In the digital era, it’s essential for Aussie tradies to have a strong online presence to stay competitive. Digital marketing for tradies is key to boosting your visibility and driving more customers to your business, and there are many ways to go about it. Here are some proven digital marketing strategies to boost your online presence and take your business to the next level.
Website optimisation
A website serves as a digital storefront where people can learn more about your trade business and its services. Digital marketing for tradies starts with a well-designed and optimized website. If your website is poorly designed and slow to load, it could be driving potential clients, subcontractors, and business partners away. Optimising your website is therefore essential to increasing your company’s reach, user engagement, and overall online presence. Below are some key characteristics of an optimised website:
- Responsive design – Websites should be able to adjust to different device sizes and resolutions to ensure an optimal viewing experience for visitors. This is especially important since more people are now browsing the internet from mobile devices.
- Fast loading speed – Slow loading times can be extremely off-putting for visitors, affecting search engine rankings. To improve loading times, you should leverage browser caching, compress files with a content delivery network, optimise images and videos, and miniaturise backend code. These are highly technical tasks, so you may need a professional web development team to help you.
- Clear navigation structure – Top ranking websites have a clear, intuitive navigation system that makes it easy for visitors to find the information they’re looking for. Draw out a sitemap to plan out the structure of your website, and incorporate tools like drop-down and hamburger menus to make navigation easier. You can also add a search bar to make it easy for visitors to find specific information on your site.
- High-quality content – Invest in creating high-quality, original content that’s informative and engaging to ensure visitors stay on your site longer. The content in your website should include pages detailing your specific services as well as blog posts, updates, and case studies. Including well-composed images and videos about your team and previous projects is also a smart way to highlight your expertise.
Social media engagement
Social media is a powerful tool for tradies that want to connect and engage with their customers. Digital marketing for tradies through social media platforms can significantly increase your visibility and help you reach a larger audience. Keep in mind that not all social media platforms will be suitable for your trades business. For example, platforms like LinkedIn are best suited for trades businesses that want to reach out to companies and other contractors. On the other hand, if you want to promote your services to a broader audience, platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are great options.
Social media content will vary depending on your audience and services. Recently, field service companies have been using short-form YouTube or TikTok videos to target younger homeowners. However, if your target demographic are business owners, you can post more insightful content, such as industry news, infographics, and advice, to build your credibility in the market.
The content you post should also be designed to encourage user engagement. This involves creating polls, asking for likes and comments, running giveaways and contests, and replying to reviews. Doing so not only creates new leads for your business, but it also shows that you’re an active player in the market.
Local search engine optimisation (SEO)
Local SEO is an important aspect of digital marketing for tradies, as it involves optimising your website and online presence to show up in local search results. This involves multiple steps. For starters, you have to claim your business on listing websites such as Google My Business. Include information such as your business address, contact details, and opening hours. Ensure that your business name, address, and phone number are consistent and accurate across all your listings.
Next, incorporate local keywords into the content of your website. These include the name of your city or area and keywords relevant to your services. Make sure to create geo-oriented contact us and service pages. This will help search engines understand where you’re located and what services you offer.
Note that SEO is a long-term process to improve your ranking on search engine results pages. To get the best results, make sure to regularly update your website with fresh content that targets keywords and phrases related to your services. Doing so will help you get discovered by more visitors in your local area.
Pay-per-click advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a digital marketing for tradies strategy to promote your website through sponsored ads on search engine results pages. PPC advertising is an inexpensive way to reach a specific audience because you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.
To deliver a strong PPC campaign, you must identify your target audience and research keywords and phrases related to your services. Once you’ve identified your target keywords, you can bid on them through places such as Google Ads and write compelling ads that link to a landing page. This process may require some testing and analysis to get the best results, which is why it’s a good idea to hire copywriting and PPC specialists.
Utilising the right combination of digital marketing for tradies strategies will help you establish a strong foundation for your trades business. If you need practical ideas on how to grow your trades business, tune in to our WorkBuddy blog for more tips and advice. We also offer a powerful field service management app to help you streamline your operations. Book a free demo today to see what it’s all about!
