Don’t let your roofing company fall behind in 2018. The internet is an ever-changing beast and in order to harness its power successfully your business needs to be prepared to adapt to any changes that come your way this year. The need for SEO or Search Engine Optimization isn’t going to change, but how your business can rise to the top of the SERP page will. Check out some of the predicted SEO changes to be on the lookout for in 2018 from MarketingLand.com below.

8 game-changing SEO trends that will dominate 2018

With over 200 factors in Google’s algorithm, SEO is a complex science. But it’s not how much you need to know that makes it really challenging — it’s the ever-changing nature of the rules of the game.

As search engines strive to improve the quality of search results, some ranking factors shift shapes, others fall into oblivion, and completely new ones arise out of nowhere. To help you stay ahead of the game in 2018, here’s a list of the most prominent trends that are gaining momentum, with tips on how you can prepare for each.

1. The rise of SERP features

Are you assuming a #1 organic ranking is the way to get as much traffic as possible? Think again. Increasingly, SERP features (local packs, Knowledge panels, featured snippets and so on) are stealing searchers’ attention and clicks from organic listings.

And it’s only fair if you consider the evolution the Google SERP has been through. It has gone all the way from “10 blue links”…

Read more at marketingland.com…

Keep your roofing company ahead of the game with our expert SEO services and see how your website is ranking right now on Google with a free SEO Analysis from Roofing Contractor Marketing. 

 

One of the first steps to starting a roofing company is developing your digital presence. How your business is represented on the internet can be a huge determining factor in the success or failure of your business. A strong online identity can attract new clients and drive leads to your business while a weak presence can leave your roofing company unnoticed and losing leads.

Building a robust digital presence isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes time and planning, to execute your complete digital marketing strategy. While there’s no silver bullet to guarantee success, you can get started with a few things to start building your digital presence.

Three ways to use a domain name for business today

Build your online identity with a domain name

Registering a domain name is one of the first steps to starting a new business. That’s because whatever name is chosen will represent the business’s space on the internet — and, possibly, a customer’s first impression of the company.

But once you have that domain name, what do you do? Don’t stress over building an online space. Start using a domain name right away. Here are three ways to do it.

Set up a company-branded email address

The web address can also be used as an email address. A company-branded email address can give you and your employees a more professional-looking branded channel for communication with customers, as well as free marketing for your company. In a 2015 survey, 74 percent of consumers said they would trust a company-branded email address more than a free email address. It’s easy and cost-effective to set up, too. The provider you use to register your domain name can most likely help you set up your email address quickly and inexpensively.

Read more at marketingland.com…

 

Getting your online presence started correctly can help your roofing company be successful but your online presence isn’t something that you can simply set and forget.  A website alone won’t drive leads to your business. But, full-service digital marketing from Roofing Contractor Marketing can help you connect your digital presence with new clients and grow your roofing company into a roofing empire.

 

Are you ready to grow your roofing company now? Get a free, no-obligation Internet Marketing Analysis to get started now.

Mark Zuckerberg announced that he will be directing the team at Facebook to make changes to the way Facebook algorithms choose what content to serve on a user’s News Feed. These changes will de-emphasize commercial content from business pages and prioritize content from friends and family.

In a statement released on Facebook Zuckerberg said, “We’ve gotten feedback from our community that public content — posts from businesses, brands and media — is crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other.”

While these changes may seem drastic, the deprioritization of “organic reach” has been happening for several years. Hubspot reports that, “A study from Edgerank Checker found that between February 2012 and March 2014, organic reach for the average Facebook Page dropped from 16% to 6.5%.”

Current figures show organic reach as low as one to two percent for many pages. Even if Facebook moves to completely eliminate organic reach the loss is will only be a small percentage of a loss.

Roofing companies that utilize Facebook as a marketing platform should be ready to adjust their social media marketing strategies and adapt to these new changes. The days when a roofing contractor could rely only on organic content to get their messages out to their audiences are long gone. But roofing companies still stand to benefit from the use of social media. The strategies for success are just different.

