Category Archives: Internet Marketing

Feb '22

5 HVAC Promotional Ideas (Online + Digital) for 2022 & Beyond

If you’re looking for HVAC promotional ideas, this is the post for you.

It can be hard to get the consumers’ attention, primarily if you operate in a crowded regional market. Nevertheless, you should consider these HVAC online promotions whether or not you have exhausted other lead generation avenues.

Promoting your business is a great way to increase brand awareness and generate leads. The best promotional tactics are subtle and prevent the consumer from feeling sales pressure. The goal is to make it seem like you’re not advertising since most modern consumers don’t trust ads.

Below, HVAC Webmasters outlines five ideas to promote your AC company.

Table of Contents

1) Reach Out to Local Radio Stations

Did you know that 92% of American adults still listen to the radio? While the medium seems antiquated with the emergence of podcasts and digital streaming, your audience still tunes into their local radio stations regularly.

One great promotional idea is to reach out to your local radio station and team up with them for a giveaway. Then, of course, you would sponsor the prize, which can range from a free AC or discounts on certain HVAC services. One of the giveaways we heard about was the radio station weather report.

A sweepstakes entrant would be drawn to receive the prize if the weatherman was off on the daily high temperature by more than 3 degrees. Of course, the prize will depend on what you can reasonably put up without hurting your bottom line. Still, this is a great way to promote brand awareness and get sweepstake entrants to opt in to email lists.

2) Facebook Giveaways

Every heating and cooling company should have a Facebook Business Page to promote their company.

The time is now to utilize that community and grow it with a promotional giveaway for established pages. Start by creating an announcement post to the effect that you will be giving away a free service (the actual service is up to your discretion) for people who sign up with their email, phone number, or who follow your page.

Only one person can win the giveaway, so when all is said and done, you will likely have a slew of leads who were interested enough in one of your particular services to enter their information in a giveaway for it. Another great thing about this idea is that it is relatively easy to set up independently without needing a 3rd party to get involved.

3) Guest Blogging

If you have colleagues in the business, ask if you can contribute a guest post to their website. You can drive referral traffic from their website to yours if you provide valuable content.

Guest posts also help with link building as your website’s inbound links count as an endorsement. But, of course, it depends on the website’s authority on which you are contributing. Remember, too, that nefarious guest posting (doing it only for the link) violates Google guidelines.

A white-hat guest post involves a genuine relationship where one contributor provides valuable and topical content on another’s site. For example, you can contribute a worthwhile post if you know HVAC suppliers, other contractors, or even people in similar industries.

4) Photo Contests

Photo contests help promote HVAC services and are compatible with various media platforms. One excellent photo contest example was the Ugly Furnace Contest. Entrants sent in a picture of their old, ugly furnace (including contact information) for a chance to win a new furnace.

You can partner with local print media outlets like local newsletters, newspapers, and even advertisers in your area. You can also launch the promotion on your own online.

If you have consistent monthly web traffic, you can promote the contest on your homepage. You can also promote your competition on your social media outlets like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.

Contests are a fun way to get people involved in your brand, and of course, they will identify a slew of new leads primed for furnace replacement or maintenance.

Of course, you can change the details. If AC service is more lucrative in your area, by all means, turn it into an Ugly AC Contest.

5) Facebook Quizzes

Everyone loves a good quiz now and then – especially when there’s a prize on the line. So once again, we are turning to Facebook because it is straightforward to set up and run a quiz on the platform and tap into your existing community.

There are even apps you can use to create Facebook quizzes ridiculously easily. Of course, you will be putting up a prize in this scenario, but the ROI is likely to be significant.

A quiz won’t cost you anything and won’t take more than a few minutes. Plus, you have the opportunity to drive engagement and grow your social media community which is always good for business.

Bonus Idea: Promote Your HVAC Company on Google

The most efficient form of HVAC promotion is search engine optimization. Ranking your website and Google Business Profile on organic search results creates a sustainable stream of high-quality leads. In addition, unlike other time-sensitive promos, an organic search presence is everpresent.

The best way to increase rankings is to invest in Local SEO for HVAC Contractors. Many consumers click on the Google Map 3-Pack when searching for a local AC company. Various factors like proximity, prominence, and relevance come into the algorithm’s consideration.

