Have you spoken to marketing agencies or marketers that make you feel like SEO (search engine optimization) is a foreign concept?

Like it is this intangible, ever-expensive thing, that you will never understand?

Then you’re talking to the wrong people.

Unfortunately, we find this is what most contract service business owners encounter when they talk to marketing agencies or prospective marketing candidates.

In this article, we’re going to set the record straight on what SEO is, what it is not, and why it is important, so you can find the right people to optimize your SEO and get your company results.

What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and What Is It Not?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your contract service business website content to match the information your audience is searching for. This can be through core website pages, like service pages, niche pages, and location pages, or through FAQs (frequently asked questions), blogs, and review plug-ins.

SEO is one of the most sustainable methods of marketing because in its true form, it is 100% fueled by organic content (content you write that ranks naturally, versus paying for your content to rank with paid ads).

A lot of people use SEO as a buzzword and have started to confuse its meaning with SEM (search engine marketing), which is a mixture of pay-per-click (PPC) and SEO.

If you speak to a marketing agency that says they will improve your SEO with paid ad methods, they don’t understand the basic difference between SEO and SEM. This means there is a high likelihood that they will convince you that you need to keep paying more and more to rank.

What’s the alternative of a marketing agency telling you that you need to pay more and more to rank you may ask? Them creating valuable enough content that ranks on its own, without you having to pay money indefinitely to keep it ranking.

Blue Trade Media Tip: If SEO sounds expensive, it’s because you’re talking to the wrong people. To improve SEO, all you need to spend money on is a well-built website and a good internal content manager (or content team), not tons of paid ads.

To learn more about the difference between organic and paid methods, read our article “Organic Versus Paid Website Traffic For Home Service Businesses.”

The 3 Parts of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) For a Contract Service Business

There are three parts to creating organic, sustainable SEO:

1. Technical SEO

This is one of the hardest parts of SEO for some businesses. You want to ensure that right when you create your website and make it live, it is set up for technical SEO success.

To do this, the website host you use should be compatible with your website builder - in some cases, you will get both through one company. For example, some companies will use HubSpot to host their website and HubSpot to build their website.

As a contract service business, you should aim to use one company for both of these things because it allows your website to work more seamlessly and be more secure for your website visitors.

Once you have the website set up complete, there are a few other aspects of managing your technical SEO, like:

• Using optimized image formats (smaller file sizes)

• Eliminating or optimizing URL redirects

• Optimizing your website for mobile

• Creating internal linking throughout your site

• Avoiding duplicate content on your website

• Setting up Google tools for tracking and optimization

These are just a few of the things that you need to keep in mind - the list could go on. However, if your site is set up well from the start and you just add and edit content, then you won’t have as many technical SEO issues to address.

If you have an older site with a lot of pages and you are thinking of moving your website, removing old pages, editing the code of your website, or have already done any of these things, then you may need to enlist outside help from a technical SEO specialist.

2. Website SEO

Your website SEO (on-site SEO) all relies on solid, unique, and well-planned content. This helps Google understand what your company specializes in and how well you educate your customers.

A good internal content manager (or content team) can make a huge impact on your website SEO by creating a structure of content that guides visitors seamlessly through your website. In order to do this, they will get a good sense of what it is that your business does (down to every last service).

By investing in an internal content team over a marketing agency, you will be able to optimize the quality and accuracy of your website content. An internal content writer at your company will have the opportunity to learn more about your business than any agency writer ever could (no matter how knowledgeable that agency writer is).

In order to create a good website structure, your content manager will plan and create your website content around your services, similarly to how a restaurant plans out their menu.

Just like a restaurant creates sections for main dishes, appetizers, desserts, and drinks, your content writer will organize your website by service pages, informative pages (about us, contact us, careers, etc.), niche pages, and location pages.

They will take a similar, methodical approach to creating the content that goes on each of your pages and how the headings are structured.

For instance, they will make each of your website pages structured like a book - it will have a main title (your page title/ your 1st level heading), chapters (2nd level headings), topics within those chapters (3rd level headings and on), and the main content (the meat of your page content).

For more information on how to build your SEO, read our blog “Top 6 Ways To Build Organic SEO For Your Contract Service Company Website.”

3. Intangible SEO

Your intangible SEO (off-site) SEO will be any form of brand recognition and reputation that either makes customers search your company by name or click on your company’s name when it appears on social media or other media.

To do this, you must build familiarity, credibility, and trust with your customers and potential customers through:

• Your company logo

• Your company slogan

• Your branding (colors, fonts, and style)

• Your company’s social media

• Car wraps, yard signs, uniforms, etc.

• Your company’s reputation

• Referrals and word of mouth

• Your company’s core values

Your off-site SEO methods will generally be a mix of traditional marketing and social media marketing, which helps funnel people to your contract service company website.

Why Is SEO Important For Contract Service Businesses?

When you find out about SEO and truly understand it, you should feel like you hit a gold mine. Well-implemented SEO is the gift that keeps giving, as long as you retain a content manager to nurture it.

Once your website has a good base of website pages, your content manager can focus on other efforts like writing blog posts, FAQs, and guides to further educate your customers. These items can also double as sales enablement tools for your company’s sales representatives.

Unlike paid methods, organic methods usually end up paying for themselves and keep generating your business more and more leads.

Optimize Your Contract Service Company’s SEO With Organic Content

Knowing what search engine optimization is and why it is crucial to build an internal team to manage it is the first step to building a sustainable marketing lead machine for your business.

Still trying to weigh the pros and cons of paid versus organic SEO? Read our article “Organic Versus Paid Website Traffic For Home Service Businesses.”

For more information on how to optimize your website content for SEO, subscribe to our newsletter. If you have questions about how to get started, feel free to reach out to us today.