I have done all types of "marketing". You name it, I have tried it or have been offered it over the phone from some cold caller bozo.
A lot of companies out there are trying to sell you something. Some will give you some good leads. Most are just junk that just sound good.
Here is an analogy. "If I get to eat, then they can eat too". Some companies expect to "eat" even if you don't.
- HOME ADVISOR 2 stars (service magic)- Some times you get lucky but they take your money even if you starve . ( they eat even if you don't) Keep it very local with them.
- THUMBTACK - 3-stars is ok. Good bargain, but mostly junky little jobs. Stay specialized if you use this. (You eat - they eat)
- Angies list - 3 stars sometimes you get a few real jobs. The sales men are always emailing and calling - annoying. They eat- you might eat) Angies list is a commitment if you want it to work. It is kind of a review site.
- BBB - 2 stars not many clients use the BBB to find tree service. BBB is just another advertiser (like yellow pages). Over priced.
- Yelp - This is something you should be on. Everyone uses this in Southern California. Everyone loves "reviews".. If you want to stay in business long term, get good reviews.
- YELLOW PAGES BOOK old news- This was absolutley needed back in the 1990's. Now days not so much. But who knows, some people still like to use a real book!
- YELLOW PAGES ON LINE- ZERO stars. Be very carefull! "They eat - you don't". I caught YP giving me JUNKY leads from over 50 miles away. This way they can claim they are supplying me with the "guaranteed” amount of leads. They did this back in 2012. I fired them. They came crawling back in 2016 and said,
"We are doing things differently now" – Liers! YP online basically LIES.
- YOUR OWN WEBSITE - find someone local to build your website. Get it all in writing and get at least 3-4 references. LOOK AT SAMPLES OF THEIR WORK.
SEO takes time but is very important for your website. I would just take what you write on here -and put it somewhere on your site! The more good stuff on your site the better!!
- GOOGLE - Google is a must if you have a website. Now days you need a website and it is not that hard to get one. There is "organic SEO" and then there is the "google places". I educated myself on this stuff so when I get a cold call I can find out who is blowing smoke or actually offering something valuable. Be CARE FULL OF FAKE GOOGLE PEOPLE.
- GOOGLE ADWORDS - I AM NOT TO SAVY ON THIS BUT IT CAN HELP a bit. Be careful. Try to find someone you trust to do this for you.
- FACE BOOK- This might be the new thing to consider. I am really NOT into all that stuff, but There are A LOT OF PEOPLE ON THERE. It is like a word of mouth on line.
- Word of mouth is the best. -So keep up the good work, but remember a smart business always advertises. People move, grow old, die, lose thier money. You never know
The man who stops advertising- to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time
Brother I read your reply and I thought you might like some insite.
I ran my own tree service for 20 yrs and could never get enough business.
It seems like when others would slow down so would I.
So I subbed my work out to another company in DFW and went to college and studied on line marketing SEO
Well after 3.5 yrs of school.
I realized I built a brand but it was worthless till It became a brand people would not forget.
Arborjons was not it.
So I sold it and started over.
Also I realized I made Angie's list I made home advisor list but I never signed up for them they used a technique in the web master world called DO FOLLOW.
IN FACT we are creating with our Gmail a mention or comment which is what Google now sees as the most powerful Do follow links.... As we speak we are creating a do follow.
Any time content was shared with home advisor I helped them but they did nothing for me just like you super pages Angie's list
All these are mentions we are using in this comment which they will find thru their data feeds and they will use it later.
So I learned this one tool.
And in two yrs in business with my new partners I stay in the office.
We have created a bad ass link system that is kicking a holes in DFW
I have my call static for all 10 businesses we own together now.
And we back link our content and mention each other online we share each other's content because we all comment on it together.
Actually we do it all in house together in one office with a proxy server which hides us from Google.
But it's ok school made me smarter....
I just wanted you to know social media is how we do most of it now a days.
The man I sold a twenty yr tree business too. Arborjons last week called me and asked me about my partner and I S secret.we got 500 calls when the storm hit in May in DFW and I sent him the data report.
When I told him arborjons shared all his juicy content with the wrong people he laughed because he did not understand why?
Because Arborjons organically is a great company but all the search engines take away the organic power because the juice is theirs..
So when I showed him what I was doing.
He asked me to do it with him and he sold Arborjons and joined me.
See we get more power as we link not to a directory but to each other.
So John How does that work.
Just like treebuzz works.
We connected together today over a topic
Not tree work persay but KNOWELEDGE about home advisor and other directories.
They did this and they are rich from it.
Like a reverse triage effect all of us are linked to them even if you do not register with them they mention you on their local pages any way.
Why cause they can use your juice to rank them
So all of us connect to them.
What if it was all of us connected to us.?
Is the juice the same
Yes it is the same.
And search engines are forced to give each link it's own juice.....
So I took the time to create a few sites we could all link too each other in DFW.
See each location is it's own business but Google sees it as this big directory of local tree guys socializing to one main link.
I am gonna list it for you so you can check out my power
www.treeremovalservices.org
I have one I am starting for arborists also no web site yet
www.licensedarborists.com
See we just created a sub domain for each of us and connected our blogs our social pages our comments all of it to each other.
So now we are this huge web of links and pages of content
And oh my God.
We get more calls in a storm in DFW
Then any other brand in DFW why you ask.
Every one searches tree removal when searching for storm clean up.
And we have 8 city map listings around DFW and people type in Tree Removal Services Near Me
And one of our location pop up....
Our juice is spread out in DFW now.
Since you took the time to help the other guy I figured I would give you that GOLDEN egg
