How to Start a Blog For Your Remodeling Business

I often get asked about various forms of digital marketing and how residential contractors can use them to their advantage in their businesses.

A while back, I talked about why social media platforms should be part of your marketing mix and how to systemize social media to use it effectively.

Today I want to look at another cornerstone of content marketing: blogs.

Both Social Media and Blogs are part of a business's content marketing strategy, which is the act of creating valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage with an online audience. It focuses on building trust, establishing credibility, and creating long-lasting relationships with potential customers by providing useful and engaging content rather than directly selling a product or service.

What is Blogging

Blogging is another way to converse with people online about who you are and what construction projects you do directly on your website. Thanks to blogging's increased popularity, most website platforms allow users to add a blog to their current website easily.

As a residential contractor, blogging provides a way for you to share information about the construction industry and industry trends, renovations, or custom home building and answer questions from homeowners about the process in general or specifically how you work. 

Do I Really Need a Blog for My Remodeling Business?

Adding another task to an already crowded day might make any remodeling business owner think it isn't worth it. But including a blog in your construction marketing mix is a very strategic move to help you enhance your online presence, connect with your target market, build relationships, and ultimately grow your business.

Like with any new process or system, however, the key to adoption is doing it consistently, which means you need to figure out the right person to do it for you. Because your busy schedule shouldn't stop you from doing something beneficial for your business, but we'll get to that in a bit.

How Blogging Can Benefit Your Remodeling Business

There are several ways that adding a blog to your website can help improve your remodeling or custom home-building business:

1. Establishing Expertise: Blogging helps you build credibility and trust with potential clients by showcasing your knowledge and expertise in a non-sales way. It takes the pressure off you of having to feel like you need to "sell" new clients but still lets you share great content about renovations and custom home builds.

2. Generating Leads: By consistently publishing high-quality content, for example, content that addresses common questions homeowners might have about remodeling or building a home, you can capture potential client's attention and potentially convert them into new customers.

3. Improving Search Engine Visibility: While the exact algorithm and methodology of how Google ranks web pages is largely shrouded in secrecy and tends to change daily, they tend to prioritize websites that regularly publish new, relevant, and valuable content. That means Google is likely to list those websites more frequently during online searches because they are seen as a trusted resource. General contractors who consistently publish new blog material - and fine-tune their blogs to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) keywords, which we'll talk about later on, can start to see increased organic website traffic.

4. Showcasing Your Work: A construction blog is a great platform for residential contractors like you to showcase your work, share client testimonials, and demonstrate what sets you apart from other construction companies. This can help attract potential clients looking for similar projects and provide social proof about your capabilities.

How to Start a Blog for Your Residential Construction Business

When used correctly, a construction blog can be a strategic part of your content marketing plan. The key to being successful at blogging is consistency, which means you need to develop a system for it - just like with any other part of your remodeling or custom home-building business.

That starts with figuring out some basics:

• Choose your target audience

• Do your research

• Set your timeline

Choose Your Audience

While writing a blog is an expression of your thoughts, it's important to remember that it has to be valuable and connect to the person reading it; otherwise, they won't engage with it.

You'll want to consider two types of audiences for your blog:

1. Primary Audience

This is the audience you will tailor most of your content to and the main group of people who will read your blog.

If you're a remodeler or home builder, then it's likely going to be homeowners looking to renovate or build a custom home, and your content will probably focus on answering key questions about the building process, what they should be looking for in residential construction professionals, and talk about what it looks like to work with you and your construction team. 

2. Secondary Audience

A secondary audience is comprised of website visitors who aren't the most likely to buy from you but are still connected to or involved with your business in some way, such as architects and interior designers, and writing pieces geared to them will help create relationships and potential collaborations.

A homeowner stumbling across an article such as "Why should I consider an interior designer for my kitchen renovation" will see the benefits of using an interior designer. At the same time, a designer will be happy to see a builder putting stock in the value they bring to a remodeling project.

