As a plumber in Montana, you may find that even though you live in a smaller town, you’re still competing against dozens of other plumbers. How do you get a competitive edge on other plumbers in your area? Of all the marketing channels you can pick to get your business out there, a high-performing website has the highest Return on Investment. Find out whether your website meets the criteria of a high-performing plumbing website or if you need to up your game to remain competitive.
Features of a high-performing plumbing website
A high-performing plumbing website appeals not only to search engines but also has a clear marketing message so that you convert the visitors on your site to become customers.
In this article, we use a niche plumbing site we created as an example. Take a look at the top 3 features of a high-performing website and measure your own plumbing & heating site against these examples.
1. Above the Fold Content
“Above the fold” content is what displays when a visitor first lands on your site. There are a number of features to consider in this “above the fold” image of a plumbing page development site. According to plenty of research into customer engagement, you have approximately 3 seconds to capture your visitor’s attention before they leave for good. This vital 3 seconds means you need to have all the information they need right at the top of the page.
Contact Information
Starting from the top. There is a strip that includes contact information. An easily visible email and phone number are shown along the top of the site with a complementary color to make the information strip pop.
Imagery
Use photography that is relevant to your industry. The more custom or realistic the photography, the better. Try to tell your story in one image.
Easy Navigation
The navigation for this site is clean and easy to understand. The “contact” menu has a clear “call-to-action” which is “Schedule With Us”.
Call to Action
In case someone misses the contact info at the top of the page or doesn’t care to navigate to the “schedule” page, they can use the convenient contact form available immediately in the heading. The contact form includes a prompt to share what issue they’re dealing with, their region, name, phone number, and any comments they have. Also included is a very visible phone number that is eye-catching. Besides this content is one of the most common pain points a customer has in the plumbing industry – the need for emergency service. This is clearly called out on the “above the fold” image.
2. Storytelling
Another feature of a high performing plumbing and HVAC website is clear and relatable storytelling. Plumbing is a routine industry with hundreds of plumbers competing for the attention of customers in their region. Most specialize in the same services. Selling points such as experience, affordability, and quality become so commonplace that they don’t stand out as distinguishing benefits any longer. It is valuable to have a strong story to capture your customer and help them understand why you are the plumber they want in their home.
In this image, there is a clear and relatable story about this particular plumbing company. You can still emphasize that you have experience or provide a quality service, but instead, let your customers do the talking for you by providing snippets from actual reviews. This “social proof” is viewed as more valuable to your potential customers than your own statements.
A storytelling section is also a good place to call out how you are involved in the community that you are serving. For example, do you serve on any boards? Have you received any local rewards? Do you participate in any events not relevant to your industry? Have you contributed to any non-profit organizations?
Help your customers get to know you better. Who are you? Why are you different?
3. SEO
One feature that is pretty commonly addressed but is so essential to a high-performing site is clean SEO. Aside from the usual keyword density and quality content writing. There are a few coding things to keep in mind. What does this look like?
A common mistake that web builders make in the new age of “do-it-yourself web builders” is using SEO semantic tags for design features. What is an SEO semantic tag? These are commonly called heading tags. You can often choose between an H1, H2, H3, and so on in your editor. Typically, people use them to make certain fonts larger so that they display as a title on the page. For example, in the image below, the H1 semantic tag is used for “Commercial Plumber”. Similarly, the titles for “General Repairs”, “Commercial Builds”, and “Installations” all contain an H2 semantic tag.
In this instance, the tags make sense. The most important word for the page is featured as an H1. In SEO, this tag is given the highest value on the page. The following H2s or H3s are given second priority and so on.
Here’s an example of how you could use this tag incorrectly.
Which site do you think will rank better with Google? The one that says “Commercial Plumbing” is the most valued word on the page. Or the one that says “We’re the best…” The problem with the latter is:
- It doesn’t contain a keyword
- It isn’t specific
- It isn’t helpful
While you can assume that a human will understand your intention, you can guarantee that Google won’t favor you over another site with clean tags.
Another example of code you can put on your site that may help with rank for your plumbing or heating website is a Schema markup. This further clarifies what your business does.
The best way to tell if your website is hitting all the right SEO marks is to have an SEO person take a look at it. If you’re looking for an affordable, albeit, limited overview, check out this FREE SEO audit tool from Neil Patel.
To Summarize: The 3 Keys to a High Performing Plumbing Site
- Above the fold content optimization
- Storytelling to convey your brand
- SEO with a focus on clean coding and quality writing
How does your website stack up? Not sure? Want more info to help you decide? Get your free digital marketing guide for plumbers.
