Learning how to help your local pest control business get found online is an essential part of growing your business over the long term. The larger your presence online, the more customers will contact you organically without you having to spend a fortune on advertising. Here are some of our top tips for getting found online and boosting your visibility in no time.
Social Media
The easiest way to help people find you online is to create social media pages for your pest control business. Social media is free to use, and thousands of people in your service area access their social pages each day.
It also makes an easy way for you to interact with your customers, send them friendly reminders, and even share valuable insights on pest control and protecting their property.
Customers engage with these posts and even share them with their friends, earning you new business quickly and easily.
Facebook is the most important social media property at this time. I recommend you concentrate on that one and get your business page up and running and keep it alive and active.
Don’t start with a hiss and a roar and fade out in three months because your business will look like it’s out of business to someone who comes to visit your Facebook page in 6 months.
Online Directories
Online directories also offer users a simple way to search for businesses in their area and contact you directly. Sites like True Local, One Flare and Google My Business allow customers to search for pest controllers and find businesses nearby.
They can also read reviews by other customers and get an idea of which companies are trustworthy and what to expect from your business if they choose you for their pest control job.
It is important to remember that you need to be investing in reputation management with these sites to ensure that any negative reviews are not going unaddressed. Even if there is a complaint, you have an opportunity to salvage a customer and impress potential customers with your customer service by responding to the online review.
Company Website and Blog
Any serious company needs a robust website and blog to attract customers.
A blog adds to your business’s legitimacy and helps customers get a better idea of the services and products you offer. You should use your blog to highlight your best work and be helpful. You can then encourage readers to set up appointments directly from the blog or to contact you via your contact us page. Here’s a couple of examples to aim for from US pest control companies.
By adding a blog talking about helpful household and pest control tips, you can maximise the number of keywords that are searchable through Google and other search engines. Using a blog helps your company site appear at the top of the list when users search for specific pest control questions in your area.
Building up your Google ranking does take time, but it is the best way to earn residual business in the long run. You can pay to advertise your blog posts early on to start getting followers. For example, you can share your blog posts on Facebook and boost the post by promoting it to people in your local area for a few days. Then you can move to a more organic search method once you have built up a robust collection of keywords and content.
Visual Marketing Opportunities
Aside from major social sites like Facebook and Twitter, there are a few less obvious ways to promote your business through only visual means. For instance, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram offer you ample opportunities to post photos and videos of your work without producing text-based content.
It’s easy to snap pictures and video and update them instantly as you work. This gives customers a behind-the-scenes view of what you do and helps them relate to your business more personally. You can make this content easily searchable by using creative tags and trends.
Ask for Reviews
It may seem weird, but asking your customers to leave you positive reviews online really extends your reach. Customers who are thrilled with your service are likely to tell their friends about you, but you can capitalise on this by making sure that they write reviews on your Google My Business or social pages, and share them.
Eight in ten people will check online reviews about pest control before they hire a new service provider according to a Bright Local survey.  So when you have lots of good online reviews, this helps convince prospective customers to contact you. Which of these would potential customers be choosing? Probably Flick get the lion’s share of new calls here.
Why do they have so many more reviews? Probably because they have a system and process in place for collecting and managing online reviews.
Put Yourself on the Map
If you haven’t already registered your business location with Google Maps and Apple Maps, now is the time. Like directories, users who search for a business like yours will on maps see companies physically closest to them. While you probably won’t have customers coming to your office, it is still important to show customers that you are available in their neighbourhood.
A closer location to them gives assurance that your service times will be reasonable and that they can reach you if there is ever a problem.
Rounding Up
These are the six easiest ways for how to help your local pest control business get found online. The good news is that registering for these sites will only take a few minutes, and you can update your listings over time to continue growing your business. From that point forward, new customers will be able to find you through various avenues depending on their needs and location.
