HILL & COMPANY'S 12-STEP GUIDE TO INCREASE SALES IN 2021
My name is Matthew Rupp, and my team and I have helped drive millions of dollars in new business to our HVAC clients that we love working with.
Instead of carrying on about how we…
- Only work with family-owned HVAC companies that take a great deal of pride in what they do
- Only have a select handful of clients so we can bring them tons of attention and real value
- Only work with one company in a particular market and none of their competitors
- GUARANTEE OUR RESULTS
(all of that is true)
…my team and I decided to just SHOW YOU what we would do to help grow sales for Hill & Company in 2021 by 30% or more, potentially a lot more.
Key to Dominating Google
Before we get to the good stuff, let me explain one simple concept on how to be #1 on Google easy to understand. Dominating the first page of Google is all about one word – TRUST.
Just like in real life, trust must be EARNED. It doesn’t just get passed out.
The more ways we can help Google ‘see’ who you are, what you do, where you do it, who you do it for, and WHY you are the best possible result (for what somebody is searching for on Google), the more your phone will ring. It’s really that simple.
Your Website Assessment
I am going to touch on a wide variety of areas in this case study including:
- Your website
- Your competitors
- Content on your site
- Popular search terms
- Technical factors
- Site speed
- Citations
- Optimized pages
Some will be VERY impactful while others are more minor, but all are geared toward building trust not just with Google but also your potential customers and making your PHONE RING!
I will try my best to make it easy to understand but I know some of this can sound like Chinese. If you have any questions or would like clarification, feel free to call me on my mobile is 316-312-8181 or email me.
chapter 1
WEBSITE HOMEPAGE
When I look at a website from Google’s perspective, I am looking for four questions to be answered:
1. WHO ARE YOU?
People don’t buy credentials. They buy what you can do for them.
2. WHY SHOULD I CARE?
Tell your visitors about you so that they know you are qualified for the job. Then, put the bulk of your efforts into showing people that your company is comprised of real human beings who care about them, their problems, and will help them find a solution.
3. CAN I TRUST YOU?
Everyone is skeptical. Your visitors are thinking, “Yeah, right. Why should I believe any of this?” Do you answer that question? Without trust, your website is worthless.
4. WHAT’S NEXT?
If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. An effective call to action on your site is something you can measure to see how hard your website is working for your business.
There is a lot of low hanging fruit with your website, but I want to point out 4 of the biggest issues real quick:
- Your website is missing your company’s STORY - the heart, the history behind how it started and grew to what it is today! I know Hill & Company has a remarkable history and story. This is the ‘good stuff’ when it comes to your online presence. In business for 54 years! A THREE generation, family-run operation with an A+ rating with the BBB, 4.9 stars on Google with 419 reviews.
You have the history, the people, the processes, a commitment to quality. Telling that story online would pay BIG dividends!
- The pages on your website are very thin. Meaning they have very few words on them, and none of them are particularly useful or interesting. There is only ONE page related to AIR CONDITIONING and it has merely a small blurb about AC Repair, AC Replacement, AC Maintenance and Commercial AC. There is tremendous value in separating these and really putting some ‘legs’ under each of these important areas.
Over 3 BILLION people a day turn to Google to search for something. Google is very good at determining who deserves to show up at the top of those results. They do this by looking at a lot of factors to help them determine who is the BEST POSSIBLE result. When somebody searches for ‘AC repair’ there in Oklahoma City, for example, there is very little chance Google will see this page on your site as being authoritative or ‘trustworthy.’
Google doesn’t rank websites - they rank website PAGES. Having ONE page on your site for ‘heating’ and only one for ‘cooling’ makes it impossible for you to rank well on Google.
- The navigation on your website is terribly confusing and hard to follow. The entire point of your website should be to build trust and lead visitors to take ACTION (picking up the phone, filling out a contact form, sending a message, making an appt for somebody to come out).
- If somebody does click on a page, there is no ‘home’ button to help get them back where they came from
- There are two rows of navigation with ‘SERVICES’ in the top row and then each service is listed out on the bottom row
- There is a CONTACT US page but it would be a lot easier to find if this was on the far right (with just one row)
- The ABOUT US would typically go to the left of CONTACT US
- The WORK FOR US would go nicely under ‘ABOUT US’. The WORK FOR US and PAY ONLINE cause friction in the mind of new visitors to your site
When it comes to Google, TRUST is the name of the game. If Google thinks you are a generalist and ‘kind of’ good at a LOT of things, you won’t get a fraction of the clicks and calls you deserve. You want to make it CLEAR that you are very good at a handful of your most essential services.
