Unlocking Online Lead Generation for Construction Professionals
At one time builders relied on local advertising or word-of-mouth recommendations for their leads. Now they’re having to navigate the much larger and more complex marketplace online, where the competition is louder and the noise more distracting. The basic need is still the same, homeowners need loft conversions, extensions, renovations; it’s just that finding high-quality online leads for construction requires different skills and strategies.
DIY Online Lead Generation
What to generate your own leads for construction? There are two things that building contractors need in order to attract online leads: a digital presence, and a way of being found. Let’s take a look at each of them separately:
1. Creating a Digital Presence
A digital presence means how you show up online. It’s like having a virtual footprint that represents you or your business. It includes things like having a website, and social media accounts. Having a good digital presence helps people find and connect with you online. It’s important because it lets you reach more people, build relationships, and show that you’re trustworthy in the online world.
2. Getting Found Online
Simply having a digital presence doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be found online. For that you need a website that’s been search engine optimised. SEO makes your site available to organic search queries online, so someone looking for ‘local builders Kent’ may see your site in their search results. The other way of being found is to run Paid Ads, or PPC ads in Google, or on social media sites.
Working With Lead Generation Agencies
Setting up your business online is a big job, requiring new skills and extra resources. If you’re a regular building contractor, you may find it a stretch to add in a new stream of work in addition to your day job. That’s why there are now a number of online agencies that take on the job of finding and collating leads for construction, in order to offer them to builders and contractors to bid for.
This cuts out a good deal of the legwork for building contractors. They pay a subscription to the directory for access to job leads that they can pursue.
Potential Drawbacks of Online Leads Directories
My Build My Way has worked with a number of builders and contractors who have had a poor experience of online directories, or agencies. They’ve paid a fee, or subscription, only to find that – whilst the leads may be plentiful – the quality is poor. The jobs on offer are under-budgeted, or that haven’t yet reached the stage of putting in a planning application. Without client vetting, builders can waste a lot of time on leads that are going nowhere.
It’s easy to create a good-looking list of leads for construction; what’s more difficult is creating are list of leads that are viable, properly budgeted, have architect’s plans and are already in the planning process.
What Does An Effective Online Leads Partnership Look Like?
My Build My Way doesn’t make its money out of generating leads for construction. We source home improvement projects and match them up with local builders at a fair price for the job.
Here’s how it works, clients come to us with architect’s plans in place, planning permission sought, and the funding in place. They give us their start date for the job and instruct us to source reputable builders on their behalf.
We tender the job and select 3 appropriate contractors from our network to provide a quote. They need to be local, and have the team, skills, and availability to deliver on time and to budget.
The contractors are given all the information they need to be able to quote accurately, and our client is given access to their website and testimonials.
Because My Build My Way is in direct communication with our leads, we can guarantee their quality and value for contractors. We ensure at least 5 leads per month, all of which will be above the value of £35k.
My Build My Way – How Do We Work With Builders and Contractors?
To get started, contractors fill out a form to register their interest. We’ll set up a call to find out more about their business, their goals, and what their looking for from us.
We have a standard set of criteria for businesses that work with us. This is important because as we will be recommending you to our clients. Our criteria are:
- You should be a registered UK company for at least 2 years.
- There should be a business website (we can help you create one if needed).
- You’ll need to provide three recent client referrals.
If you meet these criteria, and you’re happy with what we’re offering, we’ll set up your login details, and introduce you to your personalised online platform. This provides you with a profile, a space to upload images, case studies, and reviews.
What’s Different About My Build My Way?
Our primary aim isn’t to make money out of contractors. Our business model was 7 years in the making, and we’re satisfied that it offers equal benefits to both builders and clients. At My Build My Way we promise high-quality leads for construction to contractors and peace-of-mind to homeowners.
We have well over 300+ completed projects under our belts so we certainly know what it takes to make a good project, outstanding.
Are you ready to get started? Sign up today to find out more about what we can offer you.