Your number one goal as a home builder is to create beautiful homes that satisfy your customers. But how are you supposed to find your customers in the first place? Enter digital marketing. Today’s consumers do much research online when considering a product or service and this is no different for home builders. So it’s important they are able to find you in online searches and see the value of your work. Below are 5 tips to help steer your successful digital marketing campaigns for your home builder business.
1. The Best Home Builder Websites Rely on SEO to Improve Search Ranking
It’s no secret that most consumers conduct research online when faced with a purchasing decision. This is no different for home builders and contractors. One of the best ways for potential customers to find you is by ranking on the 1st page of Google. SEO is a science on its own and often requires a digital marketing expert to properly execute but there are a few basics you can start out with.
Identify Target Keywords
The first step in building your SEO strategy is to determine what keywords you want your site to show up for. To find the best keywords that have search volume and fit your business, it is imperative to use a tool such as Google Search Console, Moz, or SEMRush to identify keywords in your niche. For home builders, location-based keywords are a must to target since most of your business is local to your area. So terms such as “custom home builder Charlotte, NC” or “new homes in Charlotte” would likely be of high interest to you.
Optimize your Site
Once you have identified keywords to target, it is time to optimize your site for these terms. Ensure the metadata across your site reflects concise, keyword-rich text that will be easy for Google to read. This includes page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and URLs in addition to the content on your site.
Once you know what keywords to target, you can also be strategic with your linking strategy. Links give website pages strength and authority in Google’s eyes - the more links heading to that page, the higher the quality Google will perceive when it crawls your site. To build up your site as a whole, link blog articles and any other online collateral to the main pages (aka pillar pages) of your site. This is typically your building service pages and pages highlighting your neighborhoods and available homes.
Determine a Content Strategy
Content is what feeds and supports your site’s SEO. So developing a content strategy complete with a set publishing schedule is key to increasing your site’s rankings. Not only should you plan out topics and outlines, but you should consider where on your site to link the article to and how best to promote it whether it be on social media, email, etc. A content calendar is key in keeping your content strategy organized and in line with your goals.
2. Successful Marketing Tactics for Contractors and Home Builders Centers Around High-Quality Content
A key part of your content strategy is publishing relevant, high-quality content on a regular basis. The best way to do this is through blogging. Your blog should showcase your expertise within the home construction industry and offer helpful solutions to your target audience. Include visual aspects that add to your content ‘s purpose as well. Images, infographics, videos and more are all great ways to increase engagement with your readers and keep them coming back.
How to Create Content that Converts
Google wants to see consistent, relevant, and informational content that is valuable to users and will reward sites who hit this mark. To deliver this, you must find out what questions and pain points your target audience has and write content with the purpose of providing a solution for them. Keyword research is a great way to see the common questions users ask Google. Speaking with your current customers is also a great way to gain insight into what your target audience is looking for. This information can help you create buyer personas (or semi-made up representations of your ideal customers) to consistently target with your content. Include call-to-actions in your content to spur further action from readers such as sign up for your email newsletter or request a consultation.
3. Add Case Studies and Photos from Custom Home Builds
With custom homes requiring a large investment of time and money, it is natural for users to be extremely selective when researching and vetting builders. For this reason, it is best to show off your work as much as possible in the form of images and case studies. Case studies in particular are very useful because you can harness the power of your customer reviews. A glowing testimonial from a previous customer coupled with stunning images of the work you’ve done speak volumes to your prospects. This not only shows off your quality of work but can help from an SEO perspective as well. An image gallery page optimized for “custom home gallery” for instance can help you attract traffic from those searching for inspiration and ideas online.
4. Create an Email Newsletter for Future Homeowners
Sometimes users are’t ready to proceed with a consultation but they’d still like to hear from you. This makes an email newsletter a great way to keep in touch with them until they are ready to move forward. You can share blogs, new homes you’ve built, and alert them of special open houses and events you are taking part in, all in one interface. Along with maintaining these relationships, you also have the added benefit of promoting your content and increasing site traffic.
5. Be Active with Home Builder Groups on Social Media
Social media for home builders may sound difficult but it is one of the best ways to interact with your customers. You can answer frequently asked questions, showcase new homes, and show your followers how you are different from the other builders in the area. Like with email marketing, you can share blog and other website content to send traffic to your site. You can also promote your top performing posts to reach even more people in the area.
Construction Marketing at LAIRE
While these tips are a surefire way to get you on the right track to digital marketing success, sometimes an expert is necessary. Here at LAIRE, we have numerous homebuilder clients that we do great work for, so we know what it takes to be successful in the industry. If you are in need of a marketing guru to bring in leads and grow your online presence, then contact us today.
