If you are familiar at all with the Automotive Industry, you already know that all of the manufacturers are heavily involved in the websites of their dealers. Why? For many reasons, and they are just as important for the Moving and Storage Industry, too. For example:
- Sites that are Created by Industry Specialists Perform Better.
When it’s not your web agency’s first rodeo, they will build you a site that is not only more efficient, but more effective, too.
- Specialists in Moving Know How to Get a Conversion (Lead For In-Home Appointment).
We study Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to better understand how to lead your prospect through the sales funnel.
- Moving Lead Providers Know How to Attract a Prospect.
There’s more to optimizing a website than for just “Local Movers and Long Distance Movers.” What moving and storage company doesn’t optimize their site for these two keyword phrases? They ALL do. Of course. So how is your site going to get any quality moving leads for these keyword terms? Ask one of us… a moving leads provider… how to get top moving leads. We know the strategy for getting the job done.
- Site Layout and Architecture.
Don’t leave this in the hands of a novice, or worse yet, a coder. Get to a moving and storage ad agency specialist for the best marketing for movers — some firm that has built dozens of moving and storage sites and knows what works, and what does not work. What will be the focal point of the website? What will be above the fold? What can risk being below the fold? What should be included in the Header? Moving company marketers will know all of this automatically… from years of experience on other Moving and Storage websites.
- Forms. Forms. Forms.
What should be included and where should they go? The truth of the matter is: the fewer the form fields (questions asked) the better the submission rate. An ad agency specializing in the Moving and Storage Industry is sure to know this from experience and reading through pages and pages of Google Analytics. Why then, do you often see so many form fields on a Get Quote Page? Because that mover is not getting the forms themselves but rather sending them on to an out-sourced “Callback Company”. They have operators who work just about 24/7 to set up appointments, and those operators need much more information to determine whether to call the customer back or ignore the lead. A smaller mover has an advantage here because they can have the lead emailed to their designated cell phone and qualify the lead themselves.
- Your Customer Reviews.
This is liquid gold, and most ad agencies know this. Where moving company marketers add value is that they know that many movers get a lot of bad reviews. This is true for just about every moving company, so it must be considered when designing and building the site. Prospective customers expect some negative reviews (15% negative is common), but if they see a ton of one-star reviews or a ton of five-star reviews it may cause the prospect to lose trust and exit your site. Be sure to review this with your agency.
- Bullet Point Content.
Like it or not, very few people read much, so don’t write in long paragraphs… bullet point all of your main points of content. Moving and Storage ad agencies understand that content is very important, but making it interesting for the prospect to read is even more important. Use plenty of bullet points and plenty of “white space.”
- Images.
As important as bullet points are, so are images. A good rule of thumb for a moving company marketing strategy is at least one per page. And be sure to tag it too so Google knows what it is for SEO purposes. In Moving and Storage, we have a lot of pictures of trucks, so be sure and tag them uniquely and differently. Big, big panorama images are not really important for Moving and Storage companies because the site is meant to be informational and educational rather than setting a mood. Save the full-size pictures of Hawaii for Delta Air Lines.
- “About Us” Page.
Any competent moving leads provider knows that prospects often look at this page before they look at any of the moving pages. Why? They want to vet, or qualify the credentials, of the moving and storage company before they proceed any further on the site. They don’t want to waste their time. So, be sure to pay special attention to this page and provide all important qualifications of your Moving and Storage Company. Any awards. Any memberships. Any pictures of staff and drivers. People want to know who they are going to be dealing with. Take a chapter out of the realtors and insurance agents’ books. Look at how many of them have their pictures on their business cards, their yard signs, their newspaper ads. They all do! It’s important. Introduce yourself to your prospective customer. They want to know the type of people who will be walking through their home.
- Site Structure.
This is very important and hopefully you’ll be working with moving company marketers like MarketersForMovers.com or RothmannPPC.com or TractLeads.com that are able to inform you about the importance of the “back end” of your site. Make no mistake: Site speed does matter to Google. Slow loading sites (to first byte) will be penalized. In Google’s mind they are giving “their customer” a bad experience by recommending a slow-loading site. And site speed it right up there in importance with Google My Business, Google Maps and other components of the Google Knowledge Graph.
Please remember that SEO best practices and its hand-in-hand compatriot, CRO, change constantly. We have done our best at MarketersForMovers.com to give you the latest information as of this date. We will update this memo with any significant changes. Good luck in your search!