I threw this together to give you an idea of what navigation would look like on a STRONG HVAC website!
Google has ZERO confusion about what this company does!
- I would end the home page and inner pages of your website with something warmer and more inviting.
Here is an example of what we did with one of our HVAC clients – Hanna Heating and Air Conditioning.
Let’s have a chat! You can email me directly or call (or text) my mobile at 316-312-8181.
chapter 2
TELL YOUR STORY
We put a tool called Crazy Egg on all our clients’ websites. This is a heat tracking tool that allows us to see precisely how far visitors to our clients’ websites scroll down and what gets clicked on (and what doesn’t). Almost without fail, the ABOUT pages get more clicks than any other page!
Telling our clients story and capturing the ‘heart’ behind their business is an area where we shine!
Is there any chance you might have photos of the business as it’s grown? Possibly something from when Mark’s dad or even grandfather was building the company?
I love this example that Drabek & Hill uses.
Here are a few examples of this work that we have done for a couple of our HVAC clients.
You have the history, the people, the ‘heart,’ the experience to tell an AMAZING story!
Schedule a chat to learn more.
I’m more than happy to answer whatever questions you have in using the internet to grow your business.
chapter 3
SOCIAL MEDIA
I assume you already know your presence on social media is largely nonexistent.
Your most recent post (for the business) on Facebook was one year ago. There was only 3 more in 2020 and then it goes to July of 2019. You want to send visitors to YOUR website from social media. All posts like this do is send people to, in this case, biofriendlyplanet.com.
The more you can make your social media posts about your customers, the more traction you will get, the more views and interaction. Think about it, nobody gets on Instagram or Facebook to see what ‘deals’ the local car lot of HVAC company is having right now.
Many folks WILL interact with a vote for the cutest dog, thank a teacher today, or some helpful tip or idea that might make their life easier.
Personality / Heart / Humor / Aspirational / Frequent / Helpful / Interesting should be the goal with your social media posts!
The more personality you bring to most of your posts on social media, the more visibility and traction you will get when you do occasionally share a special or sale! This literally can be the difference of hundreds and hundreds of people seeing your post about an upcoming special or only 5 or 6 people!
I would encourage you to think about YouTube and how video could make a BIG difference in your marketing this coming year. Did you know YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world?
As part of a team with a very talented graphic designer, we are constantly surprising and delighting our clients with fantastic images and design work all geared to making them look great!
chapter 4
WEBSITE CONTENT
Content can be anything that helps your website visitors (or Google) see who you are, what you do, where you are, and why you deserve to be #1. It could be text, video, images, a guide, helpful resources, a checklist visitors can download, frequently asked questions, team bios, etc.
Most business owners don’t realize this, but Google doesn’t rank websites – it ranks PAGES!
I would like to challenge you. Think about your ideal customer and an HVAC-related issue they might have.
- air conditioning repair
- ac blowing hot air
- broken furnace
- clean dirty vents
Now look at your website. Can you see even ONE page that is at least halfway shows that’s what your company does? Don’t feel bad. The answer is almost always no. This gives you an idea of how LOW the bar is set (and great news for the one company we work with).
I wasn’t able to find a blog or any pages on your site besides the handful listed at the top of the site.
Having RECENT content on your site that is RELATED to what Hill & Company actually does for its customers is super important.
Content can be anything from questions you hear from customers a lot, an interview with one of the owners of the business, a short video, tips to fix common (small) issues, photos from complete jobs.
We add fresh content EVERY MONTH to our HVAC client’s websites!
Below are some year-to-year comparisons of a couple of our newer clients. Last February, they saw 4 or 5 times more website sessions and clicks! We can show you more examples of how content directly drives new website visitors and phone calls!
Schedule a chat to learn more.
I’m more than happy to answer whatever questions you have in using the internet to grow your business.
chapter 5
CALL TO ACTION
I am sure you have heard the line “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
One of the biggest items missing from your website, social media and online presence is a Call to Action.
A Call to Action is something of significant value you can give, tell, or show your ideal clients that is GOOD ENOUGH for them to exchange their email address for it or to actually pick up the phone to call you.
One of the BEST parts about having (a couple) great Call to Action items on your website is it allows you to see what is working and what isn’t. Sure, you get traffic from Facebook (for example), but are any of them clicking on the contact page, filling out a form, or picking up the phone?
