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Are Lead Machines like HomeAdvisor and Angie's List Worth It for Contractors?
Richard Fagan • Dec 11, 2019
I usually don’t tell personal stories, but my wife and I recently moved and bought a house with lots of crazy colors on 2 story walls. Not the type of project we wanted to undertaker ourselves. Being new to the area, we started online searches for painters. Most didn’t have websites, so we had to make lots of phone calls without being able to do any type of due diligence.
During our search, my wife happened upon HomeAdvisor and found a painter with good testimonials and recommendation, who was willing to give us a bid and work within our budget. We hired him and now have newly painted walls. As we were wrapping up our transaction, I asked him how HomeAdvisor was working for him. As it turns out he, he was considering a website because he’s not that happy with the service. Which got me to thinking about how these services compare and why so many small business owners who don’t have websites are on multiple services such as Angie's List, Yelp, Thumbtack, Houzz, etc. Is it more cost effective?
After a little research I found the cost of these services astonishing. A recent article on LinkedIn by Michele Deane does the math for you: “$300 per year for the basic service. Each of the leads sent … generate a variable fee, usually between $15 and $60+ per contractor and per lead. If you use an average rate of $30 per lead and … If a typical contractor receives 12 leads per month, they could conceptually pay $360 for these leads plus $25 of the prorated annual fee. That adds up to $4,620 per year.” She also goes on to say that since it’s a free service for the consumer, they have no vested interest, they aren’t pre-qualified, and they may just be shopping for prices. You are still required to pay for that lead. Y Eugene Aquino with Small Business also wrote an article outlining several more cons: “Compared to the searcher traffic on Google, the number of paid members who visit Angie’s List is miniscule. It likely won’t be your main source of leads … They also have very self-serving interests. For example, they offer an icon for your website that says, “read my reviews here” ... However, instead of showing your reviews … it links back to a sales page to sell their membership. You can’t see the reviews unless you join. They also show the website visitor a list of your competitors instead of your reviews.”
My prices are advertised on my website
, so I don’t need to give you the lowdown on what your initial investment would be, or your annual hosting cost. Stand out from the rest with your own website.
Still not willing to invest in a website? At least let me offer a free recommendation:
If you’ve ever wondered why your business doesn’t show up in Google maps when you search for your industry in your area, it’s likely because you’ve never set up your Google My Business account. It’s free to set up your listing, so you’ll want to make certain you fill it out completely and accurately and add a bunch of high quality images of your work to show off exactly how good you and your team are. Google averages about 6.5 billion visits per month. Also consider Facebook. It is worth setting up and maintaining an account just due to its sheer popularity. Plus, with an account you can encourage customers to share your work with their friends to create greater online word of mouth for your services. You should be posting something at least once a week. Just setting up a page, posting once or twice and then letting it sit dormant doesn’t encourage potential customers. They’ll only wonder if you’re still in business. As for numbers, Facebook averages about 2.9 billion visits per month.
Interested in spending your money a little more wisely and increasing your visibility? Give me a call. I offer a one-hour free consultation.
Modern web design has undergone significant transformations in recent years, with several key changes reshaping the digital landscape. These changes reflect evolving user expectations, technological advancements, and design trends. Here are some of the biggest design changes in modern web design: Responsive Design: One of the most significant shifts has been towards responsive design. With the proliferation of mobile devices, websites must adapt seamlessly to various screen sizes and resolutions. Responsive design ensures optimal viewing experiences across desktops, tablets, and smartphones, improving accessibility and user engagement. Minimalist Aesthetics: Clean, minimalist design has become increasingly popular. This approach emphasizes simplicity, with a focus on clear typography, ample white space, and minimalist navigation menus. Minimalist aesthetics enhance user focus, readability, and visual appeal while reducing clutter and distractions. Typography Emphasis: Typography plays a crucial role in modern web design. Designers are experimenting with bold, expressive typography to create memorable brand identities and enhance content hierarchy. Custom fonts, variable fonts, and creative typography treatments are gaining traction, adding personality and character to websites. Microinteractions: Microinteractions are subtle, interactive elements that enhance user experience and engagement. From hover animations and button feedback to scroll-triggered effects, microinteractions add depth and interactivity, making websites more intuitive and enjoyable to navigate. Accessibility Focus: Designers are placing greater emphasis on accessibility, ensuring that websites are inclusive and user-friendly for people with disabilities. This includes implementing accessible color contrasts, keyboard navigation support, screen reader compatibility, and other accessibility best practices to improve usability for all users. Illustrations and Animations: Visual storytelling through illustrations and animations has gained momentum in modern web design. Custom illustrations and animated graphics add personality, convey brand messages, and create immersive experiences that captivate and engage users. Scroll-based Navigation: Long-scrolling websites with scroll-based navigation have become prevalent, offering seamless transitions between sections and enhancing storytelling capabilities. Scroll-triggered animations, parallax effects, and fixed headers optimize the scrolling experience, making content more engaging and interactive. Video Backgrounds: Incorporating video backgrounds has become a popular design trend, adding dynamic visual elements that capture attention and convey brand narratives effectively. Video backgrounds can create immersive experiences, set the tone for websites, and increase user engagement. User-Centric Design: Overall, modern web design is increasingly focused on user-centric principles. Designers prioritize user experience (UX) research, usability testing, and iterative design processes to create intuitive, enjoyable, and meaningful digital experiences that resonate with users and drive results. These design changes reflect the dynamic nature of web design, driven by technological innovation, user behavior trends, and evolving design aesthetics. Embracing these trends and best practices can help designers create impactful and user-friendly websites in today's digital landscape.
