
Want to drive more qualified business your way on the web? Sure you do! What is one easy way to begin this process online without spending a lot of money? Start your own quality blog with a group of your preferred and trusted network. Here are some pointers:
What To Do
- The blog should be geared to help the local community find answers to their household questions.
- It would include blogs about: painting, HVAC, plumbing, handyman, seasonal to-dos, roofing, electrical, interior design, real estate, remodeling, cabinetry, appliances, permits, fencing, decks, flooring, and much more.
- Each company would take turns submitting their expert blogs. If one is not a writer, he or she can either do videos or hire a writer to do all the editing and posting.
- Featuring of videos, blogs, specials and a submission form to “ask a question” answered by a professional. You’d also have a form to “request an estimate”
- Optional: Have live chat. This could be monitored by a third party company or by folks within the network.
- Have an official name for your site and make it well designed with easy navigation
- Use a professional Wordpress site (marketers favorite platform) or Expression Engine, a CMS
- Create a company directory for those ready to buy. Optional to have a review system
- At a later date: After this takes off, you could offer a print version of some of your articles and helpful information for homeowners. People would subscribe to your post or printed newsletter. The print version would require more work and planning. Why is this important? Some folks still like print. As word spreads around town about what you are doing, you’ve got to be able to reach more people.
- Each company should be committed to actively referring and recommending each other.
How and Why It Would Work
- A consumer could type in a keyword or search from a list of categories to find answers to his or her questions.
- Search engines would pick up the articles, videos and information and overtime will push up your rankings. It is easier to write blogs about the entire home rather than 1 service. Therefore, good SEO results should be easier to obtain with quality and fresh content.
- Each service company can features his/her company each week or month: providing a better chance of more work. (this would be on a rotation schedule)
- Overtime, you will build a trusted brand that people will be talking about.
A Related Business Example

A few years ago, a company did something similar, minus the content marketing part (more about that in a minute). It was slightly before blogs were popular, so they used primarily the traditional approach. They were called
ToFixIt. The company is still around and located in Phoenix, Arizona. It was started by a successful businessman who owned a large plumbing company. He wanted to get more quality referrals from his networks and though the best way was to build a trusted network. In short, all the companies apart of ToFixIt had to be referred into the program. If the company was approved as a trusted contractor (not everyone made it), they paid a monthly fee which went towards the marketing of ToFixIt. They used radio,
TV, mailers, magnets and the web to promote their business. Their slogan was,
“We Recommend The Best and Toss the Rest!” They partnered with trusted news anchors, talk shows and radio host to gain credibility. They also had monthly networking meetings to help each company get to know each other better and get more referrals. The only thing that ToFixIt did not do till more recently was blog. My personal thoughts are, their blog is not too consumer friendly, but it is a start. Now all they have to do is add good content that is
100% consumer focused, and it will increase their trustworthiness even more. It will cut down their traditional marketing cost as the search engines begin to pick up their quality content, hopefully producing more leads with less advertising dollars. Consumers use the web to buy, but they also use it to educate themselves. If you are the source for their answers, you will begin to build a quality reputation.
Next Steps Take a look at what ToFixIt started:
www.tofixit.com Get inspired. Start your own community based blog for your group of trusted businesses. Also, if you are the one starting it, make sure
YOU own the site or at least your company has a slightly stronger edge. Why not? You’re the one with the idea, right? Have the goal of helping consumers, not selling them., and the sales will come in time.