Do Your Research

People want to read about topics that interest and affect them. And the best blogs out there do a phenomenal job of curating their content to match what their readers are looking for.

You need to figure out what content you want to share and plan for it in advance. Because nothing will make you want to toss this project aside faster than knowing you have a looming deadline and no blog ideas to write about.

For inspiration on blog topics to write about, consider these three sources:

• Your own experience in your business that you can share and speak expertly about

• Your competitors' websites and blogs

• Google 

For example, I have a ton of content to write about from my coaching practice, program, and multi-decade industry career. Likely it's the same for you, so draw on that experience and turn it into content that can be relevant and interesting to your primary audience.

Your competitors also have similar experiences, so looking at what they're publishing can also prompt you. You might have a differing opinion to them or want to expand on something they've written about in a more tailored way to your experience and audience.

And, of course, Google is always your most helpful resource when it comes to figuring out what to write about. Googling "typical topics for homeowners who are renovating" and other similar searches will show you what other people are searching for and reading.

It can also help you identify gaps in content. Suppose you have an idea for a blog based on something you often experience in your work, but a Google search doesn't yield any relevant or helpful blog content. That can be a trigger to tell you that YOU should be writing about it.

There are also more advanced techniques for figuring out what content people are searching for, like Google Trends, which allows you to enter a keyword and see how many people are searching for it and what similar words they're searching for.

Some businesses hire firms specializing in content marketing, such as starting and maintaining a blog. These companies offer a wide range of services, such as keyword research reports, linking and backlinking strategies, and content creation.

Set Your Timeline

Blogging is all about consistency, so planning your blogging intervals and what you'll be writing about for those intervals is crucial to ensuring you stick to your schedule. This way, your audience is continually engaged with you, and your search visibility continues to rank.

Think of it like going to the gym. If you stop going, you stop benefiting from your exercise routine. Being seen on the web through SEO is the same thing. It's a process that needs consistency to work.

It will take some time and practice to get comfortable with your blogging routine, so I recommend starting with a longer interval between posts, like once a month, and look to shorten those intervals once you've built that consistent habit.

Writing Workflow

Build Your Framework

With a list of topics you'd like to write on, the next step will be bulking out a framework or outline of what content you'll include in your blog post. This is important because you want each blog to follow a similar format and ensure it addresses all the key points you want to make.

Often, that framework looks something like this:

Introduce a topic/question/issue → Define it → Explain why it happens → Discuss pros or cons → Offer solutions → Summarize the topic.

There are multiple ways to approach building out this framework. You can do it yourself based on your experience and knowledge, you can look at competitors' articles for ideas or use Artificial Intelligence like ChatGPT to help you create talking points.

Build a Framework Using ChatGPT

You can use ChatGPT to bulk out a framework for your content marketing piece that you can then turn into your own work by building on the ideas and applying your own experiences to the suggestions it offers.

For example, I might ask ChatGPT this:

"Write an outline for a blog post on how much a kitchen renovation in Vancouver, BC costs"

And here's what it would return: 

I. Introduction

• Briefly introduce the topic of kitchen renovation in Vancouver, BC

• Highlight the importance of having a budget in place before starting a kitchen renovation project

II. Factors Affecting Kitchen Renovation Costs

• Discuss the various factors that can impact the cost of a kitchen renovation, including:

• Size of the kitchen

• Type and quality of materials used

• Complexity of the design and layout

• Labor costs

• Additional features and appliances

III. Average Costs for a Kitchen Renovation in Vancouver, BC

• Provide an overview of the average costs associated with a kitchen renovation in Vancouver, BC

• Break down the costs into categories, such as materials, labor, and design fees

• Discuss the range of costs for each category and provide examples

IV. Tips for Keeping Kitchen Renovation Costs Down

• Offer advice for readers who want to renovate their kitchen on a budget, such as:

• Choosing cost-effective materials

• Avoiding major layout changes

• Doing some of the work themselves

• Shopping around for contractors

V. Conclusion

• Summarize the main points of the blog post

• Emphasize the importance of having a clear understanding of the costs associated with a kitchen renovation before starting the project

You could probably develop most of this on your own, but it might take a significant amount of time, and there may be points you didn't consider. This outline was generated in a matter of seconds and is based on scraping a wide variety of online information. 

