You should. More than half of consumers search for home services online before booking an appointment. 

Worried about what the competition is doing?

You don’t need to be. Most home service consumers don’t even have a company in mind when they run a search.

It’s equally important to know that there is no one way to achieve the perfect search engine optimization (SEO) formula. And seeing tangible results starts with knowing your target audience, relevant keywords, and how to measure their success daily. More importantly, in addition to elevating your home service business and brand, local SEO practices scale your impact without having to do all of the work yourself or door-knocking in your target neighborhoods. 

Need a dedicated team to take control of your local SEO goals? Contact Exults today.

5 Reasons To Invest In Local SEO For Your Home Service Business

You keep hearing that you need to invest in local SEO to grow and make your business seen. But what is it and how does it work?

What Is Local SEO?

The overall goal of investing in local SEO is to improve your conversion rate – turning your potential customers into paying ones. Using relevant keywords in your content for your website and other platforms improves the chances of making more sales. This is because you’re using keywords potential customers are already searching for to bring them to your website and, ultimately, to your particular product or service. 

A few of the most popular home services people search for include:

• Air conditioning installation and repair
• Air conditioning sales
• Construction and contractors
• Heating and furnaces
• Landscaping
• Pest and rodent control
• Plumbing
• Pools and spas
• Roofing and gutters

Keeping up with your local SEO regularly doesn’t simply push you to the top of popular search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Managing your local SEO also allows you to review your results and make changes to your strategies quickly. It’s a cost-effective way to reach your target audience completely online.

1. Improve Home Service Company Visibility

Home service business owners know that there’s plenty of competition for customers to explore when they hop online. So it takes strategic digital marketing to stand out and shine. 

Local SEO attracts people already looking for your home services directly to your website. As soon as they reach your home page, that’s your opportunity to pull them in and keep them engaged with unique content covering your home service business and what makes it special. Keep in mind that while local SEO can bring in many more leads, it may take a fair amount of work to convert those leads into sales and ensure those strategies remain in line with your business’s goals.

Lucky for you, local SEO doesn’t have to be a complete guessing game when you know how to implement it properly. Talk to Exults about local SEO for your home service business. Get started right away!

2. Results Are Measurable

One of the best aspects of local SEO is that it’s capable of being measured. This means that you or your trusted team of local SEO experts can make adjustments in response to which keywords are trending and which are no longer working to generate traffic for your business. 

In the world of digital marketing, this is a huge plus and a game changer for those looking to stretch their marketing budget further. 

Analyzing and adjusting your local SEO strategy is usually done in one of three ways:

1. Free or low-cost online tools like Yoast SEO
2. SEO-specific tools like Semrush
3. Cost-effective solutions using a dedicated team to do the work for you like Exults

Although it is possible to DIY your local SEO methods, it may not be worth the time and effort you need to spend to see tangible results.

3. When You Need Balance In Your Life

The fact is that business owners and their employees have enough on their plate to worry about aside from cross-channel marketing. With technology and algorithms constantly changing, it requires too much time that distracts you from other more important tasks – such as delivering your service and operating your business efficiently. This is why companies choose to have an experienced local SEO team on their side to research, test, understand, and tweak those keywords for them. 

4. Money-Saving Benefits

You’ve already invested in your company’s website. So make sure your website is being seen and viewed to make that investment worth it! Even the most stunning and engaging website design won’t do anything for you if it isn’t searchable. This is where a local SEO digital marketing firm comes in handy. 

Hiring a team like Exults for your home service business’s local SEO means you can…

• Reap the rewards of intentional SEO practices
• Have SEO experts on your side without having to pay for them to be in-house
• Ensure your SEO is up to date and adjusted as needed

…All while running your business and remaining focused on your responsibilities.

5. Achieve ROI Goals

Using local SEO as a tool allows you to create a user experience that flows smoothly from an initial search to your main call to action (CTA). Whether your CTA is buying now, scheduling a call, or something similar, your customers should be able to quickly navigate each step to make a purchase or book an appointment.

With the right strategy and reports in place, you should be able to tell which CTAs are working for your business and which need refining to be more effective. 

