Running your yard care business is a lot of work. You don’t have a lot of extra time to waste on marketing either. Well, it’s not really a waste, you know, but you still don’t have time for it.
Unless you want to grow your yard care service. Then you need to move beyond direct referrals and hope others talk about your yard care service. Marketing your yard care service requires a lot of different moving parts. It all starts with a professional local yard care service website. But, you also need to market your yard care service on other websites.
The websites you need to market your yard care service on may be general local business directory websites, or they could be specialized websites for yard care services. Whatever the case, you need to get your yard care business listed with your website, phone number, and address (if applicable!) if you expect to get found by customers online.
Check out these websites to help you market your yard care service.
The 11 Best Free Marketing Websites For Your Yard Care Service
These are the websites you must list your business on and fine tune the content to perfection.
Google Business Profile
Up until recently, this one was known as Google My Business (GMB) but recently became Google Business Profile (GBP). Being that your GBP ensures your business shows up in Google searches and Google Maps means it’s the most important. It’s essential that you not only create your profile but also optimize it and test different updates regularly. This will really ensure you get your business at the top of searches.
The two most important parts of local marketing are a well-optimized local website and this, your Google Business Profile. Those two will move the needle the most for your business and everything else, while important, is second.
Here’s where creating your Google Business Profile can put your business when people search for a yard care service on Google. Right up top when customers search for yard care services in your city is the local map pack. That’s where you want to be to maximize your leads!
Google Local Service Ads (Paid)
This one isn’t free, but it may be worth looking into and at least trying. You can pay per lead rather than per click, phone call, or anything else. That means you are more likely to get an actual customer because you aren’t paying for sales calls, or any other kind of spam. Google Service Ads are a paid service which also means they show up above even the Google map pack.
Check out how much of a priority they get. They’re the first items on any Google search page where they can show up.
Yelp
Yelp still has a lot of dedicated users who go right to the Yelp app to find recommendations. Also, there are several online services that pull data from Yelp to assist with their own listings. Apple Maps, for one, does pull some data from Yelp.
Another important reason to list your business on Yelp is that their pages do rank at the top of many searches. Even if not in the number 1 spot, people see the top 10 yard care service pages from Yelp (pictured below) and that interests them. Not only that, it looks good for you if you can make it on that page.
Apple Maps
This one stream of customers is completely invisible to Google. There are tons of people who pick up their iPhone, open Apple Maps, and search for a business right in there. I am one of those, so I should know. Not only that but Apple is improving their maps every day. It used to be that Apple Maps pulled most business data from Yelp but those days are coming to an end.
Apple released native ratings for businesses and I suspect more data will come directly from Apple Maps in the future. That means you must list your business on Apple Maps and actively manage it. You can also use a local marketing automation tool like Loclmark to manage your business in Apple Maps, Google, and more all from one place.
Nextdoor
Your business won’t come up in any local searches outside Nextdoor, but it will be listed in Nextdoor. That means your yard care service will show up in searches, when someone recommends you (a link to your business page), and perhaps even in the top business roundups they do at the end of every year, which they call neighborhood favorites.
Because Nextdoor has an extremely local vibe and has a lot of chatty neighbors, this is a must-do for creating your business profile. Because Nextdoor focuses on neighbor recommendations, you may find yourself with an abundance of recommendations and customers too. We’ve seen it happen with clients, so it’s not too far-fetched.
You can use a local marketing automation tool like Loclmark to ask your customers for recommendations on Nextdoor. That means you’ll boost your business even more and get you out into the neighborhood with more customers than you know what to do with. We’ve seen business give incentives for neighbors posting about them on their Nextdoor feed. We’re not sure about how this is seen in the Nextdoor guidelines, but it can’t be again’st the rules to share about an exceptional experience, can it?
Angi
Angi doesn’t have the user base or visibility of most places you are going to get customers, but it’s still worth listing your business. Angi does rank for some searches, and it’s a good website to lend some authority to your yard care service online.
