Not long ago, I was asked by a landscaping company to run their entire online marketing campaign. Now, if you’ve ever worked with me before, you know that I am a huge advocate for content writing. Even though I work with Adwords, Social Media, etc., I will push content writing each and every time, because it has consistently had the most success for my clients and it’s the method that has been recommended most by Google.
But it took all of 3 seconds to find out that content writing was not the priority for this landscaping company – not because their content was good. It most certainly was not, and it would need to be replaced. But above all else, what this company needed was something much simpler, but much more important. This company needed an easy to click phone number.
Why Would a Phone Number Be So Important?
More and more customers use their cell phone to search for services that they need. They’ll be out with their partner, and one partner will say something like “oh, honey, don’t forget we need to call a landscaper” and they’ll say “oh yeah” and they’ll take out their phone, search for “City Landscaper” and then click on the first result that seems worthwhile. If they like it, they fill out a super long form using their touch keypad and then wait a long time for a response.
Just kidding. They call. They pretty much always call.
No one wants to fill out a form on their smartphone or tablet. When everyone was using a PC, no one wanted to make a phone call, and nearly everyone would fill out a form in order to avoid having to talk to someone in person. Now it’s the exact opposite. Anyone that finds your website through their smartphone wants to call you immediately and get the process over with.
That means you basically have to have your phone number easily available, because if the customer has to fill out a form in order to contact you – or worse, click around to find your contact information – they’re less likely to contact you and more likely to go to a faster, easier to contact website.
Make Your Phone Number Easy to Find
Forms are still important, especially since many people still use PCs, or call during off hours, or don’t want to call – not everyone wants to call, and forms are still much easier than finding someone’s email address or leaving a message.
But before you even change your content, you’re going to have to make your phone number visible. Not all SEO and online marketing is about getting more hits. Sometimes the most important thing is to make sure that the hits you are getting become customers. If they’re not converting, then more hits isn’t going to make nearly as big a difference.
So make sure you add your phone number anywhere you can. I like to put phone numbers in the following locations:
- On the Top of Every Page – If you’re making a mobile ready site, make sure that your phone number shows up at the very top of each page. You’d be surprised how many people don’t even bother scrolling down and just give you a call right away when they’re in need of a service.
- In Every Piece of Main Site Content – In the past, a lot of people put a link to the contact page in their “call to action.” I believe it’s much more important to add the phone number as part of the call to action, like “if you’re like to learn more about our XYZ services, call us today at XXX-XXX-XXXX or fill out the form below to get more information.”
- On the Contact Page – Of course, you should still add the phone number on the contact page, if for no other reason than people tend to click on that link habitually.
I also put the phone number in almost every blog post (not every post since it doesn’t always flow), and sohttps://greatleapstudios.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpmetimes I switch it up and put the phone number near the top of the page so that it’s a bit easier to find if someone’s scrolling.
But no matter what you decide to do, making sure that the phone number is easy to find so that customers can easily call your business is important. This is not just true of landscaping either. This is true of accountants, psychologists, plastic surgeons, nail salons, pest control companies – any business that people will select quickly and on a whim. Make your phone number easy to find, and more people will call you.
And just so I’m not being hypocritical, if you’d like to learn more about online marketing, content writing, phone numbers, etc., call us today at (347) 460-5492.