High-quality content on a website refers to content that is valuable, relevant, accurate, and engaging for the target audience. It is content that serves the purpose of meeting the needs, interests, and expectations of visitors while also aligning with the goals and objectives of the website owner. Here's a detailed explanation of what constitutes high-quality content: Relevance : High-quality content is directly relevant to the audience it serves. It addresses topics, questions, and concerns that are pertinent to the target audience's interests, needs, and pain points. Understanding your audience and their motivations is crucial for creating relevant content that resonates with them. Accuracy and Credibility : High-quality content is accurate, reliable, and backed by credible sources whenever possible. It is factually correct and free from errors, misleading information, or outdated data. Providing accurate information helps build trust and credibility with your audience. Value-Driven : High-quality content provides value to the audience by offering useful insights, actionable tips, practical advice, or entertaining stories. It educates, informs, inspires, or entertains the audience, helping them solve problems, make informed decisions, or achieve their goals. Uniqueness and Originality : High-quality content is original and stands out from the crowd. It offers a unique perspective, fresh ideas, or innovative solutions that differentiate it from similar content available elsewhere. Original content helps capture the attention of the audience and establishes your authority in your niche. Clarity and Readability : High-quality content is easy to understand, well-organized, and presented in a clear and concise manner. It uses plain language, avoids jargon or overly technical terms, and breaks down complex concepts into digestible chunks. Clear and readable content ensures that the audience can quickly grasp the message and absorb the information presented. Engagement Potential : High-quality content is engaging and captures the audience's attention from the outset. It sparks curiosity, evokes emotions, or prompts action, encouraging visitors to explore further, share the content with others, or interact with the website in meaningful ways. Engaging content may include storytelling, interactive elements, multimedia assets, or compelling visuals. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) : High-quality content is optimized for search engines to improve visibility and ranking in search results. It incorporates relevant keywords, meta tags, and descriptive titles and headings to make it easier for search engines to understand and index the content. SEO-friendly content helps attract organic traffic and increase the website's online presence. Overall, high-quality content is the cornerstone of a successful website. It serves as the bridge between the website owner and the audience, fostering meaningful connections, driving engagement, and ultimately contributing to the achievement of business goals and objectives.
In today's digital age, creating content that truly resonates with your audience is essential for building a loyal following and driving engagement on your website, blog, or social media channels. Value-driven content goes beyond mere information-sharing; it provides actionable insights, practical advice, and inspiring stories that enrich the lives of your audience members. In this blog post, we'll explore how to create value-driven content that educates, informs, inspires, and entertains your audience while helping them solve problems and achieve their goals. Understand Your Audience Before you start creating content, it's crucial to understand your audience's needs, preferences, and pain points. Conduct audience research, gather feedback, and analyze data to gain insights into what matters most to your target audience. What are their challenges? What questions do they have? What are their aspirations and goals? By understanding your audience deeply, you can tailor your content to address their specific needs and interests. Provide Actionable Tips and Practical Advice One of the hallmarks of value-driven content is its practicality. Offer actionable tips, step-by-step guides, and practical advice that your audience can implement in their lives or businesses right away. Whether it's a tutorial on mastering a new skill, a checklist for improving productivity, or a recipe for a healthy meal, make sure your content provides tangible value and helps your audience achieve real results. Tell Inspiring Stories Storytelling is a powerful tool for connecting with your audience on an emotional level and inspiring them to take action. Share personal anecdotes, case studies, or success stories that illustrate key concepts or lessons. Use storytelling to humanize your brand, showcase your expertise, and demonstrate how your products or services have made a positive impact on people's lives. Inspiring stories have the ability to captivate and motivate your audience, making your content more memorable and impactful. Educate and Inform In today's information-saturated world, people crave knowledge and insights that can help them navigate complex issues and make informed decisions. Position yourself as a trusted authority in your niche by creating content that educates and informs your audience. Dive deep into topics relevant to your industry or area of expertise, provide in-depth analysis and commentary, and offer valuable resources and recommendations that empower your audience to expand their knowledge and skills. Entertain and Delight While providing valuable information is important, don't forget the power of entertainment in capturing and holding your audience's attention. Incorporate elements of humor, storytelling, or visual appeal to make your content more engaging and enjoyable to consume. Infuse your content with personality and authenticity, and don't be afraid to inject a bit of fun or levity into your messaging. By entertaining and delighting your audience, you create a positive and memorable experience that keeps them coming back for more. Creating value-driven content is the key to building meaningful connections with your audience and driving long-term engagement and loyalty. By understanding your audience, providing actionable tips and practical advice, telling inspiring stories, educating and informing, and entertaining and delighting your audience, you can create content that truly resonates and adds value to their lives. So, roll up your sleeves, get creative, and start crafting content that makes a difference! Remember, the more value you provide to your audience, the more they'll appreciate and engage with your content, ultimately leading to greater success for your brand or business.
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