Just about every day, you may get calls from marketers promising to get you ranked on page 1 of Google.
Determining who’s legit can be overwhelming!
If you hear these marketing claims, be very careful.
A) “We can guarantee you’ll get ranked on the first page of Google within 90 days”
Never give your money to someone who guarantees this. Usually they take your money and get no results.
Search engine optimization (the art of getting your business ranked on the first page of Google) takes time. You have to create content that provides real value to homeowners in your area. In many cases, you’re up against competitors that have been building links for years.
The time required to get ranked on page one depends on numerous factors – outside of your control.
Many companies with “ranking guarantees” build illegitimate links that could harm your site long term – with poorly written articles, thousands of low-quality links and spamming social media sites.
Google’s algorithm is very good at spotting poor quality links that provide no value to people. Moral to the story: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
B) Shared leads for $25 / lead
Shared leads can be very costly – as you’re competing with your competitors for the appointment.
You don’t own the leads, and it substantially raises your cost per customer.
C) Contractor websites for $50-80 / month
Your tree care business is not cookie cutter. Your website should reflect that.
The problem with a lot of low-cost contractor websites is that they include cookie-cutter designs and boilerplate text that doesn’t reflect your unique abilities.
You have unique abilities. Your site should reflect it.
Your best route is an agency that understands your business & crafts a persuasive marketing message turning visitors into customers.
D) 1-year contracts
Be careful of marketing companies that require a 1-year contract, without trying out their service for 2-3 months.
When you’re test driving a new form of advertising, you want to see how it delivers and how well you work with your marketing team.
Many reputable agencies will let you try out their services on a monthly trial, because they know they deliver results.
I don’t hold my clients hostage – because I believe business is earned by delivering more business.
E) A focus on rankings, not revenues
You’ll encounter salespeople that try to impress you with first-page rankings, number of people that saw their ad or more Facebook “Likes.”
But make sure they can tie it back to your bottom line.
F) Image-based advertising
The amount of business you get is far more important than how many see your ads on radio or TV.
Digital marketing is one of the best forms of advertising. Google can show you how many clicks you’re getting, how much you pay per click, keywords that generate calls, and so much more!