Improving Your Business
Is Our Business

Search Engine Optimization is rapidly becoming one of the best ways to promote your website online and ensure that you get listed high in the rankings by Google and various other search engines.

For those readers who are not familiar with the practice of SEO, expert Aaron Wall defines it as: “The art and science of publishing and marketing content in a way that brings significant profitable and targeted traffic to your website.”

Because of this shift in Internet promotion there are numerous providers available that make ridiculous promises that are unattainable. Be very dubious of any company that:

• Promises to take you to the top of Google’s search rankings in a matter of days
• Only fixes your “meta-keyword” tags
• Offers to fix your website to make it “SEO-friendly” so that fine tuning over time will not be a necessity
• Creates numerous doorway pages and mini-sites that are simply duplicate copies of your primary site. This is a sure way to get black listed.

However, there is another problem with SEO that exists further below the surface and it involves the conflict that it can create with your website copy.

A company that you end up working with may do all that they promised in helping you work your way up the search engine rankings – - yet as a website owner your ultimate goal should be conversions whether they be in the form of leads or sales. Just because something is 100% SEO optimized doesn’t mean it’s engaging for visitors.

There is a practice called “keyword stuffing” that involves placing keywords an inordinate amount of times within the copy on your website. There are two types that can be damaging to your brand:

1. The over-reliance on these words are deemed to be “black-hat” tactics, and can get you penalized or even banned by Google
2. An abundance of keywords is used, not to the point where you will be penalized but where it detracts from the copy and does not leave the website visitor with a good impression of your company.

In either case you are setting yourself up for failure in the long run. Strong SEO takes time and practice (and in many cases some struggles along the way). However, make sure you take the time to educate yourself before you invest thousands of dollars into optimizing your website.

Also, take a look at the latest list of the top SEO companies in the U.S. and if you have any questions about best practices don’t hesitate to contact me directly at brad@daveyoho.com.

Some years ago, while head of Surfa Shield Institute, I decided to do a test to see whether our franchisees were actually reading the mail that they received. I sent out a 3-page memo to the over 30 franchisees except an integral part was missing. There was no second page…

Out of this large number, only 3 actually responded. Was it because they skimmed the memo and didn’t actually read it? No, because at the bottom of page 3, I gave brief mention of a $100 prize that one of the franchisees would win that had been explained in detail on page 2. Had they skimmed the memo they certainly would have noticed this.

So what does this mean? In all likelihood, the large majority of these franchisees never read the memo.

The reason I bring this up is twofold:

1. I wonder if your employees are doing the same thing. Be proactive and run tests like this in your business to show your employees the importance of inter-office communication and how messages can be lost when a lack of attention is given.
2. I encourage you to continuously follow up through different marketing channels with your prospects and customers because there is a good chance they are not seeing your message the first couple of times that it is sent.

There is a lot of great news to report even though we are only 1 month into 2011. Many companies in the industry are already reporting significant growth over 2010. This recent report from the National Home Builders Association echoes these thoughts, while other reports are predicting significant future growth within the industry.

However, despite these positive reports, it is vital to stick to a system. If you don’t stress this to your employees and colleagues on a daily basis then there is a strong likelihood that you will begin to “freelance” which leads to nothing but trouble.

If you don’t have a system for managing your leads, here is one that we recommend to all of our clients and customers:

• Log every lead into your database.
• Every lead must contains a name, address, phone number, email address and fax number and a permission to call slip attached.
• Leads are confirmed (optimally within 48 hours) into appointments.
• Lead issuance is supervised and the number of leads issued daily is regulated. Unsold leads are reported, detailed and returned within specific time parameters which can range from 30 days down to 24 hours.  (The shorter time allowed the better).
• Measure the efficiency of the salesperson who is issued leads – by    dividing the number of leads issued into the net sales volume produced from the leads.
• Rehash unsold leads to confirm appropriate use by the salesperson and if not sold they are entered into a database for future solicitation.
• Review and analyze the presentation rate, gross close rate and net close rate (gross close less credit rejects, and cancellations) for each salesperson and the company as a whole.
• Salespeople generate up to 20% of their business from leads which they developed personally (self-generated leads).
• Teach and enforce referral solicitation as part of the sales plan
• Adopt a performance model which spells out for the salesperson the projected number of leads which will receive a presentation and the percentage of closes – vs. – leads issued as well as the estimated percentage of business the salesperson is expected to develop from self-generated leads.
• Management conducts ride-alongs and performance appraisals of the salespeople.

