Hey, I’m Raj Gorai, the creator of SEO Audit Experts – a digital marketing agency specifically for plumbing professionals. One question I’m frequently asked is how to get free plumbing leads.
The closest thing to “free” plumbing leads comes from organic clicks on Google.
At SEO Audit Experts, we could easily deliver a list of marketing techniques that generate plumbing leads, but none of them are entirely free. That’s why I’m focusing this article on the most affordable methods that our clients have used to consistently produce high-quality leads for the past decade.
Most Affordable Way To Get Leads for Plumbers
The most inexpensive way to get plumbing leads is to attract organic website visitors from Google searches. To achieve this, your overhead depends on whether you already have a website, how old it is, and whether it ranks for any keywords.
Affordable Plumbing Website Leads
The goal is to spend the least amount of money to get the highest number of prospects. Unfortunately, contractors often fall into the trap of going for a free website or an incredibly cheap one at the cost of lead acquisition.
Common Pitfalls:
- Subdomains: A plumber.weebly or plumber.wix site won’t rank on Google.
- Google Sites: The website that comes with your Google Business Profile won’t rank for any keywords.
- Auto-Generated Site: Sites from your scheduling software or other platforms won’t rank for anything.
Consumers want to buy from a plumbing business that demonstrates credibility, authority, and trust. The best way to achieve this is through a branded mobile website that showcases your unique value proposition.
Plumbing Website Requirements for Leads
While low-cost or free options exist, they won’t help you meet your most important goal. So what’s the next step? Spend the least amount of money you can to meet the base-level requirements of a plumbing lead generation website.
Baseline Requirements:
· Top-Level Domain: Must be a .com or .net (preferably .com)
· Hosting Plan: You need a hosting plan to launch your website.
· Content: You need content on your site to rank for anything.
· SEO: Basic on-page and technical SEO to get indexed.
Cost of an Affordable Plumbing Leads Website
You’re probably thinking, how much is this going to cost me? If you purchase a website for the first time, you can get a free domain name included with your hosting plan. For instance, BlueHost offers a free domain name (for the first year) with a hosting plan as cheap as $1.99 per month.
Domain Name + Hosting Total Cost: As low as $35.88 for the first year.
You can find content and SEO services for as low as $99 per month, though we advise against it. Typically, the content is awful, and the on-page SEO is even worse. To get legitimate content and SEO, you are looking at $750 monthly.
Content + SEO Total Cost: $750 monthly (for life).
In other words, you can get everything you need for about $785.88 per month. Considering that the average plumbing service costs between $45 and $200, you will need 10-20 leads to break even. Using the services described above, you can easily secure 10-20 monthly leads and make a significant profit. The good news is that the lifetime value is more potent than the initial payment. These customers will probably come back multiple times, thus increasing their lifetime value.
Other Ways To Get Plumbing Leads
A website with organic SEO is the best way to get affordable leads. However, if you are desperate, you can try other methods. I don’t recommend relying on these tactics, but they might work occasionally.
Cold Calling:
While Americans receive billions of spam calls monthly, making telemarketing increasingly challenging, a cold call may result in a free lead for truly desperate plumbers. Try calling neighborhoods needing emergency plumbing due to a weather event, similar to how a roofer would go after areas hit by a hailstorm.
Cold Emailing:
A robust online presence can help accumulate email subscribers. Send newsletters, discounts, and coupons to engage potential customers. For truly desperate plumbers, cold-emailing someone who hasn’t signed up on your website might work. However, you must email these people individually, as using an email marketing platform without consent would violate CAN-SPAM guidelines.
Influencer Marketing:
Beg one of your social media friends to promote your business on their channel. If they have a prominent Instagram or YouTube following, their promotion can spark an increase in branded searches and potentially result in a few leads.
How to Get Free Exclusive Plumbing Leads
Companies promising a specific amount of leads per month fail to provide context on quality and conversion rates. Exclusive plumbing leads are the best kind of prospects for your plumbing business because they convert at a much higher rate. A lead becomes exclusive when the prospect finds your plumbing business on your company website or Google Business Profile instead of through a lead service. The best way to get free exclusive leads is through SEO. If you rank for plumbing services in your location, you will generate free exclusive traffic. The same is true if you focus on a specific consumer base, such as a commercial plumbing business that ranks for commercial plumbing repair.
Rank for Local Plumbing Services
Drive exclusive prospects to your website by ranking for service-based keywords in your area. To achieve this, invest in SEO and content writing. While it is possible to perform SEO yourself, it will take up some of your time.
Establish a Plumbing Company Brand
Are you a plumbing contractor or a plumbing company? Establishing your service as a brand makes consumers gravitate towards your business naturally. They will view your services through a company lens and trust your logo over third-party services.
Showcase Your Plumbing Jobs
Building trust requires showing proof of your work, especially in cities where you lack authority. For example, if you have a good reputation in one city but also want to service another, show proof of your work for jobs in that area using photos and heat maps.
How Can a Small Plumbing Business Produce More Leads?
This guide helps small plumbing contractors get affordable quality leads using digital marketing strategies like search engine optimization. While not every group of plumbing contractors has reached their peak earning potential, a plumbing professional of any level can get quality leads by investing in their brand.
Target Potential Customers:
Generate leads by targeting potential customers who are in buying mode. Most prospects spend their time on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. However, without paying for advertising, you are unlikely to get quality leads from these platforms. To target new customers, become visible on Google search results.
Paid Online Advertising:
Paid online advertising is another option for newer plumbers. Paid ads, like Facebook Ads, work faster than SEO and can still build your brand. Unlike buying leads from third-party companies, paid advertising allows you to get exclusive prospects quickly. Although paid ads cost money upfront, they offer a faster route to lead generation compared to SEO.
Final Thoughts on Getting Free Plumbing Leads
As the long-time owner of SEO Audit Experts, I often tell other business owners the hard truth about “free” lead generation. Free plumbing leads only exist in theory because while you can acquire them without spending money on advertising or paying a third party lead seller, some monetary investment is always required.
Although my answers might disappoint some plumbing contractors, most quickly realize there is a path to success for their business. I have seen thousands of companies succeed with my methods. While generating completely free plumbing leads is not realistic, lowering your cost per lead through the techniques discussed in this post is both wise and profitable.
SEO Audit Experts – Empowering Plumbing Professionals with Cutting-Edge SEO Solutions