Paid content will still be used to reach audiences but there will be more competition. This means that ads will need to stand out more, have better targeting, and increased ad budget. Organic posts won’t be used for generating large reach but will remain an important part of a business’s online presence and branding. These changes will cement the “Pay to Play” business model for Facebook.

If you are worried about how these changes will affect your roofing business, get a FREE Social Media Analysis from the experts at Roofing Contractor Marketing.

If roofing company owners want a robust digital marketing plan, they need to harness the full power of social media. Social media provides a unique way for businesses to connect with their clientele but the platform is in a constant state of flux, and knowing how to wield it can be confusing. 

At the dawn of social media, businesses would post there messaging on their “wall” and work hard to build followers. Now, there is no such thing as a wall and followers are not as important as they once were.

The power now comes from the vast amount of detailed information they have on their users. From a digital marketing standpoint, this means you can reach the exact audience you want. Detailed targeting makes your ads more effective and means your digital marketing dollars will go further.

The platforms have changed. New algorithms have come along. It’s not the same space it was. It’s more complex. But if you know how to use it effectively it’s more powerful than ever. As 2017 comes to an end take a look at some this year’s trends from marketingland.com.

2017: The year in social media

Social media scrutiny

Social media has been in the spotlight for years; in 2017 it went under the microscope.

Scrutiny surrounding Facebook’s and Twitter’s roles in Russian entities’ efforts to use their ad platforms to subvert the 2016 US presidential election followed them into 2017. So did Facebook’s series of measurement errors and ad-targeting controversies, as well as Twitter’s revenue struggles. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission signaled it is taking a harder look at influencer marketing as Facebook and Instagram try to clean up the landscape and brands try to manage it. And Snapchat owner Snap went from the next Facebook to the new Twitter as Instagram, which emerged as Snapchat’s foremost rival in 2016, eclipsed Snapchat in 2017.

What is social media now?

Given the aforementioned baggage, perhaps it’s no surprise that several social networks made moves in 2017 that blurred the lines of what a social media platform even is. Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter premiered TV-like original shows to lure TV audiences and advertisers. Pinterest set its sights on visual search. Twitter lengthened tweets into more like mini-blogs. And in a major redesign, Snapchat decided that social should be separated from media.

However, as much as the definition of social media is being stretched, the social media market in 2017 was still defined by Facebook — and its rivalries. The preeminent social network spent 2017 protecting its corner and extending its territory, making moves and triggering others that may set the stage for an even more volatile 2018.

Read More at marketingland.com…

At Roofing Contractor Marketing our team understands the ins-and-outs of social media and the roofing industry. We are always researching the new changes and finding the best ways to utilize the platform to drive leads to your business. Social media is no longer a job for your little nephew, this is a job for Digital Marketing Pros. 

In the 1920s there was an artist, Waldo Pierce, who gave his hotel concierge a small turtle as a gift. The concierge was very fond of the turtle and cared for it as it grew rapidly over the next few weeks. As the turtle grew, so did her happiness. She showed the turtle off to the neighborhood, proud of how quickly it had grown.

One day she noticed that the turtle seemed a little smaller than usual, the next a little smaller still. Over the next few days, the turtle had shrunk back to his original tiny size. The concierge was mystified and concerned. One more day and the turtle might have shrunk into nothing. The artist, Pierce, finally confessed to the concierge, he had been switching out the turtles at every chance he could.

A lot of the time, all we see is what is happening in front of us. We see the turtle grow larger and smaller. But behind the scenes, there is a lot more at work. Being a roofing company owner can be like that. Sometimes your roofing company grows and other times it shrinks and you might not understand all of the reasons that are causing it.

A digital marketing campaign can help your business grow and you don’t have to understand all of the details that are going on behind the scenes. At Roofing Contractor Marketing, we know the roofing industry, how competitive it can be, and the particular challenges you face. We are also digital marketing experts and understand everything that goes on in the background that makes your business grow.

If you want to watch your business grow in 2018 click here for a Free Marketing Analysis.