After vetting your results and tweaking the framework to suit your needs - like removing the part about homeowners doing part of this work themselves because no one wants a client who's thinking that - you can move on to the next step of writing the article.

Write the Article

As a professional residential contractor, you are likely a great resource for information to share on this topic. But wordsmithing it into a concise, informative, and unbiased article may not be something you're entirely comfortable with or familiar with.

That's where AI can help you again.

Instead of being the article's author, consider using AI to do the hard work and promote yourself to the "editor" by taking each part of your framework and asking the AI writer to generate a paragraph or number of words on this topic. You can also take your entire framework and ask the AI tool to write the entire blog article.

Then review it carefully, changing language, adding or removing content, and arranging it in a way that makes sense to you and makes it your own document.

It's important to remember that AI writing tools scrub the internet looking for existing content to build into your article, so not everything the AI writer suggests will be applicable or appropriate. It also won't be in your voice or reflect your experience, so it's never wise to simply copy and paste the AI writer's words. You want to avoid plagiarism, as it will hurt your credibility. 

Using an AI tool like Chat GPT is helpful, but making your writing sound authentic and original is key to engaging with your audience and building that relationship with them.

Check Your Grammar and Spelling

After your blog post is written, it's a good idea to use someone on your team as a second set of eyes to edit your work, similar to how you would have someone review the estimates you create to help you see blind spots or areas for improvement.

Once a second set of human eyes has reviewed the post, sign up for a free Grammarly account and run your article through its grammar-checking tool. Grammarly is a cloud-based typing assistant that checks spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes, helping you craft more professional-sounding content.

Optimize Your Content for SEO

The last step before publishing your blog is to optimize it for the web. That means using SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. 

SEO is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. In other words, websites and blogs that are optimized by using specific keywords tend to be ranked higher by search engines like Google and are shown more frequently to internet users in their search results.

Getting your blog posts seen by your intended audience means integrating keywords people are searching for. You can do this one of two ways:

• Use an outside service that specializes in SEO

• Use an online tool like Dashword to help you determine what relevant keywords you should use to enhance your content's reach

Ask Who, Not How

Let's face it, as a business owner, you have a lot on your plate. And while boosting your online marketing efforts might be something you want to do, it may not necessarily also be something you have the time, inclination, or skill to do.

Yes, you are likely the most qualified person from a knowledge perspective, but your time is probably better spent overseeing the big-picture aspects of your content marketing, like choosing topics, editing work, and ensuring your voice and knowledge come through correctly.

I often talk to clients about changing their mindset from asking, "How can I get this done" to "Who can do this for me?"

That strategy applies to any aspect of your business but is particularly relevant for items that may be outside your wheelhouse, like marketing.  

That could look like transitioning marketing tasks to someone on your team who has an aptitude for it or outsourcing completely to a freelance writer or marketing firm that can spend the time needed to create engaging, relevant blog content for your business.

The Bottom Line on Blogging

Blogging is an effective way to engage with your audience and share your knowledge and expertise as a professional remodeler or custom home builder. It lets you showcase your past work that can build your credibility, extend your reach online and potentially generate new leads that turn into paying clients.

But it can be daunting to know where to start. 

The key to mastering it is to incorporate a system for your blog, much like you would any other task in your remodeling or custom home-building business so that it becomes part of the routine.

So before you jump head-first into writing and publishing your first blog, remember these steps:

• Identify your audience(s)

• Create a constant list of topics to write about

• Set a schedule for how often you're going to post your blog

• Use all the tools available to help you write and edit  

• Get the best person for the job working on it - and remember it doesn't have to be you

If you're looking for help creating your marketing strategy, including content marketing, click below to book time for us to chat.