There’s no reason you shouldn’t create your free profile on Angi, it’s just not usually worth going all the way to paid leads unless they’re guaranteed customers.
Facebook business listings don’t show up in Google searches or many (if any) other search engines, but Facebook is in a way its own search engine. It’s a very powerful and a highly used search engine too. Not only that but it has built in social proof with page likes and recommendations.
It’s always good to create and maintain your business on Facebook for customer content and users can even provide user generated content. Facebook shouldn’t be your first priority, but it’s important nonetheless. Because there are so many places you should maintain your business online, a local business directory management platform can be extremely helpful at helping you maintain your business information online.
Bing Places
Bing doesn’t have the search prowess that Google does, but it does have a dedicated user base (2.86% of the search market at the time of this writing). Yes, 2.86% is a small percentage, but when you consider the vast number of searches daily, it can translate into numerous searches. Just like GBP and Google, creating your Bing Places listing will put your business information in Bing searches.
These business listings show up for local areas. Though Bing does push them down a lot lower in search results (after all the ads). That means they won’t get as much visibility, but it’s better than nothing. Bing really overloads their search results with ads, so that’s why they’re so low on the page.
HomeAdvisor
This one won’t make or break your yard care services, but it’s a free place to list your business. HomeAdvisor does rank for some top page results for yard care services in many cities, but not all. Even if it’s not on the first page, it still may be worth your time to create your free HomeAdvisor listing.
Expertise.com
This is another one similar to HomeAdvisor. It’s sometimes listed on the first page of general city search results for yard care services but not always. Because it’s free to create your business listing on Expertise.com, take a few minutes to do so.
Thumbtack
We saw a few cities where Thumbtack has first page results but not a lot. You can do a general search for yard care service in your city and see what shows up. It may be that Thumbtack is worth the listing for you but it also may not. After doing a searche, make that judgement for yourself.
YP.com
As with the other few above, Yellow Pages may be valuable to your yard care service, but they may not. Even if they aren’t listed on the first page these listings can sometimes be valuable citations for your business. Weight the benefits vs. your time to make your own judgement on creating your listing.
The process of listing your business on YP.com may not be worth the hassle. If you want to get listed and want to fast track the process, use a business listings’ manager like Loclmark.
Not A Business Listing
These options aren’t business listings, but you may find it worth it. Just like Google Local Service Ads, they’re more of a pay per lead scheme. That means if you take a client from the service then you’re going to pay the service a portion of your earnings. They found the lead, though, so it’s fair as long as it’s financially worth it to you.
There are two options for yard care service websites that you can be a part of. Both of them rank highly in search engines which may or may not mean they’re also generating a local of local leads that you can tap into.
Greenpal
This one is free to join, but you are going to pay for any client work through their system. One benefit you might find is that their system has all the marketing and billing in one place, which might work out for you. Weight the benefits for yourself but keep in mind you will lose some control of your business going through a vendor like Greenpal.
LawnStarter
LawnStarter bills themselves as the Uber of lawn care. You can sign up for free and pick up jobs if you want them. You don’t have to pick them up, so you ultimately get to choose. You will likely not make as much money from these jobs, but sometimes it could be better than no jobs at all.
Conclusion
These directories and options for picking up extra work will help boost your yard care service presence online. None of these directories are a replacement for a high-quality localized yard care service website, but it does go hand in hand with your website. You can’t fully take advantage of local marketing without both.
Your focus should start with your Google Business Profile because it’s the most prominent. It’s not the only directory, though, and each of the others can also have an effect on your Google listing. Google looks at a lot of different places online for citations and authority. That means your business can rank better the more accurate and prominent your yard care service is listed online.
Because online marketing can take away a lot of your time from your business, sometimes you need a better method of accomplishing the local marketing. Local marketing automation can improve your results while also saving you tons of time.
Whether you choose to manage your business online manually or automate the process, if you want more yard care customers from the internet, you must choose one. It’s impossible to expect more customers without taking the time to market your yard care service properly on the internet.