HVAC Webmasters offers a tool called DataPins to help you rank locally and convert more traffic. DataPins allows HVAC companies to drop a location of their jobs and then injects the geo-coordinates with schema markup, serving as a digital hand-raise to Google Maps.

We hope you enjoyed the list. Keep in mind, there are never enough HVAC promotional ideas

Feb '21

HVAC Call To Action (CTA) Guide for 2022

What is a Call to Action for HVAC?

For HVAC companies, a CTA is an online device that prompts or encourages users to take action. The most common HVAC calls to action are phone number links or push-to-call button. A website visitor who clicks a phone number link converts from traffic to lead instantaneously.

HVAC CTA Tips for 2022

Strong CTAs are clear and concise. Users respond to urgent calls and don’t have time to read through a bunch of filler. Getting right to the point encourages user action while discouraging overthinking. Remember, in 2022, consumers won’t tolerate BS. The goal is to direct them to buy your HVAC services on the spot.

Tip #1: Invoke Enthusiasm

Some words inspire users to take action, while others bore them into inaction. Understanding language is key to crafting the perfect CTA for your heating and cooling website or advertisement. For example, “save 60% on your first service” inspires consumers immediately. Conversely, “get in touch with our sales rep” only leaves them wanting more.

Tip #2: Create Urgency

Prospects often will wait to make a final decision so that they can compare your prices to competitors and seek out 3rd party opinions. Of course, creating an excellent online reputation can make those actions lead right back to your website. But creating urgency with your CTA ensures they’ll never leave in the first place. Putting a time limit on your special offer, for example, encourages them to take immediate action.

Tip #3: Make CTAs Responsive

Some users may access your HVACR website through their smartphones or tablets. And some, still, will use their desktop computer or laptop. A compelling CTA must appear ideally on each device type, and responsive design makes it happen. Losing even one of those devices can reduce your conversions enough to make a significant blow to your revenue.

Tip #4: Enhance CTAs with Social Proof

Most users won’t click on a CTA without some social proof. It helps to use statistics or numbers to prove your company’s worth. For example, show that 99% of clients become repeat customers. You can also use pricing comparisons showing that your services save customers an average of 35 dollars per job.

Tip #5: Click to Call Functionality

Smartphones represent the top device for potential clients. Creating a linked CTA that connects the user to your phone line is one way to streamline the sales process. For example, a giant button in your website’s header, reading: Call Now, can connect from their phone to your phone in just seconds. Yes, technology can do some pretty amazing things in 2022.

Call To Action Examples

HVAC companies can publish a wide range of CTA types. For example, you might prefer for customers to email you or submit a contact form. Other contractors may want direct phone calls to their office line. In either case, you can craft your call to action to fit your company’s needs and preferences in 2022. Let’s look at some HVAC call to action examples to create inspiration for your next venture.

Phone Number Link

The phone number link is straight to the point. Typically a phone link gets accompanied by a line of text, which creates either trust or urgency. The linked number is self-explanatory for users and frequently leads to increased call volume for local HVACR companies.

Request a Quote

For contractors who prefer the form submission, request a quote serves as an ideal CTA. You can get some basic information about your prospect before speaking with them over the phone. This way, you have more knowledge going in and can provide them with a personalized sales pitch almost certain to convert them.

Request a Call

Like the request a quote, request a call allows users to leave their phone number for a later callback. Some heating and cooling companies prefer to schedule the best call times instead of taking calls 24/7. Depending on staff size, the request for a call CTA could be highly beneficial and increase company efficiency in 2022.

Contact Us

The Contact Us form is the most traditional call to action. Of course, its effectiveness often predicates on the rest of your website. Is your homepage telling a story? Does it encourage trust and authority for future clients? If both those things ring true, then the contact us form often works wonders. However, keep in mind that without a strong homepage, the contact us form becomes relatively useless.

Review Us

Not all calls to action must encourage direct contact. Sometimes you need CTAs for existing clients to perform other actions. An excellent example of this is the Review Us call to action. Generating Google reviews is vital to your reputation and can help increase conversion rates across the web. Placing a review CTA on your website’s homepage encourages good things for your authority.

