Category: Marketing

With all you have to do in the day, why should a general contractor care about SEO? The short answer is: leads. Great. You’re ready to go. Hire a writer.

Or maybe you still have reservations. That’s okay.

Why should a GC Care About SEO?

SEO just means making sure people can find you on the internet. Technical SEOs like to hem and haw about this jargon and that piece of technology. Just as that isn’t necessarily a helpful conversation for you to hear, as marketers we’d probably not want to go into the pros and cons of using glulam beams. You get it.

Back to why you should care about SEO as a builder. You’re busy. You’re too busy. But, you’re not busy enough.

When you invest in a website that is optimized for leads, then your website becomes a 24/7 salesperson – that never goes on vacation.

How Does a General Contractor Get Business?

General contractors get business from previous customers; referrals from home inspectors, real estate agents, and former clients; and from search engines.

You may even get business because of legacy. So many GCs are family businesses – clients loved your father, so they stick with you. That’s wonderful. Customer loyalty is why you have a business to sell in the first place.

But, customer loyalty has a half-life. You can’t just take that for granted. Customer loyalty (trust) has to be both earned and maintained. So you go golfing, catch a local baseball game, and get drinks. It’s what you do. 

So, If I Mostly Get Referrals, Why Do I Need SEO?

Referrals are the lifeblood of any service-based business and general contractors need them even more. The value of a customer is based on the project. Sure, a bathroom remodel may get you in the door for the second-floor addition, but there are only so many projects one customer will do in their lifetime. You need their reviews and referrals for a continuous flow of new customers. 

You know this. So how does SEO help with referrals? SEO is two-fold: discovery and validation. A customer may find you from a local search on Google, Yelp, Angi, etc. That’s discovery. When Sally tells her friends at book club about how you totally opened up their living space, her friends will look at your website (later, if they’re polite) to see if you’re legit. That’s validation. 

Isn’t My Home Remodeler Website Good Enough?

Like many estimates you’re asked to give over the phone, the answer is: it depends. Do you want people to trust you?

Is your website the source of truth for your business? Meaning, does it reflect your services and values, as well as show your expertise? Are you using your blog posts as an internal sales library?

If the content on your website is like staging a home for sale, then the function of your website is the disclosure form of things that need repair.

Does your contact form work? Is your name, address, and telephone number correct on your contact page and footer of your website? (SEOs call this NAP info.) Do the links to social networks work? (Are you posting on social networks? Wait. You have social profiles, right?)

Does the website load quickly on mobile devices? Most people use their phones to search and look at websites. Think about it.

According to Pew Research 99% of households with an income over $100,000 have mobile devices. They have things to do. If your site doesn’t load quickly, for example, they’ll find someone else. And there are plenty of handymen just waiting to take work from a reputable GC like yourself.

Reviews are SEO Gold

Don’t Forget Google Maps, Yelp, and Trustpilot. These third-party review sites are super important both for posting reviews (obvious, I know) and for search. The review doesn’t have to be on your website for it to be important.

A lot of consumers search for “general contractors near me” on Google Maps, Apple Maps, Yelp, and Angi. 

If a potential customer can search on a third-party platform (Angi, Yelp, Maps), then it is a search engine. They are also external links that help to show the trustworthiness of your business.

“This becomes a lot easier to succeed with when the brand already has trust signals tied to it and its digital properties.” SearchEngineJournal

You should care about SEO. Ready for the Next Step? 

You may be thinking, “wow, this sounds like a lot of work and expertise that’s not in my toolbox! I prefer a nail gun!” 

That’s okay. We got you.

We can handle the website and lead gen process so that you can keep doing what you do best – serving homeowners. 

Let’s book a call today.

You’re driving around town and see a used bookstore. You make a mental note and come back when you have time. Darn it. They’re closed. Well, you look them up on Instagram. Okay. You’ll follow them. 

You come in a few times, pet the mascot — a black cat, and buy some books. Then, sadly, you see they closed or are for sale. 

They couldn’t make it. Why? As a WordPress agency, we’re admittedly biased but that doesn’t change the truth. It’s obvious the used bookstore didn’t invest in a solid SEO strategy. You can’t build an audience only on Instagram. Sorry, not sorry.

Do I Really Need SEO For My Website?

The short answer is yes, you need SEO for your website. And you need a website for SEO. Unless, of course, you’re trying to launder money for a cartel like Los Pollos Hermanos. All joking aside, if you intend on making a profit as a small business, then your website should be optimized for people to find you. That findability is called SEO – Search Engine Optimization. 

