14 replies to this topic

[Wef]

Okay, my brother-in-law has a blue collar service related business. He set up a web site without my help, and now he's begging for my help getting it recognized.

Finding his niche was easy, but there's this overlaid geography problem. We want to find customers across more than 30 communities (suburbs) around Asheville, NC. I guess I'll figure it out, but all I can think of is black hat methods. I'd make a set of sub-pages, one per community, and pretty much duplicate the services available per community across all 30. This seems like cheating.

I told my brother-in-law that he needs to put a human face on his site. I imagined myself a customer, and I realized that I would want to know who I'm inviting into my house to work on my electricity. Convincing him that he needs to do this has been an uphill battle. He says he just wants people to find his site, see what services he offers, and to get a phone number to call.

I am convinced that he needs to step it up and get personal.

What do you think?

[bwelford]

Welcome to the Forums, Wef. :wave:

You're very much on the right track with your suggestions to your brother-in-law. Perhaps you could suggest to him that a website without a 'face' on it is like him turning up at someone's home with a paper-bag over his head to do the electrical work. He refuses to take off the bag but expects the home-owner to feel comfortable in inviting him in. It's a close parallel with what he wants to do with his website.

Of course his counter-argument might be that his competition only puts up information like that in the Yellow Pages so why should he do more. The answer is that this is what marketing is all about. You want the prospect to choose you rather than the competition. That means you have got to somehow show you are better than the competition. A smiling face is a great start.

[jonbey]

I'd say tell him to get personal. He needs to be one step ahead of the competition.
Are all his professional qualifications / prof. bodies he is affilaite with mentioned on the site? In the UK gas people have to be (or should be) CORGI registered, so putting this on a site is a good move, it adds trust - you are not getting a cowboy.

I think that a sole trader / tradesman website should have a good photo of the owner carrying out some work in a real house situation. But it has to be a good/profesional photo. It just adds trust and makes people feel at ease BEFORE they pick up the phone.

[DonnaFontenot]

I think you'll regret doing the duplicate pages that way. Think more creatively. How about testimonials from people who live in each of those communities.

Jane Doe
Blue Collar dude fixed my widget right away and was super cheap! Love him!
TownNameHere, NC

John Smith
Really liked the service that Blue Collar dude gave us.
AnotherTownNameHere, NC

blah blah

That's just one example off the top of my head. I'm sure if you get creative enough, you can think of others.

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

Speaking as a customer, I heartily endorse the personal touch. Things I really like to know up front:

- Certified in your field
- Values customer's time and always returns phone calls and shows up on time
- Free estimate

Whatever they are, I would come up with three strong "value points" (promises) made to the customer, with the owner's name and picture right there.

Donna's suggestion of customer endorsements -- absolutely. That sells me every time.

As for the communities, on the home page, I'd start small with, perhaps, a narrow strip on the right:

Serving the greater Asheville, NC, area, including the communities of:
- Ableville
- Beautyberg
- Carington
- Dutyopolis
- Etc.

[iamlost]

You have asked two questions:
1. Do I have to go blackhat to rank for multiple regional locales?

There certainly are challenges in becoming 'multi-local'. There are even challenges in being local for one locale. However, for a B&M business the downside of behaving contrary to SE best practices is brutal - the equivalent of giving away your SERP to a competitor.

The trick is to think beyond actual services/products being offered. What that leaves is each suburb/community. So why not write community specific content? With particular emphasis on supportive/contributory services, i.e. if the b-i-l is plumber highlight local inspectors, codes, hardware outlets, news stories about water and sewage issues, etc.

Then tie in ideas such as Donna's local client testimonials, etc. One point of oft overlooked testimonial advantage - which can be particularly powerful in this situation is to have not simply a pic of the satisfied customer but a pic of the satisfied customer with your b-i-l, captioned something like 'John and Jane Doe (and cat Blacky) thanking [insert name of suburb/community] plumbing contractor [insert b-i-l name] for a fast, efficient, and clean job well done.'

Weave the b-i-l, his services, and the local communities into an engaging informative site. You need to look good not only for the SEs but for potential customers. Be seen as an integral knowledgeable part of each separate suburb.

