Full Transcript
Lauren: So I was talking to a contractor friend of mine... and he says he doesn't need a website because all his work comes from referrals. Word of mouth. And I'm like... is that still true?
Honor: Welcome to the 805 Web Minute with Lauren and Honor... We make interwebs and website stuff make sense... Let's get into it.
Honor: Okay so... I understand where he's coming from. Referrals are great. But here's the thing. 97 percent of homeowners search online before they hire a contractor.
Lauren: Wait, 97 percent?
Honor: 97 percent. So even if someone gets a referral from their neighbor... "Hey you should call Mike the plumber"... what do they do next?
Lauren: They Google him.
Honor: Exactly. They Google him. And if Mike doesn't have a website... or his website looks like it was built in 2010... that referral might just call someone else.
Lauren: Oh! So the referral gets you in the door, but the website closes the deal.
Honor: That's exactly it. The website is like... your silent salesperson. It's working 24/7 while you're on the job.
Lauren: Okay so let's say my friend decides to get a website. What does it actually need? Like, does he need a fancy one with all the bells and whistles?
Honor: No. And this is where a lot of contractors get sold stuff they don't need. A contractor website just needs to do a few things really well. And the number one thing... your phone number needs to be big and obvious.
Lauren: That seems... obvious?
Honor: You would think! But you'd be surprised how many contractor websites bury the phone number at the bottom of the page... or hide it in a contact form. When someone's water heater breaks at 6 AM, they're not filling out a form. They want to tap and call.
Lauren: Right, their basement is flooding and they're standing there in their pajamas scrolling through some website looking for a phone number...
Honor: Exactly. And here's a stat that blew my mind. 78 percent of mobile local searches... like "plumber near me"... lead to a purchase within 24 hours.
Lauren: 78 percent?!
Honor: 78 percent. So if someone finds your site on their phone and they can tap your number and call you... you're probably getting that job. If they have to hunt for it or it's not clickable... they're calling the next guy.
Lauren: That's like having a storefront where the door is locked but there's a tiny sign in the window that says "knock three times and wait."
Honor: Ha! Yes. People just walk to the next store. And speaking of phones... your website has to work well on mobile. Over half of all web traffic is from phones now. For contractors it's probably higher because people search when they're standing in front of the problem.
Lauren: So they're in the kitchen staring at a leaky faucet, Googling on their phone...
Honor: Exactly. And if your site has tiny text they have to zoom in on... or buttons too small to tap... Google actually pushes you down in search results for that.
Lauren: Oh so it's not just annoying for the customer, it actually hurts you in Google?
Honor: Correct. Google uses what they call mobile-first indexing now. They judge your site based on how it looks on a phone, not a computer.
Lauren: So the moral of the story is... if you're a contractor, you don't need a complicated website. You need one that loads fast on a phone, and has your phone number right at the top where people can tap it.
Honor: That's it. Do those two things well and you're ahead of most of your competition.
Lauren: And if you don't want to mess with figuring all this out yourself... give YouGrow a call!
Honor: Yeah. We build sites specifically for local businesses like contractors. 79 dollars a month, month-to-month, no setup fee. Your site works perfectly on phones. We handle all the updates. And we're right here in Arroyo Grande... when you call, you get a real person who picks up.
Lauren: Nice. Alright, this has been 805 Web Minute. Thanks for listening.