What’s a Search Engine in 2025?

In 2025, any website that allows you to enter a query and give you results is a search engine. This means, Google, of course, and the second largest search engine YouTube. It also means X, Facebook, Bing, Pinterest, Yelp, Google Maps, Waze, and Apple Maps. 

“Done right, SEO can lower customer acquisition costs, making it an appealing avenue for companies looking to grow without breaking the bank..” Semrush 

It’s not just the too-big-to-quit tech engines that count, either. DuckDuck Go, Brave, and other privacy-oriented search engines exist. Semrush lists the top 21, in fact. 

And don’t forget our favorite AI assistants: Siri, Alexa, and Hey Google. Anytime you ask a computer a question, the answer depends upon a search engine. And the quality of the answer depends upon the human behind the keyboard. 

Can You Have SEO Without a Website?

Yes, you can be found online without a website though it is much more difficult. Being found on platforms other than your website is called off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to the optimizations you make for and on the website you own. 

Many small businesses start off with only a Facebook Page or Google Business Profiles. But, would you trust a business that only uses Facebook? Maybe. They’d better be good. Why? Social validation. 

Where are the reviews? How can you learn about them or verify their business hours? Accurate business hours are a huge reason to update all the things – especially in our post-pandemic world. But that’s another blog post.

We’ve seen many businesses come and go with just an Instagram account. And when their account is hacked, or they get banned for some reason, then the content is just gone. There’s no backup.

How Important is SEO for Local Businesses?

It’s not a stretch to say that SEO is vital for a local business. Think of how many businesses you’ve known start and close. Dozens? In fact, 1 out of 5 fail within two years. That’s 20%! Walk down the main street of your town to illustrate: duck, duck, duck, duck, goose. Goose will fail. That percentage is palpable. It’s a wake-up call. 

Instead of investing the proper amount (up to 15% of revenue) on marketing and SEO (which includes your website), many businesses DIY it. Since everyone has a computer in their hands, there is a false sense that marketing is easy. It’s not quite that simple.

Maybe you can get by doing your own website if you have tech skills and some marketing talent. Firstly, that will only get you so far. Secondly, ask yourself this: do you really have time to build and maintain your own website, track the conversions, make edits, and publish regularly on your blog? If you do, then what part of your business are you stealing from? Biz Dev, Sales, Production, Accounting?

Now that’s something to think about. 

Wondering how much local businesses pay for SEO on an ongoing basis? Nutshell reports that it is between $1,500 and $3,000 a month. If your monthly revenue is $10,000-$20,000, that tracks with 15% of revenue as your marketing budget.

“Local SEO is becoming increasingly important as more and more people use mobile devices for search. These days, 60% of all searches are performed on a mobile device, and nearly half of those searches have local intent.” Digital Marketing Institute

Still Want to Leave SEO Up to Chance? We’re happy to help.

You should care about SEO. Ready for the Next Step? 

You may be thinking, “wow, this sounds like a lot of work and expertise that’s not in my toolbox! I prefer a nail gun!” 

That’s okay. We got you.

We can handle the website and lead gen process so that you can keep doing what you do best – serving homeowners. 

Let’s book a call today.

Okay great. You’re ready to take the leap and hire someone to build your website. Or maybe this is a rebuild – fixing what you did. Hey, we all started somewhere, right? And when you’re a new business, just having any website is good. Many clients start on WordPress.com and we think that’s great. 

But, you’re in a new phase now. Money’s coming in and you need a website that reflects your current market position, branding, and frankly, your life’s dream and legacy. We got you. 

But we will need to work with you. So are you prepared? So, let’s go into some of the things we need to work together.

What Do You Need To Know Before Hiring a Web Developer?

Before hiring your web developer (hint, hint) you’ll need to know a few things. If you’re super organized this first step will only take about 20 minutes. 

