Roofers fill Google+ with posts, chatter and network with one goal in mind – higher rankings on the search engines. More specifically, roofing contractors strive for the Holy Grail of search: Page One Google.
When I started a roofing company in Miami, Fl. in 2006 the world was booming and we had a great ‘07 with no capital and no advertising. The real estate melt-down changed all that and the next 3 years were an exercise in survival. Two years ago I decided the economy was not improving and that we had to do something to compete with the big companies. To do that I realized there was one potential equalizer – a great website. With the help of a computer repair friend with a Dreamweaver program, www.roofermikeinc.com was born.
Goals were modest, then, as everything seemed to indicate that Page One Google for big keywords related to roofing in Miami was unattainable without paying big money to Google Ad Words or a good SEO company. Calls from marketers every day with Page One promises re-enforced that notion and Page 2 became the goalpost. So I wrote… and wrote; dozens of manually submitted directories and articles plus pages for the site and endless hours of analyzing searches and reading SEO articles.
Then it happened. I was doing a search for “metal roofs Miami” and there we were, in that mythical dream world – the Google 7-Box! To this day, I'm not sure how we got there as my article on metal roofing had been on-site for months. The notion that Page 1 Google was not possible imploded and I was buoyed by the possibility that we could attain that status organically, on our own.
So I wrote some more - Google wants content and, by George, I was going to give it to them. How? To accumulate content without cluttering up the site we created a News and Articles Page with an archive to stockpile articles. Each new article gave us a nice bump. By the time rainy season 2012 was over we were page 2-6 for numerous keywords, not enough to make the phone ring.
Over the winter I wrote page Page 12 which got us to Pg 1 for some secondary KWs. The phone, my favorite SEO tool, rang a little more often. When I wrote Page 13 and launched an on-site Wordpress blog we leaped to Page 1 Google for everything, even the big dog: “roofing miami”.
The phone started ringing regularly and we had to hustle to keep up, great right? Yes, but there was one problem. It wasn’t even raining yet. “What the Hell am I going to do when it starts raining every day?! The phone is going to go ape-sh!t!!", I thought. Well, forget rainy season, April arrived with rain carried by the tails of unusual winter storms that hammered half the county. The phone is ringing like crazy and it’s impossible to keep up. I shrank our service area and am contemplating price increases.
I know, you’re thinking “Mike, what’s your point? You got what you wanted and now you’re swamped. That’s a great problem to have”. All true, my point is the concept of steady, consistent growth for a roofing company with an organic approach is not possible today. One day you are Page Two and your site produces almost zero leads. The next day you’re Page 1 and you don’t have time to poop. Back in the day you got a modest listing in the YPs, maybe an ad in the Miami Herald and you were in business. The next year maybe you sprang for a dollar sized YP ad and you grew. Your growth could be controlled and predicted by the amount you spent. With the Page 2-1 Google Upheaval you go from struggle to boom in a day.
This is my first post of any kind in almost a month as I really do not want to rank any better right now. I’ve been itching to write something because, hey, I like it. The challenge of Page 1 Google is over, finally, and I can maintain that with an occasional article and weekly blog posts. My new challenge will be managing this growth explosion without catching a bunch of negative reviews - we just got our first one. It’s raining as I write this, at least another month from the true start of rainy season. Wish me luck, any suggestions and feedback will be appreciated. I’m sure there are many of you out there who have experienced Google Sudden Growth Syndrome (SGS).
www.roofermikeinc.com was created and company business was conducted for 6 years in that recliner. After we made Page 1 Google I bought a desk and moved across the room - major move . . .
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