When you operate a service-based business like a home remodeling company, success in terms of generating new clients is about more than just getting noticed.
Competition is fierce. Customers have a practically limitless number of options they could go with in order to meet their needs. Why should they notice you? What makes yours a business worth trusting? What makes yours a voice worth paying attention to?
For many small businesses in particular, content marketing is one of the best ways to really make an impact with an audience. According to one recent study, 32% of marketers said that content marketing was actually their primary channel in 2022, due in large part to how effective it was.
Of course, about 29% of successful marketers say that they spend between 10 and 15 hours every week creating content. That’s an incredible amount of time to devote to something week after week if you’re not making a positive, measurable impact in the way that you’d expect.
While content is king, not all content is created equally. Content marketing success for a home remodeling professional isn’t about just writing whatever is on your mind or posting to Facebook and Twitter/X as many times as you can fit in a day. It’s about getting the right message to the right audience at exactly the right time. It’s about creating content that matters with the people you’re speaking to so that they see you as the trusted authority that you really are.
Research conducted by eMarketer says that people create content with goals like boosting sales, building relationships with customers, and even increasing brand awareness. Content that matters can and will do all this and more. It’s just that to make sure that you’re devoting your attention to content that does resonate, you need to keep a few key things in mind along the way.
Start With Local Keywords
Especially for businesses that are new to the content marketing game, many people ask themselves “how am I supposed to know what to write about?” Obviously, if there’s a new remodeling trend, you can write a blog post about it and give your unique take. But that’s not exactly the type of thing that happens every day.
But at the same time, attracting this type of attention at the local level is critically important. Not only do 4 in 5 consumers say that they conduct searches with local intent on sites like Google, but local mobile searches with some variation of the phrase “can I buy” have increased over 500% in the last two years alone.
So reaching a local audience is a great way to find people who are A) ready to make a purchase, and B) who are highly motivated to take action. A perfect storm if there ever was one.
But again – how are you supposed to know what to write about? Thankfully, it’s easy – you start with your local keywords.
When writing for a local audience, always think about the keywords potential customers are using to find remodeling services in their area. Start by researching local keywords, such as “[Your City] kitchen remodel,” “bathroom renovation in [Neighborhood],” or “home improvement contractor near me.” See what types of content comes up when you do that. Pay attention to what other remodeling businesses might be doing that isn’t working so well that you can potentially improve upon.
In addition to general remodeling topics, create content that speaks directly to your local area’s needs and preferences. This could involve sharing insights into local home styles, specific regional remodeling trends, or discussing popular design preferences in your city.
You could write articles or blog posts that tie into local events, home improvement regulations, or seasonal tips for home remodeling in your area. You could even showcase local case studies or project spotlights. For instance, “How we transformed a [City] family’s kitchen” with before-and-after images.
Indeed, this is a big part of the secret to your eventual success – the more relevant you are to a particular area, the more it will matter to those who live in that area by default. You can’t really get to that point unless you’re conducting local keyword research.
Vary Up the Formats Whenever Possible
Especially if you’re new to the world of content marketing for remodelers, it’s important to acknowledge that “content” is a lot more broad of a term than people give it credit for. That doesn’t just mean text-based content. It could be social media posts. It could be detailed YouTube videos. It could be anything.
That is to say that while it’s essential to optimize your content for SEO, the content itself should always provide value to your audience. Focus on answering common remodeling questions, solving problems, and providing useful advice.
Write detailed, helpful blog posts, how-to guides, and project spotlights that showcase your expertise and address local needs. For example, “5 Tips for Winterizing Your Home Before a Remodel” or “How to Choose the Right Contractor for Your [City] Bathroom Remodel” would really resonate in areas where winter is almost here or if there are a lot of people going through bathroom remodeling projects.
All the while, you should use high-quality images and videos to make your content more engaging. Before-and-after photos of your completed projects can build trust and show potential clients the results they can expect.
The Power of User Generated Content
If you really want to create content that matters as a home remodeling provider, one tip you can use is to have some of your own customers create it for you. That is to say, lean into user generated content like customer reviews, video testimonials, and more. Nobody knows how to speak to an audience better than members of that own audience.
Customer testimonials and reviews are invaluable content for a home remodeler in particular because they serve as authentic social proof. Potential clients often rely on the experiences of others to make decisions about who to hire for a project as personal as home remodeling. When previous customers share their positive experiences, it builds trust and credibility, which are essential in a field where quality and reliability are crucial.
Not only that, but these types of reviews also have a significant impact on local SEO. Google rewards businesses with more positive, consistent reviews, improving your visibility in local search results. According to another recent study, about 92% of buyers say that they read reviews and look at testimonials before buying.
This makes testimonials and reviews not only effective marketing tools but also vital for strengthening your online presence and attracting new clients. Not only are you getting great content that really matters, but you’re getting content that inherently resonates with an audience as well.
Using Subjectivity to Your Advantage
In the end, creating content that “matters” is actually something of a misnomer – it can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
Even if you’re in an industry that you think is fairly specific, like home remodeling, there is a lot more wiggle room than you realize. What matters in this context to someone who has never owned a home before and who has recently purchased their first can be totally different from someone who has lived in the same home for 40 years.
All that is to say, you need to think less about what matters to you and more about what matters to the people you’re trying to reach. Always start with your audience and work to understand as much about them as you can. Where do they live? What are they concerned about? What do they like and need more of? Answering these questions will help you understand what is important to them – that way, you can create the type of content that matters given everything that you’re trying to accomplish.
Of course, creating content that matters is only one small part of a much larger story when it comes to local SEO for remodelers. You also have to think about making sure that your various business directories are up-to-date, that you have a social media presence, and more. It can quickly become a full-time job, which is problematic considering that being a remodeler is supposed to monopolize much of your time.
As an all-in-one marketing platform, Surefire Local was designed to make this as easy as possible – condensing everything that would typically require separate tools into one easy-to-manage solution. Not only can you spread the word about your remodeling business across more than 80 online directories, but you can also handle content marketing for remodelers, social media marketing, paid search advertising, and more.
All this frees up your valuable time to focus on that which really matters – doing the type of exceptional work that will get you noticed, regardless of the location you’ve dedicated yourself to serving.
If you’d like to find out more information about creating the type of content that matters for the right audience at the right time, or if you have any additional questions about SEO for remodelers that you’d like to go over in a bit more detail, please contact us today. You can also click here to schedule a Surefire Local demo to see what a powerful all-in-one marketing platform can do for you, positioning you to implement home improvement SEO strategies with ease.