An effective call to action allows us to see that PLUS be able to foster that ‘lead’ and potentially turn them into a customer!
Some examples you might like:
Let’s have a chat! You can email me directly or call (or text) my mobile at 316-312-8181.
chapter 6
REVIEWS
Hill & Company has 419 reviews on Google with 4.9 stars which is really good!
I would very much recommend RESPONDING to all your reviews on Google! This is very important and shows Google you are ‘active and engaged with a potent (and free) tool that drives a LOT of your business from the web!
Plus, a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long way when somebody leaves a review!
I LOVE that you personally responded to pretty much all your reviews! Very impressive!
I was really surprised to not find reviews on any of the popular sites we typically see reviews on. Sites like Judy’s Book, Yelp, Yahoo Local, Yellow pages and Dex Knows very often have reviews for a local HVAC company.
This is an area I know my team and I could help Hill & Company!
We’ve been able to double the number of reviews our clients have received (sometimes within a few months) as well as raise their average rating.
One of our best examples is a client of ours in Texas. They started with us just a year ago, having only 32 reviews. Now they have 166 reviews with a 4.9 average rating! So we not only got their average star rating up, but they now have five times as many reviews.
chapter 7
LONG TAIL OF SEARCH
My background is in building and running service businesses. I got into the online marketing space because I couldn’t find a reputable online company that could deliver results. I set out to figure it out myself, which I did! I grew my party rental business by over 30% a year – for 3 years in a row. That led to helping a friend, then another, and eventually getting out of the party rental business and into digital marketing full time. I honestly believe putting the power of the long tail of search to work for your business would be the SMARTEST thing any HVAC company could do long term to grow their business.
It is VERY high impact, low cost, easiest, the fastest way to put your website and online presence to WORK for your company.
The long tail of search is very simple and applies to every industry.
What is the long tail of search?
In a nutshell, it is ranking for the longer search phrases that are commonly searched for, AND almost always being ignored by your competition.
The term “HVAC” or “air conditioning” gets searched thousands of times a month in Oklahoma City, but this is the OPPOSITE of a long tail search. These short search terms are general and get a LOT of searches.
The trouble is that this type of search shows ZERO intent and is not where most people will start their search on Google. Most people start their search with trying to solve THEIR problem, “My furnace is clicking,” “my AC is frozen up,” “my furnace is blowing cool air” – this is where we want to find them – while they are still trying to solve their problem!
Ranking for high-volume keywords like ‘hvac’ is difficult, costs a lot of money, time and expertise. Plus, you are competing with tons of paid ads, directories, and competitors with deep pockets.
When somebody Googles ‘HVAC companies’ in your area, this is what they see – Google local paid ads and regular paid ads.
The next section is what is called the ‘local pack’. If you aren’t at the top of that page, most likely, that’s it. You missed out.
Not to mention you are competing with Houzz, Yelp, Yellow Pages, Angie’s List, Yahoo Local, Expertise.com, local directories, three best rated, Porch.com, Thumbtack – all trying to rank for that search term ‘HVAC companies’ there in Oklahoma City.
So, where is the big opportunity? The answer is in the image below.
70% OF ALL SEARCHES ARE IN LONG TAIL KEYWORDS.
When you think about your ideal customers – the challenges they are running into and the questions they commonly have – therein lies the opportunity.
I bet you would like about 50 more calls a day from folks who search for things like this? THESE are potential customers with a problem (right now) they are trying to figure out how to solve.
I could show you a couple THOUSAND more search terms just like these!
While there is a lot less search volume, they are easier to rank for and they are from actual customers with a problem you can solve!
chapter 8
SITE SPEED
I used two different tools to grade the speed of your website. For many years this has been a very important ranking factor to Google.
The first one is Pingdom.
This is definitely costing you vistors, traffic and phone calls.
The 2nd speed analysis is one that is provided by Google.
A speed rating of 33 out of 100 is very challenging. The good news is very often these are easy fixes!
These tests confirm that your site has major speed loading issues.
This is absolutely costing your ranking, website visits and phone calls.
Schedule a chat to learn more.
I’m more than happy to answer whatever questions you have in using the internet to grow your business.
chapter 9
NAME, ADDRESS & PHONE
An important factor in building trust with Google is a consistent name, address and phone number for your business across different platforms (your website, social media profiles, directories and associations related to your industry and general business directories).
