Selling services online is the newest way for tradesmen to market their businesses. Many small to medium businesses have now converted their traditional advertising to purely online marketing. One of the main advantages of advertising on the Internet is that it is the most measurable form of advertising available. Online promotion is not without its problems and one of the main issues is how to measure telephone sales, which could be generated by a number of sources. This can be a major problem, which DMA Solutions can solve, but for now lets focus on how tradesmen should get started online.

Directories

A fast way to get to the first page of the search engines is to join online directories such as True Local, Aussie Web, Yellow Pages Online, Home Improvement Pages and the list goes on. These websites usually ask for a monthly or yearly fee to appear in their directory and are often based on a “pay for position” model, therefore if you pay the most and you were the first to pay, then you will retain top positions.

Pay Per Click

Pay per click (PPC) is the fastest way to rank your website on top of the search engine results. The Google Adwords (PPC) framework can be finely tuned to allow only highly targeted traffic to visit your website. Geo targeting can also be achieved by nominating you local area, which excludes searchers from outside your area that would waste your clicks. If not handled properly PPC can be a siphon for advertising funds therefore a professional adwords reseller is highly recommended for first timers.

SEO

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the Rolls Royce of online marketing. The beauty of SEO is that once you have achieved your rankings you do not have to pay for any clicks. Unfortunately SEO requires many hours of marketing research, years of experience in online marketing and the ability to provide a complete online solution for your business. It can be costly to initially setup but with a small amount of ongoing work, in the long term it is the most cost effective means of ranking in the search engines.

If you are a tradesman and want to explore the possibilities of online marketing, contact our office to find out more about selling your services online.