How a Service Area Business Generates Leads and Improves Visibility

How can a service area business gain more visibility in a competitive local market?

That’s a question many plumbers, in-home repair companies, and other service area businesses face. Even though they typically operate out of brick-and-mortar locations, their physical location is less consequential than the services they provide. Recently Clear Water Concepts, a Phoenix-based water softening company, faced this challenge. Its products include water softeners, whole-home water filtration systems, reverse osmosis systems, hot water re-circulators, and water coolers.

Clear Water Concepts stands apart by highlighting its no-nonsense customer service and dedication to eco-friendly water filtration systems that don’t compromise performance. But the company needed help gaining customers. Investis Digital stepped in and tackled three challenges.

Challenge 1: Site Visibility Was Poor

The Clear Water Concepts site was not optimized. A previous agency had used bad tactics that resulted in toxic backlinks and a jumbled Google My Business (GMB) presence.

The Solution

Investis Digital first worked to remove bad backlinks in September 2019. We then reclaimed broken backlinks and optimized the site with AMP in October.

Results

In the first 30 days after implementation of these fixes:

Year-Over-Year                      Nov-Dec 2019            vs.       Nov-Dec 2018

Users: +172.76%                    4,716                          vs        1,729

Sessions: +146.64%               5,584                         vs        2,264

Impressions: +238.17%          274,039                       vs        81,034

Clicks: +212.11%                    4,638                          vs        1,486

Challenge 2: There Was No Content Strategy

After making structural changes to the website, we needed to address the company’s approach to content publishing. Clear Water Concepts had forayed into content marketing, but they weren’t following best practices. They had no strategy or customer personas; they posted short articles without headings and images; and they weren’t targeting the right keywords.

The Solution

Investis Digital created a full-scale content strategy including personas, competitive research, a site audit, and ideation of blog topics based on keyword research. We then created high-quality content that users were searching for — including how-to and explainer articles, graphics, and updated website copy — and posted weekly to develop a consistent schedule.

In August 2019 we identified answer box opportunities and worked to optimize articles to answer questions that would trigger a featured snippet. Articles that began generating answer boxes include “Is Hard Water Bad for Your Skin?” and comparison articles like “Reverse Osmosis vs. Carbon Filtration: Why They Work Great Together.”

Results:

Organic traffic rose:

• 122% in Dec 2019 (YOY)
• 213% in Nov 2019 (YOY)

Total answer boxes earned by month:

• Sept: 7
• October: 20
• Nov: 28
• Dec: 31

With the increase in featured snippets, site traffic and engagement increased:

Month-Over-Month             Nov 1-3-------------vs.---------- Oct 2-31

Users: +33.3%                        2.9k              vs        2.2k

Sessions: +29.3%                   3.4k              vs        2.6k

Impressions: +17.5%              148k               vs        126k

Clicks: +34.4%                        2.5k             vs        1.86k

Year-Over-Year                      Nov 1-30 ‘19 ------vs.-----Nov 1-30 '18

Users: +213.9%                      2.9k               vs        915

Sessions: +185.4%                 3.4k               vs        1.2k

Impressions: +239.4%            148k               vs        43.6k

Clicks: +216.5%                      2.5k               vs        790

Challenge 3: The Site Was Not Optimized for Local Traffic

This is a services company that provides water softeners in the Phoenix metropolitan area, but the site was not optimized for local searches.

The Solution:

Content strategists looked for keywords with local intent, such as “Arizona hard water” and “what water softener is best for Arizona.” We then created content that targeted these keywords and helped funnel local users to the Clear Water Concepts site. Our SEO strategist also optimized local business citations listings for accuracy and completeness.

Results:

Organic Arizona Traffic - Q4 (Oct - Dec 2019)

• Users: +16.58% YoY (2,341 vs 2,008)
• Sessions: +15.06% YoY (3,132 vs 2,722)

Organic Impressions for keywords phrases with

• “Phoenix”: +43.98% YoY (9,697 vs 6,735)
• “Arizona”: +92.69% YoY (2,638 vs 1,369)

Top Ranking Local Keywords (Jan 2020)

• water softeners arizona -#1
• soft water system arizona - #1
• best water softener for arizona - #4
• water softener phoenix - #1
• phoenix water softener companies - #2
• phoenix water softener installation - #2

More Traffic, More Leads

Investis Digital:

• Dramatically improved Clear Water Concept’s site visibility (impressions up 238%)
• Generated more local traffic and leads (Arizona traffic up 16.5%)
• Created content that dominates featured snippets for the industry (86 new featured snippets)

Our Client Says

"The team at Investis Digital has opened our eyes to the many possibilities of digital marketing. We have made significant gains in our online exposure that has really moved the needle. We are looking forward to continued success!"

Clear Water Concepts Owner, Matt Ulrich

Contact Investis Digital

To improve your digital performance, contact Investis Digital. We helped clients such as Clear Water Concepts and many others to generate leads and improve visibility all-year-round with our performance marketing expertise.