Creating or claiming your existing Google Business Profile, formerly called a Google My Business profile, is one of the most critical first steps you can take to securing your roofing business profile online.

It’s simple, and it’s completely free for you to do.

Once claimed, however, you need to optimize it, too. Let’s go through the entire process, bit by bit.

What is a Google Business Profile?

Google is the world’s most-used search engine.

Users search Google every single day for thousands of different things ranging from dinner recipes to movie reviews, to the latest celebrity gossip and, yes, even services like roof inspections, repair and replacements.

In other words, Google will send your most targeted prospect right to your phone or directly to your company website.

Let’s go through a quick example.

When people are using the search engine for a local query, like “roof repair near me” and need to find a legitimate roofing company, you’ll have a chance at Google showing your business as a result right at the top if you have an established and properly optimized Google Business Profile (GBP).

You’re probably familiar with search results looking like this:

This is where you want Google to put your business if you want to get seen—this is how people find local services businesses—and this is why it’s so important to have a great Google Business Profile for your roofing business!

In addition, if user’s search for your exact company brand name, it also may show something like this:

Not only does this search bring up the company website and Facebook page, but look at all the real estate it consumes on the right side!

This is called the Google Knowledge Graph and your roofing business better have one like this, too.

The best part?

It won’t cost you a thing, is easy to do, and just takes a few minutes.

If you want more free in-bound calls from highly-interested prospects, here’s our step-by-step process to get you started.

How to Create Your GBP Profile

If you DO NOT already have a profile to claim, you’ll first navigate to the Google Business Profile creation page. (You’ll want to search Google for your company name to double check, first—if there is an existing profile, even if you didn’t create it yourself, navigate to claim your profile below.)

In order to proceed, you’ll need to have a Google Account if you don’t already.

Once signed in, you should see something like this:

Make sure to:

• Use your company’s legal name
• Select “Roofing contractor” category

Follow the prompts to add your company’s location information, especially if you already have an office or storefront where customers can visit you.

Make sure you begin by claiming your main service area. If you have multiple locations, begin by choosing where your headquarters is.

Now, one of the more important steps is the verification step. Google will be mailing you a postcard to verify you actually own the address where you are claiming your profile.

The next step is an easy one—pick your business categories.

If you chose “Roofing contractor” above, you’ll likely already have a couple selected categories, like “Roof inspection,” “Roof repair,” or “Roof installation.” It should look like this:

If you work with storm and wind damage, or complete gutter work while you’re already on a roof, make sure to add those, as well.

Next up, you’ll want to select what your hours of operation are. This is a key step, as your Google profile will show “Closed.” to the public if they seek you outside of your normal hours.

Of course, if you’re truly available for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for storm damage, make sure you indicate it.

In addition to phone calls directly from your Google Business Profile, Google also offers direct-to-consumer chat functions. It’s a very basic chat window, but allows you to message back-and-forth with a potential customer directly through the GBP platform.

If you are able to facilitate this, meaning someone at your company is readily available to field these request, toggle it on.

On the next screen, you’ll be asked if you want to utilize a “Quote Request” feature for the profile, which will directly email all administrative accounts tied to the GBP profile. It’s highly suggested to turn this function on.

One of the more important things about your whole profile is up next—company description.

You have a limited number of characters, but you want to make certain you’re using as much as you can.

Describe your roofing company, what it offers, and the area(s) it serves. Be thorough, but simple. This description is often one of the first things potential clients see, so exude a quality brand and service.

There’s one thing new customers might see even before reading the company description—photos.

Add the highest quality images you can, especially if they showcase your company, brand, or on-the-job action shots. This is a place to show-off different types of jobs, like residential and commercial, repair jobs, and maybe even photos of the owner(s) so potential clients can get a feel for who they’re going to communicate with.

Add lots of high quality images, and you’ll want to continue to add to this, as well.

Lastly, you may see an offer for a free advertising credit, which looks like this:

Definitely accept this credit, and you’ll be emailed a verification code. If you’re running Google Ads locally, go ahead and apply it to your account (though, sometimes it only works for newer accounts). If you’re not yet using Google Ads, hold onto this code and we can help you get started, if need be.

That’s it!

At this point, it’s up to you to follow prompts in your email to verify things like “Chat” or the “Quote Request” functions.

You’ve also got to be on the lookout for the verification card coming to your mailing address for the business so you can confirm your business address is real.

How to Claim an Existing Google Business Profile

In some cases, especially if you’ve already been in business for a time, Google can actually begin to create a Google Business Profile for your company before you even initiated it.

Let’s say you launched your new roofing business with a beautiful website and it was properly optimized.

If Google was able to get enough information from the site, and people were searching for the brand because of other local advertisements like TV commercials, billboards, or other methods of branding, it might already realize it’s a real business entity.

In this case, it will go ahead and create the Google Business Profile with somewhat “generic” content.

If this has occurred, and a Google Business Profile exists for your company…

You need to claim it right away!

Google has provided the exact process to claim your profile, here.

