Local Competition

[picframer]

There are numerous posts about when to start marketing and I agree it's a around the clock year around thing we do however we all ramp up at some point in the spring. I received a flier in the mail today, mail comes early here, anyhow this guy had a flyer, I was curious and checked their website, I like seeing young people get into this and do well and it would appear he is doing well. http://www.dclawnservices.com/Our_Story.htm However IMHO it's a bit early for the climate I live in to be going this route but more power to them, if I were to blitz an area it would be right after the March break but before the Spring Home Show, which for our city is massive.

__________________
Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

---

Last edited by picframer; 01-18-2010 at 06:23 AM.

[picframer]

Lawn care business tips

Just wanted too add before I head out for the day, I added the site to a program I run that tells me how my site compares to the competition in ranking, keywords and a host of other items, they didn't rank within the first three pages of any key words that I am my competition use. My attitude is if you are not on the front page of a search engine, not #1 just the first page, very, very few people will seek you out. That is why I think it's important to keep an eye on your website and check your ranking, if you all of a sudden drop, why is that, figure it out quick and get it fixed, it generally is something very, very small like a stop word. Personally one program I use a lot is Web CEO

__________________
Andy
Halifax, Nova Scotia

[Steve]

Just wanted too add before I head out for the day, I added the site to a program I run that tells me how my site compares to the competition in ranking, keywords and a host of other items, they didn't rank within the first three pages of any key words that I am my competition use. My attitude is if you are not on the front page of a search engine, not #1 just the first page, very, very few people will seek you out.

How much of ranking is the age of your website? If this company's website is new will it take them time to rank higher regardless of their keyword content?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

How much of ranking is the age of your website? If this company's website is new will it take them time to rank higher regardless of their keyword content?

Not so much age but when was it last updated, if you don't keep it fresh and I mean change something every 60 days or so, you drop in how often the search engines will crawl your site.

You can get the ranking in 30 days tops, now you have to work a little to keep it, that being small changes every few weeks, it works for me.

[Steve]

Coming up with fresh content for your website can be next to impossible at times.

Where do you feel a lawn care business owner should be looking for inspiration to do this?

Should they talk about recent jobs they have done or could it simply be they have 4-seasonal website templates they change through out the year?

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

Coming up with fresh content for your website can be next to impossible at times.

Where do you feel a lawn care business owner should be looking for inspiration to do this?

Should they talk about recent jobs they have done or could it simply be they have 4-seasonal website templates they change through out the year?

I would be willing to bet that everyone here has a success story a week or at least within a month, it could be anything but post before and after, that's all you need to do, then perhaps alter your keywords a little.

Here is an example, you call me to mow your lawn and you live on 123 Any Street, I can post a before and after picture on my website simply calling it the job of the month and a happy customer, don't give out names or the address just a this is what we are proud of this week or this month, maybe you trimmed some trees, I have seen some amazing garden type work here, weeding job, plowing job. Then I might change or add to my key words, lets say in this example you live in Fairview as an area, I would add to my keywords Fairview Lawn Care, the crawlers see this as new content.

Maybe you added a new service, or you did something for the first time gutter clean up, maybe a customer had a weed problem and you are curing it the Organic way, could be a community event you attended, gosh we are on the road every day there is always something you can change on your home page or add to your site and it only takes 5 min tops. Frig where we work I can get wireless Internet almost anywhere especially all coffee stops, so while having lunch, coffee whatever, I have logged in and updated, not often but I can think of a few times.

My truck is a mobile office complete with Internet access using a Rocket Chip, anyhow I can generate a proposal, have calculators I built to do quotes based on square foot, order a part if I don't want to call the store etc. It works for me and I have shocked a few prospects when I come back very shortly with a presentation all printed off on letterhead.

Some will think this is over the top and maybe it is however it's in my blood from previous jobs to really stand out and it really paid off last year, this year is very, very exciting as we are going in with proven services and we already have the equipment ready to go.

Everything I own with respect to lawn care and tree cutting is going in to Deere the first part March for service, Blowers, trimmers, mowers etc.

The tractors and excavators are serviced depending on hours and we keep a very close eye on this.

Now we grease and do minor stuff daily but oil changes, fuel filters etc. that is all dealer work.

[Steve]

That is a very good point. We shouldnt be overwhelming ourselves thinking we need to write these big articles. Even just a few pictures and a description of a new lawn care job could suffice and keep the search engines coming back for more.

[picframer]

Originally Posted by Steve

That is a very good point. We shouldnt be overwhelming ourselves thinking we need to write these big articles. Even just a few pictures and a description of a new lawn care job could suffice and keep the search engines coming back for more.

Two things, a picture is worth a thousand words and before/after or something you have done will outsell a blog or anything else any day of the week.

[Steve]

Maybe even talking about common issues you see in the area and how to deal with them.