Anyone using HomeAdvisor or Similar company to get work?

sugaringman85

sugaringman85

Location
NH
I recently have subscribed to a company called Home Advisor. Home Advisor gets people to sign up for their company and then puts them in contact with people in the correct industry, whether it be tree work, landscaping or any service really. They charge anywhere from $17 a lead to $34 a lead, a lead being your company being informed of someone looking for work. At first I was skeptical but I have found that although I don't get all of the jobs that i get leads on I do probably get at least half. I have found it works better than normal advertising, but i don't get a lot of them. Anyone out there signed up for more than one? I have gotten calls every six months or so with a new company doing the same thing. Looking for thoughts or experiences!

Thanks!
 
In my experience, those types of services aren't worth the expense. Have you considered sponsorship with your local public radio station? That's bang for your buck.
What's your market like? Urban, or rural?

SZ
 
It is very rural. No stop lights, although we do have one blinking light! Never thought about nhpr. I've gotten a few of "hits" or leads and won about 50% and most of the jobs have been in the 1-5 grand category. Which for the 17-34 i thought was fair. Granted I'm not getting more than one or two a month. I was just curious if anyone else signed up for these things
 
It would be interesting to see how much you spend on that service over a year versus your return, and then investigate sponsorship of the local NPR station for a year. I would wager that your money would go further with the public radio ads than a referral service.

The X factor in your area might be the listening area of the station, it may go well beyond your service area.

SZ
 
Buy leads? These companies call me often and I always turn them down.

There are easy free ways to be found online that will swamp you with calls for FREE.

Once you get in a neighborhood, you should be able to attract some attention and get more work... again FREE advertising/referrals
 
I have used them for a while, I think it is an ok form of advertising. Some positives: they spend alot of money to be near the top of search engines, it is also easy for people to review your company, and your profile is easy to manage (changing zip codes, suspending leads, etc). The negatives: most of the people who use this site want almost instance service and do not wait. People have to call the company who in turn calls you, some people don't like to talk to multiple people to find you. It can be pricey, I have my budget as low as it can go.
Hope this helps!!
 
I tried it for a while a few years ago when it was called ServiceMagic and when it was HomeAdvisor. A total waste...
More than half the people that generated a lead to me (which I then had to pay for) didn't even know they had requested a service contact, where just curious about the site, were intimidated that I contacted them right away (that it worked so fast) or were out shopping for the lowest bid.
Out of all the leads that were sent to me only one paid off to be a decent lead. All the rest were junk. And I was in a very rural market.
Reconsider.... seriously!
 
I never used Home Advisor, but I used to use Angie's list. We'd get a call or 2 a day. It was pretty good. I don't use them anymore though. My current SEO guy cold called me out of nowhere and offered to send me a recorded video about my site for free. I said what the hell, go for it, and it was actually really impressive. He's worked on the site for me ever since and I couldn't be happier - I totally agree with @marlinspiker. I wasn't a proponent of SEO before because I didn't know it could do what it's doing. We couldn't handle the volume of work, so we had to hire more guys and start cherry-picking the calls we wanted. Then, we sent everything left over to another tree company for a cut/commission. Now we're expanding in nearby cities; it's exciting because it started with just me. SEO is potentially a game-changer for you, as long as you find someone good. I know there's a lot of crap services out there.
 
easyphloem said:
In my experience, those types of services aren't worth the expense. Have you considered sponsorship with your local public radio station? That's bang for your buck.
What's your market like? Urban, or rural?

SZ
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