Is your painting business website missing from Google search results?
Does it generate traffic, but fail to produce qualified leads?
This is likely an indication of issues on your website that are impacting your ability to grow in this competitive industry.
In the world of SEO and digital marketing, your website serves as the FOUNDATION. It creates a lead floor for your business, and reduces your dependency on ads.
Here we will review 7 essential website elements your painting business needs to convert online traffic into paying customers.
But before we get too far into the weeds, we must understand the two primary types of website optimization…
Type of Website Optimization
There are two primary forms of website optimization, and it’s critical that you understand the difference:
For this article, we are going to focus on the latter. If you’re looking for the ultimate SEO guide, we have an article for that too.
Now, let’s jump in!
1. Make Decisions Based on DATA
Technical Warning: If a little marketing jargon makes your head spin, skip to our second recommendation.
It’s important that you make decisions based on DATA, not feelings.
For example, it’s possible the content on your website is ranking well, and generating consistent traffic, but for the wrong terms.
This is equivalent to running a commercial for a car dealership on a channel that only serves cartoons. Yes, you’ll receive impressions, but that audience can’t afford your services!
More importantly, if you’re using a marketing agency, it’s important that you know what numbers are vanity, and what numbers actually impact your bottom line.
To evaluate the performance of your website, we want to focus on THREE primary KPIs: Organic Keywords, Organic Landing Pages, and Engagement.
1a. Google Search Console: Organic Keywords
Why is it important to know which search terms are driving traffic to your website?
Consider this scenario: The content on your website is targeting homeowners looking for cabinet painting services, and your marketing agency is reporting traffic numbers that look good, but your phone still isn’t ringing.
It’s possible that most of your traffic is being sourced from less competitive terms like commercial painters.
So how do you find the source of your website traffic?
Google has a FREE tool called Google Search Console that provides insights into your organic search performance, and it only takes a few minutes to setup!
Under the Performance tab you can identify which search terms your website is ranking for (impressions) and which are driving the most traffic (clicks).
Important: This tool does not provide historical data so you can only report on future traffic and search actions. After you setup your domain in search console it is recommend to wait at least 3 months to have enough data to make educated, actionable decisions.
1b. Google Analytics: Organic Landing Pages
Now that we’ve determined the source of your organic traffic, we need to understand what pages attract traffic from Google to your website.
First, make sure you have Google Analytics installed on your website. As with Google Search Console, this tool only reports on future traffic, so if you do not already have this installed it can take a few months to capture enough data for actionable insights.
To find these pages:
1c. Hotjar: Engagement
Once you understand which keywords and pages are attracting traffic, now we need to analyze how your visitors are engaging with your website.
But how?
We do this using FREE website heat maps from Hotjar. It only takes a few minutes to setup, and only a few days to start generating reports.
For instance, if the small phone number in your header produces more clicks than the big “Get a Free Estimate” button on your homepage, that means you have room to utilize that prime real estate better!
2. Estimate Forms
To convert website visitors into repaint leads you need to make it as simple as possible for your customers to reach out.
Any friction in locating your contact form can result in the visitor bouncing from your website.
It’s preferred to have a contact form on the sidebar or in the footer of every page on your website, but this can require some technical skills to implement.
As a simple alternative, add a “Schedule a Free Estimate!” button at the bottom of every page, and link it to your contact page. This provides clear direction to your visitors and increases the likelihood of capturing their information.
To increase lead quality, be sure to request a description of the project on your estimate/contact form, and make the textbox required!
3. Online Estimate Booking
Many painting business owners are working on the outdated mindset that the best way to book an estimate is over the phone. While this may hold true for some, the younger generations prefer contactless booking.
A simple appointment booking widget with automated reminders makes it easy for visitors to schedule time on your calendar right on your website.
Pro-tip: Prequalify prospects using your estimate form first. If they check all the boxes, then allow them to take time on your calendar.
Online booking apps are one of the best methods to convert visitors on your website. Best of all, other than the initial setup this service requires no additional monitoring.
Try a service such as Calendly — It’s cost-effective, integrates with your existing calendar to prevent double booking, embeds directly on your website, and automatically sends appointment reminders to reduce cancelations and no-shows.
4. Phone Number
Visitors to your will NOT spend time hunting down your contact information. While some may want to passively contact you via a form, others will prefer to pick up the phone and speak with you directly.
Don’t make this difficult. Add your phone number prominently to the header and footer of your website. Don’t be afraid to increase the font size and make it bold!
5. Chat Widget
Increasing your points of contact is the best way to turn website visitors into new painting leads. Elements such as a chat widget allow you to meet someone using their preferred method of communication.
We recommend implementing a free chat application like Tawk. Their free mobile app makes it easy to monitor and respond to website visitors. This service also offers the ability to trigger automated responses, transfer chats to different team members, and create an online knowledge base for those frequently asked questions.
Caveat: Only utilize this feature if you or someone on your team is available to monitor the mobile app for new messages. A delayed response is one of the primary reasons your leads won’t convert into paying customers.
6. Sync Email Marketing
Automation is your friend! Reduce your workload and keep your brand top-of-mind by leveraging a free email marketing provider like MailChimp.
Create contact forms directly in MailChimp to embed them on your website. You are notified when a visitor submits the form, then they are automatically added to your mailing list. The best part, MailChimp integrates with Calendly so new appointments are captured as well!
For best results we recommend creating two email lists:
If you really want to get in the weeds, we wrote an entire article about this marketing strategy!
7. Social Proof
People don’t buy your services, they only buy from other people they know, like, and trust. Your online reputation is critical to close the “trust gap.”
Online reviews provide a connection between the people you serve, the service you provide, and your ability to deliver those services.
Prominently display these reviews on every page of your website!
Are you struggling to get more reviews? Good news, we wrote an article about that too…
Need help?
If you’re struggling to put your website to work for your Painting Business, we can help. To take the first step, book a call with our team, or take our FREE SEO Audit to see if you might be a good fit for our marketing programs.
