Contractor Resources And Tips For Marketing Online

As a contractor starting out online, it can be difficult to gaining traction in the already saturated search engine of Google. If you're fortunate, perhaps your website already has a few years online when you start to push the marketing efforts. If not and you have a new contracting website, you have a long road ahead. In this article, we're going to give you some tips to get your contractor business off the ground.

One of your first steps needs to be Google My Business. Anytime you can use Google to enhance your marketing efforts, you need to. You'll be able to list your business in Google. Google also recently made changes that benefit local searches, so local rankings is even better than before. Once you submit your website and get your listing verified, this will strengthen your local rankings and marketing efforts.

According to some of the top SEO and marketing experts in the field, Google+ is one of the top SEO ranking factors. In total, 7 out of the top 10 SEO ranking factors belong to social media web metrics. Google+ was the leader in that department. Join Google+, build your profile and join communities in your niche. There's thousands of strong communities on Google+ that will allow you to promote your business.

As a contractor, one of the best things that you can do is share your work. I like what Meltini Kitchen And Bath does on their website. Your website should have pictures of your projects and work. Providing free information and resources are a great way to earn the trust of potential customers. It's also a great way to build your personal and business reputation. Not just any content, make your content great. This can be articles, videos or slides.

Houzz is another solid resource that will allow you to share your projects in front of an established audience. Since Pinterest and Flickr both have strong communities, you can share your projects here as well. And at the very least, you should have a Facebook business page.

Google is still your best resource. Take the time to look for guest writing platforms in your respected niche. Content marketing is still a powerful tool for reaching a wide audience. Many platforms are always look for expert writers, contact the webmaster and share your content. Try your local Chamber of Commerce. Here's a free contractor directory to list your business.

Research takes a lot of time but it can be rewarding. No matter what you do, it takes time to build an online business. If you keep at it, you'll get there. There's enough resources here to get you started.

A Guide To Wordpress SEO

Wordpress is one of the most used content management systems (CMS) in the world. There's a reason why Wordpress is popular. Wordpress is easy to use, has a great interface, has awesome plugins that bring your website to life and you can optimize your website with SEO. I've worked on several different platforms, Shopify, Joomla, Drupal, Modern Retail, Magneto. Out of them all, I prefer Wordpress and that is what I always suggest to my clients.

For new users, Wordpress can seem overwhelming. There's a lot to learn and there's a lot of great resources out there, but you have to constantly search to find what you need. Now, you can find everything you need to know about Wordpress SEO with our complete guide. If you're struggling to rank your Wordpress website or you are new to Wordpress, this will be your go-to guide.

Complete Guide To Wordpress SEO

Check Out Our New Blog At Hale Web Development

It has been nearly 6 months since I wrote a new post, we've been swamped at work. I felt guilty that everyone has been by and there hasn't been one single piece of new content up. It has been a great year for Hale Associations, it truly has. We've seen some great growth with client portfolios, we've been able to bring in some great new clients for 2015 and we're super excited about our own personal projects that we have going on. 2015 is going to be great.

Hale Web Development is our new blog. We need to step away from the subdomain, but we appreciated our time here. And I can't leave the blog that hosted us for so many years. We had several awesome new case studies to publish in 2015. It will be the first time that we're able to do so, so I'm real excited about that.

The new blog has some great articles, resources and information, so please take the time to go learn, study, or just check out our new platforms. Business News Today will also be launched very soon. I'm extremely excited about this new project and it's going to be open to everyone. Anyone out there looking to jump-start your career, feel free to contact us. We have several platforms that will allow you to publish your work in front of an established audience to get your name out there.

I can't believe it has nearly been 8 years ago when I first started as a freelance SEO. From that moment to where all of us are today, just incredible. And we appreciate all your support over the years. I learned from a lot of great people and I didn't always think that I could get along with other SEOs. That's just the nature of the business. However, I was wrong, I learned some great things along the way and I'm thankful for those friendships.

I will do my best to get back over to Blogger to write, but I have a lot going on. So please be sure to check out Hale Web Development.

We again saw a lot of different changes with Google this year. We learned that 7 out of the top 10 SEO ranking factors are associated to social signals. We know that Google is still cleaning up their links and we saw the beginning/end of Google Authorship. And Facebook is opening up the New Year with another big change to their news feed. This is just the beginning. We'll we ever see Page Rank again? And how does Google rate Page Rank now?

Hale Associations is now also affordable training in SEO, SEM and online marketing. And we still provide the same services that we have been for years. Don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions. We will always appreciate your support and we wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Wishing you nothing but success in 2015.