14 replies to this topic

[TMAN]

After fifteen years in construction I've started a Home Inspection Company. I've been doing home inspections partime for about three years now and finally went out on my own. I know I'm not going to get rich doing this but I'm trying to get out of construction before I'm a cripled old man. What I'm asking is for a little advise on how to get my website on the top, (or close to it) page. Right now when I type in home inspection my site is no where to be found. The only way I can find it is to type it in exactly. Rescueinspects.com. I've have been told by a few company's that want around $300-$500 a month for this. Is that the only way? Any advise would help tremendously! Thanks guys!!!

[Sixthwizard]

The company I work for paid a lot for what you are talking about. I know you have to pay. And what sucks is, Google changes the analytics- need to pay again....it's a constant bill, Brutha.

[Sixthwizard]

the best to ya-
and the big thumb, makes sense now...I forgot you were in construction. Hahaha....

I can ask which company we used. Let you know mañana....

Edited by Sixthwizard, 18 August 2015 - 07:24 PM.

[PlasticSoul]

Pretty much unavoidably expensive to do that stuff.

 

I would suggest doing lots of cheap local advertising. Most cities have weekly coupon mailers and you can get a coupon/ad in there pretty cheap. Same with local papers(not newspapers but the for sale listing type)and i've seen that be pretty effective as well. Considering you are probably after local business you might not care so much about your website popping up when people around the world are looking for inspection help. I'd also suggest getting bulk business cards produced and trying to get local gas stations and little businesses to have them in a stack near the register(might want to buy card trays as well). Most places will let you do it for like 10 bucks if you ask nicely. 

 

Lots of ways to advertise cheap in the real world. Online stuff is really technical and expensive and constantly changing so if you have a local service i would go with local advertising.

[jason76basin]

around here....local radio, so i'd go hard with that.....and another thing to do, which would also help you on taxes, put those magnetic banners on your vehicle or a wrap with your name and business phone number really big on the side of your truck and the back of your truck. anytime here i'm looking for people to do stuff at my house, i'll remember "oh hey i saw tman truck driving around i'm gonna call them" so i'm a big "i saw it driving down the road" type of guy, and that way when your at somebody's house inspecting, maybe their friends/family/blah blah blah will see you for the next time they need such services. just my $0.02 for what its worth

[jkaris]

What are you searching for? What keywords/phrases?

Your site needs to be optimized for those. If you are really serious, you'll want to dump the canned site from Weebly and have a site built from scratch that you can customize down to the code.

In the interim, the best (and cheapest) thing to do is to make sure your yellow pages listing, your Google+ and all other online listings are current and up to date. This is free, just requires some time on your part.

[plasticfiend]

I'm no expert on any of this... so take it with a grain of salt.

 

Paid advertising is obvious, but expensive.  But you can help your ranking with things like keywords etc...

 

There's a book I love and it talks all about the different ways to help with this called:  Get Rich Click

 

Basically about making money online.  I suspect there are a few chapters that could really help you.  I know the title sounds cheesy as hell, but I really like the book and it's very easily digestible for the layman (which I am).

 

Here's a link to the book in amazon:

 

http://www.amazon.co...=get rich click

 

 

Anyhow dude - congrats on going out on your own... and good luck!  : )

 

PF

[plasticfiend]

Pretty much unavoidably expensive to do that stuff.

 

I would suggest doing lots of cheap local advertising. Most cities have weekly coupon mailers and you can get a coupon/ad in there pretty cheap. Same with local papers(not newspapers but the for sale listing type)and i've seen that be pretty effective as well. Considering you are probably after local business you might not care so much about your website popping up when people around the world are looking for inspection help. I'd also suggest getting bulk business cards produced and trying to get local gas stations and little businesses to have them in a stack near the register(might want to buy card trays as well). Most places will let you do it for like 10 bucks if you ask nicely. 

 

Lots of ways to advertise cheap in the real world. Online stuff is really technical and expensive and constantly changing so if you have a local service i would go with local advertising.

 

 

BTW - I meant to add... just building on what Plasticsoul said.  He's right.  I mean I know our balloon business isn't anywhere near the same as what you do... but 95% of our biz is just us passing out biz cards.  The online stuff is small comparatively.  But of course both are important.

 

Referals will probably be your bread and butter.  ALSO - if you know any real estate agents that you could offer up a kick back for their referrals, line up 3-4 agents that you could work with on a regular basis and I imagine that you would get a lot of referrals from that.  Then it's just all the hustle of asking your customers for referrals etc.  For our customers, lots of times we offer discounts if they refer new customers etc.  Anyhow - I'm sure you know most of this stuff already.  Just thinking out loud.

 

Anyhow again, good luck!!

 

PF

[bachamn]

I do consulting for this kind of thing for a few independent business owners,  but I can echo what some people have said, if you want to be competitive you generally are going to have to invest some time and cash into the project and move away from the pre-fab site. 

 

PM me if you'd like to discuss more specifics.