Savings / Discounts

Consumers often associate action with money. If they can save money, they are more willing to take action. Savings or discount style CTAs are effective in encouraging swift action from future clients. You can design a variety of savings CTAs as long as each of them shows customers how they’ll save money by using your service.

Working With HVAC Webmasters

Installing CTAs on your website requires web design experience along with other technical skills. HVAC Webmasters can help your company project the best version of itself to future clients. We’ve worked with hundreds of HVAC contractors in assisting them to generate high-quality HVACR leads over the past decade. Some of our services include:

BrandREVU: We include a reputation management tool that enhances social proof for stronger CTAs.

Responsive Design: We make sure your CTAs show up effectively across all devices.

Website Redesign: We take existing websites and improve user experience and visual appeal

Click-To-Call: We implement click-to-call functionality for phone number links

HVAC companies can’t do everything on their own. Partnering with an industry-specific marketing agency like HVAC Webmasters can empower you to focus on performing the best services. We help you get more customers through your website, organic search, and reputation management. We even help you automate the local SEO process through Jobsite check-ins and user-generated content for your specific web pages.

Jan '19

3 Online Review Sites For HVAC Companies

The HVAC industry is fiercely competitive. However, there’s not a single silver bullet to make your company succeed online. However, after decades of experience as HVAC SEO specialists, HVAC Webmasters knows that it takes many little things, done well to help improve Google rankings and get your phone ringing daily. One of those “little things” is online review sites.

We’ll talk about how to get HVAC reviews another time, but for today, let’s focus on which sites will drive leads to your company and how you should manage the content on those listings to stand out from the crowd.

1) Google My Business (GMB)

Hands down, the most critical citation listing for your HVAC company is Google My Business. GMB is a rich listing that you can claim and manage, allowing you to create a strong profile directly tied to Google. Because Google is still the search engine king, it’s only logical that you would do anything you can to appeal to this resource, with top rankings as the goal of a well-played organic SEO strategy.

One of the pleasant aspects of Google My Business is managing your company listing from a user-friendly dashboard. The information you enter updates instantly across Search and Google Maps. Because local searches for heating and cooling repairs are vital when service areas are fixed, this is the absolute best way to keep your NAP accurate in the most visible listing you’ll have.

Optimizing Your GMB Listing

Putting myself in the customer’s shoes, one of my favorite things about using Google to search for HVAC repairs near me is how much information I have at my fingertips when those results come back. I can click on a business name from the map results — which is a familiar spot to launch research when proximity matters, especially true for emergent repairs — and see an excellent overview of data about that company. I may go ahead and place a call for service from this view alone, without ever having visited the HVAC company website. (And that’s not to say that your primary website isn’t essential. It’s a vital tool for ranking well on Google and ensuring that your company is toward the top of the Map results to get that click!)

But here’s the thing, even if you’re optimizing well if you haven’t claimed and updated your GMB listing, you may never get that call due to incorrect information. A simple typo could cost you tons of calls, and a poor user experience could result in your business tanking in the rankings. However, with a substantial listing that incorporates keywords throughout the quality content and a linked listing that connects viewers to your website for more info (like service pages with excellent on-page SEO), you’re far more likely to earn their business.

Google Business Tools for HVAC Pros

A new Google Ad feature worth mentioning here is the Google Guarantee badge. These are paid listings (versus organic results, which are still typically seen as most valuable), but they add an extra layer of comfort for customers who want the backing of a third party. This feature ties to your GMB account and lets you manage communication via Local Services booking. Because Google is recognized as an authority and trusted by billions of users, this paid listing could help a newly launched domain see some action before it has put in the years to rank organically.

2) Yelp

Millions of users continue to favor the Yelp app and website for finding everything from restaurants to air conditioning specialists in their area. (In fact, there is even a quick-select icon for Heating & Air Conditioning on the app’s landing page!) Because the app is closely tied to mobile use, the local search aspect is clutch and provides a good user experience.

The other benefit to users is review-rich pages tied to an identified reviewer (versus anonymous posts). Sure, you’ll still find some absurd nonsense, but it’s not nearly as rampant as sites that allow unidentified reviews.

