One of the biggest challenges for any roofing business is generating qualified leads. In fact, it’s a constant battle of testing and throwing things against the wall to see what works.

Getting the qualified leads is one of the biggest challenges for any roofing business in both residential and commercial. In fact, people(prospects) are also having difficulties in finding trust-worthy roofing company.

The roofing space, like other trades, is unique, in that their biggest challenge is to align the business to the group of people who needs.

Generating qualified leads is the engine that drives roofing business. In this article, I am going to share where to get roofing leads online for your roofing business.

First, what are sales leads?

A sales lead is defined as follows:

“A sales lead is a prospective consumer of a product or service, created when an individual or business shows interest and provides contact information. Businesses gain access to sales leads through advertising, trade shows, direct mailings and other marketing efforts. They can also purchase sales leads from third-party companies. A sales lead is not a sales prospect; further qualification of the lead is necessary to determine intent and interest.”

Source: Investopedia

Generating qualified leads is the backbone of most businesses. There are a lot of different places for a roofing business to generate leads online.

The strategies have changed over the years, and channels that were once effective don’t have the same impact as they once used to have. As a business owner, it’s your job to keep up with the latest tactics and strategies in lead generation. If you don’t have the time then you should hire someone that does.

Types of Leads

There are two types of leads. Business to Business leads (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C). Generally speaking, B2B leads are going to be more expensive than B2C leads.

A B2B roofing lead could bring more revenues than a B2C roofing lead. In contrast, it involves more time and resources to acquire a B2B lead than a B2C lead. Thus, you also have to take into account the length of the sales cycle in residential vs. commercial.

1. Build your own lead generation website.

A website establishes your online presence. Your website should clearly state the services you offer, your prices, and your contact information. Spend time on the search engine optimization for your website. This will help you appear at the top of searches for cleaning services in your area.

What most small business owners fail to realize is that Google has taken over, and that’s because the consumer has moved away from the yellow page and print media as well as TV advertising which generally speaking is outside of most business models reach in the first place.

What I have found the facts to be is 85% of the public does internet searches for the products and service they need first before looking elsewhere, this cause the problem for most businesses today, even long-standing roofing business is failing, mainly because they don’t understand how it works and don’t know who to trust in helping them.

Quite frankly, consumers, today don’t want to be found, they want to find you and if you cannot be found in a search of which 90% of web searchers use Google first then new customers cannot find you!

2. Advertising On Craigslist.

Advertising your cleaning business on Craigslist is an absolute must in today’s world.

This is true for both the beginner and the experienced cleaning company owner for several reasons. The first one is rather obvious because it’s free! The second main reason is that it works extremely well.

Craigslist is vastly different from other commercial websites online today. The sparse pages, though functional, lack the finished look and feel that fills the Internet today (admit it, we have grown accustomed to high-impact designs filled with video and flashing banners with paid advertising opportunities).

Craigslist allows you to place a post in 9 major categories in more than 500 cities in 50 countries around the world.  All postings are free, except certain postings in some major cities (even then, the cost to post is well below market average).

Craigslist is an open market for every combination of business you can think of. This includes business to business, business to consumer, consumer to consumer and even consumer to business.

3. Sign up your roofing business on HomeAdvisor.

Home Advisor PRO is an easy way to start growing your business right away. However, it’s a very controversial subject with the contractor. Some businesses are experiencing massive success with the service while others trash talk it to no end and describe it as a scam.

Should you use the service for your handyman business?

Dan gave a good answer to this questions. Click here: http://www.handymanstartup.com/home-advisor-pro-review-what-you-need-to-know/

The Pros and Cons of Home Advisor

Pros

  • It’s effective. There’s one major reason that HA is still in business and that is because it works.  With more and more people turning to the web to find service providers, having a strong online presence is critical.  Home Advisor has an incredibly strong web presence.
  • Good for new businesses. Before you can start getting word of mouth business, you need to actually have customers.  HA allows you to leverage their brand to gain trust and get your first clients.  It also allows you to reach customers that you otherwise wouldn’t have the marketing abilities or funds to reach.
  • Easy to manage.  Once you’ve set up your account, it’s very easy to manage.  You can even turn your leads on and off whenever you choose. This allows you to only use the service when you are slow or trying to expand your business.

