Home service businesses no longer rely on traditional forms of marketing like newspaper adverts and word of mouth to find clients. Just as with many other industries, many now turn to the internet to connect with potential clients and market themselves. By using lead generation platforms like HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List, they can build profiles and a reputation for themselves.
What Is Lead Generation- HomeAdvisor vs Angie’s List
Lead generation sites work by connecting home contractors to potential clients. These potential clients and their projects are the leads. When homeowners in need of services visit such sites, they input information about the project and wait to get matched to suitable contractors in their area.
Homeowners are not charged for accessing this service but must create profiles that they can later use to leave a review on the contractor’s profile. Here we will consider the two most popular sites that offer this service, HomeAdvisor vs Angie’s List.
On HomeAdvisor, the homeowner can then select some contractors from the list of matches and invite them to send a quotation. Contractors need not necessarily wait to be matched, but can instead opt to buy leads, at a certain rate per lead.
Angie’s List differs somewhat by allowing only contractors with an A or B rating the right to pay an advertising fee to have their profile listed at the top of search results. Here, homeowners can opt to sign up for the green membership that is free or subscribe to silver or gold memberships that offer additional services and discounts.
Either way, for contractors to get leads, or be in a position to be most visible to potential clients, money must be regularly paid to these sites. The downside here is that leads do not necessarily convert into paying customers. With these sites charging anywhere between $15-$150+ a month, depending on the trade, service area, and size of the project, the expenses can also really add up. Not to mention that these sites are popular with fellow contractors, creating a highly competitive environment that newcomers find difficult to thrive in.
Benefits of Local SEO Services
While lead generation sites do offer the benefit making connections with local homeowners who would otherwise not know about a contractor, there is also the option of investing in local SEO services. A highly rated SEO company, Creactive Inc., offers business owners an alternative that allows them to build authority online on Google platforms. Instead of just focusing on your profile on lead generating sites, this route allows you to take a broader view that encompasses Google search results and all other related review sites like HomeAdvisor, Yelp, Google Reviews and more.
Online users have begun to make use of Google Reviews and Maps to find relevant businesses in their area. By inputting specific keywords, they not only get top-rated results but also business profiles and specific directions to their location. Creactive Inc. helps businesses to create and manage their own business profiles and wider online image. Building rank so that the business is amongst the first results is also important as less than a quarter of online users will bother to check out results past the first page.
Local SEO offers small businesses a chance to become more visible in search results focused on a localized area. You do not have to suffer competing with larger corporations. Increased online traffic towards the business profile and website will automatically encourage more foot traffic and job opportunities.
By optimizing your content and site for local searches, your business will also gain more visibility on Google Maps. It also adds to the search engine results pages (SERP) elements of proximity, relevance, and prominence. All this will make a stronger impact on your business reputation and bottom line, as compared to utilizing lead generation sites.
How Creactive Inc. Beats Out the Competition
When it comes right down to it, a HomeAdvisor vs Angie’s List review does not really provide many differences between the two. Besides the fact that HomeAdvisor bought out Angie’s List two years ago, what is most relevant is that both sites will charge contractors looking to generate more leads or advertise, but this does not offer much value for money.
Opting for the local SEO services solution that companies like Creactive Inc. offer provides several benefits that clearly surpass the use of home service websites. Here are a few for your consideration:
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Less Competition
It is clear that older firms with more positive reviews have the upper hand on home service sites. For newer businesses, it can take a long time to secure jobs that will generate the necessary reviews for a top rating. With local SEO, the number of competitors drastically reduces as you can optimize your content to relate to a specific smaller locality like a city or town. With a little help from an SEO firm, you can see your rank climb fast, and become more visible to local customers.
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Affordability
With lead generation companies, a fee must be paid for advertising and receiving leads. The more you pay, the more exposure you have on that platform. This creates an uneven playing field where businesses that have larger marketing budgets get to enjoy better visibility.
Local SEO packages are generally cheaper and allow the business owners to take on some of the work in building authority themselves. The bulk of the cost will likely be at the beginning when building the website. Even if you supplement with Google Ads, the cost is still lower than what you would spend on lead generation sites.
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Better Visibility
HomeAdvisor and Angie’s List have an impressive reputation and have attracted millions of reviews over the years. This, however, pales in comparison to the over 90% of searches that are facilitated by Google alone. In fact, many people that end up on these lead generation sites will use Google to get there. Why not just build a profile on Google itself and make your business site a top organic search result?
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Controlled Access
One of the key complaints that homeowners have about HomeAdvisor Pro is that their information is given out as leads to any contactor willing to pay for it. This has led to persistent and annoying phone calls even when a contractor has already been chosen for the job. Going the local SEO route allows the client to find your business and get in touch directly without worrying their information will end up being disseminated to everyone.