There are many ways to get leads and clients as a general contractor. It is best to test out which method works out best for you without investing too much into each test. Not investing upfront allows you to save and focus on your work and the working lead generation methods. Some ways to test a new website as a different client generation method easily are below.
Content Management Systems
Content management systems are website builders that allow you to drag and drop where you want certain sections of your website, like photos, text, and sign-up forms. They are a good way to display your information, availability, insurance, previous projects, and employees; once you get your contractor’s license, you can design a specific area to let visitors to your site know that you’re a trusted and licensed company.
They do not require you to know anything about coding. All you need is a vision of how your website works. A good way to know what you need on your website is to look at other contractor’s websites, preferably the ones that are better. You can also note the general information that lead-generating websites and review websites provide, like Angie’s List and Yelp.
WordPress
WordPress will have some of the most plug-ins and templates, but it may not be as easy as other CMSs, like Squarespace and Wix. WordPress is one of the older, more popular CMSs on the market. They currently have 409 million people view the WordPress websites they host and help create every month. They also have about 70 million posts every month, showing you that people use WordPress and continue using it.
WordPress has become one of the first choices above all of the other CMSs. Being at the top has brought along more plug-ins, templates, and tutorials, so if you have a problem, someone else probably had that problem too and shared a way around it. These options give you a lot of freedom and access to construction WordPress templates that can save you time while also giving you the best results.
Still, with all of these plug-ins and choices, the freedom can be hard to navigate, but with time, you will be able to optimize your website how you want it, compared to other CMSs that will have a more structured design process you are stuck with.
Squarespace
Squarespace is the second most beginner-friendly. It has great customer service that makes up for the lack of user-generated tutorials. They supply a small number of polished templates. These free templates may not fit your business model, though, so you may have to pay for access to more. Still, they have a lot of buyable templates and designs along with great scheduling software for a good value. They also have a free trial to see what value you will be getting out of the CMSs before committing. After the trial, you can pay $12 to $40 monthly plus other app monthly charges and domain fees.
Wix
WordPress is going to be better than Wix with more design freedom, templates, tutorials, and plug-ins, but Wix is more user-friendly. Being so user-friendly, you can have your website up and running in the background fairly quickly. Wix can cost $14 to $39 per month plus other app monthly charges and domain fees with no free trial, so you cannot test out how you like the system.
Hiring A Professional
If you have all of your hands tied up and you need a website built quickly, hiring a professional may be the way to go. You will be able to see their past work and determine their capabilities. Usually, they will be able to determine the required material needed for funneling your traffic into a lead and then into a client. They can also optimize your website’s SEO, so you can rank higher than the other local contractors and stand out more. They will also be able to source your professional pictures, so you do not need to.
The main downsides are the cost and the lack of learning you will be able to do. Without learning for yourself or having someone in-house to operate your website and update it, you will constantly rely on someone else to do it.
Paying for a basic construction website can be as little as $200 but can be upwards of $1,000 depending on how optimized and complex you want the website to be. It can go from simply having your information, branding, domain, and contact information to being a very dynamic and optimized website designed to rank at the top of searches, bring free traffic, and funnel traffic into leads more effectively.
Consider Other Services
Facebook, Google My Business, and other lead-generating platforms can be a quick way to get your information out on the internet without having to even build a website. All you will need to do is fill out the information, and these services do all of the work for you. For certain lead-generating platforms, you may need to pay a commission. Other services may require advertising expenses or investment into social traffic generation.