For more information on how to implement this system in your organization please e-mail us at admin@daveyoho.com.

While many companies that operate within the home improvement industry spend a great deal of effort procuring leads, we find that the management of leads is an area that frequently slips through the cracks.

Think of how much time and money are going into lead development – if you are not doing anything to track and monitor these leads then you might as well be flushing your money down the toilet.

Here are steps that we recommend you undertake in your business to manage your leads:

• Measure and benchmark all “fall-off” from leads issued to presentations given
• Calculate and know precisely what the fully loaded cost of a lead is
• Understand the asset value of leads
• Utilize an efficient asset recovery program such as Marketsharp
• Place a huge value on face-to-face marketing by participating in events, home shows and canvassing programs.
• Take responsibility to “develop” the sales staff and don’t expect them to adapt to your methodology without help
• Use Google Analytics to track all Internet leads

Most importantly, don’t wait – - because the longer you go without managing your leads, the less control you will have over your business.

Are you looking to get more bang out of your marketing buck? With marketing budgets through the roof, it is vital to look for inexpensive ways to promote your products and services to your customer base.

Here are a few recommendations:

Utilize the Energy Savers Booklet in your marketing efforts.

There are two ways you can do this effectively:

1. Procure a bulk supply of the energy savers booklet for as little as 65 cents per copy. Have your salespeople bring a copy with them into the home to reinforce the value behind your product(s). Incorporate the booklet into your sales scripting so that it becomes second nature in the home.
2. Download a copy of the free PDF of the energy savers booklet and design an e-mail campaign around the importance of saving energy in the home. The law of reciprocity states that when you provide someone with an item of value at no cost, they will frequently “return the favor” by buying from you, or at the very least request more information about what you have to offer.

Make social media a priority in your business

It shouldn’t be the priority in your marketing efforts, but make no mistake about it, if you are not participating in social media you are falling behind your competitors. I am going to devote more time in later blog posts to social media, but for now, if you haven’t joined the social media landscape because it feels overwhelming, try to participate in at least one network. If you are in the home improvement industry, facebook is a great place to start.

Create a page promoting your business, and try and model your approach similar to what other successful home improvement companies are doing.

Follow our lead

Do you have a blog in your business? There is no better method of communicating with your customers and prospects than through a corporate blog. Unlike e-mail or snail mail you do not have to concern yourself with becoming part of the marketing clutter, because the individual has taken the time to visit your site to read your material, and in many cases they will subscribe to your blog so that they can receive updates as to when the next post is written.

Are you looking to improve your search engine ranking? Unlike websites that remain static, blogs are constantly being updated, so they are valued highly by search engines.

Traditional forms of media should not be abandoned, but they should be supplemented by new age, less expensive marketing tactics if your goal is to reach every prospect in a cost-effective manner.

Everyone these days is looking to incorporate video into their Internet efforts. With the advent of video e-mail and YouTube, not to mention video being shot directly for corporate websites, there are an abundance of methods to get your message across. The mistake that a lot of companies make is believing that they need to budget thousands of dollars to take advantage of these marketing tactics.

The reality is that you can participate in all of these marketing channels with a powerful and visually attractive video while spending less than it would cost you in one direct mail campaign.

The added benefit is that while a direct mail campaign is a short term lead generator. Video that is developed for Internet marketing is constantly working for you, nurturing prospects and creating new relationships.

Now make no mistake, this is not a “bash” on direct mail. We still believe in direct mail as long as it is used in concert with other home improvement marketing tactics. The purpose of the comparison is to get you thinking about a new way to attract prospects. Many of your competitors are already utilizing these tactics and those that aren’t will be in the near future. It is critical that you don’t miss out on this competitive advantage.

