In today’s digital world, nearly every company has a website. After all, 98% of consumers use the internet to find information about local businesses before purchasing their products or services. For this reason, building a website is a customary part of operating a business. Most pest control companies simply view their website as a “check the box” exercise. Customers expect a website, so a simple website is built that contains the most basic information such as operating territory, contact information, and a list of services.
The problem is that many pest control companies aren’t using their website to its full potential and could be missing out on hundreds of new customers. This is especially true for smaller pest control companies that are up against some of the biggest names in the industry. It’s important to reevaluate how you use your website to get a leg up on the competition and grow your business through high-quality lead generation and sales conversions.
From Digital Brochure to Digital Salesperson
Most pest control companies view their website as simply an online brochure. However, if you want your website to generate sales for your business, you need to start thinking of your website as a digital salesperson. With this in mind, think of the differences between a simple marketing brochure and a real-life salesperson:
- Customer Interactions – A basic website, much like a brochure, shares information one-directionally. While that information can be useful, it’s missing an essential element – customer interaction. If you hired a salesperson to sell your pest control services to people in your community, would you expect them to sit prospective customers down, show them a PowerPoint presentation, and walk away? Of course not! So, why would you build a website like that and expect different results?
- Wealth of Knowledge – People look to pest control professionals to show their expertise in the field. Basic websites fail to demonstrate this. Simply listing the services you provide, doesn’t necessarily prove that you are a knowledgeable expert.
- Guiding Customer to Solutions – One of the things that makes human salespeople effective is their ability to listen to their customer’s pain points and guide them to an effective product or solution to eliminate their problem. Standard pest control websites aren’t robust enough to help guide customers through this process of discovery. Instead, they are left to figure out the right approach on their own.
In addition to having higher-quality interactions with your customers, the one advantage that websites have over real salespeople is they are never off the clock. Creating a stellar website means that you have a 24/7 marketing machine that works even when you are asleep.
Top Strategies to Build a SMART Pest Control Website
With a new perspective on the effectiveness of sales-focused websites, let’s jump into some of the top strategies that every pest control company should deploy to increase the number of leads and sales that their website generates each month.
1. Architecture Over Design
Today, building a website that looks professional and modern is extremely easy with the numerous tools and platforms that exist across the internet. However, a great looking website will only get you so far. Instead, we recommend that pest control companies focus on the functionality of their website through cleverly thought out architecture.
SEO (search engine optimization) is key to attract visitors to your website since most traffic will come through the many search engines like Google or Bing. Many website builders make the mistake of thinking that simply leveraging the right keywords will be sufficient. They spend countless hours researching search engine volume and the density for high-quality keywords, only to sabotage themselves by throwing them all on a single page of their website.
Since search engines are designed to lead people to the information that most closely meets their search criteria, pages that aren’t focused on a specific topic will be ranked lower. For example, if a user searches for “How to deal with an ant infestation?”, a webpage that is entirely dedicated to this problem will naturally rank higher than one that mentions ten different types of pests.
Clever website architecture can help overcome this challenge by keeping each page of your website specific to each of your services, locations where you work, and the types of pest your company handles. While this can make your website more complex to manage, it will significantly improve your search engine rankings. The good news for you is that most pest control competitors in your area don’t leverage this strategy.
2. Produce Relevant Content to Establish Yourself as an Expert
People turn to the internet to get useful information and advice on how to deal with their own problems. Pest control companies that publish relevant and helpful information for their potential customers will establish themselves as a reputable expert. This can help build trust over time even if they don’t need your services today. When customers encounter a pest control issue that they can’t handle on their own, they’ll identify your company as the right place to start.
This content can be produced in various formats including blog posts, instructional videos, and podcasts. At the most basic level, your website should include an FAQ section that helps customers feel more comfortable with your services. Think about the many questions your customers have asked you before and craft an FAQ that proactively answers the same questions for future customers. This has an added benefit that also saves your customer service and sales team a lot of time answering the same questions over and over.
3. Integrate Tools for Customer Engagement
The most effective websites provide an element of customer engagement. Instead of just providing information, think of ways you can get customers to interact with your site such as newsletter signups, chatbots, and forms to request a quote or service call. The customer will feel more engaged, and it also helps your company gather valuable lead information such as phone numbers and email addresses.
4. Make it Mobile Friendly
Approximately 60 percent of all traffic to websites comes from mobile devices. This percentage has more than doubled over the last decade and is expected to continue as younger, tech-savvy demographics get older, especially as they start to buy properties that require pest control services.
5. Incorporate Tracking Mechanisms
Your pest control website will likely evolve over time. It’s important to understand how visitors are using your site in order to make improvements that will drive more traffic. For example, if a certain type of guide receives a lot of customer interactions, you might create a series of similar guides. Or, if one page on your website ranks higher on Google, you can analyze it to find out what is working and incorporate it into your other pages.
There are lots of analytic tools available online such as Google Analytics. A word of caution don’t lose sight of the intention of your website as a digital salesperson. While getting lots of visitors is great, it does no good if few actually become customers. Be sure to track metrics that focus more on conversions and leads rather than just website traffic.
Get Help from the Pest Control Website Experts
At Rhino Pest Control Marketing, we believe that a high-performance website is a key element to a successful marketing strategy. Whether you are just building your first website or looking to renovate your existing one, our team of experts is here to provide everything you need to start generating additional revenue and growing your business. Contact us today for a free website review or download our SMART Pest Control Website Guide.
