Getting Found
Getting found: cost-effective marketing for a home service business
Getting found means the homeowners in your town can find you when they need what you do, and what they find gives them a good reason to call. It also means knowing which dollars bring in calls, so you can stop paying for the ones that do not. Of the four jobs that grow a home service business, marketing is the one that costs money every month whether it works or not.
Video: a live Google search, section by section
Video: a live Google search, section by section
How do the parts of home service marketing work together?
The parts of home service marketing work as one system: some help homeowners find you, some help them decide to call, and tracking tells you which ones are paying off. Your Google Business Profile and the pages on your website are the ground floor, because a homeowner who sees your ad or hears your name from a neighbor will usually look you up there before picking up the phone. The same pages and the same clear information are what Google search and AI tools like ChatGPT draw on when someone asks who to call.
Ads add reach on top of that ground floor. Google search ads put you in front of people who are searching right now, while Facebook and Instagram ads and your social posts keep your name familiar to people who will need you later. Tracking ties it together by showing which of these brought in a call, so each month you can put more into what works and less into what does not.
Phase 1 of 4
Be found
Show up where homeowners in your town look for what you do: Google search and the AI answers they now ask.
How does showing up in Google search work for a home service business (SEO)?
Showing up in Google search means your website has pages that answer the questions homeowners type in, such as what a repair involves, what to expect on the day, and whether you work in their town. Google looks for the page that answers the question best, so each page needs to say plainly what you do and where you do it.
Pages that answer real questions bring in people who are already looking for your kind of work, and you do not pay for each visit the way you do with ads. The same pages give your ads somewhere useful to send people, and they are much of what AI tools read when they decide which businesses to mention.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild builds and writes the pages and articles on your website, in your name.
How does a home service business get recommended in ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews (AEO)?
More homeowners now ask ChatGPT, or read the AI summary at the top of Google, when they want to know who to call. Those tools write their answer from what they find about local businesses across the web, including your website and your Google Business Profile.
A business whose name, services, and service area read the same everywhere, and whose pages answer the questions people ask, is easier for these tools to describe with confidence. That work overlaps almost entirely with a complete profile and a helpful website, so you are building both at once. Nobody can promise a place in an AI answer.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild writes your website pages to answer the questions homeowners ask and keeps your Google Business Profile consistent with them.
Phase 2 of 4
Be chosen
Give the homeowner who finds you a reason to call you instead of the next name on the list.
What is a Google Business Profile, and why does a home service business need a complete one?
Your Google Business Profile is the box with your name, phone number, hours, reviews, and photos that shows up on Google Search and Google Maps when someone looks for a business like yours. It is free, and Google shows it whether or not you ever fill it in.
For many homeowners the profile is the first thing they see, and they call straight from it without ever visiting your website. Wrong hours, an old phone number, or a missing service area can send a ready customer to the next name on the list. The reviews your customers leave land here too, which is why the profile connects your marketing to the way you ask for reviews after each job.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild completes your Google Business Profile, keeps the details current, and keeps it in your name.
Phase 3 of 4
Be seen more
Pay to reach more of the right homeowners, in the towns you serve, once the foundation is in place.
How do Google search ads work for a home service business (PPC)?
Google search ads are the paid results that appear above the regular listings when someone searches for a service in your area. You pay when someone clicks the ad, and you choose the searches, the towns, and the daily budget.
Search ads reach people who need the work done now, which makes them the quickest way to add calls in a slow stretch or a new service area. They also cost money on every click, so they only make sense when the page the ad sends people to gives them a reason to call and when you can see which clicks turned into calls.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild sets up and runs your Google search ads in an account that belongs to you.
How do Facebook and Instagram ads work for a home service business (Meta ads)?
Facebook and Instagram ads show up in people's feeds based on where they live and what they are likely to need, whether or not they are searching for anything. You can aim them at homeowners in the towns you serve.
Most homeowners do not need you today, so these ads keep your name familiar until they do. They work well for seasonal reminders, a new service, or a before and after photo from a job nearby. Because the viewer was not searching, they tend to bring in calls more slowly than search ads, which is why tracking matters when you compare the two.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild sets up and runs your Facebook and Instagram ads in accounts that belong to you.
Phase 4 of 4
Know what works
See which ads and pages bring in calls, so the money goes where it earns.
How do you tell which ads and pages bring in calls (Google Analytics)?
Tracking records where each call and form came from, whether that was a Google search ad, a Facebook ad, a page on your website, or your Google Business Profile. Google Analytics is the free tool that shows what visitors do on your website, and it works alongside tracking on the ads themselves.