The more consistency there is, the easier it is for Google to trust you are who you say.
With some clients, this is a BIG issue just because of the nature of how companies often grow. They might start in the owner’s home and then move to a small shop, and some years later maybe a bigger shop. You throw in a partner change, a name change, or more than two moves (not to mention a variety of employees or agencies ‘helping’) and you can end up with quite a mess.
We did some research and found issues with references of Hill & Company across the web.
This score is based on the quantity and quality of citations across the web for Hill & Company. A citation is simply any mention (anywhere on the web) of your business name, address, phone number. It could be from dozens (or hundreds) of sources - Social media sites, industry associations, directories, local business directories there in OKC.
Of the profiles that were found for Hill & Company, 15 of them have errors in the company name, address or phone number and 23 popular sources weren’t found at all.
We found 5 different phone numbers for the business.
One of our tools shows the top 5 ranking HVAC companies’ citations there in OKC. If you would like to see this report give us a shout, and I will be happy to send it over!
Let’s have a chat! You can email me directly or call (or text) my mobile at 316-312-8181.
chapter 10
OPTIMIZED PAGES
An ‘optimized’ website page simply means it is CLEAR what the page is trying to rank on Google for.
If there is very little text on a page, it’s hard for Google to know what that page is about. Likewise, if there are images with no descriptions, Google doesn’t know what those images are! If the explanation for that page is ‘Hill & Company, and Oklahoma City’ that doesn’t help them understand that page is about AC repair!
This is an example of a well optimized website page (one of our HVAC clients)
We will touch on just 4-5 areas real quick to try and explain:
Page title (this is what shows up in the little tab on your web browser)
“Air Conditioning Installation | Wichita, KS” (PERFECT)
URL (website address): air-conditioning-installation (CRYTAL CLEAR WHAT THE PAGE IS ABOUT)
Page description: For heating and cooling installation or repair, call the pros at Hanna Heating and Air Conditioning at (316) 945-3481 or contact us. (EXCELLENT)
On the page, there are links to driving directions (which helps Google know where Hanna is located), FAQ, and recent posts.
With the Title tag (the tab in the browser) we are telling Google what the page is ‘about’. The rest of the items all need to reinforce this!
It’s rare to find website pages for local HVAC companies that are optimized very well. This is a HUGE opportunity just waiting to be capitalized on and a cheap, easy fix! Remember, when it comes to Google the name of the game is TRUST and you only have to be better than the other guy!
Here are a few insights from looking at your website pages:
- 3 pages have DUPLICATE descriptions
- 21 images are MISSING a description which means Google has idea what they are
- Your website pages have a total of 16 words on them. The top 10 competitors in your city have 485!
- 3 duplicate page titles
chapter 11
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS
It’s hard to overstate the importance of your Google My Business profile. This is your chance to tell Google who you are, where you are, what you do, and why you deserve to be #1 for thousands of search terms!
Google is constantly adding more features and options to this platform. This makes sense (for them) because the more they can keep visitors on THEIR site and not on individual websites, they more they ‘win’.
With Google, it’s amazing how much you can find out about local businesses without ever having to click through to their website!
-
-
- Wait times
- Photos
- video
- Products and services
- Specials / promotions
- Service areas
- Business category
- Recent posts
- Specials
- Hours
- Holiday hours
- Busy times of day
- Phone number
- Click to driving directions
- Reviews
- COVID updates
- Video Text messaging
-
Some high impact items with the Google profile for Hill & Company:
- A ton more pictures of your team, branded vehicles, complete jobs, guys working would be SUPER helpful! There are duplicate images and images that aren’t doing anything to build trust (at all)
- This is the photo of your building on Google
- Adding video to your profile would be very impactful
- Setting up a chat/text feature so customers can message you right from Google.
- Adding a GET A QUOTE box
- Your Google page is missing a compelling ‘story’ or description of who you serve and where you are.
- You have an opportunity to add a post to the bottom of your Google profile. The more room you can take up on the first page of Google the better!
It’s incredible how much you can do inside your Google My Business profile! They are constantly tweaking and adding new features like the ability to get messages on your desktop or a text message right from your Google profile (without a customer ever going to your site).
Some of the newest updates to Google are big opportunities for businesses including:
- Adding new categories of the service you provide
- A way to dispute negative reviews
chapter 12
BACKLINKS
A backlink is anything you can click on website A that takes you to website B. It might be an image, a line of text, a video, or anything really. If you can click on it and be taken from that site to yours, you have a link from that site – a backlink.