Cons

  • Giving up some rights to your brand. In the terms of service, it clearly states that HA can use any information on your profile to direct links to their site.  This essentially allows them to use your name to promote their business.
  • Bad leads. I’ve received several leads that were just people price shopping with no interest of actually hiring anybody.  Sometimes, leads won’t even answer the phone.  In some cases, a refund will be granted, but I’ve still paid for several bad leads.
  • Can get expensive. Leads for bigger jobs are expensive and often cost more than $50.  However, for a handyman, this isn’t as much of an issue as we usually only sign up for small job leads.

Business Sign Up on HomeAdvisor: https://pro.homeadvisor.com/simple-sign-up/

4. Sign up your roofing business on Angie’s List.

As a roofing contractor, Angie’s List can be beneficial in getting you real interaction with real people who need real jobs. Keep in mind; your chances of landing a gig often hinge on three things:

  • Amass several positive reviews and maintain an A rating. This is sure to keep you in the front of the line when clients come knocking.
  • Offer discounts straight to customers or through Angie’s List ‘Big Deal’ program. These are usually brought to the beginning of the results pages.
  • Paid listings can also get you on center stage. Something you need to remember, however, is that with a paid listing you are competing with other companies who are well established on Angie’s List, meaning they have several reviews and lots of ratings. It’s best to build your reputation on the free account before you begin investing money to give your business more airtime.

Related read: Comparing Angie’s List, Home Advisor, Thumbtack, and Yelp for Service Contractors

Angie’s List Business Registration: https://business.angieslist.com/Registration/SimpleRegistration.aspx

5. Sign up your roofing business on Yelp.

According to three independent studies conducted by Software Advice, a software insights resource for business owners, Yelp is the most popular choice for people who use review sites to find a doctor, attorney or home service, provider.

Most people already think of Yelp when searching for their next great meal, but every kind of local business can be reviewed on Yelp. So having your roofing business on Yelp is another chance to generate leads. Some highlights from the studies:

  • Yelp is ranked as the #1 most popular and most trusted website for attorney reviews
  • 74% of people who used a review site to search for home service providers used Yelp
  • Yelp is used more often than Healthgrades, RateMDs, Vitals, and ZocDoc to find a doctor

Source: Survey: Yelp is #1 Choice for Finding Doctors, Lawyers & Home Service Providers

6. Submit your roofing business to local listing and citations websites.

Here is a list of top listing and citation websites the roofing contractors should sign up.

Yellow Pages – website: www.yellowpages.com
Super Pages – website: www.superpages.com
Better Business Bureaus – website: www.bbb.org/en/us
Hometown Roofing Contractors – website: www.hometownroofingcontractors.com
DexKnows – website: www.dexknows.com
Manta – website: www.manta.com

7. Join roofing online forums & communities.

Roofing online forums and communities enable you to access so many business resources and roofing experts. You should be able to find business opportunities, suggestions from roofing experts, and any other information which help you in every aspect around roofing.

List of online communities and forums for roofers:

Toofers Club – www.roofersclub.com
Roofing.com – talk.roofing.com
Roofing Talk – www.roofingtalk.com
Contractor Talk – www.contractortalk.com

8. Join Social Media

Social media is good for local cleaning companies and provides an easy method for your customers to share your business with their friends. Social media also makes your company more relatable and human. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are ideal for roofing services.

  • Use YouTube to talk about your services and distribute video testimonials from happy customers.
  • You can provide exclusive specials and discount codes to people that follow you on these platforms.
  • You can also post examples of the work you have done.
  • Use a platform that your audience uses. Facebook is best for adults of all ages, but Twitter and Instagram offer you less access to the adult population.

Related Read: How to set up a free Facebook business page

Conclusion

To recap, to find which website source works best you should either learn the best practices for each channel or hire someone that has had success for each channel. All these channels work in varying degrees for the purpose of generating your roofing leads.