Category: Commercial Cleaning Leads

Business Website, Carpet Cleaning Leads, cleaning business leads, Commercial Cleaning Leads, digital marketing, Google Ads, How much is online marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Generation for Contractors, online marketing, online marketing costs, Pay Per Click Advertising, PPC, Roofing Advertising, Roofing Leads, SEM, SEO, service contractor leads

Optimizing Websites for Voice Search

Diane Lovine

by Diane Lovine

How to Rank on “Alexa” and “Hey, Google” Searches

We’re all looking for an advantage, a way to stand out, get noticed and get more leads. You may be surprised to know that the best practices for ranking on a desktop search are the very same that will get you ranked for voice search. This is the newest angle that telemarketers are using to convince businesses that if they don’t suddenly hire them to optimize their website for voice search, they will be left behind. 

Here’s the thing. We have been writing about voice search since 2019 and the strategies have not changed, but have become more understood. What’s more, if you are using best practices for ranking a website on the first page of Google, you are already optimized for voice search. Why? Because typing a query on your phone, iPad or computer is almost the SAME THING as speaking your query to Alexa, Google, or Siri. 

Example: You are having a dinner party this weekend and you just spilled red wine on your dining room carpet. What is your first action? Try to clean it up yourself. If that fails, you’ll go to your device and type or speak “Carpet cleaner near me” or “Carpet cleaning company in (your town)” or “spot removal contractor”. A well-positioned carpet cleaning company is going to come up in a search, regardless of whether you typed or spoke the keywords. And your query is the keywords. 

Companies try to make this concept sound complicated, but it really isn’t. I’ll do this experiment now, live and share my results: 

First, I’ll engage Siri. Speaking, “Carpet cleaner near me”, prompts Siri to produce the following suggestions on Apple Maps:

I personally prefer to use Chrome, even on my mobile phone. When I open the Chrome browser on my iPhone speak, “Carpet cleaner near me”. Here are Siri’s suggestions: 

From the suggestions offered on my iPhone above, I will click the top entry, “carpet cleaner near me”. Here is what comes up. I have placed the long thread side by side below: 

With the long screenshot placed side by side, you can see the way the page rolls. Above the images, I was first shown images of carpet cleaning machines. But Google recognized my intent (finding a contractor to remove the wine stain from my carpet) and made suggestions.

Looking at the results, you will first notice the two Google Guaranteed paid search results. Also known as LSA (Local Search Ads), Google Guaranteed services are offered by 99 Calls and are probably the most cost-effective paid ads available, as long as a business can pass the rigorous verification process.

Next, you’ll see the maps section, including a sponsored map placement in the top spot. Next on the page are the organic results (this is the section that requires great SEO practices to be found).  There are a couple of local carpet cleaning businesses found in this section as well as some directory entries like Angie’s and Yelp.

Now what if my search was done on my phone without asking Siri? What if I simply type the same keywords into my Chrome browser? Here are the results that come up:

Look familiar? It should! Yes, try this at home. You will find that voice search and typing your search into a browser will yield the same results. Paid ads will be found the same, whether the business is using Google Guaranteed or Google Ads.

Now I’ll conduct the same search on my desktop computer. 

Of course, the larger desktop monitor provides greater depth because of the larger screen. Still, the same companies are coming up on the first page of the search. 

Here’s the Question Businesses Should be Asking:

“So if the same practices for producing great SEO will yield results for voice search as they do with typing in questions and keywords, what are these practices and how can I rank my business when customers are searching for my services?”

The same advice that was given back in 2019 in this blog is still relevant today. I’ll add a couple more that are also important. Below are the best practices for getting found in any type of online search:

  • Format your content to be featured in snippets (use headers, lists, and short paragraphs)
  • Create content based on commonly asked questions in a conversational tone
  • Get more 5-star reviews! If you don’t have many dozens, make this your top priority
  • Make sure your site is designed for mobile-first indexing (they all should be by now)
  • Include relevant local information to show your viewers (and Google) that you’re local
  • Keep content simple and clean
  • Get built for speed. Landing pages should load within two seconds.

I’d like to add, “It’s that simple”, but the reality is, ranking in any form on searches is tough stuff. As you can see from the examples above, there are many more paid positions on the first page of search results. Google Guaranteed and Google Ads PPC are taking the most coveted positions. This is true no matter how you search. The truth is, trying SEO practices, even mastering them all, will not yield the same results (and by results, if you’re a contractor, I mean leads) as they did in recent years. In order to get found and get called with enough frequency to stay afloat, businesses need to utilize other strategies and a lot more of their marketing budget to paid ads. For more information on how the first page of Google has (evolved or devolved – you decide) over time, see this article, entitled The Incredible Shrinking First Page of Google. 

For more information on SEO, ranking with keywords and voice searches, and pay-per-click or pay-per-lead marketing, call the experts at 99 Calls!

Business Website, Carpet Cleaning Leads, cleaning business leads, Commercial Cleaning Leads, digital marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Generation for Contractors, online marketing, SEO

How to Gain High Quality Reviews on Your Google Business Profile

Diane Lovine

Part 2 in the Series: Importance of Building High Quality Reviews on GBP

by Diane Lovine and Dipa Gandhi

We’ve learned the importance of having lots of high quality reviews on your business profile. More and more, business owners need to build a high volume of  positive reviews to help them rank online and stand out among their competitors. Reviews can make or break a business. 