Change Your Growth Results With Local SEO For Your Home Service Business

As a full-service digital marketing agency, home service business owners often prefer to outsource their local SEO needs because it saves them time and money. You have an important job to do – keeping homes in working order. As such, we keep your home service business flush with leads thanks to our local SEO services and comprehensive marketing strategy.

You don’t need to drain your resources and energy to get quality leads from your local SEO results. Using a multi-talented digital marketing firm for your search engine optimization maximizes your sales opportunities and stretches your budget further. Plus, you have more power to tell your story and stand out from the competition in your area.

Begin tapping into the audience you want to do business with. Get started with Exults today.

The post 5 Reasons Why Home Services Companies Need To Invest In Local SEO appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

When done right, your website can be your most powerful sales tool. And with the right law firm website integrations, you’ll spend less time on minute tasks that would otherwise fill your schedule. Plus, you can be confident that your information is correct with zero opportunity for human error. 

If you often wonder how other law firms manage to focus on what matters most, then you need to step up the capabilities of your legal website. These 8 integrations can make your website do more and allow you to focus on big-picture items, increase revenue, and provide an exceptional client experience – all with less effort on your part. 

What Is A Custom Integration? 

If you’re not familiar with custom integrations, you may wonder why you need them. However, once you experience the benefits of integrations added to your law firm’s website, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. 

A custom integration is a software solution customized to meet your law firm’s specific needs. This may include plugins to transfer data, scheduling tools, and more that will save your office hours every day.

Learn more about what integrations to your website can do for your law firm. Contact us today for a custom quote. 

Strengthen Your Law Firm Website’s Functionality With These 8 Integrations

If your quarterly or annual goals include…

• Streamlining workflows
• Reducing administrative tasks
• Increasing productivity
• Improving client experience
• Increasing revenue

…It’s time to stop trying to recreate the wheel. In fact, there are several tried, tested, and proven integrations that competing law firms are already using. So rather than sit through another brainstorming session with your team, talk to Exults about integrations you can add to your website today.

CRM Integrations 

Your customer relationship management software (CRM) is the powerhouse of your law firm. Because no matter how capable your law firm is, you need the contacts to put your skills to use. 

With CRM integration, you never have to worry about a lost lead. When potential clients visit your website, they will have the opportunity to input their information. And that goes directly into your CRM.

Now, you can easily add these contacts to your email newsletter list and long-term nurture campaigns. Need an incentive to encourage website visitors to input their information? Speak to Exults about creating a valuable lead magnet or list builder to offer your audience in exchange for their contact information. 

Ready to experience the results driven by Exults? Contact us for a custom quote today! 

Booking Links

Scheduling a meeting seems easy enough. But then you get caught up in comparing multiple calendars to find a time that works for everyone. It can easily turn into a majorly time-consuming task that results in delayed responses to your potential or existing clients. 

Instead, add a booking link integration to your website. Visitors will be able to schedule meetings within seconds. The integration utilizes you and your team’s calendars without anyone having to sift through pages of upcoming events. 

You can even provide specific links for different types of meetings. For instance, a discovery call may require 30 minutes and a select few people from your team. Whereas another type of meeting may require a different amount of time with a different selection of your employees. 

Search Bar 

A thoughtful, well-executed website will accomplish several goals. For instance, it’s encouraged to include the answers to questions that you often find yourself clarifying over phone calls and emails. 

If you’ve made the decision to include a wealth of information on your website, help yourself and your audience by making that data easy to find. The best way to do this is to include a search bar. This way, your website visitors will be able to locate helpful resources within seconds. 

Otherwise, you may continue to find yourself on the other end of phone calls and emails explaining information that’s already on your website. 

Case Management Software

Look around your office. Do you see handwritten to-do lists scattered across every  desk? Moreover, are you constantly being asked by your team to confirm deadlines for specific tasks?

This can become time-consuming, confusing, and downright frustrating. But now, you can save your entire office time and energy with integrated case management software that will simultaneously improve your workflow.

Helpful case management software will allow your office to create tasks, delegate responsibilities, track time and progress, and confirm when each action is completed.  

Client Portal 

It’s fairly common for your law firm’s clients to call, email, or even stop by unannounced to inquire about the status of their legal case. While client communications are important, this can be burdensome and even annoying at times.

