A brief overview of the basics of local listings and social media usage for contractors. Includes 11 free sites to list your business with and inexpensive ways to create a professional appearance on the internet.

1. Internet Marketing
A brief overview of the basics of local
listings and social media usage for
contractors.

2. How do people choose contractors?
EHOW recommends 10 items to finding a good roofer:
 Look up a list of local roofing companies using the Internet
 Ask your friends and neighbors for recommendations
 Put together a list of up to 4 potential roofing companies based on
the research you have done.
 Check local or national construction associations, such as the
National Roofing Contractors Association.
 Ask for written copies of their proposals and quotes for the roofing
work that you need completed.
 Request client references
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_7477707_good-roofers.html

3. How do people choose contractors?
NRCA : 13 points for selecting a “Commercial Roofing Contractor”
 References
 A permanent place of business
 Affiliated with an industry organization
 Insist on a written proposal
 Warranties
 Completed projects
Source: “Guidelines for selecting a commercial (low-slope) roofing contractor”

4. Can you be found?
• Do you have a website?
• Are you listed in search engines?
• How will people find you if no one tells them?

7. A Local Listing Example

8. What does it cost?
$20 a year
&
One weekend
(if you have no idea how to use the internet, otherwise 1 day)

9. What does it cost?
Lowest: $6.99 a year
Highest: $1,500 a year
Average: $100 - $200 a year
Without any professional website design.
Professional design $2,000 – $10,000

10. What do you get?
• Branded E-Mail address
• Website
• Local search listings
• Increased credibility
• Increased visibility

12. Source: http://www.newyorkgetonline.com/tipsandtools

13. Where do you get leads?
Contractors # 1 response …

14. “Word of Mouth”
And in 2010 ….
WOM + Internet = Social Media

15. Social Media
• Pros:
– Free
– Helps in SEO
– Opportunity for people to talk and share
• Cons
– No guarantees
– Difficult to track
– Opportunity for people to talk and share

16. Source: http://www.slideshare.net/hillarybressler/internet-marketing-for-roofing-industry2011

17. Facebook
• It’s Free
• It’s Easy
• You can share:
– Photos
– Projects
– References
• You can give people an easy way to
provide WOM

19. Other Options
• Twitter
• YouTube
• Many other sites
Click here for a list of over 100 hundred social
sites: Social Media Links
* If you do not have content to share or have
someone dedicated to interacting these probably
won’t help you.

20. Other Options cont.
• You can use a program to automatically update
LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, when you
update only one of them.
If This Then That : http://ifttt.com
You link the accounts and it will do the rest
automatically.

21. Where do you want to be?
LOCAL!

22. FREE LISTINGS

23. To add a local listing
follow the links below:
1) Google Places
2) Bing Local
3) Yahoo Local (see bottom of page)
4) Insider Pages
5) Yelp
6) Angies List
7) Super Pages
8) City Search
9) Facebook Pages
10) Google +
11) Linked In

24. Domain Names
• Network Solutions
• Go Daddy
• 1 and 1
Cost: $6.99 - $12.99 a year

25. Thank You
Created by Antoine (Tony) Loup
See: http://sites.google.com/site/antoineloup/main
For more information.