How To Outrank 99% Of Your Competition On Google

In this episode of the Lean & Mean Academy, Aaron Parker is joined by Chris Lonergan from Footbridge Media to reveal the secrets to outranking 99% of your local competitors on Google. Whether you run a pressure washing, landscaping, or HVAC business, these actionable strategies will help you dominate your local market. From maximizing your Google Business Profile to mastering local citations and review management, Chris shares insider tips that will get your business noticed. Learn how to fill out your Google profile the right way, the importance of local citations, and how to leverage customer reviews with photos to stack the deck in your favor. Tune in to transform your online presence and start getting more calls today!

Transcript

How To Outrank 99% Of Your Competitors On Google

Aaron Parker: [00:00:00] What's up guys. Welcome back to the channel. Lean Amin Academy here today. We're going to be talking about how to outrank 99 percent of local businesses on Google. A lot of you guys, y'all are wanting more leads. You got a pressure washing business. A landscaping business. HVAC doesn't matter if it's a home service business.

This video is going to apply to you. I got my boy Chris Lonergan here on the line from footbridge media. They've been building custom websites since 2004, specifically for local contractors. Okay guys, they don't build websites for the strawberry festival. They don't build websites for anything else. All right.

It's just custom. Local contractor. If you have a truck that leaves your house or leaves your building and goes in service as a client, they build those websites and they're the best at it. I got Chris Lonergan here on the line. Bring him on. What's up, Chris? How's it going, Aaron? Hey, good man. Before we jump into this and get deep into this knowledge that Chris is going to give [00:01:00] us, if you're wanting to get your website done here in 2024, you want the best in the game.

Go to Reach out the footbridge media. I'll put the number down here on the bottom and save 600 a year with asking for the lean and mean deal. That's me. Tell them you want the lean and mean deal and your price will go from 249 a month all the way to 199 a month. Lock that in right now. Give them a call.

The number's on the bottom. Chris, thanks for joining me today, man. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Of course. Yeah. Always happy to be here. It's always fun chatting. 

Aaron Parker: Yeah, dude. So how to outrank 99 percent of local businesses on Google. I know everybody's in a battle. Okay. Google is a battleground. It's bloodshed, right? For learning how to get your business to the top.

Obviously, if you're at the top, somebody Googles pressure washing, you show up, you get the call, right? 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: 100%. Yeah. If you're in that map pack, where we'd like to talk about local business and local listings in Google, you're in the top three of that map pack. You're probably getting the lion's share of the phone calls.

If you're in positions [00:02:00] two or three, that's great. But usually you're getting called when position one doesn't get called. So really you got to work hard to get that Google business profile ranking as best as you can. 

Aaron Parker: And that's what we're going to talk about the day. So Chris, we got three points on how to outrank these guys, how to beat them, how to get more calls.

Basically. The end of the day, Google. Look, I don't like google guys. I really don't I resonate with a lot of you guys all the misinformation all the stuff that they do And they may stifle the views on this video because I just said that and so be it But we are at google's whim here when it comes to our businesses They have created an environment where a homeowner or a consumer can type something in like pressure washing a listing shows up hopefully it's yours. Chris, what's the first step in manipulating this process to where we can rank up there at the top? 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: The first step is the easiest step and it's something that a lot of people miss out on It's that you really have to completely fill out [00:03:00] all of your Google business profile information.

There's a lot of information you fill out, not just your services and the industry that you work within, but you also have a business description. When you're writing that business description, it should be keyword friendly. You should be mentioning the phrases that are important to your business. If you're a pressure washer, you should talk about pressure washing and home washing and house washing.

In a way that's not spammy, but in a way that's natural, that comes off as conversational within your business description. A lot of people miss that. You also want to make sure you have accurate hours. It's a very simple thing, but your actual hours can impact your visibility. If someone's doing a search for your business in a time where your business isn't open, according to your Google business profile, your profile may not show up.

Because it's going to show up, it's going to display rather, Google business profiles that are currently open. Because it assumes Google. Google assumes you want to find a business that's open right now. You want to make sure you've got photos that show off your work and you've got Google business posts going on.

There's lots of things that you can fill out on your Google business profile that are both for search engine [00:04:00] optimization, for the sake of ranking better, but also for people, you want people to be interested in your listing. You want people to click. And engage with your listing. So you've got to do both.

It's not just about trying to get Google to push you up. It's also about getting Google to push you up, but having people care enough and like your listing over your competitors. 

Aaron Parker: So adding photos, is posting relevant? Does that push. Can it help you at all? Or did Google do away with kind of the Google update or the post as being like valuable, I remember in the past it was valuable for a second and then they decided it wasn't.

And now I don't know where they're at. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: I think it's somewhere in the middle there. I think it, like you said early on, I think they were rewarding a lot of folks. For having the interaction and for doing those posts on a regular basis, because they generally Google tends to reward people who use their new features.

I think now it's definitely less about SEO and it's much more about creating something that people will be interested [00:05:00] in clicking on. If you have a promotion, if you've got a coupon, you want to offer for housewashing for for a two week period, you could set an expiration date. You can add that coupon there.

That may be the thing that separates you from the next listing. That may be the thing. That makes a person click on your website button in maps instead of your competitors maps. Yeah, I think that's much more of a, you're conditioning people to interact with you, less you're conditioning Google to work with you.

Aaron Parker: I love that. A buddy of mine, John McAbee out in Australia, he does a strategy that I thought was really interesting. So he'll take photos of his work. Whereas a lot of people would, take a photo of the before, take a photo of the after, and they'd use like a little, app or something to merge them together to show before and after, right?