Between your CRM and client portal, you can keep your clients happy and apprised of their current status through these integrations. PRO TIP: Take a note from Exults and include key performance indicators (KPI) tracking in your client portal. If you’re a current or former client of ours, you know that you can access your KPIs at any time through our ARC client portal. It is mutually beneficial to all of our clients and the Exults team. 

Online Billing Software

How many people do you employ for the sole purpose of handling your billing and other finances? 

With so much of our lives happening online these days, it’s fairly common to not receive change of address updates as was once the norm. And with the amount of scammers and phishing attempts, legitimate emails are often inaccurately marked as spam. As a result, communications go missing. When this affects collecting payments, this can cause major issues for your law firm.

Instead of dealing with the headaches, streamline your bill collections into an online billing website integration. Clients will know to securely sign in to pay their bills. Plus, you can set up your online billing software to send reminders until the bill is paid. This saves your office time, energy, paper, postage, and more.

E-Signature Software

Whether your clients have all embraced technology, it’s a safe bet that the majority are fully capable of using your e-signature integration. 

Rather than having to track down all parties whose signatures you need, you can easily have them e-sign from their computer, tablet, or even smartphone!

Gone are the days of progress being held hostage while you wait for someone to get back in town or take the time to swing by your office to sign on the dotted line.

Google Connections

Are you showcasing your best client feedback? Or tracking your marketing efforts to see exactly what is and what is not working?

By integrating Google connections, like Google reviews and Google Analytics, your law firm can do more of what is creating positive feedback and results. And when the analytics show that a certain campaign isn’t performing as intended, this gives you the opportunity to pivot your marketing budget for the best results. 

Enhance Your Legal Website’s Capabilities With Integrations By Exults

Aside from integration research and implementation for clients, we use them ourselves. Having seen the results firsthand, we know that integrations are useful in streamlining workflows to increase productivity and revenue. 

Trust your law firm website to the experts at Exults who drive results. Contact us for a custom quote today!

The post Custom Integrations To Consider Adding To Your Law Firm’s Website In 2023 appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.

One way to look at digital marketing is by seeing your business as a central destination that anyone across the world has access to. But the customer journey is a long one full of roadblocks, distractions, detours, and beyond. 

Digital marketing is a crucial element in the success of businesses across all industries. The entire strategy made simple gives your business a strong digital presence across multiple platforms to…

• Reach consumers
• Build a positive brand image
• Increase revenue

These are your main goals measured and led by your digital marketing efforts. The problem here is that because most business owners are already wearing so many hats, they have little to no quality time to spend on their digital marketing strategies. Without up-to-date knowledge of best practices in the digital marketing realm, it’s even harder to know what to do next. 

Digital marketing agencies (like Exults) act as a top-notch travel guide for your business. We will make suggestions (social media posts, paid ads, sponsored landing website pages, etc.) as your target customers road trip or browse the Internet – leading them towards your business on their travels. Again, because most business owners are generally too busy, we give them the marketing services they need to establish and maintain a presence in the digital landscape.

Many digital marketing agencies make promises but fail to execute results. So how do you choose the best digital marketing agency for your business? Dive into the top 10 things to consider when hiring a digital marketing agency.

What To Look For In A Digital Marketing Agency

Want to know what to look for in a digital marketing agency? Questions on how to choose the right digital marketing agency and why hire a digital marketing agency? After working with hundreds of companies, we’ve learned a thing or two about what to look for in a digital marketing agency when hiring (and especially what to avoid). 

1) Determine Business Goals

Remember your simplified digital marketing strategy from above? The reasoning behind having a multilayered digital marketing approach is to support your ultimate goals. 

Whether you’re starting from scratch or power-boosting your digital marketing efforts, the first thing that you need to do is to evaluate your organization’s unique goals. Then you need to tie that to your digital needs to answer the question…What digital marketing services does your business need to reach its goals? 

Explore these sample business goals:

• Grow revenue
• Increase conversion rates
• Decrease bounce rates
• Expand lead generation pathways
• Improve brand image
• Boost brand awareness
• Reach a certain number of social media followers

Keep in mind that narrowing down your ideal business goals also assists in providing you with an accurate budget quote. A successful digital presence requires businesses to be established on several online platforms. This includes having a core website, relevant social media accounts, Google Search Console, and online directories. 

