When it comes to growing your business, a great website is a valuable component that should never be an afterthought. A professionally designed website that features a gallery of your work is a powerful tool, which can attract future and potential customers when they’re online.
Websites have become one of the most powerful tools of this century. Why have they become so powerful? Because they allow you to reach a wide audience in a minimal amount of time.
Websites for Great Customers
To attract the best landscaping jobs on the market, you’re simply going to need the best website. Here are the most important components that you should focus on:
- Make the name of your website as memorable and easy-to-spell as possible. Tricky spelling can confuse customers and cause them to forget the name of your website.
- Include a gallery that shows your best work. The images that you use on your website should be high quality, clear and crisp. Avoid blurry images that are hard to make out and make sure that they show your best landscaping projects to date. First impressions are everything, and when someone stumbles onto your website, you have about 30 seconds to make a lasting impression. If you don’t impress them, they’ll be going onto your competitor’s website instead. Consider hiring a professional, or even an aspiring professional (such as a photography student) to take pictures, which can be added to your portfolio. It is an investment that will be well spent!
- Include an overview of your services. Always make sure that you clearly state what type of services your business specializes in. For example: if you only do commercial maintenance and snow, then make sure you state this on your website (this will avoid giving people false impressions).
- Talk about your company in a way that’s persuasive and unique. Sometimes it can be difficult to talk about yourself or your business. If you’re having trouble, start by brainstorming compelling reasons that would make a customer choose your company over anyone else’s. By using these ideas, you can put together a short paragraph that explains what your company is about. Here is an example: “We integrate environmental innovation to create sustainable landscape resolutions for our clients.” This is a unique and powerful statement that involves not your services, but your clients’ values as well.
- Maximize your website’s exposure by using Search Engine Optimization. If you’re not acquainted with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), then you can easily find various resources online that will give you more information. In simple terms though: SEO is a powerful marketing tool that involves keywords. When these keywords are placed into your content, it will ‘agree’ with search engines and as a result, your website will be ranked higher in future Google searches.
Websites for Great Employees
Your employees are the most important aspect of your business. Over and above anything else, these individuals will be the driving force behind your company’s success as a profitable and sustainable business. The more great people you find, the better your company will be! Now put yourself in the shoes of two potential employees. Both of these individuals are looking to find work in as landscape contractor during the spring season:
Employee A
This employee is a young professional. He/she has apprenticed for 5 years at one of the top firms in your area and is looking for a fresh start. This person is looking for the perfect opportunity to work for a new company and to lead their own crew. In the end, they get two offers for interviews.
- Green Apple Landscaping calls the candidate. They want to meet with this Thursday. Beforehand, they recommend that you visit their website at www.greenapple.ca to learn what their company is about.
- F+G Landscaping calls the candidate. Unfortunately, they don’t have a website. However, you can see their phone number on yellowpages.com.
Out of the two companies’ listed above, which one do you think Employee A is going to want to work for?
Employee B
This employee unfortunately hasn’t been able to keep a job for more than 6 months. This person has a substance abuse problem, are never on time, they hate being told ‘what to do’ and they also want to get paid ‘under-the-table’.
Which company do you think this employee assumes is a better fit for their needs?
In a nutshell: a great website is your ticket to success; it will offer you better customers AND better employees. Don’t overlook the importance of this marketing tool in your company.
LMN specializes in professional education and systems for landscape contractors across North America. For more information on LMN, visit our website at www.golmn.com.