1. Do you have a domain name already? If you’re buying a new domain name, we can do that together. 
2. If you have a domain name, get your username and password ready to log into your domain registrar. It’s probably Domain, GoDaddy, or Namecheap – those are Forbes’ Partners. It’s a best practice to have your hosting and domain registration in different places.
3. Do you have a current website? We’ll need to log into your hosting account, take a look at what’s there, and make a backup to download. This is important to the discovery phase of website development. Have your hosting account password and login ready.
4. If you don’t have a website, then we can start from scratch. 
5. What is the main purpose of your website? Meaning, what do you want people to do when they get there? Many small businesses want people to read the menu, click on Contact Us, or fill out a form. These “simple actions” can sometimes involve complex WordPress plugins.
6. Do you have a Google Analytics account set up for your domain name? We will need that information as well. If you have a UA code instead of GA4, we will need to convert it. 
7. Are you using email with your domain name? This would be yo******@**********ss.com? If so, where is that hosted? Are you using Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) or are you just using a plain Gmail address? This is an important step because WordPress doesn’t handle emails very well. 
8. Like domain registration, it is best practice for you to have email hosted separately from your website hosting. You never want to be in a situation where your website is down and your email is down. (Hey, it’s happened even to big companies.)
9. Are you using email marketing software like Mailchimp or Constant Contact? To connect that to your new website, we’ll need that login info as well.
10. Do you have a logo? What format? (Hint: a Word document is not a photo file. We’re looking for .tiff, .png, .jpg, .pdf, and .psd formats.)
11. Do you have a color palette? (See accessibility in the next section.)
12. Where are the words coming from? Have you already written a home, about, contact, and services page? Do you have any blog posts yet? Do you have YouTube videos that you want repurposed or featured on your website? Do you have a trifold brochure?
13. Do you have any social media accounts? We’ll need all of those links/account names to ensure your footer has social links that work.
14. Who will we be working with throughout the development? Will one person be approving all of the steps?

We may have other questions to ask you but you get the gist. It’s not a project that you start when you’re going on vacation to Europe for three weeks. It’s a project we work on collaboratively. It’s fun, we promise!

What Skills Should Every Developer Have? 

Sometimes you hire a freelancer who specializes in the back end (functionality) and works with a front-end designer (how the website looks). Other times you choose a theme from a specific set that has been optimized for the developer’s niche like Roofer Marketers.

Every developer should have the following skills:

1. Ability to communicate without jargon in writing and in meetings (online and off). This person will explain the process and make it easy for you to get your website done.
2. Ability to manage DNS servers (where your domain is registered).
3. Ability to interface with the hosting platform and get timely support.
4. Provide WordPress updates and maintenance to prevent your site from being hacked. (At an additional charge, usually).
5. “Extensive knowledge of web applications, programming languages, and web services — including API, CSS, CSS3, cross-browser compatibility, HTML, HTML5, JavaScript, jQuery, PHP, security principles, REST, SOAP, and web user interface design.” LinkedIn
6. Understand eCommerce and provide the best functionality for your online store.
7. “A good web designer should have a sense of creativity and be able to come up with unique designs that will set your website apart from the competition.” Astra  
8. The ability to tell you no. This seems like an odd one but you might have an idea that makes no sense or negates the purpose of your website. You don’t want to hire someone that doesn’t push back on ideas, politely, and with reasons. You’re hiring an expert.
9. Basic accessibility. You may have colors that you love. But if they don’t work on the web for accessibility (low vision and blind users), then your developer should suggest alternate versions and pairings for font/background.
10. Writing skills or access to a copywriter. No offense, but it’s unlikely that you as a client know what words will work best on your site. It’s different writing for the web. You want a developer who will make your words better or have the resources to do so.
11. Project management skills. Meaning, the project moves along and you’re being updated weekly on the progress of your small business website.

“Bear in mind that your tech needs to be scalable – all being well, demand for your product or service is only going to grow! You need to ensure that your website will be able to cope with increased demand.” Stephenson Law

Being Ready Makes the Website Build Process Easier 

We hope we haven’t completely overwhelmed you. People feel blindsided when they don’t understand the process. But that’s why you’re hiring us. Our transparent process and workflow means you’re hiring an expert and we want to put your mind at ease.

Browse through our portfolio, read some of our client reviews, and look us up on Google. We’re building community because we all help one another make our community stronger. 

Still Want to Leave Your Small Business Up to Chance? Hire a Professional.

Ready for the Next Step? 

You may be thinking, “wow, this sounds like a lot of work and expertise that’s not in my toolbox! I prefer a nail gun!” 

That’s okay. We got you.

We can handle the website and lead gen process so that you can keep doing what you do best – serving homeowners. 

Let’s book a call today.

Are you planning to create a website for your small business? Want to know how to calculate the price? Afraid that you’ll get sold something you don’t need? We get it. We’re web developers. We’ll help guide you through the tech forest so you don’t get lost. 

Building a website is more than uploading a few blog posts into a WIX template. Not just any design will do either. Like any business decision, your website requires a strategy. 