As you explore your needs, consider digital marketing services that will help you achieve your goals. When looking at this part of your business from the perspective of your “road-tripping” target audience, it helps to think of each actual service as a billboard along the highway. You can also look at your efforts as an aircraft flying with a banner advertisement or a digital pop-up ad that appears as you wait and pump gas into your car. The point of any of these is to grab your attention as you travel and learn more about the business being advertised. In the digital world, those ads look more like the following:

• Digital Branding
• Website Design and Development
• eCommerce Platform Development and Management
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Social Media Marketing
• Digital PR
• Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)

Digital marketing also requires businesses to engage in regular posting, website updates, search engine optimization, and other creative services. Businesses turn to digital marketing agencies to handle all of these aspects of their online business. It is important to research each agency thoroughly because not all agencies offer a full suite of marketing services.

2) Performance-Based Results

Performance-based results are one of the most important elements to consider when choosing a digital marketing agency. Does the agency provide its clients with promised results?

A reputable agency should gladly share data that demonstrates the effectiveness of its services. Measurable results should be available, including past client ROIs and other analytical data.

Additionally, we realize that most customers gauge whether they want to try a business for the first time through reading testimonials. The best testimonials a business can offer are ones that are real, honest, timely, and detailed. You should expect the same level of quality testimonials from your digital marketing agency. 

3) Clear & Frequent Communication

Regular communication is the key to any professional business partnership. This means choosing a digital marketing partner you don’t need to micromanage. You already don’t have the time to do your own digital marketing, so the digital marketing agency you choose to hire should be a self-starter. 

Regardless of who you initially speak to, the agency you choose should be open, honest, and available to communicate when you have questions or concerns. Having someone available at all times, via email, chat, or phone to put your mind at ease makes a huge difference to our clients. 

Don’t forget to look for answers on the agency’s website to commonly asked questions and issues. This gives you extra padding in your communications and saves everyone time as the answer is (usually) readily available and can be answered quickly (or as fast as you can scroll and click).  

In addition to having a clear point of contact and answers to FAQs, look up whether the agency you’re considering offers additional forms of support through a crafted newsletter, blog, podcast, etc. These tools can offer valuable information, insight, and tips that you can use or learn more about as they’re updated.

4) Creativity

Creativity is at the core of all elements involved in digital marketing. Standing out amongst the competition requires creative thinking and original ideas. This requires an agency that employs a team of natural creative thinkers who are knowledgeable in what can set a business apart.

While creativity is one of the more subjective factors to consider when hiring a digital marketing agency, it’s crucial to determine what’s important to you in this category. 

Are you searching for…?

• Diversity in design
• Scale of deliverables for a given client
• Uniqueness 

5) Flexibility

Digital marketing is an ever-evolving industry. An agency must be flexible and able to adapt as changes occur. Look at the recent developments in AI…That’s changed the landscape for digital marketing agencies around the world. 

An exceptional digital marketing agency will be able to identify emerging trends and adjust campaigns accordingly. This puts your business at the forefront of the latest digital marketing trends.

How do you determine whether an agency has flexibility? Evaluate the conversations they’re having on their blog, podcast, social media, and/or in meetings.

 6) Specialized Team

An innovative and passionate team of marketing specialists is a crucial element in every successful digital marketing agency. A reputable digital marketing agency should employ a team of experts who specialize in each of the elements of effective digital marketing.

The last thing you want is to hire a full-service digital marketing agency that is a one-man show. There is not enough time for them to be a master in every service they offer. 

A full-service marketing agency should have a team, including social media marketers, search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, and skilled account executives. This vast range of skills is essential for effective web marketing.

7) Transparency

Transparency is crucial for all business relationships. It’s the starting point for building trust and rapport between the client (i.e. you) and the agency. 

First, check the agency’s website. A website that seems too good to be true, does not provide enough information, or otherwise seems sketchy is probably not legitimate. 