Yelp reviews tend to be more detailed than some other online review sources, so having an excellent listing for your HVAC business on Yelp is a fantastic offering for potential customers to find you…and to be impressed.

Pro Tip: Respond To Yelp Reviews From HVAC Customers

While this might not seem like the SEO tips you’d expect from us, it’s essential to realize that engaging with customers is vital for the life of your company. Of course, this is true of almost any industry, but because you have a tremendous opportunity to earn business from personal referrals, thinking about how you engage with the customer is an excellent investment of time and energy. Social media marketing, for example, hinges on good engagement to get your posts seen and allow your business to thrive online.

Replying to reviews on sites such as Google and Yelp is a great way to show that you appreciate your customers and tune in to what they need. Even if a review was mediocre, when a business owner responds respectfully and professionally, that still leaves me with a positive impression of the company. The response can be more valuable than the review or star-rating itself.

3) Facebook

You may not think of this as a review site, but it’s not uncommon for Facebook reviews to show up on a Google homepage for a company listing. As we covered earlier when discussing the power of Google rankings, a potential customer may not even make it to your website, but they will likely check out a few ratings before clicking the phone number from the SERP. So while a user would have to be logged in to leave a comment or dive deep into Facebook content, reviews are visible to everyone (with or without an account) and should be considered as necessary for your online reputation as any other.

When potential customers are vetting your company for their HVAC repair business, they may start with a Google search of your company name and then check out serval online review sites to get a sense of the service you offer. Because of the incredible traffic that Facebook receives, this listing usually shows up fairly high in the rankings and should therefore be given plenty of love. But if you’re all reviews and no content, the viewer may be less inclined to pull the trigger. So don’t forsake developing a great secondary website with your social media business pages, starting with Facebook for Business.

Getting Good Reviews For HVAC Services

While we’ve spent most of this article talking about how to best claim and manage these various online review sites for your HVAC company, they won’t do you (or your customers) much good if there are no reviews to view. While there are some tools for making review requests more streamlined, the fact remains that you have to ask for them. It’s assumed that only a tiny percentage of customers are likely to follow through to leave a review — good or bad — after their heating and cooling repairs, so you’ve got to be diligent about asking everyone to improve the odds of getting a decent turn-out.

We know that consumer behavior shows that folks are more likely to call a service provider with lots of reviews, but a mid-to-high star rating, versus a company that has just a handful of reviews, even if they’re all five stars. So the quantity weights Google rankings, too, whether the reviews are made on your GMB page or elsewhere.

For Facebook specifically, you have the benefit of a more engaged user than you’d find on Google, for example. The billions of Facebook users spend a lot of time on the social network every day, so don’t hesitate to post every so often a request for existing customers to post a review. And if you’re trying to build up reviews on Yelp versus Facebook, tell them! It’s perfectly acceptable to make it known that you’re trying to bolster your brand reputation on a given site, but the key is to provide a link to make it as easy as possible for an existing customer to help you out. Please don’t make them search, or you’ll likely lose that willing participant.

Other Citation Sites for Heating and Cooling Repairs

Here are a few other online review sites/directories that help connect HVAC pros to new customers:

Angi
HomeAdvisor
Porch
Thumbtack

While quantity helps search engines recognize your business as reputable, it’s also worth investing some time into each listing. You can ensure a vital entry point for new HVAC customers to find your business and get those online review sites; working for you.

Jun '18

Virtual Location Benefits for HVAC Companies

Attempting to expand your local SEO reach is something every HVAC company should try, but virtual offices are not allowed when it comes to Google My Business listings. Of course, not every GMB listing with a virtual address gets banned, but you are putting your company at risk should you move forward. Google’s official statements on the matter are perplexing since they state that virtual offices are not allowed unless staffed during business hours. But how can a virtual office be staffed? Evidence shows that listings who’ve previously attempted to list a virtual office as their address are getting banned by Google.

A service area businesses should not use a virtual office for verification unless it is staffed by the business in question during listed hours. It looks like you've already noted these guidelines, but you can view them here as well: https://t.co/zSeTlHClVD. Thanks! – Ally
— Google My Business (@GoogleMyBiz) February 3, 2020

Should HVAC Companies Use a Virtual Address?

