Posted by Scott Stanford
Last updated 4th February 2021
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If you are a tradesman in 2021, you’ll know how crucial your website will be to your ongoing success. 2020 was a challenging year for most businesses with degrees of uncertainty and requirements to dynamically align with changes in rules and regulations.
We start this year in a similar predicament. In this thought-provoking piece, we’ll discuss some key reasons why as a tradesman (and despite the 2021 national lockdown) your website matters more than ever.
The government guidelines for trades businesses working is clear and there is a layer of fortune in the fact that these forms of enterprise can continue to undertake projects for clients (including in the home). A gentle reminder that probably need not be said, but ensuring you’re working in a Covid-secure way will not only keep you on the right side of the rules but also help to establish your business as professional, caring and reliable!
Remember that in a number of circumstances, people are at home with additional free time to focus on the improvements and fixes that have been put off for too long. Seize this opportunity to pick up additional work and spread your brand far-and-wide.
There is a range of things you can do on your website as a trades-business to ensure your customers and prospects are kept in the loop with your operating practices. Adding a COVID-19 statement to your site (or updating it one if there is an existing one in place) is a sure-fire way to relay this message.
Did you know that despite the lockdown, more people than ever are performing online searches for the various trades they need to support with emergency repairs and even those long-overdue home improvements? The fact remains, it is when we have more time to reflect on our respective properties and businesses that we knuckle down to taking action.
So, why miss out on this fantastic opportunity to build your pipeline for potential work? Just by producing relevant content for your industry (take this article for example) and ensuring it is optimised to be found in local search engines, you’ll be on the best footing to find new projects from new sources.
You may be thinking, what amounts to relevant content and what exactly should I be writing about? Don’t overcomplicate things in this regard – stick to your strengths which normally comprises of your sphere of knowledge. Think about the typical calls you have with customers and the unique skill set you possess and share with them.
With this in mind, the ideas could be as simple as articles covering “How To” topics (i.e. How to replace a lightbulb) through to content pieces on the top problems or objections a certain group may face.
Remember, these pieces of content should aim to be informative and persuasive – without being a direct sales pitch. You can make reference to how your business goes about tackling similar issues, but the root of it all should be something of value to the reader (whether they contact you or not).
Despite the lockdown and the new normal, we are now facing, customers are still making decisions following their research for a range of trades-related needs. Daily we see from our own clients’ requests for electrical repairs, roofing requirements, new bathroom installations and so much more.
A point of note – long gone are the days of a simple contact form with just a name, number and long open message field. We are in the age of convenience and as such, your website experience for customers should mirror this.
If your website doesn’t offer an intuitive means for customers to request a quote, get an instant price or even make a purchase directly, you’ll certainly be missing out on conversion opportunities.
Take this form below (which when replaced on a plumbing website helped to increase lead generation by over 800%) as a great example of what you could and most likely should be using to capture lead information in a concise and effective way.
Even with the lockdown actively in a fit, more satisfied and dissatisfied customers are sharing the feedback of their experiences on social media, open forums, review websites and an ever-expanding realm of those that are willing to listen.
Think of it in this way – every piece of positive feedback is an opportunity to use social proof in your favour and help to convert a lead. Conversely, every piece of negative feedback that is shared online can have the unwanted consequence of damaging your brand reputation (sometimes irretrievably).
Especially in a time like this, you should be proactively working on getting written feedback on the completion of every project so that you can share your successes and also learn from those projects which could benefit from improvement. Never shy away from constructive criticism which can often help you to find the cracks in your overall processes.
One quirky approach for achieving the above is our Testimonial Manager within Sites Done Right (sorry, shameless plug here!).
We collate the feedback of our clients automatically and use a rating system to ask those who are happiest to share their reviews on more platforms, whilst those who have concerns and questions can be followed up with directly to improve overall customer experience and satisfaction.
We’ve had a crazy uplift in new website requests from the likes of plumbers, builders, electricians – you name it!
Now is the ideal time for opportunities within the trades sector.
We hope you’ve found the above useful and can start to consider some important reasons for taking control of your website and marketing - even during a lockdown.
Remember that taking no action can often be the equivalent of taking steps backwards. Whilst competitors continue to progress, the momentum required to catch-up can be twice as hard from a static starting point. So even doing small but regular changes to your own marketing practice will pay dividends in the long run.
Do you feel there are any other reasons why a quality website is important in 2021? Let us know in the comments section below - we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Scott is one of the founders at Sites Done Right and leads the development and customer success teams. Able to get his hands dirty in development when needed, he works on our platform roadmap of fantastic features to delight our customers.
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