The challenge is getting your customers to leave positive reviews on your site. 

Unhappy customers are ten times more likely to leave negative reviews about a business than highly satisfied customers are to leave positive reviews. How can businesses motivate happy customers to leave positive reviews for them?

Ask on the Spot

  1. Service businesses can equip their field agents with tablets that can be used to prompt customers to log onto their Google or Yelp account to leave a review on the spot once each job is complete. When customers are asked to leave a review sometime in the future, they often forget and it becomes inconvenient.
  1. Some businesses choose to hand out their business card after the job is complete with a QR code that takes customers directly to their Google Business Profile (GBP) link, or any other review site, to write a review. Providing a QR code is a quick and easy way for customers to leave a review.  

Make it Simple

  1. Some lead companies now offer comprehensive solutions for reputation management and can set you up on a system that automatically sends links to Google upon completion of each job. This is often a free or inexpensive add-on service as part of a business services package.
  1. Whether you pay a service that sends links to your customers or you send a link yourself manually, the name of the game is to make it as simple as possible for your customers to access your listings and provide a positive review. 
  1. Any time you can reduce the time spent looking for a citation or website to leave a review and eliminate the possibility of leaving a review to the wrong business, you’re increasing your chances of building more reviews. 

Follow Up

  1. It’s OK to send an email reminder a day or two after a job well done if you find that the customer has not left you a review. You might send another after a week or so. If you still don’t get a response, drop it for now. Persistence is great, but the last thing you want is to be a nuisance.
  1. Follow up in 8-12 months again with a nurturing email or a promotion to stay top of mind with your customer. You want them to remember you when it’s time to have more work done. This gives you an opportunity to win their business again and another chance to build your online reputation. Lead generation companies often provide database remarketing and lead nurturing as a part of their total business growth package. Ask your 99 Calls rep for more information if this sounds interesting to you.

Initiate A Process

  1. Be sure to request and store your customers’ information including name, email, address and cell phone number. Once each job is complete, send an email explaining that reviews are much appreciated an very helpful and include the GBP review link. Customers may prefer to leave a review on a different site such as Yelp or Facebook which is also great. Keep in mind timing is key. You want to be sure to send the email within a day or 2 after the job is complete so the customers initial reaction to the completed job is still fresh in their mind and is transmitted to the review accurately.
  1. Along with sending an email, you may be able to save your customers even more time by offering to provide a template of a review to eliminate additional steps of trying to figure out what to write. This would also ensure the customer leaves a quality review, with content and the type of service provided rather than just a star rating.

Challenge Your Employees

Another creative way of gaining reviews is to offer incentives to your field agents. Gamefy it by offering a prize for the employees who get the most  customer reviews. You don’t want to directly offer your customers incentives to leave a review on GBP as it is against Google’s policies, but an incentive for your field agent might achieve the same goal without violating Google’s policies.

No matter what method you use to gain reviews, your ultimate goal is to gain those positive reviews on a frequent basis to build trust, increasing rankings and ultimately get more leads. The key is to make it quick and simple for your customers.

Want a refresher on why it’s important to get reviews on your Google Business Profile?Refer to the blog from April on the Importance of Reviews on your Google Business Profile.

cleaning business leads, Commercial Cleaning Leads, Contractor Leads for Winter, digital marketing, How much is online marketing, Lead Generation, Lead Generation for Contractors, online marketing, online marketing costs

Why One-Time Cleaning Leads Are Just as Valuable as Recurring Cleaning Leads

Diane Lovine

by Devon Osborne

In the commercial cleaning industry, getting inbound leads for recurring cleaning services are some of the most sought-after types of leads. What some business owners fail to realize is that one-time cleaning leads can be equally as valuable. 

Many commercial cleaners go to their lead providers requesting lead generation solely for recurring cleaning services. Unfortunately, doing so is not an easy feat. When prospective clients are searching online for your services, they are most commonly searching terms like “office cleaning” or “commercial cleaning near me,” and not “recurring office cleaning” or “recurring commercial cleaning.” For this reason, it makes it extremely difficult to generate only these specific types of leads via SEO and Google Ads Campaigns.

We can understand the preference for recurring cleaning services, from getting more of an initial return on investment to having a steady agreement with the client for the future. The lifetime value of your recurring jobs is very high compared to jobs that are one-offs, periodic or seasonal. However, if you look at all of the benefits of accepting one-time cleaning leads, you may just see them in a new, more appreciative way. 

There are many benefits of taking on one-time commercial cleaning leads, such as: 

  • Saying “yes” to the job gets your foot in the door to get called back for more! 
  • Often, companies are looking to try out a new cleaning service before signing on for a long-term contract. If you do an excellent job on that first cleaning, you may just land yourself a recurring deal.
  • Providing more one-time cleanings throughout the year will allow you to keep your good employees busy and on payroll. 
  • These jobs can keep bringing in a good flow of revenue, even during the slower times of the year.
  • Many seasonal or quarterly jobs such as carpet cleaning or floor stripping and waxing have high profit margins.

Sometimes waiting for the perfect job to come along causes us to pass on the great opportunities in front of us. Next time you receive a call for a one-time cleaning service, think twice before turning that job down. Make the best of the leads that come your way, you never know what can come of it! 

For more information on commercial cleaning lead generation, contact customercare@99calls.com.