HVAC companies should NOT use a virtual address in 2021. There’s no upside to risking your GMB listing since it will account for at least 60% of your web traffic. Instead, you can list your address as a SAB (which will hide the address publicly), or if you choose, you can publically list your office address without designating it as a SAB.

Why Do HVAC Companies Use Virtual Offices?

There are two primary reasons why an HVAC contractor or company would invest in a virtual office address. First, if the contractor currently lists their home address as their business location. This setup has several disadvantages, most notably the lack of status associated with a home business address.

Second, HVAC companies looking to expand their business to new areas often cannot afford a physical office space overhead. Virtual offices allow companies to expand their service area without ever renting physical property. In addition, it’s much easier to attract clients from a community in which your address resides and can help you earn more trust by proximity.

HOA / Zoning Immunity

Some cities and homeowners associations have legislation that prohibits certain homes from being used as a business address. Such restrictions are problematic for startup contractors who are based out of their homes. Investing in a virtual address eliminates problems like these. In addition, because virtual offices are located in areas that are not restricted, they can be used as the listing for your HVAC company while allowing you to continue using your home as your business base.

Professional Presentation

Marketing is more about perception than reality. A consumers’ subconscious prefers professional-looking businesses and is far more likely to trust them based on that quality alone. A professional business address inspires that trust, in contrast to a home address that does not. For example, a consumer looking for HVAC services in their area is more likely to consult with a professionally addressed service than one who is perceived to be working out of their home. Doing great work is most important, but you must first generate leads.

Service Area Expansion

The #1 reason why companies of all kinds invest in a virtual address is to expand their business. You may be based in a particular city or zip code but see tremendous opportunity in a neighboring location. If you know your company has the resources to meet those demands, establishing a 2nd address can stimulate lead generation. In addition, consumers in this external area are far more likely to trust a company within their location, zip code, etc. Just make sure you have the equipment and human resources to accommodate an expanded service area.

Virtual Office Alternative for HVAC Companies

Google prohibits listing a virtual address for HVAC SAB companies. So how can your company expand its service area without violating Google’s guidelines? The answer is DataPins which is a local SEO software for HVAC companies. DataPins automatically publishes pins with schema markup to validate both a service and service area. Each time your company completes a job, the software pulls geo-coordinates from the location and publishes them directly on your website. Pins appear on a corresponding page; for example, a furnace repair in Atlanta shows up on the furnace repair page and the Atlanta page, respectively.

Apr '18

How To Get Images For Your HVAC Website

How to Get Photos for Your HVACR Website

What if your HVAC company hasn’t been in business long enough to compile an archive of photos? What should contractors do in such a predicament? One can take several steps to find, create, and optimize web-ready images for a business website.

The solution depends on your company’s resources. For example, do you have access to a modern smartphone or camera? Are you managing your website on your own, or is it the job of your marketing company? Answering these questions will form the basis by which you’ll operate. Check out these tips for generating high-quality images for your HVAC website:

Take Photos With Smartphone or Camera

Websites with original content offer more value to the reader and are looked upon with higher regard by search engines. Many contractors mistakenly believe that content is text only, when in fact, it expands to images, videos, and other forms of visual media. In any case, taking original photos creates original content, and therefore is the best option for contractors. Take photos of the following:

Company Vehicle: Capture your company truck, perhaps with a wrap, via smartphone camera
Employees: Have a staff of 2 or more? Take individual photos of them, as well as group pictures.
Heating or Cooling Repairs: Have someone snap photos of you on the job
Satisfied Customers: Ask a happy customer if they’ll pose for a picture with you

Download Stock Photos From The Internet

If you don’t have access to a smartphone or camera, the next best option is downloading royalty-free stock photos from the internet. While this is far from an ideal solution, since these photos are used on multiple websites, it is better than having no visual content at all. Websites like pixabay.com offer free stock photos. Another alternative is selecting “labeled for free-use” under “Tools — Usage Rights” on Google image search, which will produce usable files. Stock photos should be:

Appealing: Appear realistic, rather than humorous or fantastical
Diverse: A variety of files, never used more than once on your website
Relevant: Relate to the HVAC industry, and the page topic specifically
Web-Ready: In an optimal file format

