If you’re in home improvement, you’ve no doubt noticed that Sears is everywhere online. And they’re especially strong in some key categories: replacement windows, siding and cabinet refacing. You’ll see their ads in the paid search listings, some organic listings, e-mails and a host of other online advertising channels.
The folks at Sears are undoubtedly smart, so you can assume that if they’re advertising, they must be doing so because it’s profitable for them. Here’s the question you should be asking yourself: “Why them and not me?” Said another way, how can Sears find it cost-effective to advertise across so many channels, while local home improvement companies seem to have so few profitable online advertising options?
A dealer of replacement windows asked me a common question when we spoke a few weeks ago.
“I don’t understand it,” he said. “My Web site ranks #2 in Google’s natural search rankings. But I’m still not getting any leads from my listing. What’s going on?”
I answered his question with a question: “Exactly what keyword do you rank #2 for?”
And he replied,
“REPLACEMENT WINDOWS SMALLTOWN, ILLINOIS”
I responded that that was great…but that he shouldn’t expect many leads from that listing. Which was exactly the case.
Every week, Todd Bairstow—our online expert—shares his wisdom on an aspect of Internet marketing for home improvement companies. You can read his thoughts here on his blog or you can subscribe, and we'll send you his latest posts each week.
