[Tar&Feathered]

Hey all,

I just got a call today from a website company pitching me a website for 2000$ and 500$ a month for SEO. I know a lot of my buddies have a website for their businesses but I'm 53, I've made my business from word of mouth and I just don't see how it could be worth 8000$ a year. i wouldn't mind being on google, but does anyone have any experience thoughts on the subject? Has a website worked for you?[/QUOTE]

 

[TopRankedRoofer]

I've made my business from word of mouth and I just don't see how it could be worth 8000$ a year.

You ask a good question and the best answer is - it depends. At 53 you may be close to retiring (in the next 10 years or so) but the primary factor is control. As in your control over your destiny.

If all of your work is word of mouth - it's hard to find a buyer every day in an area you work and at a price you can deliver.

Without a solid presence online, you may even lose business that's referred to you because homeowners are looking you up to see what your other customers say before calling you.

Also, there are homeowners every day that contract for a new roof but if they can't find you (online) then it's safe to say you're not an option to them.

So is it worth it? Well, $8K might seem like a lot but in most markets its equal to one decent roof replacement. The profit from 3 average sales in the first year means you're ahead.

Now a word of caution. High-quality web firms are NOT cold-calling offices like yours to sell websites. But all of the companies that offer average to poor results have guys on the phone all day every day. Do your homework before buying a website from anyone.

Finally, what do they mean when they offer you "SEO"? It's a buzz word with lots of meanings but it's also a trap for the inexperienced. Many a roofer has been burned hiring guys offering SEO. Make them define what they do in the short, medium and long-term in working with you and what your results should be.

 

[JanisC]

Hey all,

I just got a call today from a website company pitching me a website for 2000$ and 500$ a month for SEO. I know a lot of my buddies have a website for their businesses but I'm 53, I've made my business from word of mouth and I just don't see how it could be worth 8000$ a year. i wouldn't mind being on google, but does anyone have any experience thoughts on the subject? Has a website worked for you?

[/QUOTE]

Our roofing company primarily worked on referrals and through services like Home Advisor for the first few years. We still get plenty of referrals, but we shifted our focus away from pay-per-lead services and more toward website/seo investment in year 3. As long as you choose the right partner, SEO is worth it. It's worked well for us.

Look at it as an investment in your business because you're not really paying someone for SEO. You're paying them for the result of it. You're paying for someone to use their expertise to get your business in front of more customers who need your service. I researched the pricing before we started, so I know $500 is on the low-end regardless of where you are in the country. At that price, generating just a couple jobs pays for the entire year. And, if they're doing it right, you'll certainly close much more than couple jobs in 12 months.

 

[TopRankedRoofer]

As long as you choose the right partner, SEO is worth it. It's worked well for us.

I know $500 is on the low-end regardless of where you are in the country. At that price, generating just a couple jobs pays for the entire year. And, if they're doing it right, you'll certainly close much more than couple jobs in 12 months.[/QUOTE]

Yes, Janis is 100% correct. I've had partner/clients who've had ROI far in excess of the investment. One was positioned so well in DFW in 2016 (was ranking #1 for Dallas Roof Leak Repair) that when the hail storm came in late March, they got 1000 calls in 36 hours.

Their investment in SEO was indeed fair (about $28K) but sales from the campaign were easily in the $2.6M range. Almost 100-1, so pretty good.

 

[JanisC]

Good point. I was involved as I could be in choosing what keywords we target because I've seen how important it is. But beyond that, I let the pros do their thing. I would rather pay someone to handle it than attempt to learn it. My time is better spent elsewhere.

 

[TopRankedRoofer]

My time is better spent elsewhere.

Smart business lady. Almost daily I see good roofers who look awful online and it's because they think they can figure it out. Most probably could but they need to be running their businesses, not the marketing.

 

[alcast4]

Your website has a form at the top that you capture the customers's info, good job.


My suggestion would be to get a video to put on the left side of that form to get more people to call you right away.


My video guy can supply that for you at a very low price.


Let me know if you want me to have him email you some info.

 

[rph]

Website Investment - Absolutely

I agree with the above, it is well worth the investment if you want to brand yourself and not someone else.

Reliable Roofing and Repair

 

[Brandon Handyman]

Yea it's been worth it 100% in my case. Granted I'm not 53 but if there's room for more work because you're ambitious or worried about having enough time to retire, then having a presence online and Google is key. My guy built my handyman site for $1,200 and that was with some kind of SEO on the site. I also pay monthly for SEO but I was quoted based on the competition of my market so it would depend how competitive it is. I even have him spending his own money doing the marketing online and I just pay him per lead so have more work than I can take but I've learned to outsource what I can't handle. At the very least, you should have a basic site, then at least you have somewhere with a phone number if you want to run some ads on Google which a good online guy will do. I went with an SEO company up in Canada so prob why not charging too much. Hate to admit it but the guy's definitely earned his keep. Yellow pages is dead sadly. Google keeps the phone ringing!

 

[dothanmetalbuildings]

We get some action off our website but we get more direct calls from our google business profile. That and word of mouth has been the best.

 

[chrispozsa]

If it's designed to generate leads and it's ranked well online then yes it's worth it

 

[joshtatum]

It's only worth the money if it leads to making money, and that depends more on good SEO than it does website design. You can have the dinkiest website in the market and still make loads of money off it if enough customers see it and it's easy to contact you through it.

 

[mattshroeder]

I agree with these others guys - it's worth it if it generates leads and makes money. If not, no

 

[NJrooferman]

Hey all,

I just got a call today from a website company pitching me a website for 2000$ and 500$ a month for SEO. I know a lot of my buddies have a website for their businesses but I'm 53, I've made my business from word of mouth and I just don't see how it could be worth 8000$ a year. i wouldn't mind being on google, but does anyone have any experience thoughts on the subject? Has a website worked for you?

[/QUOTE]

YOU should look for the web dev & SEO/PPC professionals. Use upwork.com to find them