[TMAN]

Pretty much unavoidably expensive to do that stuff.

I would suggest doing lots of cheap local advertising. Most cities have weekly coupon mailers and you can get a coupon/ad in there pretty cheap. Same with local papers(not newspapers but the for sale listing type)and i've seen that be pretty effective as well. Considering you are probably after local business you might not care so much about your website popping up when people around the world are looking for inspection help. I'd also suggest getting bulk business cards produced and trying to get local gas stations and little businesses to have them in a stack near the register(might want to buy card trays as well). Most places will let you do it for like 10 bucks if you ask nicely.

Lots of ways to advertise cheap in the real world. Online stuff is really technical and expensive and constantly changing so if you have a local service i would go with local advertising.

around here....local radio, so i'd go hard with that.....and another thing to do, which would also help you on taxes, put those magnetic banners on your vehicle or a wrap with your name and business phone number really big on the side of your truck and the back of your truck. anytime here i'm looking for people to do stuff at my house, i'll remember "oh hey i saw tman truck driving around i'm gonna call them" so i'm a big "i saw it driving down the road" type of guy, and that way when your at somebody's house inspecting, maybe their friends/family/blah blah blah will see you for the next time they need such services. just my $0.02 for what its worth

What are you searching for? What keywords/phrases?

Your site needs to be optimized for those. If you are really serious, you'll want to dump the canned site from Weebly and have a site built from scratch that you can customize down to the code.

In the interim, the best (and cheapest) thing to do is to make sure your yellow pages listing, your Google+ and all other online listings are current and up to date. This is free, just requires some time on your part.

Thank you guys for all the info, I had no idea that a site made from scratch would have that much of an impact. I have my company logo and phone number coming Friday for my truck. I Also like the tips on advertising the old fashion way.

[bachamn]

 I had no idea that a site made from scratch would have that much of an impact.

that's not necessarily the case, but it gives you the control over everything so you can set things up correctly. a lot of "push to publish" sites are built around ease of use and don't incorporate enough edit points for you to do SEO optimization very well, though I use a plugin for wordpress that handles this pretty well for my Forming the Beast site. for the keywords I was going for it made it up to the top of google queries in a few weeks.

Edited by bachamn, 20 August 2015 - 05:25 AM.

[BadLarry]

How big of a community are you in?

 

Why I ask: I'm in property management and I occasionally work for a friend of mine who is a contractor. (who, coincidentally is looking to "retire" as a home inspector just like you) I live in a sort of middle-of-the-road sized area population wise. We have some small cities and large towns.

 

Around here there aren't many home inspectors and the ones there are are always busy. One of the big ways the home inspectors here get their business is through connections made with the realtors. What is that scene like where you are? In your construction work have you built any relationships with real estate agents, landlords, flippers or other real estate players?

 

I can also say that my contractor friend has built up quite a good reputation and business by being involved with local organizations/charities. He coaches his kids' sports teams, participates in parades, sponsors charity events etc. He has no website, but does try to stay active on FB.

 

This is just one anecdotal example, and it may not apply to you if you are in a major urban area with way more people and inspectors. But for what it's worth, I have seen people I know do very well with word-of-mouth.

 

Thank you

[bachamn]

How big of a community are you in?...may not apply to you if you are in a major urban area with way more people and inspectors.

this is a very valid point. web searches definitely aren't going to be as competitive (if at all) if you're in a smaller community or rural area. Still worth getting your name up there, but you won't have to fight as much for localized query priority

 

if you're in a city though, you have to do it if you don't want to get buried.

[TMAN]

How big of a community are you in?
 
Why I ask: I'm in property management and I occasionally work for a friend of mine who is a contractor. (who, coincidentally is looking to "retire" as a home inspector just like you) I live in a sort of middle-of-the-road sized area population wise. We have some small cities and large towns.
 
Around here there aren't many home inspectors and the ones there are are always busy. One of the big ways the home inspectors here get their business is through connections made with the realtors. What is that scene like where you are? In your construction work have you built any relationships with real estate agents, landlords, flippers or other real estate players?
 
I can also say that my contractor friend has built up quite a good reputation and business by being involved with local organizations/charities. He coaches his kids' sports teams, participates in parades, sponsors charity events etc. He has no website, but does try to stay active on FB.
 
This is just one anecdotal example, and it may not apply to you if you are in a major urban area with way more people and inspectors. But for what it's worth, I have seen people I know do very well with word-of-mouth.
 
Thank you

I'm in Southern California so yeah, it's a huge area with a lot of inspectors. I'm working on getting in with realtors but most already have the guy they use. I'm finding out that a lot of realities only refer inspectors that down play the problems with the property or hide them in the report or even worse lev eat that I for out altogether....in order not to break the sale. This is something that I refuse to do. I'm hired to protect the buyer, not the agents wallet. I'm trying to get referrals from buyer to buyer.

[Sixthwizard]

Company we used was called Fathom. Was told they are not recommended.