Plumbers, electricians, and heating and air contractors all know how to run a service call—but you may be struggling when it comes to marketing your business on your website. When was the last time you updated it? Did you hire a professional to design your website for you, or did you just build the most affordable site you could using a template and assume that would be enough?

If you’re going to run a service business in this day and age, an easy-to-navigate website can be the key to bringing in more leads, get more customers to hire you, and help you make more money. How profitable is your business right now? Are you struggling to keep up with everything or do you have the kind of freedom you want?

When you contact CEO Warrior, we’ll discuss all the secrets of business mastery. But I’ll tell you this right now: it’s time to get over any hesitation you have about creating a website that complements your industry and your business. Use this checklist to examine your current site and make sure it’s optimized to keep the phone ringing and bring in all the work you can handle.

  1. Your domain name: Does your domain name make it clear what business you do? Have you invested in hosting a custom domain? The right domain name will direct customers to your site and make it clear what you have to offer them.
  2. Your header, logo, and layout: Have you seen your website on both a desktop and a smartphone or tablet? What does it look like? Remember, your site needs to be eye-catching, yet simply designed, and mobile friendly, since so many people look things up on their phones these days.
  3. Your navigation: Remember, less is more. Keep the links to other pages looking as clean as possible. Don’t crowd your site with a lot of links; try to keep it to just a few pages, such as “About,” “Testimonials,” and “Contact.” If you must, you can create drop-down menus for additional pages.
  4. Your opt-ins: You can keep your name and site in people’s minds by giving them an incentive on your website to sign up for updates. Use pop-ups or sidebars to offer customers special discounts or other gifts for joining your mailing list. For instance, a plumber could offer some free tips to help people keep their plumbing systems in good shape between visits.
  5. Your search engine optimization (SEO): SEO is king in the online world these days. It ensures your website hits high in results on search engines like Google and Bing by using strategic keywords around your site that are related to your business. For example, an electrician in Florida might use keywords like “electrician,” “electrical contractor,” “Florida,” and the name of the city where he works.
  6. Your blog: Your blog is another place you can prove how well you you’re your business. Update it regularly with fresh content. Share tips with customers, talk about new trends or innovations in your industry, and position yourself as an expert. Use your SEO keywords liberally. Blog regularly, share tips with new and existing clients. Regular blogs not only show customers you care about your site, but put it even higher in search engine rankings thanks to algorithms that determine how often sites are updated.
  7. Your social media integration: Hopefully, you’ve already got business pages on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and LinkedIn, and a professional helping you manage them. If not, hire someone to help you set those up, then put prominent links to each social media page on your website. If people see your social media profiles, they’ll probably follow them.
  8. Your contact information: Customers have to know how to reach you. Make sure you keep your phone numbers, email and physical addresses up to date online. You might want to use a listing service or map to help people see where you are, so customers will know you’re local. they’ll know if your business is local to them.

Finally, remember you need to be monitoring your website traffic, if you’re not already.

If you’ve looked at your website using this checklist and found it’s not quite up to snuff, it’s time to get it there to help your business grow. Contact me today and I’ll show you how CEO Warrior can help with that and unlocking the other secrets of business!

Mike Agugliaro, “Business Warrior”
Founder of the $28 Million Warrior Fast Track Academy