Then, trustworthy digital marketing agencies should provide prospective customers with complete transparency. This includes honest pricing, easy-to-understand contracts, and customer testimonials. If there is anything that you considered sketchy in your search, ask them about it. Their response will tell you a lot about whether you can trust that agency with your business’s marketing.

Finally, a reputable agency will also be happy to review documents with prospective clients before any commitment is made.

8) Data-Driven Services

How data is measured is often a frequently asked question and rightfully so. It’s incredibly hard to track progress without having any way to do so. Effective digital marketing campaigns require advanced tools, technologies, and skilled professionals. All of these, are not typically available or easily understood by someone unfamiliar with digital marketing.

When searching for a digital marketing agency for your business, you should ask them how they measure data and whether they can track your digital marketing progress in real-time. One way an agency might do this is by offering data and analytical reports to keep their clients abreast of any major changes or trends. 

Furthermore, frequent data tracking is the best way to adjust your campaigns as needed to maximize your budget for optimal success. True professionals should use analytical data to drive decision-making processes that generate results.

You may also ask about tracking your digital marketing progress on your own time with client dashboards. These dashboards will keep you informed about the progress that the agency’s services are providing. An added advantage of having a client dashboard includes quick and easy ways to get in touch with your team should you have any questions.

9) A Strong Focus on Business Revenue

A full-service digital marketing agency is the best way to ensure your web presence reaches its maximum potential. Some agencies focus solely on lead generation, website traffic, or other web goals. While these are important elements of a successful digital marketing campaign, this is not the end goal. The right digital marketing agency will work to plan beyond these initial elements of marketing and focus on the end goal of increased revenue.

Marketing’s purpose is to generate quality leads that turn into sales. 

That starts by improving your brand image and building a greater reach into your target audience. 

Beyond that, marketing needs to funnel leads so that your company can see a significant increase in conversions.

NOTE: Marketing is not sales, so you must have an effective sales process to close the quality leads your marketing efforts provide. 

10) Attractive Web Presence

Finally, evaluate the strength and reach of any prospective digital marketing agency’s web presence. A reputable company should appear highly on search engine results pages and regularly post on social media. They should not fall under “the cobbler’s kid goes shoeless”. 

You want to choose an agency that has invested in and successfully established its own digital presence before hiring them to handle yours. There are several reasons for this:

• Their website is the cornerstone of their entire marketing. 
• Agencies should use their website as their personal portfolio.
• They are most likely testing different marketing strategies before trying them out with your brand.
• If they can’t generate leads through their website, how will they be able to generate leads for you? 
• Their ability to invest in their marketing indicates their willingness to invest in other areas of their business (i.e. technology, personnel, continuing education, etc.).

Exults is a full-service digital marketing agency that provides our clients with a range of results-driven services. Explore our services below:

• Website Design
• Website Development
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Sponsored Search
• Social Media Marketing
• E-Commerce Development
• Digital PR

4 Questions To Ask When Hiring A Digital Agency

Wondering how to choose a digital marketing agency? Ask these questions when interviewing agencies. 

How Does Your Digital Agency Track Metrics? 

Every digital agency should hold itself accountable for the leads they are generating for businesses. However, that is not always the case. So ask how and what metrics they track. You may also want to find out if they will provide those metrics to you so you can hold them accountable. 

How Do You Adjust When Things Aren’t Going The Way We Want It To? 

Leading into our second question, the data may show that things aren’t going the way they should’ve gone. Although marketing does require a level of testing and experimentation, it should also have an iterative process. The most important thing is to search for in an agency is someone who will be transparent and proactively provide the next steps to circumvent a negative trend. 

What Involvement Do You Need From Me As The Client?

Depending on what your digital agency proposes, your involvement may vary. When you ask this question, you also need to communicate if you can be involved at any level. 

When Will I See The Results? 

This is a great question because it sets expectations for both parties – the client and the agency. 

The agency will be able to see how quickly you’re expecting leads. That may impact their recommendations. For example, if you want leads yesterday, they may offer paid ads instead of SEO (which can take a couple of months to produce meaningful results). 

The client, on the other hand, will be able to set their personal expectations so they aren’t hounding you for results.

