Roofers, HVAC companies and other contractors mostly want one thing: the phone ringing with real customers. Here's where those calls come from.
In a contractor's mouth, “lead” means somebody who needs the work you do and is ready to talk about it. On a lead seller's invoice it can mean something much looser: a form someone filled out, a click, a call that lasted a few seconds.
Those aren't the same thing. A real lead is a person with a leak, a dead system or a roof that's lost shingles, in the area you work, who called a number they found. Everything below is about getting more of those and fewer of the other kind.
Not from one place. For a local trade it's usually a handful of places working together, and it helps to know which is which.
Somebody searches for your trade and sees three businesses on a map. One tap on the Call button and they've called. For many contractors this is the biggest source of cold calls, and it's decided by your Google Business Profile: the category, the phone number, the hours, the photos and the reviews. There's more on that on the page about Google Business Profile optimization in Louisville.
When someone taps through from the listing or finds you in the results under the map, your site has a few seconds to say what you do, where, and how to call. A page for each job helps. A tap-to-call number that sits where a thumb can reach it helps more. See local website design for Louisville-area businesses for how that works.
People read them while they decide between two names. They don't read all of them. They skim the star rating, the last few, and how you replied to the worst one.
A neighbor says “call that guy,” and the next thing the customer does is look him up. What they find should match what they heard. If your listing shows a dead number or the wrong hours, the recommendation goes to waste.
Ads and lead marketplaces exist. They can put you in front of people quickly and stop the moment you stop paying. They aren't one of the services here, and we'll say so if they'd suit you better.
Before you spend on anything, find out what's already working. You don't need software for this.
If every caller says “I saw you on the map,” the listing is where to spend your time. If they say “my brother-in-law told me,” then the website and reviews are what close the deal.
A hail storm sends roofers a pile of searches in one afternoon. A heat wave or a hard freeze does the same for HVAC and plumbing. In those days people don't compare five companies. They tap the first name that looks real and has a number to call.
So the listing has to be in shape before the weather, not after. That's the main thing we'd say to any contractor: check the category, the hours and the phone number now, while the phone is quiet.
The lead generation section of the services page has the short version.
Ask us, too. People use “lead” to mean very different things, and not all of them are worth paying for.
A real customer asking for work you do, or any call that hit the line? Get the definition in plain words, and ask what happens to calls that don't qualify.
Or does it go to other contractors at the same time? If it goes to several, you're racing them, and the lowest price or the fastest answer wins.
Ask how the area is set, and whether you can change it.
Wrong number, wrong town, wrong job. Is there a way to flag it and be treated fairly?
If you can't tell which source produced which call, you can't tell what's working.
If a company gives you a number or a website and keeps control, ask what happens to it the day you leave.
Ask for it in plain words, before you agree to anything.
Hold us to the same list.
A lead you miss is worth nothing. A caller who hits voicemail on a bad afternoon taps the next name on the map. A few things help, none of them fancy:
No marketing company can answer your phone. The best listing in town won't hide it if nobody picks up.
It can't promise a number of calls. It can't promise a position on the map, and nobody can, because Google's results shift with where the searcher is and what they typed. It can't make up for a trade or an area where few people search. Whether the work fits your town is a conversation, not a web page.
Roofers, HVAC companies and other contractors in the Louisville area who'd rather answer calls than study search results. If that's you, call and tell us your trade and the town you work in. We'll go over how it would work for you, and say so if it doesn't.
The pieces connect: Google Business Profile optimization, local website design and HVAC contractor SEO. The local SEO services page lists everything in one place, and about us says who runs the company.
It's about getting the phone to ring with real customers in your area who need the work you do. How it happens depends on your trade and your town, so we go over it on a call and say whether it fits.
A real person asking for work you do, inside the area you cover. A wrong number, a salesperson or somebody three counties away isn't one. Before you agree to buy leads from anyone, make them define the word in writing.
For many local trades, the map listing, the website and word of mouth that gets checked online. People ask a neighbor, then look up the name. What they find decides whether they call.
No. We don't promise calls, rankings or dates. We work on the things in your hands, such as the listing, the website and the reviews, and tell you what we see.
They overlap. SEO is the work of showing up in map and search results. Lead generation is the wider question of where your calls come from, and the map listing and the website are two of the biggest answers.
Yes. Your Google Business Profile shows calls, direction requests and how people found you, and you can look for yourself. Pair that with a notepad by the phone and ask each caller how they found you.
Yes. The ideas are the same for any trade that customers search for nearby: the listing, a page for each job, and reviews. Storm season behaves a lot like heat waves do for HVAC.
Search your trade plus your town on your phone, then search your own business name. See who's on the map and what your listing says. Then call and tell us what you saw.
Tell us your trade and what town you work in. Prefer to write? Contact us by email.