In today's digital age, getting noticed online is crucial for contractors, and home improvement companies looking to grow their business.
Two primary strategies stand out: Online Advertising (such as Google Ads, Facebook & Instagram Ads, etc.), and Search Engine Optimization (SEO, Google Maps, and other platforms).
But how do you know which one is right for your business? In this blog post, we'll break down both strategies, weigh their pros and cons, and share useful insights so you can make a more informed decision on the best fit for your contracting business.
Our Take:
growth360 Contractor Marketing Programs include a combination of SEO, Pay per Lead Advertising, Google Ads, and other strategies.
This approach balances Time & Leads, allowing our service to start paying for itself faster.
One client per industry & location – check availability today!
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In the Nutshell: How Search & Social Media Advertising Works
Search and social media advertising involves creating paid ads that appear in search engine results or on social media platforms. When someone searches for keywords related to your business (plus the demographic targeting) or meets certain demographic criteria (interests, location, employment, etc.), your ads are displayed. Platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram offer robust targeting options, ensuring your ads reach the right audience.
Online Advertising Pros:
Faster Results - unlike SEO, which can take months to show results, search and social media ads can drive traffic to your website almost faster. In many cases, this means that you will get some results sooner. However, optimization and getting quality results can still take months to do, as you need to have enough data to make informed decisions about optimizations.
Targeted Reach - advanced targeting options allow you to reach specific demographics, locations, and even interests, ensuring your ads are shown to the most relevant audience. While it’s hard to guess what targeting will give you the best results
Broad Presence – advertising allows your account to get exposure to multiple keywords, audiences, and locations at once. While building exposure via SEO takes time and is generally done slower than advertising.
Advertising Cons
Cost - depending on your industry and the competitiveness of your keywords, advertising can get expensive. Costs are ongoing, and you'll need to continuously invest to maintain visibility.
Agency Fees – except for paying for agency fees, you will also need to have a significant enough budget so you can get more data to optimize your account for better performance.
Only Works While It’s On - once you stop paying for ads, the traffic and leads generated from them generally stop as well.
In the Nutshell: How SEO Works
SEO involves optimizing your website and online presence to rank higher in organic (unpaid) search engine results on Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines.
This includes on-page SEO (optimizing your website's content and structure), off-page SEO (for example, earning backlinks from reputable sites), and technical SEO (improving your site's performance and user experience).
Within SEO, for contractors, Local SEO and Google Maps optimization are crucial. This helps ensure your business appears in local search results and on Google Maps when potential customers search for services in your area.
For example creating pages like [service] + [location] and optimizing your Google Maps listing so you can show up for searches like “Plumber Near Me”, or “Plumber in Brooklyn”, etc.
SEO Pros:
Cost-Effective - while SEO requires an investment of time and resources, it is typically more cost-effective in the long run compared to advertising. One of the reasons behind it is that you don’t pay for every click, and once the page is live and is ranking well, it will require less work to maintain this result.
Long-Term Results - unlike ads, the benefits of SEO are long-lasting. Once you achieve good rankings, they will stay with you for some time, even after you stop investing in SEO.
Brand Image – ranking well on Google can help contribute to your brand image.
SEO Cons:
Time-Intensive - SEO is a long-term strategy and can take several months before you start seeing significant results.
Constant Changes - search engine algorithms are continually evolving, requiring ongoing adjustments and updates to your SEO strategy. SEO professionals can help monitor changes and optimize your website accordingly before new ranking criteria will impact your ranking.
Competitive - the higher your industry competition, the more challenging it can be to achieve top rankings.
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Advertising May be Right for You if
Every scenario is different, but based on the thinking above we’ve outlined a couple of takeaways as to when advertising & SEO may be right for you. Some of the reasons why Advertising may be right for you include:
You need to get Leads faster to get your crew busy
You have a budget allocated for paid campaigns
You want to target specific demographics or interests quickly.
SEO May be Right for You if
Some of the reasons why SEO may be right for you include:
You’re looking to invest in a long-term marketing strategy by building a well-ranking website
You want to build credibility and trust with organic search rankings.
You want to have an option to potentially reduce marketing costs in the long run
Ultimately, the decision between SEO and Advertising depends on your business goals, budget, and timeline.
Many successful contractors use a combination of both strategies, leveraging the immediate benefits of advertising while investing in SEO for sustainable growth. Whichever path you choose, consistency and quality should always be at the forefront of your digital marketing efforts!