Talk with us — we’ll help you answer the tough questions:

• Who are your customers? What are you selling?
• Why do you need a website? What does it need to do?
• How much can you manage yourself? Where do you need help?
• And, most importantly, the topic of this article, what are you able to spend?

In this article, we explain the most important cost factors for your website project and give you some important tips, so you don’t get taken for a ride.

“When you build a small business website, you’re essentially creating a digital representation of your company. It’s how you want your business seen on the world wide web. Don’t assume that any design will do. What works for one business may not be practical for your own.” GreenGeeks.com

How Much Does a Small Website Cost?

According to a recent Twitter (X) poll, the average website for small businesses should cost you between $1,500 and $3,000. You could probably get one for $1,000 or even $500 – if you’re lucky. But, let’s say you spend $1,500. 

To get started, you’ll also need a domain name and web hosting; without that, you can’t run WordPress or even connect an HTML document to the internet. 

The cost of a domain and shared web hosting is around $100 per year. There are two types of web hosting – shared and managed. More about that in the following section.

A website probably has a shelf-life of three years. Then the tech and the design will probably be updated. 

If you spread $1,500 over three years and add your shared hosting and domain costs you’re looking at a cost of $600 per year to build (and keep) a website. This equates to $50 a month. That’s probably much less than you spend on a lot of other things each month, right? Or an employee.

“Before you jump into creating a website, it’s important to plan the process based on your goals, or you’ll risk overspending.” MonsterInsights.com

What are the Important Factors that Influence the Pricing of a Website?

Determining the exact cost of a small business website is like estimating vacation expenses or a new wardrobe budget. The cost of a website is influenced by multiple variables.

80% Direct Costs: Website Creation

Creating a small business website involves expenses tied to design complexity and time investment. Elements such as site structure, design, security, SEO, functionality, languages, translations, and project urgency impact the price of your website development. 

Urgent projects command higher costs than those with longer timelines.

20% Indirect Costs: Website Hosting & Maintenance

Hosting, regular updates, and maintenance constitute a significant portion of overall costs. A robust managed host and Content Delivery Network (CDN) are both essential.

Considerations encompass consistent updates to maintain security, features, and compatibility Depending on maintenance frequency and scope, monthly costs could range from single to triple digits.

“Getting a ballpark price for a website redesign is like getting a ballpark price for a house. Will you have three bedrooms or just one? Two full bathrooms or one and a half baths? Garage or just a car park?” Rocket.net

How Much Does Hosting a Small Business Website Cost?

Web hosting is one of the most important considerations when building your website. This is the server and database that controls your website. If it isn’t running at 100%, neither will your website. 

There are two basic types of web hosting:

Shared hosting: Shared hosting is like living in an apartment building. Multiple websites share resources on a server, cost-effective but with limited control and performance. An example would be GoDaddy. On average you will pay about $10 a month for shared hosting. 

Managed hosting: Managed hosting is like living in a house in a subdivision. The provider handles technical aspects like setup, and updates, offering better performance, security, and support, but at a higher cost. An example would be Rocket.net. On average you might pay between $30 and 1$00 (or more) for managed web hosting depending on your needs.

Without hosting, there would be no websites. It’s the physical location of your digital assets. While it might seem like a nuts and bolts decision to make, your hosting provider is crucial and often undervalued. Prioritize professional hosting for your small business website; cutting costs can backfire.

Who Should I Hire to Build My Website? 

According to 99designs, freelance web designers charge between $500 and $5,000 upwards on a project basis.

Your website’s size and complexity influence your budget, so consider your website’s tasks and how much you can personally manage before you hire anyone.

• For a budget under $1,000, consider DIY options like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress.com – no coding needed. This is something you could do yourself.
• With budgets ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, collaborate with freelancers or small agencies for customized sites.
• For larger budgets of $5,000 to $40,000, engage agencies able to create bespoke designs and features as well as write your page and post content.

A bigger budget enables a more extensive and intricate website. Opt for a freelancer or agency depending on your website’s needs and their skills.

Still Want to Leave SEO Up to Chance? Hire a Marketer Who Gets Contractors

Website developers create the structure your business needs to live and thrive in person and online. Leaving your findability up to the roll of the dice, click of a mouse, or scroll of a finger seems kind of risky in this day and age.

When you hire BuilderMarketers you get a proven system to get your phone ringing and all for a reasonable monthly price. 

Let’s book a call today.