Here are the steps:

1. On your computer, open Google Maps.
2. In the search bar, enter the business name.
3. Click the business name and choose the correct one.
4. Click Claim this business and then  Manage now.
    - To choose a different business, click I own or manage another business.
5. Select a verification option, and follow the on-screen steps.

In most cases, the verification process is simple and you update the profile as needed. If you do find someone else has claimed it in bad faith, you can file a report directly with Google and ensure you get it back.

This is one reason it’s so important to claim or create your profile as quickly as possible.

A high quality, professional-looking website is:

1. a first impression
2. a lead generator
3. a way to get paid faster

Let’s talk about what you need to have the most professional looking website as a roofing company or contractor.

What Makes a Website Professional?

Nowadays, anybody can create a website in a few clicks.

But, it’s pretty obvious when a site has been built by drag-and-drop editors and templates, unfortunately.

In addition, they don’t typically have the features of a truly professional website, like:

1. fast loading
2. no code bloat
3. simple conversion
4. clean visual aesthetics
5. mobile/tablet responsiveness
6. basic search engine optimization

And there’s really a lot more.

Everything from the implementation of the branding and colors, to the font used, and even what images are used, and how—it’s all part of a larger recipe of success.

A professional website should take all these aspects into consideration and properly introduce the user to your business with care—because you can only ever make one first impression.

If you don’t have a website or your current website doesn’t check all these boxes, you would probably be doing yourself (and your company) a great favor in investing in a better website.

Start With Great Hosting

This might sound silly, but many people shoot themselves in the foot before they even have a live website simply by buying cheap hosting.

Just know… you really get what you pay for.

You must understand this—you wouldn’t put on a brand new roof with bent, rusty nails. Don’t put up a brand new website on bad hosting.

We exclusively use WPEngine.

This is high quality hosting which is fast, secure, and ultra user-friendly.

You also get a free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate from Let’s Encrypt to both authenticate and encrypt your website, and you get free daily back-ups, so you never have to worry about losing any progress, ever.

Their support team is award winning, and always standing by.

If you’re purchasing one of our websites, we include this at no extra charge for as long you’re partnered with us, because that’s how confident we are in utilizing their hosting for all our clients.

Get Your Visual Branding Right

Most don’t consider their visual branding as a part of their website, but it’s actually a crucial piece. If your branding isn’t clear and concise from the start, your website won’t ever have the look and feel of quality, authority, or trustworthiness.

The visual cues of your brand which should be included in your website are:

1. your company’s name
2. your company’s logo
3. your company’s slogan
4. your company’s symbols and/or icons
5. your company’s colors

If you think about any major website you’ve ever been to, from Apple to Amazon, or Google and Facebook, you know right away when you’re there by the familiarity of the branding—especially the colors and logo.

If you want your roofing company to be memorable, you’ll want to get this right, too.

Using your existing name, logo and colors is likely not a problem (we can help you decide if you need a rebrand), but you don’t want to create confusion or overdo it, either.

The highest quality sites introduce visual branding elements throughout the site, and are constantly bringing them back at every user touch point in the process from beginning to end.

Your brand feel can be big and bold, helpful and resourceful, or even kind and subtle. It’s all about matching your service to your customer’s needs.

Talk to Your Users

Much like we’re speaking to you right now, talk to your customers, not at them.

Using conversational language which is clear from industry terms or lingo is a big step in building relationships with your future clients—nobody wants to feel like they’re just a number in a queue.

You’re going to want to clearly layout the services and benefits you provide in the most understandable language possible. Remember, not everyone knows roofing like you do.

You may want to:

1. showcase the types of services you provide
2. discuss the types of services you do NOT provide
3. detail your process from quoting to completion
4. explain the steps for completing insurance claims

Those are just a few suggestions, of course, but you want to make them feel comfortable every step of the way, and confident you know exactly what you’re talking about.

It’s not just the product you replace or install, but about the customer experience throughout the entire process.

Even when the job is complete, you’ll want to continue to engage your customers. This is how you can get testimonials, reviews, and even referrals.

If done properly, you should be able to automate the process of getting high quality testimonials from your most satisfied customers, gain new positive reviews to help your company grow trust in search engines, and, of course, receive trusted referrals from customers, the holy grail of lasting businesses.

The language you use on your site, in your company emails, and all around the web should match the level of communication you want your brand to convey.

Keep It Simple

At the end of the day, you still have to do all this but keep it simple!

Many people have one thing on their mind—getting a roof fixed or replaced.

They simply need to know you can help them, and it needs to be easy-as-pie for them to get in touch.

Think of these three steps when you’re building out your website and it’s content:

1. Build Trust.
2. Educate & Communicate Benefits.
3. Make Connections.

If your website isn’t focusing on those three things, you might be trying to do too much.

And, remember—there are a TON of roofing companies around the country who are doing a phenomenal job. You don’t always have to recreate the wheel.