Optimize Your Photos For Web Use

Regardless of if you take original photos or download stock images online, you’ll need to optimize them for web use. With images captured via smartphone, you can use Dropbox or email to upload the files to the internet, at which point you can access them on your computer and make the necessary changes. Modern cameras usually come with a USB cord to upload photos onto your PC or Mac, while stock images downloaded from the internet are already on your hard drive. Once you have the files on your computer, follow these steps:

Step 1 – Compression: Compress images with tools like Optimizilla or JPEG Optimizer
Step 2 – File Name: Make a copy of your image file and rename it with lower case letters (i.e., ac-repair-job.jpg)
Step 3 – File Type: Save your image as a JPEG, JPG, or PNG file
Step 4 – Upload: Using a content management system like WordPress, upload the photo to your library
Step 5 – SEO: After placing the image on your page, enter relevant ALT Text for SEO purposes

HVAC Webmasters Can Help

HVAC Webmasters can help you through the process. We offer photo optimization for HVAC companies as part of our website design services. First, we’ll fill your website with relevant images, either from your archive of original company photos or with relevant stock photos downloaded from the web. Then, we optimize each of your photographs for SEO purposes and keep your website running as fast as possible.

Competing for HVAC leads in today’s market can be overwhelming. Websites are constantly trying to outdo one another with the latest trend or techniques. For a process, you can trust, invest in SEO services from HVAC Webmasters. In addition, we offer several month-to-month (MTM) plans, giving contractors their choice of payment options. With MTM, you pay a fixed price at the end of each month and avoid long-term contracts.

Jan '18

HVAC Domain Names: Picking The Best Name

For many service companies, the new year means the launch of a new website. While you can develop aspects of your website over time, one decision you will be stuck with is your domain name. You might think this decision is simple, but rushing into a domain name registration without considering all of your objectives can be a costly decision. That’s why HVAC Webmasters presents this guide to picking an HVAC domain name.

Source: https://instantdomainsearch.com/

Branding

Your domain name is a direct reflection of your company’s brand. In today’s vastly digital marketing world, having a poorly branded domain name can mean the downfall of your entire business. Therefore, in choosing a branded domain name, ensure that it is:

Concise: You want a name that users can easily pronounce and read on your business card and other marketing materials
Memorable: You want your name to jump off the business card, website, or social profile so that people can recall it later
Relevant: You’d like to get heating, cooling, HVAC, or a similar industry term in the name

Remember, your domain name will travel with your business everywhere it goes. You may even go as far as investing in a car wrap with your domain name printed right on your truck. It won’t make any difference if the domain fails to exhibit any of the above qualities. With that said, a well-thought-out domain name can catch the eye of prospective customers.

Domain Suffix

A domain suffix sometimes referred to as a top-level domain (TLD), follows your domain name after the period. In other words, the .com, .net, and .org you see on websites are domain suffixes. In almost every case, you’ll want to choose a .com suffix for the following reasons:

Innovation: If your .com choice is already taken, choose a more creative domain name instead of changing the suffix
Recollection: Because .com is most common, if you tell a customer that your website is .net, they might forget later on and type a .com, bringing them to a different website
Reputation: The internet has its fair share of spammy, shady websites, and many of them don’t use a .com suffix, which can be an indicator of a risky site

You may note that particular government and non-profit institutions use .org or .edu, but these suffixes are only available with proof of validation. Domain registrars regularly release new suffix variations such as .tv or .club, but none will provide the immediate authority ascribed to .com.

Keyword Placement

Keywords can complicate the domain registration process. Many companies mistakenly believe that using manipulative keywords as their domain name can drive tons of traffic to their site. Google warns against exact match domain names and can penalize your site for using one. See below:

Exact Match Domain Name: cheapHVACinTX.net
Relevant Keyword Domain Name: SmithBrosAC.com

As you’ll see in the first example, using the word cheap can be exploitative, especially if your services are not considerably more affordable than other ones in the area. Furthermore, the keyword cheap and the suffix .net make your website look spammy and thus unreliable. The second example shows how using a relevant HVAC keyword combined with your brand name creates a memorable option.