5 Key Elements of a Handyman Business Homepage

Building a website is easy.  Building a website that converts visitors in to hot leads for your handyman business is not so easy.  This is especially true if you are building your first website.

The good news is that you don’t have to have the BEST website on the Internet for it to get customers.  The bad news is that you are going to have to put some time and effort in to figuring out what works and what doesn’t for your specific situation.

Every business is different, but I believe there are 5 key elements that should be included on your handyman business website.  If implemented correctly, these elements will help to:

• Convert more traffic into phone calls.
• Make the sell easier when a customer does call.
• Help establish your business as a trusted brand.

#1  Professional Design/Layout

More and more homeowners are throwing away their phonebooks and using the Internet to find service providers.  Often times this means that your website forms the first impression of your business in your potential customers’ minds.  According to a study done at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, it only takes two tenths of a second for visitors to form a first impression of a website.  It then takes a further 2.6 seconds for a user to focus on the part of a website that influences their first impression.

I’d say that’s a pretty damn good reason to spend some time on the look of a website.

If you are using WordPress for your handyman business website, getting a professional design is surprisingly easy.  Simply downloading a premium theme for your site gets you about 80% of the way there.

For my handyman website, I use “The Professional” theme from Elegant Themes.  As you can see from my Monthly Income Reports, it has done well for me.

#2 Images

Including at least one image on your website is an absolute must.  Ideally, you would have a minimum of 2 images.  One image of your logo in the header and at least one well placed picture.

I’ve seen different types of pictures used on websites, but I prefer to include at least one picture with a person in it.  I believe that by adding a person, it helps make your website feel more friendly and approachable.  It also brings the web-page to life.  I actually have a picture of myself on my homepage so visitors can see exactly who they will be dealing with right away.

Other pictures that are good to use would include well photographed jobs that you’ve done.  Let’s say your specialty was kitchen and bathroom remodeling.  You could include 2 or 3 before and after pictures of a recent jobs.  If you can get one that includes a smiling customer, even better!

Advanced Tip:  Use webresizer.com to optimize your images before uploading them.  Images are excellent for helping to sell your services, but they can slow down your page load speed.  A slow web-page turns off customers and hurts your rankings in Google search.  By optimizing your images, you will significantly increase your page load speed.

#3 Contact Information

You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to contact you.  This may seem obvious, but I’ve seen handyman websites without a phone number on the home page.  Internet users are notoriously impatient, so this simple mistake could lead to thousands of dollars in lost business.

I recommend placing the phone number in large font in a well displayed location such as the header.  By placing the phone number in the header, it will be displayed on all pages of your website.  That way, no matter what page a customer is on while browsing your website, they can easily find a way to contact you.

# 4  Compelling Reason To Hire You

Why should your customers call you?  What benefits are you going to offer them?  Is there something about your business that is special or unique that a customer can’t get anywhere else?  Tell them!

Simply describing what you do will not compel a potential customer to want to call you in many cases.  Make sure to tell the visitor how they will benefit from hiring you.

For example, lets say you specialize in home security.  You could say “feel safe and secure in your home knowing that your security system was installed to the highest of standards” instead of just “We specialize in home security systems installation.”  The former explains to the customer how they will benefit while the ladders simply states what you do.  If you can a get potential customers to picture how their life will be better because of hiring you, they will be compelled to call.

I recommend keeping any text on the homepage short and too the point as well.  Unless you are an extremely talented copywriter, you probably won’t be able to hold their attention long enough to read anything over 100 words.  You can go into more depth in your about page or services page.

#5 Call to Action

Now that you’ve made a good impression with a professional layout, built trust with quality images, and gave them a compelling reason to hire you, now it’s time to tell them what to do.

This can be as simple as saying “Call Today for a Free Quote!”  or even “Click here to view our current promotions.”

Don’t just assume that they are going to know what to do next.  Tell them.

Need help building your website?  Click here for a free step by step guide.   How to Build a Handyman Business Website.