can help them, they contact you, in many cases right away.

So, there you have it - the three things for you to focus your efforts on when it comes to your online marketing. Do these things and you’ll get your phone ringing a lot more often.

The alternative is to take your chances with sites like Home Advisor, Porch or Angie’s List and duke it out with every other roofer who’s willing to accept low margin customers whose primary motivation is price.

Scott A Dennison is a recognized Internet lead generation expert and the founder of Top Ranked Roofer.com For more information visit TopRankedRoofer.com