If you’re not sure if your current site does these things well (or you don’t have a website at all), we’re here to help—we make our living helping you make yours. Get in touch, and we’ll be glad to take a look.

Let Your Website Do The Work

If you’ve cultivated the attention of the search engines and your website is gaining traffic, you’re nearly there.

But, there’s even more your website can do for you and your business.

Your website can act as a first line of information, direction, and even sales.

By utilizing technology, you can not only attract users to your website, but pull them through it, and even directly into your customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Not only will you have more educated prospects, but a way to reach them internally.

From there, you can automate emails, texts, and maintain constant communication until you’ve helped the person get exactly what they need.

But—there’s even more.

Even after a new client has been made and their home or business has gotten the service it needs, your website can, once again, utilize technology to interact with your satisfied clients to garner positive reviews (which, in turn, helps you in the search engines).

Further, your website can be a great way to bring new clients via referrals. And we all know referrals are some of the best prospects a business can get.

The good news is, most, if not all, of this can be automated through your website and a few free (or very cheap) tools running in the background.

All of these benefits of your website come with little interaction from you and your employees, but create a great experience for your users and, ultimately, clients, from end-to-end.

But, how important are reviews for your roofing business and how do you generate more?

This guide covers both of these topics so you can maximize the impact of online reviews to increase leads and build your business.

Why Reviews are Important

Many businesses see getting reviews as an extra step that isn’t that imporant. However, getting reviews can affect how much business you get in the future.

These are the two main reasons reviews are important.

Authority and Trust

In business, your online reputation has become more important than ever!

In the past, someone could recommend a business to you and you would give them a shot. If it worked out you kept using them if the experience was subpar you would move on to another.

Today, even with a personal recommendation, people will check the reviews of a business before calling them. In their 2022 survey, Bright Local found that 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews when browsing local businesses.

That’s up from 60% in 2020.

The good news is that consumers don’t expect you to be perfect. The same survey found that consumers are looking for an average of four stars or higher. If you can keep your reviews over that, people will consistently give you a shot.

SEO

While there are many factors for search enging optimization, having a significant number of reviews is a ranking factor for local search.

If you do a search on Google for “roofers city, state” you will see a map with three businesses listed.

If you don’t have anywhere near as many reviews as one of those three roofers, then there is a good chance you will not rank in that map listing until you do.

Google is not as likely to trust a business that doesn’t keep up with the competition for reviews.

Make Giving A Review Easier

Whenver you are trying to get a customer to do something above and beyond what involves their personal interest, it is vital that you make it easy.

Get a Direct Link

Google provides a direct link for a customer to leave you a review on your profile, but you have to follow these steps:

1. Make sure you are logged into the Google account that your Business profile is attached to.
2. Search for your business name on Google with your city and state (ex. Roofing Experts Atlanta, GA).
3. Click on the reviews inside your business profile box.
4. When the pop-up opens, click on the “Get more reviews” button.
5. Another pop-up will open with a direct link to leave a review.

If that seems a bit confusing, we put this video together to walk you through exactly how to get that review link.

QR Code

Once you have the link, you can convert that to a QR code where anyone with a smartphone can scan the code and it takes them directly to the review page.

Here’s how it’s done.

Go to QR-Code-Generator.com.

Once there you need to click on the button that says “URL” and paste your Google review link in the main box.

As you can see, this tells the QR code reader to open the url immediately after scanning.

Now all you need to do is click on the download button on the right hand side of the page. The generator will create the QR code for your and download it to your device.

You can then make the code available on any printed materials or have it stored on your phone for easy access.

Ways to Get More Reviews

There are many ways to get more reviews for your roofing business. The most important part is consistently asking people with good experiences to leave you a review.

These are the most common ways we encourage clients in implementing a review strategy.

Email

At the end of a job well done, having a thank you email with a request for a review is an excellent way to encourage satisfied customers to leave a review.

Remember to send that direct link we talked about earlier.

Email Signature

Having a link to leave a review in your email signature is a more passive way to give your customers an opportunity for reviewing the business.

The only thing we don’t like about this method is that it doesn’t allow you to screen which customers you promote leaving a review.

Text Messages

Text messages are quick, easy and make leaving a review stupid simple. A quick thank you message with your review link can really accelrate your review hit rate.

In-Person

This is where having a QR code can come in handy.

After having the customer take a look at the finished work, ask them if they would be willing to leave a review.

If they say yes, your worker should have a copy of the QR code for the customer to scan from their phone and leave a review right then and there.

Screening Reviews Before They are Posted

There are tools online where you can send a quick survey to your clients to see how they feel about the job your team did with the roof installation or repair.

If they leave positive feedback in the survey, they are immediately prompted to leave a review on one of the most popular services.

If the customer leaves a negative review the software alerts you and gives you an opportunity to fix the issue before it gets left online for all to see.

We provide this software as a part of our roofer SEO services and our clients are able to provide a customer review campaign for both email and text messaging.

No matter how you decide to start getting reviews for your business, these steps will boost your review numbers and get a better average rating for your customer facing profile.