I’m a Home Service-based Business…Why Do I Need a Blog?
Today, customers have grown tired of traditional ads. Instead, 80% of internet users interact with businesses via custom content, whether it’s on social media sites or specially curated blogs.
Marketers have realized that customers want to learn more about businesses through content-oriented marketing. Blog content is one way to connect with a business’s target audience, provide information about new products, and even host giveaways!
A great blog post can also drive an impact for businesses based in the home service industry.
How so?
- Boost your business’s visibility with search engine optimization (SEO): By doing your keyword research and incorporating strategic keywords into new content, you can attract your ideal customer and grow your subscribers. Search engine algorithms will reward your business for smart usage of popular keywords, ranking your page higher, and boosting your popular posts on a public domain.
- Establish your business as an industry expert and leader: Blogs help businesses establish their authority on a specific industry topic or subject. Successful companies publish relevant content regularly, create new content ideas and blog post topics, and remind their customers that they are experts through their vetted content.
Here are just a few examples of popular home service blogs to draw inspiration from:
- Plumbing: Restore My Pipes’ Blog
- HVAC: Central Heating & Air Conditioning’s Blog
- Roofing: Classic Metal Roofing Systems’ Blog
- Electrical: Hoffman Electrical’s Blog
- Humanize and give a voice to your business: Business owners can show a personal side of their business that most customers won’t usually see. They can better showcase what their company stands for, the vision, and the best takeaways customers can get from engaging with them.
- Create value for your existing and new customers: Remember, you are not just creating a one-time piece of content. Every word you write should provide value to your customers. Blogging is an effective way of educating existing and new customers! The next time your business writes a blog, make sure to think about what your audience might want to know and can take away with them!
- Learn more about your customers and clients: You can convert all the blog traffic you receive into valuable information and leads. This can be done by asking blog visitors to fill out a survey, comment on blog posts, share blog posts, and more. A blog is just another way to communicate with your customers and find out what topics interest them!
- Generate leads and increase sales: Through your own blog, you can build email lists of potential leads by encouraging them to subscribe to your blog posts. You can then tap into that information when you build your next email marketing campaign and more, ultimately leading to an improved bottom line.
If you need review management software for your business without the headache, Signpost is a cost-effective solution. Start a demo today.
20 Blog Post Ideas for Your Home Service or Small Business
Whether you’re in the plumbing business or an electrician, a blog can improve your reach and sales over time. Your home service business stands to gain many benefits from blogging, so it’s time to get inspired!
To get started, here is a compiled list of blog post ideas you can use to connect with your customers:
- How to…/Tutorials
- Share your business’s history
- A detailed series about your services and products
- Reviews
- Dos and dont’s
- Listicles
- Interviews
- A day-in-the-life or behind-the-scenes look at your business
- Customer success stories and testimonials
- A free template, tips list, or checklist
- Compare and contrast posts
- Current trends and projections in your industry
- An informative case study
- A roundup of interesting, industry-related statistics
- Pros and cons
- Myths and misconceptions about your industry
- A roundup of your favorite online reviews of your business
- A FAQ post
- Invite a guest post from an employee or loyal customer
- About your local region
1. How to…/Tutorials
An example of an informative how-to post from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing
It also displays a business’s expertise by showing readers their in-depth knowledge on that specific topic. How to’s are a great way of establishing your business’s expertise in the industry and your community.
2. Share your business’s history
A great way to connect with customers is also by creating a series of posts about your own business. For example, you can write about the history of the industry, updates on the company itself, and more! This can be relevant to all businesses in home services, from plumbing to contractors and more!
Contractor group MHWilliams updates company-related news on their blog. The blog shown above is about a change in leadership.
3. A detailed series about your services and products
You can also be more direct to customers through your blog posts, appealing to them by providing information about the services and products you offer.
MHWilliams speaks about their services and how they work in this blog post.
Pro-tip: Integrate a live chat feature on blog posts of this nature! This allows potential customers to contact you directly if they’re interested and have further questions.
4. Reviews
Consider publishing reviews of non-competitive products. For a home-based business, this may include materials or equipment used in the ordinary course of their operations which can be utilized DIY by customers, too.
Plumbing Perspective’s review of the tankless water heater is one of their most popular posts to date!
5. Dos and don’ts
Some of the most popular types of blog posts are those that help readers with their challenges. By understanding the target market, you can create content addressing their pain points on areas that your products or services may not cover completely.
A post by Seattle-based company Best Plumbing.
6. Listicles
Listicles are another form of popular blog posts. Creating a list of must-haves, favorites, and resources is a great way to spotlight your business partners, advice and tips, and vendors to your customers!
Len the Plumber’s post here is an informative listicle, providing valuable information to its customer base in a ‘top-10’ format.
7. Interviews
This is a more rare form of blog content marketing in the home service industry, but if done right, it can be quite an innovative and impactful approach! Interviewing an expert in the industry and asking them to provide great tips can give your customers a lot of value.
Read the full interview with HVAC industry expert, Tim Pollard, here.
These experts tend to have insider strategies and even ‘cheat sheets’ that help them maximize their efficiency in their own businesses.
How can your business do it?