In order to create an effective viral video campaign, we recommend the following steps:

1. Map out your overall strategy and goals. What do you want to accomplish with your video campaign? Would you like to sell more of your product or service? Get more prospects to your website? Generate more referrals?
2. Decide how you would like your video filmed. In most cases you don’t need to invest in an expensive videographer. See if anyone in your organization has a quality video camera. If not, you can purchase one more affordably than ever before. Websites such as TechBargains offer discounted camcorders, and also scour the Internet looking for the best deal possible.
3. Block out a half a day to shoot your videos. Barricade yourself in your office or leave your office to avoid distractions. This will allow you to finish the project quicker.
4. Take the time to edit your videos. Why is this critical? Because your videos should ideally be no more than 5 minutes. Research has proven that the average viewer will lose interest in anything longer than this. Of course there are exceptions, but wouldn’t you rather be on the safe side and make sure that the majority of your prospects watch the entire video?
5. As stated earlier, there are an abundance of ways to market your videos once you have created them. However, you always want to start with YouTube. Out of all the methods it is by far the quickest and easiest, and remember, you want to get this content on the Internet as quickly as possible.
6. The next step is to post your videos to your website. Videos on your site are effective for multiple reasons, but their biggest benefit is that they keep the prospect on the website longer. The longer they are on the site the more likely they are to buy something or give you their contact information.
7. After you accomplish these first two tasks, you want to look into other ways of getting your video out to the general public. Keep in mind that the video content you post on the Internet will not go away, so it is always out there, working for you to create new leads.

In the next blog posting I will go over in detail how to market videos effectively. But the onus is on you to take the first step and shoot some valuable and entertaining content.

To hear from experts in utilizing video marketing in your business, don’t forget to attend the upcoming home improvement summit in Baltimore!

The last topic that was covered at the previous Home Improvement Summit was Internet marketing. This represents a huge opportunity for home improvement professionals moving forward because there is a large sector of the industry that is still not using these tactics effectively.

The first speaker on the panel was Tom Audette who is the Business Development Director for Three Deep Marketing; a digital marketing agency that does search engine optimization, paid search management and email marketing.  He has over 17 years of direct industry experience as a Sales Representative, Sales/Marketing Manager, Business Executive and as VP of Marketing for a large home improvement company where he generated over 30% of revenues via the Internet with marketing costs under 10%.

Tom discussed the shift that is occurring from traditional marketing to new age marketing tactics and how many companies are using these tactics to achieve tremendous results. To be blunt, marketing for contractors is changing and many companies are still behind the curve.

Some statistics that he quoted:

• In 2008 Yellow Page advertising dipped below its 1998 levels. In the next 4 years, ad spending will drop an additional 39%. (Media Futurist)
• The average DVR user sees only 46% of the commercials in the programs they watch; consequently, 70% of advertisers now feel the DVR will “reduce or destroy” the 30 second commercial.
• 85% of product / service inquiries now start on the Internet. (B2B Magazine)
• US Internet ad spending is expected to grow from $25.7 billion in 2009 to $44 billion by 2011. (Emarketer)
• 17% of all US advertising spending in 2010 will be online. (Emarketer)
• Social Media now represents 17% of Internet users total time spent online (Emarketer)
• Paid search spending will grow by 10-15% in 2010, to $14 billion (Covario)
• Despite the recent relaunch of Bing, Google maintains an 83% market share of all search spending (Covario)

Companies today are using their advertising dollars on the Internet because:

1. It’s where homeowners are searching
2. It’s cost effective
3. It’s highly measurable

In the past the traditional focus of the home improvement professional was on the Yellow Pages, newspaper, television, direct mail, radio, home shows and canvassing. Each of these elements is still effective to a certain extent, but the companies that are ahead of the curve are beginning to focus on paid search, search engine optimization, local search, e-mail marketing and social media.

Over the next few years the home improvement companies that use these tactics effectively will gain a more dominant position in their market while the rest of the competition will be playing catch up.

Some more facts to consider:

• Google has over 75% market share in online search. If your customers can’t find you there…you aren’t even in the game!
• 43% of search engine users are looking for local services
• 50% of searchers substitute search engines for the yellow pages
• 97% of Internet users in the U.S. gather shopping information online, and of those consumers 51% explicitly characterize their behavior as “Shop Online, Purchase Offline” (NPD Group)

If you have any questions about this blog posting or about home improvement marketing in general, feel free to e-mail Tom directly.