To Google, links are basically votes of confidence.
The more backlinks you have from websites that are either
- AUTHORITATIVE – High quality. The local newspaper, Chamber of Commerce, Red Cross, or Make a Wish Foundation
- LOCAL – Show a connection to a cause or something going on in the community
- RELATED – Industry associations, HVAC forums, blog comments on industry articles, or white papers
…the more trust your website will have. The key is QUALITY backlinks not QUANTITY!
One of the most important and powerful ranking factors when it comes to Google is something called ‘backlinks’.
A backlink is anything you can click on website A and be taken to website B.
For example, at the bottom of the ACCA website if I click the Facebook icon it will take me to Facebook. This is an example of Facebook having a ‘backlink’ from the ACCA website.
How many and how strong the backlinks are that are pointing to a website is a massive indication of trust to Google.
I ran a couple reports for your backlink profile that I would be happy to share if you are interested. You have quite a lot of backlinks but most of them are very low quality. There is a number of ways this might have happened but there is a process to ‘disavow’ them through Google, so they won’t hold back your site traffic (and phone calls).
Schedule a chat to learn more.
I’m more than happy to answer whatever questions you have in using the internet to grow your business.
chapter 13
COMPETITION
If you share the biggest 2 or 3 competitors that you deal with the most, we would be happy to take a look and give you some insights into what is HELPING them (online), and where the opportunity is ripe to take website traffic (and phone calls) from them.
Let’s have a chat! You can email me directly or call (or text) my mobile at 316-312-8181.
If you would like ALL of these items addressed by a team of smart people who genuinely CARE about our clients, who constantly seek out new ways to look out for our clients to grow and treat them like family (the ones we really like), then give us a shout at 316-312-8181 and let’s have a chat.
No salespeople, no pressure, no obligation.
I am so confident my team and I can help you, I am willing to provide the names and phone numbers of some of the HVAC clients we are serving today!
CORY & LUKE – Fenix Heating & Cooling – (316) 945-4842
CODY & TREVOR – Hanna Heating & Air – (316) 945-3481
JOHN – Standard Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning – (785) 776-5012
MARC – DALCO Heating & Air Conditioning – (303) 979-7541
THOMAS – Tiger Heating & Air – (361) 852-4450
“We first met Matthew Rupp after he created a huge case study analyzing all the HVAC companies in Wichita. It was very eye opening for somebody to translate digital marketing into something our team could understand. It was great to how we compared and to start working with a clear set of priorities we felt confident would move us forward. The team at Matthew Rupp Consulting has been invaluable to work with. They are creative, responsive, and focused on driving our bottom line!“
Cody Hanna – Hanna Heating & Air Conditioning Inc.
“Matthew and his team genuinely care about the success of Jon Wayne Heating & Air. They are creative, take initiative and are constantly pushing the envelope. They don’t just talk a good game, they put the time in, take photos, create the content, do graphic design, social media you name it.“
Stephen Jabro – Jon Wayne Heating & Air
“Matthew and his team aren’t your typical, cookie-cutter marketing firm. They are authentic, responsive, creative, and genuinely care about our success. We have seen a significant impact on our bottom line working with Matthew and his team.”
Luke Parthemer – Fenix Heating & Cooling
“I thoroughly enjoy working with Matthew and his team. Anything I ask of them gets done immediately. They always provide excellent feedback on how our money is being well spent.
It has definitely increased our business by teaming up with Rupp Consulting.
A+ on everything.”
John Shirtsleeves – Standard Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning
___________________________________________
We are committed to working with only 1 HVAC company there in the OKC area. We are looking for a local leader who is committed to quality and understands (and desperately wants) to win on Google.
We are so sure of our ability to make a BIG impact on Hill & Company, we have a money-back guarantee.
I look forward to hearing from you. My number is 316-312-8181.
Schedule a chat to learn more.
I’m more than happy to answer whatever questions you have in using the internet to grow your business.
Get In Touch
About HVAC Marketing Success
HVAC Marketing Success is a business located in Wichita, KS – the heart of America. We have been getting results for our clients for more than 10 years. We provide websites, search engine optimization and online advertising services for businesses that operate in the Heating & Air and/or Plumbing industry. We are proud to serve companies across the country.
Copyright 2023. HVAC Marketing Success, a division of Matthew Rupp Consulting. All Rights Reserved.