If you’re already a professional service provider, then you know just how hard it can be to get your name out there and get ahead of the competition. Some examples of professional service providers are:
- Accountants
- Architects
- Lawyers
- Consultants
- Engineers
- Recruiters
- Real estate brokers
While it’s a fairly general name for a number of different types of services, as you know, the competition in your particular niche is probably pretty darn steep.
So how do you get ahead of the competition? My best advice is always to get online. More and more people are hitting the web to find the information that they need as well as the products and services that they need. You can see how well your competition is doing and what they’re doing if you bring your marketing online. Best of all, you can actually measure your marketing results when you use inbound marketing tactics.
To learn more about easy ways to generate qualified leads from your site, check out our FREE Ebook, “The Immediate Solution for Lead Generation.”
If you’re fairly new to the online marketing scene, here are some tips that I give to my best clients:
Open a Blog
There’s nothing that will help your clients get to know you better than a blog. Blogs allow you to express your opinion, tell your side of the story, and provide important information to the people who want and need it the most- your potential and current clients and customers!
As mentioned in our free Ebook “Website Redesign 101”, opening up a blog that is related to your industry and that provides important and helpful information to people who are interested will put you immediately ahead of the pack. Not only will clients and customers feel more comfortable with hiring you as they’ll feel that they know you better, but having a great blog that’s optimized will also give you a huge boost in the search rankings.
Tip: Check out our FREE Ebook, “How to Start a Business Blog” to get your blog up and running today.
And that takes us to our second point…
Keywords and Search Engine Optimization
If you really want to edge out the competition, then you want to get ahead of them on the search engines. When people type “Lawyer in Richmond, VA” into a Google search engine, don’t you want to show up in one of the top spots (if not THE top spot)? People are more likely to view pages that are only on either the first page of the search results, or a couple of pages in. If you’re on page 10 for the keywords “Lawyer in Richmond, VA”, then there’s a slim chance that anyone’s going to visit your website.
Choosing the right keywords and optimizing your site to incorporate those keywords may take a bit of practice, and it will certainly take a bit of learning. That’s why I always recommend to my clients that I initially search the keywords and keyword phrases with them and incorporate them into their site to get them started. Some clients want me to continue to take charge of that part of their online marketing campaign, while others will sit down with me and learn how to choose the right keywords with keyword search tools, and then learn about keyword density, keyword placement, and so on.
For more on optimizing your website for the search engines, check out our FREE Ebook, “Rank High In Google Without an SEO Agency.”
Show your Work
It’s important to have different media on your website. You don’t want it all to be large blocks of text that people have to sift through and read. So why not post a video of yourself in action, or start up a “vlog” (video blog)? Or, if you’re an architect for example, why not take pictures of some of your best projects or blue prints and post them to your site? Your potential clients will love seeing them.
Always have a Contact Form
Want more clients? Then make yourself accessible. One of the best and easiest ways to make yourself accessible is to add a “contact me” or “quote” form to your website. Depending on the line of work you’re in, you can then tailor the form so that it’s appropriate to your business. All people should have to do is enter in their name, email address, and their query. This benefits you in a couple of ways:
- You then have a potential client or customers’ email address
- You have a brand new lead that you can then work on nurturing and turning into a customer
Make sure that you do reply in the time frame you promise, which should never be more than 48 hours. After 48 hours, people will forget that they’ve contacted you, OR the competition will have already replied to their query and gotten their business.
Key Takeaways:
Online marketing is the way to get ahead, especially if you’re a new business that’s just hitting the local scene. Your competition may have a stronghold on outbound marketing techniques (telemarketing, direct mailing campaigns, etc.), but with everyone moving online to find products and services, having a great website is what will get you ahead.
Need Help?
If you’re a professional service provider interested in inbound marketing, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.
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