Polished Websites for Cleaning Services
The first professional home cleaning businesses were started in the late 1970s and early 1980s to meet the often neglected home cleaning needs of an emerging generation of single entrepreneurs and dual income families. These were new professionals and second-income families who had less and less time and energy to properly care for their homes. June Cleaver and Alice Mitchell had finally taken jobs and family life and cleaning would never be the same again.
Demand has continued to grow as more and more people outsource house cleaning tasks, not because they want to, but because of quality of life issues that often get in the way.
The lure of high profit margins and relatively low start-up costs, combined with incredible growth potential, is attracting many people from all walks of life to try the residential (and commercial) cleaning business. ).
What appears so simple from the “outside looking in” is often very misleading. Owning and running a professional home cleaning business involves much more than sweeping and mopping floors and dusting furniture. In fact, to run the business properly and maximize profits, you have to hire people; equipment and supplies to order; “books” to be kept; and customers to be achieved and satisfied.
Employee turnover in this business is high. Cleaning equipment, maintenance supplies, and insurance premiums are expensive and all are recurring expenses. Getting new customers requires a significant marketing, sales, and retention effort. Keeping clients requires strong supervision and excellent customer service, based on building relationships.
Managing a home cleaning services industry is not an easy job. It can certainly be a lucrative venture when backed by informed business research, strategic planning, unwavering dedication, and hard, easy work.
The most successful will surely have carefully studied the complexities of the residential cleaning business, including market costs and especially the competition. It is also very important to know the different services that you can offer to your target market. What can you offer your customers and how much can you charge for these services to remain competitive?
Planning your marketing strategy and assigning it a realistic budget will be an essential part of your near success. Make sure you take your time and find the best approach. Save all the details in a well thought out business plan. This document will become your practical guide and checklist for running a world-class cleaning business.
There is no substitute for an effective business website
An effective and professional looking business website will play an important role in successful business development. Your website will likely be the first place For Hire recruits and interested potential clients will visit to assess what your company has to offer.
Websites are useful tools for enhancing the effectiveness of phone book ads, brochures, door hangers, business cards, mailers, postcards, media, networking, and face-to-face applications. By referencing your website address in these traditional advertising media, you can provide the customer with a way to review your services and communicate their needs quickly and easily, at their convenience.
Your website should be specially designed for the needs of your business and your customers. The ones most frequently featured on professional cleaning services websites are:
• Your company logo
• Eye-catching, industry-specific graphics and photos
• Easy and logical site navigation
• Industry / business relevant content
• Clearly detailed “calls to action”
… and all the things that go into effective search engine optimization (SEO).
Just as many clients and potential new hires look to the phone book to find cleaning services, these clients are increasingly looking for services online. A solid SEO infrastructure will help you to be found ahead of your local competition. Having a professional looking website also helps establish your credibility within the customer community.
Within a website, special offers make sense. Most customers love the opportunity to get more for less and save money. An element of fun that can come in the form of a quiz or drawing often increases interest and excitement. Keep this in mind if you really want to get away from your competition.
Traditional and Social Media Marketing Call for Effective Business Website
Having a great website, by itself, is NOT enough. It represents “going about business” as expected, but your website must be supported by well-planned Social Media Marketing (SMM) activities.
It is important to understand that social media is a tool. Nothing more and nothing less. And, if used in conjunction with a strong business philosophy, foundation, and action plan; its amazing power can be unleashed.
The truth is, you need to have a strong small business foundation before your social media marketing efforts are effective. You need to have a unique selling proposition; a dynamic landing page (on your website), an attractive offer, a captivating website, and a well-informed blog. That’s when Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn will work best for you. And these (and many other platforms and tools) are all free or inexpensive to take advantage of.
Taking advantage of free advertising means using social media to your advantage. You can do this in a number of ways. You can encourage existing customers to post a review of your business on a site like yelp. You can also start a Facebook page and encourage customers to “like” them so they can take advantage of any special offers you offer, or to find out about deals with specialty companies (such as Chimney Sweep) that you have partnered with.
The best way to find clients once you start your home cleaning business is by being aggressive with a traditional and social media marketing plan well combined with a professional looking website where your target audience will land and hopefully take the lead. appropriate call for action to become a new customer or to apply for a job with your cleaning service.
If all your ducks are lined up, it’s easy to improve your marketing efforts; Eliminate your competition and leave those competing businesses behind in the dust.