Here are this week’s marketing tips on optimizing your website to build traffic, strengthen your brand, and grow your business.

Strong calls to action

It’s best to have a few different CTAs (calls to action) on your website. “Contact Us” is usually too basic and doesn’t establish any sort of urgency or reason to inquire. Instead, try using things like “Get A Free Quote,” “Get Our New Customer Special,” etc. If you offer any special introductory deals like a free month or free filter cleans, play around with using those as well.

Professional logo

Professional logos are more important than people think. Even if you already have a recognizable brand, you can always update your logo to represent your company as positively as possible.

Tips for strong logo design.

1. Stand out in the crowd. Most pool companies use the same blue color schemes, and while it makes complete sense in terms of brand congruency, it can make them all blend together. It’s best to consider using another color besides blue that will make you stand out online.
2. Congruent with your brand. If you have a fun brand like Happy Pools, make sure your logo fits with it. If you have a more serious brand like “Priority Pool Service,” you’ll want to have a logo that reflects that and looks sharper and simpler.

In general, we recommend hiring someone to create a logo for you. An experienced graphic designer will have the knowledge to create something effective in a fraction of the time it would take you. Sites like Fiverr and Upwork are great options for finding freelancers, and agencies like Pool Monopoly often offer logo design services as part of their packages.

Why you’re different

What separates you from the 100s of pool companies in your local service area? This is an important question to answer when you’re creating your website and crafting your brand in general. To identify what makes you unique, start by answering the following questions:

Are you a big or small company?

• It’s important to sell your strengths. If you’re a larger pool service company, you’ll want to showcase how much better it is going with a larger company that’s established with office staff, managers, brand-new trucks, CPO-certified technicians, licensed repair guys, etc.
• If you’re a smaller pool company, you’ll want to explain how great it is dealing directly with the owner, how much better your service is because it’s YOU doing it, and how your customers will never have to jump through hoops just to get someone on the phone.

How long have you been in the industry?

Experience can be a huge selling point for customers shopping for pool services. Usually, when folks are looking for a new pool service company, it’s for one of two reasons:

1. They just got a new pool. Experience is important to these prospects because this is a new thing for them, and they want to work with someone they can trust.
2. They just fired their last guy for any number of reasons (e.g., a green pool, no communication, skipping too many stops, etc), and they want to ensure that the next person they hire is dialed in.

If you have many years of experience in the industry, make sure that’s clear on your site. You can also add up all the years of experience on your team for a more impressive number.

Are you a licensed contractor or CPO-certified?

Being CPO Certified or a licensed contractor with an ROC Number isn’t a requirement for being a great pool care company, but it can definitely help you drive business. Customers love to feel like they’re going with someone who is “licensed” in some way, shape, or form and this helps create trust off the hop.

Humanize yourself

It’s important to tell your story. People buy from people, not companies. Whether you’re a massive pool company or a small one, it’s extremely important to have a blurb on your website or landing page about who you are as a company, your values, why you started, and what problems you’re trying to solve. It might sound cheesy, but that’s what the prospects want to see.

Clear list of services

Having a detailed, clear list of services on your site has a few benefits:

1. It can help educate prospects and cut down on calls and emails from prospects just trying to understand your services. Customers want to see exactly what you do so they know you can solve the specific problem they currently have.
2. It’s great for SEO. Having these specific terms on your site can help drive organic traffic from Google searches. Consider creating separate pages for each service explaining what you do while also integrating a lot of on-page SEO.

Here are some SEO terms to consider: Heaters, Pumps, Filters, Plumbing, Resurfacing, Tile Cleaning, Liner Replacements, Remodels, General Repairs, Commercial Services, Short Term Rentals, etc.