Without tracking, every other part of your marketing is a guess, and a busy month looks the same as a lucky one. With it, you can see which spending brought in work in each season and move your budget toward it. When a month runs slow, tracking tells you whether fewer calls came in, which points to the marketing, or whether the calls came and did not turn into jobs, which points to the follow-up.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild tracks which ads and pages bring in calls, so you can see which of your marketing dollars are earning work.
Free guide
Stop paying for leads you never book.
A 24-page guide that follows one job from the homeowner's search to the paid invoice, and shows where the money leaks out along the way.
What happens when nobody owns the marketing?
On a Tuesday night, a homeowner in your town searches for exactly what you do, a few names come up, and yours is not one of them, so she calls one of the others. You never hear about it, because a job you never knew existed does not show up on any report. Meanwhile the ads keep charging the card every month, the profile still lists last year's hours, and nobody can say which of it brought in last week's calls. The money gets spent either way, and the owner is left guessing whether to spend more or cut it all off.
What does the Home Service Guild system build for marketing?
The Home Service Guild Marketing Operations System gives your marketing a home and a way to be measured. Home Service Guild builds and writes the pages and articles on your website, completes your Google Business Profile and keeps it current, and sets up and runs your Google search ads and your Facebook and Instagram ads. All of it is in your name, so the profile, the ad accounts, and the website stay yours. We track which ads and pages bring in calls, so you can see what brings in work in each season and move your budget to it. Robert Earl holds current Google certifications in Google Ads Search, Conversion Optimization, and Google Analytics.
Articles on getting found
- What should a Google Business Profile include for a home service business?What a complete Google Business Profile includes for a home service business, why a half-finished one loses calls, and what keeping it current looks like.
- How do I get ChatGPT and Google's AI answers to recommend my home service business?What ChatGPT and Google's AI answers look for before they name a local home service business, why yours may be missing, and what a fix looks like.
- Should a small home service business run Google ads or Facebook ads?Google Ads vs Facebook Ads for contractors: Google reaches homeowners searching now, Facebook reaches people who are not. See which suits the work you want.
- What should a home service website have so homeowners call instead of leaving?What a home service website needs so homeowners call: what you do, where you work, a phone number that is easy to tap, and proof from real customers.
- What do Robert Earl's three Google certifications mean for your home service business?Robert Earl holds Google certifications in Google Ads Search, Conversion Optimization, and Google Analytics. What each one means for a home service owner.
- How much does Google Ads cost a home service company?Google Ads cost for home service companies: how Google prices each click, who sets the budget, and what advertisers pay per click for real trade searches.
Trades where this job matters most
- HVACThe phone rings all summer and goes quiet in the fall, so HVAC marketing has to work hardest in the months when nobody is in a hurry.
- RoofingAfter every storm a roofer competes for attention, and the homeowner wants to see a local name they can trust before they call.
- Pest controlHomeowners search for pest control the day they see the pest, so the company with a complete listing and someone to answer the phone gets the call.
- RestorationA customer with water on the floor calls whoever they find first, so a restoration company has to be easy to find at any hour.
Questions owners ask about getting found
What is cost-effective marketing for a small home service business?
Cost-effective marketing is marketing where you can see which dollars bring in calls, and you keep spending only on those. For a small home service business that usually means a complete Google Business Profile, a website that answers the questions homeowners ask, and ads you can trace to real calls. The aim is to stop paying for things nobody can measure.
How do I know whether my marketing is working?
You know your marketing is working when you can trace each new call or form back to the ad, page, or profile that brought it in. Without that, a busy month and a slow month both look like luck. The Home Service Guild system tracks which ads and pages bring in calls, so you can see which spending earns its keep.
Where should a small home service business put its first marketing dollar?
Put the first dollar where people are already looking for you, which means making sure they can find you and reach you before you pay to reach anyone new. A profile with the wrong hours or a website with a phone number that is hard to tap loses customers who were ready to call. The free business score shows which of the four jobs is costing your business the most.
Can marketing help me show up in ChatGPT and Google's AI answers?
Yes, it can help, although nobody can promise a placement. AI tools tend to recommend businesses whose information is clear and consistent across the web and whose pages answer the questions people ask. We explain what that involves in how to get ChatGPT and Google's AI answers to recommend your business.
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What does posting on social media do for a home service business?
Social media posting means sharing regular updates on your business pages, such as finished jobs, seasonal tips, new reviews, and the people on your crew. These posts mostly reach people who already follow you or know your name.
A homeowner who looks you up will often check your pages to see whether you are active and real, and a page with no posts for a year raises doubts. Regular posts also keep you in mind with past customers and their neighbors, which supports the repeat and referral work that brings in jobs without ad spending.
What we can set up with you
Home Service Guild posts to your social pages in your name.