6 Factors To Consider When Choosing A Digital Marketing Agency

Beyond what to look for in a digital marketing agency and questions to ask when hiring a digital agency, you also need to consider the following factors:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Communication
• Budget
• Reputation 
• Business model 

1. Experience

Based on what you’re trying to accomplish, you need to know that the digital agency you’re considering has the experience to take you where you want. For example, if you want a digital agency to create an omnichannel marketing strategy that includes SEO, public relations, social media, billboards, and paid ads, you don’t want a green agency that has experience in only one or two categories. 

Take inventory of what experience you require from an agency.

Then evaluate their work – either through clients listed on their website, case studies provided on their website, or even blogs outlining what they’ve done for themselves. 

2. Expertise

Paired with experience, the next factor to consider when hiring a digital agency is expertise. Your agency needs to be able to know how, when, and what they need to do in the specific marketing strategy they’ve pitched you on. 

As your prospective agency about the team members that will be assigned to your business. What are they skilled in? Why should you trust them with your business?

3. Communication 

This is a big one. Communication can either be the key to a successful partnership or the demise of one. While you may not be able to get a good read in the sales conversations alone, there are a couple of things to look at: 

• Responsiveness via phone, email, and/or text
• Do they answer your questions (or skirt around them)? 
• Welcoming messages to get you excited about partnering together
• Recap emails from meetings or conversations
• Follow-through on action tasks

4. Budget 

Do you have those narrowed digital marketing goals in mind? You need to know if your budget aligns with the agency you’re evaluating and what services you’re requesting. Some agencies have minimum monthly retainers. Others have no floor or ceiling for monthly budget requirements. 

5. Reputation

Another factor to consider when hiring a digital marketing agency is its reputation. What do clients say about them on Google or social media? What do employees say about them on sites like Glassdoor? 

When evaluating reviews, here are a couple of things to consider:

• Recency. Throughout the lifetime of a business, there may be rougher seasons. That may not tell the current picture though. So it’s imperative that you look at the most recent reviews to see what people are experiencing right now. 
• Detail. Evaluate the level of detail a reviewer is providing. Too much detail may be as much of a red flag as too little detail. If you’re unsure about the legitimacy of the testimonial, check out the reviewer’s other comments. 
• Response. There will always be bad reviews. But what matters is how the company responds to those reviews. Are they being gracious, understanding, and proactive? Or are they blaming the reviewer and leaving a bad taste in your mouth? 
• Your Gut. As always, take a gut check when evaluating the agency’s reputation. If something feels slimy, you may be avoiding a potential disaster of an agency relationship.

When searching online, be sure that the digital agency you’re looking into has testimonials readily available on the marketing agency’s core website. You can also search online for reviews from previous clients. You should also pay attention to any agency-given responses to customer complaints or praises. However an agency chooses to respond to their customers online can say more than you may think about their daily operations.

6. Business Model

Depending on the agency and your personal preferences, one type of agency may be better than another. 

First, there’s a more boutique approach where every strategy is designed around the client. Because of their uniqueness, they may take on fewer clients. There may also be a little more experimentation here, but the results could take you into the stratosphere. 

Then there is the other approach where the agency has a proven formula for marketing success. While there may be a little less customization and flexibility here, it’s no less effective. And you’ll see amazing and more importantly, consistent results!

Determine what style and results you’re looking for and keep that in mind when choosing a digital marketing agency to hire. 

Expand The Power Of Your Digital Marketing Strategies With Exults

There’s far more to a successful digital marketing campaign than meets the eye. Where you see social media posts, we see a number of clicks, copy that converts, and eye-catching images. When you’re browsing through blogs, we see relevant and real content with custom copy optimized for the right audience. And where you see your website as it is, we see a ton of measurable results that change daily.

If it sounds like a lot to be responsible for, you’d be right. This is why we partner with businesses and entrepreneurs like yourself to help you stand out among your competitors, promote your brand and voice, and give you access to higher-quality leads.

Are you ready to elevate your customer journey with digital marketing solutions?

Contact Exults Digital Marketing today if you are interested in rebranding your company for the digital business world to spark meaningful engagement and online sales. Visit the Exults website or call 866-999-4736 for more information.

The post The Most Important Things You Should Consider When Hiring a Digital Agency appeared first on Exults Digital Marketing Agency.