2. Should he go personal?
I'll just jump on the bandwagon with everyone else and say 'yes'.
Flattering pictures of b-i-l with family, in working gear, showing premises and/or vehicles - signage prominent, pics of and descriptions of trade qualifications/certificates/history, etc.

Make the b-i-l real. Make him professional, make him the 'expert'.

And then back his personal expertise with helpful customer information, i.e. for a plumber describe common plumbing problems and solutions - and always make clear the point at which calling the plumber is best value.

And then once there is meat in the site add the site URL to all offline advertising, etc.

[Black_Knight]

Even before testimonials, go back through his case files to get case studies for each region/community. That way you can have a page relevant to each area covered that talks honestly about work he's done there. The case studies can be made helpful and informative, helping people learn how to recognize the signs of similar problems early, or what not to do, etc.

Edited by Black_Knight, 23 February 2009 - 11:39 AM.

[glyn]

90% of the work is convincing a user that you are who you say you are and that you are good at what you do, or what you sell. Apply this to every page you build and it's a good starting formula.

Don't ever assume that a great site design will win people over, some of the highest converting pages are those longs ones with the sales pitch. They find their niche and pull you in.

G

[bobbb]

I'm not convinced about testimonials. Too easy to fix. Too easy to pay someone to say this and that.

All the sports figures "sell" this and that. Do you really believe that Derek Jeter uses only that brand of shaving blade? ..or that Britney and Michael only drank Pepsi Cola. Give me that kind of money and I will say I only drink Pepsi and I won't get a picture taken with my Coke.

I receive all kinds of "promotion material" in the form of email that promise me #1 postion in this and that search engine ...with testimonials.

I really believe these three:

- Certified in your field
- Values customer's time and always returns phone calls and shows up on time
- Free estimate

The personal touch is the best and when you see the person for that free estimate then it is easier to judge if it was bull.

[Black_Knight]

I'm not convinced about testimonials. Too easy to fix. Too easy to pay someone to say this and that.

The testimonials were primarily a way of getting the locational/regional place names into the site with enough focus to rank for [service]+[placename] queries, Bob. The secondary benefit is that these testimonials will work, especially in smaller regions and comunities, because you may actually know the people. Its tailored to the community, so the testimonial is more credible because it is local to the person reading it.

[bobbb]

In a small community, yes, I agree. Word of mouth also works well on this level.

Edited by bobbb, 23 February 2009 - 02:13 PM.

[bwelford]

The other thing on testimonials is that they work for some of your website visitors and not for others. So if you can have an advantage with these extra visitors while not turning off those who don't care about testimonials then you're ahead.

[jonbey]

One thing though - could a site look too professional? Maybe not so much now, but I am sure a few years ago if I was looking for a local trader and saw a really smart website, I may back off thinking "these guys must be really expensive". Just a thought. Maybe things have moved on now. Thinking about it, I would probably trust a more professional site now - it shows dedication to their trade.

[TheManBehindTheCurtain]

One thing though - could a site look too professional?

Ho boy, now that's a can of worms. I'd say the design has to be appropriate to the audience and the client. I'm sure our colleagues will have something more eloquent to say on this.

On testimonials: I agree they can be suspect in the eyes of some, but then so can *anything* once you let your mind wander in that direction. I was checking out local auto repair shops on Yelp. One shop had 5 star reviews from people who had only two reviews. Suspect? Maybe. I chose the one with multiple recommendations from people who had 50+ reviews. Was I really making a smart choice? Maybe not. (Check back on Friday.)

On balance I still look at the testimonials or reviews to see what things get mentioned over and over again -- timeliness, quality of work, cleanliness, price? Whether they are fake or genuine, they at least tell you what the owner believes to be his/her strong suits. I do believe sites like Yelp make even normally honest people fudge just a little bit, to counteract the result of someone who gives you 1 star because you couldn't lasso the moon for them.

And you know, it's really hard to convincingly fake a bunch of genuine reviews. To quote the old line, variously attributed (but most often to George Burns): "Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

[Angela Charles]

There probably won't be an easy way to work in 30 different communities in one consistent fashion. And, you don't have to.

If he's worked on a notable landmark in some of the communities, take a picture of it, put in on the web site somewhere and add a caption and alt tag that says: Joe's Plumbing worked on the new community center in Asheville, N.C.

Stay away from the standardized pages for each community.