The LAST thing you want to be dealing with this year when you are gearing to make it your best year yet is issues with your Restoration Company’s website.
This is how you’re going to get that message across, right? So for this presentation, really, when it comes to Digital Marketing, the best way is your Website, right? It’s the window into your business in this Digital Marketplace. And everybody has a Website. There’s a lot more nuance to it than that. You can’t just have a Website, right?
You got to make sure you’re set up for success to convert those eyeballs, right? It’s you can have the nicest Website in the world. I talk about this kind of like business cards. You can print the best business cards in the world, but if you don’t take them out of your car, nobody’s going to find you. You can have the best looking, in your opinion, Website, but it might not be converting. You might be sending a bunch of traffic, but it’s not converting.
We’re going to take a look at a few things when it comes to Websites, what you really need to be looking out for, for you to kind of give yourself a gut check and look into your current situation. A few housekeeping things. This is huge. I don’t see it as often now, but do not let anybody, ever, unless it’s you buy a domain, set up a Hosting account to where it’s not a hundred percent in your name.
That’s like setting up a business and letting somebody you don’t know, get your license and qualify you. And then what happens if you butt heads and they go away? You built this brand. They own your licensing. You’re s*** out of luck. So the same thing happens with Websites.
If you would allow an Agency or a one man show or even you hire a guy that comes in and he’s already got a GoDaddy account and your head’s in the sand and you’re like, “Yeah, so and so is going to make this work. They’re going to build me a Website and you’re just letting them do carte blanche”. They buy your domain and then you fire them because they’re incompetent.
They don’t have to give you that Website. They own that Website. So think about that. Don’t put yourself in that situation. Make sure you own all of your tangible Digital Marketing properties hands down. Same thing for Hosting. We’ve come into countless clients who allow a Marketing Agency to host their Website, right?
We’re going to take care of everything. You just pay us a monthly fee. And we’ll get going and things are great for four or five months. And then something happens and you stop getting leads. And then you’re like, “I found another Marketing Agency. I think they found some gaps. We’re going to move on.”
I’m like, “Oh, well, no, you’re not because we own it. We own your content.” They have your Hosting. You’re screwed. So you’re starting completely over from scratch. So a couple of things that you need to make sure this is, if there’s anything you take away from this section is, own your own domain. Own your own Hosting.
We partner with a third party Hosting Agency. They built a custom Hosting Solutions with SEO in mind. So it’s super secure, but we don’t want to own that. We don’t buy domains on behalf of our clients because who knows? People are crazy and we don’t want to be the ones responsible for. So in general terms do that.
Always suggest using a WordPress CMS. WordPress is the most search engine friendly, content management system, that’s kind of the engine that runs your Website, you know? There’s Squarespace and Wix and all these other guys out there. But in the pantheon of all the different CMS’s WordPress takes the cake. I think 90 percent of the internet is powered by WordPress as far as the home services go so it’s there.
Also, it’s really user friendly. So any web developer, any company, if they’re competent, should be able to get into a WordPress site and really just make sure you don’t have any kind of lapse if you’re moving agencies or you’re firing and bringing in a new team. All right. And you got to make sure you’re Optimizing for user Experience. Having a Website is great. Having a Website that’s not found on a search engine, not so great.
Check out this clip from our 2025 webinar, where we talk about some expert tips and some considerations to avoid any issues.
Hear more tips and tricks that will help you rock your Digital Marketing Strategy this year by watching the full webinar!
https://youtu.be/iT88dGCSCRg?si=FgL4Yre-9vDZ3SFW
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Benjamin Ricciardi is the founder of Ironclad Restoration Marketing, A digital marketing agency that specializes in the Restoration and Cleaning industry based in South Florida. Benjamin is the author of The No Bulls**t Guide to Internet Marketing for Restoration Contractors and hosts The Restoration Rundown Podcast, a podcast that is focused on everything related to marketing and owning a Restoration and Cleaning Business. Connect with Benjamin and Ironclad Restoration Marketing on social media for the latest tips and tricks on how to grow your Restoration Business.