Running a home inspection business can be rewarding and challenging. The goal should always be to build a business that’s far more rewarding than challenging, and effective marketing can make a huge difference in this equation.
With the right strategies, you can set yourself apart and attract more clients, and (hopefully) develop a reputation and a recognizable brand that can add a steady stream of client inspections to your calendar.
But marketing can be expensive, unless you know how to do more with less.
You don’t have to spend tons of money on fancy ads and public billboards when you know how to take advantage of these 6 low-cost ways to get more clients…
Leverage Local SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of making your website more visible to search engines. An optimized site should appear higher in local search results when potential clients are looking for home inspection services in your area.
Low-Cost Ways to Get Inspection Clients With SEO
Claim your Google My Business (GMB) listing. Ensure the information is accurate and includes relevant keywords.
You’ll definitely want to use “home inspector” and “home inspection,” but you should also consider using keywords relating to any specialty inspection services you offer, like “radon inspection” or “sewer scope.”
Feel free to tag your business with as many relevant keywords or terms as you think your potential clients may search for to find you.
Ask your clients to leave positive reviews on your GMB profile. Positive reviews and a strong overall rating will increase your chances of being clicked on, and should also make your business look more reputable and trustworthy.
Don’t forget to optimize your website and GMB profile for local keywords, like “home inspection in [your city]”. You probably serve multiple cities, as many inspectors do, so try to get all of them into both your website and your GMB profile – but avoid “keyword stuffing,” which is a frowned-on SEO tactic of simply using a block of text full of keywords, with no other relevant information.
The difference between relevant local keywords on a website and keyword-stuffed text can be as simple as adding a sentence to your business’ introductory description, such as “serving [your city 1], [your town 2], and [local area 3],” or something along that line.
You can also build local backlinks by collaborating with local businesses or joining local associations. Backlinks are links from other websites to yours, and Google’s algorithm loves to see them, as they signal a site’s trustworthiness and value to others.
Building backlinks is typically the hardest part of optimizing a local business website for SEO, and may not even be needed unless your top competitors are already running SEO campaigns to boost their sites.
Potential Problems (and Solutions) With SEO
SEO is a long game.
You’ll rarely see immediate results, and it can sometimes be confusing – if not downright incomprehensible – to understand why your site is or isn’t ranking for the search terms you want, especially without costly SEO analytics tools that simply don’t make financial sense for most local businesses.
The basic SEO work you can do to start sending the right signals to Google shouldn’t take more than an hour or two at the most, unless you plan to write a bunch of blog posts by yourself. Reaching local SEO outcomes tends to be a waiting game, so you should be free to work on other marketing efforts.
Consistency is the key to SEO success, especially if your competition is actively creating content. Having a blog on your site can help, but it’s rarely necessary – instead, try to flesh out the information on your site to be as detailed and helpful as possible.
Engage on Social Media
Social media platforms can be a great way to showcase your work, share testimonials, and connect with potential clients.
Different networks have different upsides and downsides for your client-generation efforts. Focus on the ones where you know you’ll be able to reach relevant local audiences for your localized services.
Low-Cost Ways to Get Inspection Clients With Social Media
Take some time to identify the best platforms for your business, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, or anything else.
Focus on platforms that provide easy ways to identify, target, and engage with clients in your area, and avoid platforms that make it difficult or cumbersome to reach local folks.
Facebook has tons of locally-oriented public and private groups you can join related to your inspection services, like real estate investing groups, AirBnB owner groups, or professional groups of Realtors or other professionals who could send you a steady stream of clients once you’ve developed a good relationship with them.
Post regularly, focusing on the groups you’ve identified as good opportunities – but always remember to follow the rules of the group so you don’t get kicked out or blacklisted – showcasing past inspections, sharing tips, and highlighting satisfied customer reviews. If your groups don’t allow self-promotion, you may still be able to connect directly with people asking about inspections or related services.
Potential Problems (and Solutions) With Social Media
It’s easy to get lost in the vast sea of social media content, whether you’re an active poster or a casual browser. No matter how great your posts may be, you should always assume no more than 10% of your potential audience will actually see them.
Sharing unique, high-quality content is a good approach, as is genuine engagement with others. Don’t be afraid to reuse or repurpose your content at a later date, but give it at least 2-4 weeks (and try to re-post it at a different time and day to maximize your chances of reaching new people) before posting a largely identical thing in the same group.
Wrapping everything up
Growing your home inspection business shouldn’t require a massive marketing budget.
With persistence, creativity, and genuine engagement, you can effectively promote your services online and gain a competitive edge – and at least a few paying clients, too!
Remember, while the quality of your service will always be a fantastic marketing tool, being able to confidently and convincingly talk to others about that quality is how you can win the trust and business of all the clients you can handle. Deliver exceptional value – and make sure the world knows about it – and the clients will come.
How do you engage prospective clients once they contact you? With ISN, you can automate much of the typical back-and-forth communication leading up to an inspection, from scheduling to contract delivery – all with easily-modified templates for a range of common email responses you can use to stand out without spending another second in your inbox.
New to ISN? Click here to try it free for 30 days to see for yourself what it can do for your marketing efforts!