Polished Websites for Cleaning Services
The first professional home cleaning businesses were started in the late 1970s and early 1980s to meet the often neglected cleaning needs of an emerging generation of single entrepreneurs and dual-income families. These were new professionals and second-income families who had less and less time and energy needed to properly care for their homes. June Cleaver and Alice Mitchell had finally taken jobs and home life and cleaning would never be the same again.
Demand has continued to grow as more and more people outsource their house cleaning tasks, not because they want to, but because of quality of life issues that often get in the way.
The alluring appeal of high profit margins and relatively low startup costs, combined with incredible growth potential, is drawing many people from all walks of life to give the residential (and commercial) cleaning business a try.
What seems so simple from the “outside looking in” is often very deceptive. Owning and running a professional home cleaning business involves much more than just sweeping, mopping floors, and dusting furniture. In fact, to run the business correctly and maximize one’s profits, there are people to hire; equipment and supplies to be ordered; “books” to be kept; and customers to get and satisfy.
Employee turnover in this business is high. Cleaning crews, maintenance supplies, and insurance premiums are expensive and are all recurring expenses. Getting new customers requires a significant marketing, sales, and retention effort. Keeping customers demands strong supervision and excellent customer service, based on relationship building.
Running a home cleaning service industry is not an easy job. It can certainly be a lucrative venture when backed by informed business research, strategic planning, unwavering dedication, and simple hard work.
The most successful ones will surely have carefully studied the intricacies of the residential cleaning business, including the costs of the market and, especially, the competition. It is also very important to know the different services that you can offer to your target market. What can you offer your clients and how much can you charge for these services to remain competitive?
Planning your marketing strategy and assigning it a realistic budget will be an essential part of your immediate success. Make sure you take your time and find the best approach. Lock all the details into a well thought out business plan. This document will become your how-to guide and checklist for running a top-notch cleaning business.
There is no substitute for an effective business website
An effective and professional looking business website will play an important role in successful business development. Your website is likely to be the first place your For Hire recruits and interested leads will visit to assess what your business has to offer.
Websites are useful tools for amplifying the effectiveness of phone book advertisements, flyers, door signs, business cards, mailings, postcards, broadcast media, networking, and face-to-face solicitations. By referencing your website address in these traditional advertising mediums, you can give the customer a way to review your services and communicate their needs to you quickly and easily, at their convenience.
Your website should be specially designed for the needs of your business and your customers. The most frequently listed professional cleaning service websites are:
• Your company logo
• Attractive, industry-specific graphics and photos
• Easy and logical site navigation
• Content relevant to the industry or business
• Clearly stated “Calls to Action”
…and all the things that go into effective search engine optimization (SEO).
Just as many customers and potential new hires check the phone book to find cleaning services, these customers are increasingly looking for services online. A strong SEO infrastructure will help you get found ahead of your local competition. Having a professional looking website also helps establish your credibility within the customer community.
Within a website, special offers make sense. Most customers love the opportunity to get more for less and save money. A fun element that can come in the form of a contest or drawing often adds to the interest and excitement. Keep this in mind if you really want to stay away from your competition.
Traditional and social media marketing requires an effective business website
Having a great website, by itself, is NOT enough. It represents “taking care of business” in the expected way, but your website should be backed by well-planned social media marketing (SMM) activities.
It is important to understand that Social Networks are a tool. Nothing more and nothing less. And, if used in conjunction with a solid business philosophy, foundation, and action plan; its awesome power can be unleashed.
The truth is, you need to have a solid small business foundation before your social media marketing efforts will be effective. You need to have a unique selling proposition; a dynamic landing page (on your website), an attractive offer, an engaging website, and a knowledgeable blog. That’s when Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn will work best for you. And these (and many other platforms and tools) are free or cheap to take advantage of.
Taking advantage of free advertising means using social media to your advantage. You can do this in several ways. You can encourage current customers to post a review of your business on a site like yelp. You can also start a Facebook page and encourage customers to “like” it so they can take advantage of any special offers you offer, or to find out about deals with specialty companies (like your chimney sweep) that you’ve partnered with.
The best way to find clients once you start your home cleaning business is to be aggressive with a traditional and social media marketing plan well combined with a professional looking website where your target audience will land and hopefully take the lead. The right call to action to become a new customer or to apply for a job with your cleaning service.
If all your ducks are in a row, it’s easy to improve your marketing efforts; Eliminate your competition and leave those competing businesses behind in the dust.