Compile a list of questions you can ask to a non-competing source in your industry and give them a ring! Ask them if they’d be willing to feature on your blog. You could even take it a step further and make it a double content opportunity by requesting them to feature on a podcast, too.
8. A day-in-the-life or behind-the-scenes look at your business
If you’re looking for new blog post ideas, showcasing behind-the-scenes is a great way to build trust with your readers, especially the “newbies” in the crowd.
Check out how Vines does this here!
You can take photos of prominent staff and showcase those in customer-facing roles, putting a face to the brand (the ones customers are most likely to interact with!).
Doing so will make your business more relatable and also humanize your brand.
9. Customer success stories and testimonials
Are you having writer’s block? Here is one solution to that: Ask your customers to feature content for your blog!
What better way to appeal to new customers than by showing them your existing ones?
You can feature blog posts dedicated to positive customer testimonials and success stories. To do this, you can follow-up with your most loyal customers and ask them to provide a review suitable for your blog!
Best Plumbing showcased their customer success on their blog.
10. A free template, tips list, or checklist
A great way to appeal to new customers is by answering questions people may have in the form of a checklist! Better yet, transforming it into an infographic on your blog post can make it more visually appealing.
Mr. Rooter does this through their home plumbing maintenance checklist, transforming it into a step-guide style through their infographic!
11. Compare and contrast posts
If you’re having a hard time ideating new blog posts because you feel you’ve exhausted most of your ideas, a great way to repurpose old ideas is by doing a compare and contrast post.
For example, there might be a hundred guides on the web about how to fix a new sink on your own. But which is the best?
You can review existing content and lead your customers to the best resource out there.
Your compare and contrast posts can also be more literal, in the sense you pit different types of non-competing products against each other.
Mr. Rooter compares different types of plumbing pipes in this post above!
12. Current trends and projections in your industry
Being informed of your industry’s trends and projections won’t only benefit you as a business owner. It can also be valuable to your customers!
Keep your customer updated on upcoming trends and how this can impact your service offering through a blog post!
Best Plumbing did this in their 2018 blog post, which surely proved valuable as these trends took effect!
13. An informative case study
Case studies are a great way to give customers a practical, real-life example of how your business is driving an impact. They tend to be long-form content and well-researched.
This plumbing site has a page dedicated to case studies and technical articles. Discover more on their page!
14. A roundup of interesting, industry-related statistics
Providing a round-up post of all the exciting statistics relevant to your industry is also a great way to inform customers. The best thing about statistics is they are sourced from studies that are verified.
They are also a great way to increase your social shares and bring more traffic to your blog.
In the above blog post by Punctual Plumbers, the blogger took an opportunity to publish a round-up of stats by tying it in with World Plumbing Day!
15. Pros and cons
A tried and tested tactic with blog posts is to provide a pros and cons list. This can work with any topic as long as you find a relevant angle!
Mr. Electric’s blog post provides the yes-case for smart electricity meters!
16. Myths and misconceptions about your industry
Debunking myths related to industry topics is something your customers will appreciate. Getting expert input on topics they are unsure about will also build your credibility as a subject matter expert.
Best Plumbing debunks the common myths among DIY plumbers at home!
17. A roundup of your favorite online reviews of your business
You can take the positive customer testimonials you’ve received to another level with this strategy!
Showcase a roundup of all the different, 5-star reviews you’ve received across platforms, including Google My Business, Facebook, or even Yelp!
Pro-tip: You can publish a blog post of this nature in line with a special event on your calendar. For example, the yearly anniversary of your business!
18. A FAQ post
Adding in a FAQ section to your website in order to address common problems that your customers face is a brilliant way to engage them and attract them to your offerings. But how can you make it better? Turn these questions into blog posts!
For example, if you’re in the plumbing business, some common questions may include:
- Why is my drain easily clogged?
- What’s soft and hard water?
- Why is my faucet dripping?
- Why does the water pressure keep fluctuating?
Every single one of these questions can be plucked out of the group and turned into its own blog post!
Take inspiration from Rentmeister’s FAQ right here!
19. Invite a guest post from an employee or loyal customer
Consider inviting guest features from experts in your industry, business partners, employees, or even your loyal customers! You can go a step further and also invite guest post submissions on your website.
The benefit of guest posters? They will most likely share the blog post once it goes live with their own audience, leading to more traffic to your blog as well as an increase in potential leads!
20. Information about your local region
Finally, one of the most prominent features of a home service business is that the type of customer base it caters to is very local and community-focused. A great way to show your local audience and customers that you have them in mind is by writing a blog post about your community!
So, what kind of posts can you write to do this?
- Write about news and events in the local community that can impact your customers and your business.
- Give a shout-out to local charities or causes your business is affiliated with.
- Provide hyper-focused stats based on research or surveys you’ve done about the demand in the local community.
Service businesses of all sizes use Signpost to win more business, communicate with customers, and drive loyalty. Start your demo today.
Reach a Wider Audience with Signpost
Have these 20 blog post ideas inspired you? It’s your turn to experiment with topic ideas and create content to attract your readers! Play around with the different ideas and find which grows your views and engagement the most.
How can we help?
Work with Signpost to help grow your positive reviews and testimonials so you can showcase them on your blog! Or, integrate a live chat feature on your blog and website to engage with your customers immediately.
Get started with Signpost today!