Real satisfying look. What he'll do is he'll just post the before. And then he's yeah, after that, like I make them scroll. To get the after he's trying to get the scroll, he's trying to get the view, he's trying to get the engagement because Google is monitoring how much someone [00:06:00] scrolls on your photos.

They are monitoring when people are clicking and looking. So he'll update, probably a batch of 20 to 30 photos a day. Just from different stuff. He's cleaning on the projects. I know a lot of people most people don't, they don't do it at all, lot of people be like, here's the one before and after on the day.

And it's I feel like Google being as narcissistic as it is, would love if you updated those photos more, would love for you to update more photos. I feel like more the better, frankly, when it comes to Google. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Absolutely. When it comes to photos on Google, even down to customer reviews, if a customer were to upload a photo to your Google business profile, that's, I feel like, gold.

I just happened to do that, I went to a local coffee shop, and Took a picture of my coffee, like I'm a millennial, and posted my review. And it, I get notifications still today about how many photos, my, how [00:07:00] many views my coffee photo got. So yeah, and Google will always reward that continued contribution.

You feeding the system and then Google, then getting more interaction. Their hope is that I took that picture of a cup of coffee and I posted it in my review. The company's happy. They're getting engagement. Google's hoping this company is getting a lot of engagement. Hopefully they'll buy an ad. So they keep that engagement up.

And that's really what we're all we're trying to get to here is we're trying to get to the points where we're making Google happy enough to continue to interact with us, to continue to push her with us. So that they see us as a good candidate for more continued exposure. 

Aaron Parker: I love it. I love it.

So that was number one. That's step one, Chris. What is the second step to outrank these boys? 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Second step is number two is the scientific one that a lot of people either don't even know about or hate the idea of thinking about doing It's having a local citation plan. So most folks understand Google business profiles.

It's a place where you put your business name, address, and phone number. There are lots of [00:08:00] places all around the web where you can contribute that kind of information. Foursquare. com, Yelp. com. There are places that you probably don't even think about Manta. com and Hotfrog. com and all these random places on the web that have business listings and directories.

So this is twofold here. You have to have an active local citation plan. So that means you have to number one, be on the lookout for mentions of your business that are wrong to correct them. Whether your name is incorrect, your location is incorrect, your phone number is incorrect, your website isn't listed.

You've got to reach outreach and fix those. But number two, you have to also add and contribute. New listings in places, again, places you may not have heard of before, like ezlocal. com. So there's an important difference here. There's a lot of people think about SEO and the grind of this work. And I think you've got two options.

I could go do it all myself. I can manually do it. Or I can use a service, Yelp is a very, or rather Yext is a very popular service for local data aggregation, you give your information to [00:09:00] Yext and they distribute it for you, that's like the automated version of this. I think it's really important to do both, because the automated stuff is great, it's a good tool to lock in that information, but it doesn't always fix.

The things that a human looking at it can manually fix. So don't just do it manually. Don't just grind away at it for forever. Don't just use an automated service. Do both. You have to be really diligent in local citations. Basically, every single place where your business is correctly listed, that's one small vote of confidence to Google that you are indeed who you say you are, that you are a reputable business.

And we want as many of those correct little Link backs and correct notes to Google those grains of sand in that little scale that make you look like the better contractor in maps. 

Aaron Parker: Got it. You guys offer, now how much does Yext, you said, how much does that cost off the street? 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: It can be expensive. We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of dollars per year just for that one [00:10:00] service that they offer.

Aaron Parker: And that's included in the website deal with you guys. How much? With correct. Yeah. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: With our core program, we work with a lot of contractors. So we're a partner with the X for that reason. We're able to because we've got, it's, it's like Walmart buying something versus you buying something, we've got more buying power in that regard.

So we're very fortunate to have this good relationship where we can pass on that savings effectively to our customers. A lot of folks, if they bought. Just bought the X off the street. That might be more than what we charge a month. Just, for our whole core marketing program. 

Aaron Parker: Wow. Wow. So basically what yext is it's an automated program that allows you guys to send this information of their location and their business name, their name, address, and their phone number out to all of these directory websites.

And it locks it in to where. No one can change it off the street or give an update like a competitor, right? Or something [00:11:00] like that. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Yeah. They can't 

Aaron Parker: change that information. Yext locks it in to where you guys on your end are able to control that and monitor that. And it makes it very it not only gets, how do you say, that widespread coverage.

But it also makes it to where no one else can change it and be nefarious in any way, which is which happens, right? Somebody finds your name and your business on another website and they're a competitor and they're nefarious kind of slimy on some of those other websites They can change your name address even just by one or two numbers And that gives a negative view to google saying huh?

there's an inconsistency here between this and between what they're telling us over here and it's like A negative vote of confidence, if you will. It's a demotion, right? And so when you get the program with Footbridge, they have Yext. That's included in that 199, including with the website and all the content writing.

There's a lot that goes on in that core program. [00:12:00] But Yext is included. They're going to lock your citations down. So nobody can mess with them. Chris, what's number three? 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Number three is having an active review management plan. Again, a lot of contractors for some reason. Feel uncomfortable making an ask for review, let alone having a full game plan for how they can get more reviews over time, how it can continually reply to customers.

It's really important that you have an active review management plan. And what that means. Is that you have for every single customer you talk to a process by which you ask them for the review, usually on Google, because that's where people need the most help and where they want to have the biggest lead, make sure you have a plan where you're always asking people as part of just a process of how you work, how you're going to get those reviews.

So that you can continually grow the number of your Google reviews and the consistency of your scores over time. Google reviews are one of the biggest factors that contractors have direct control over when it comes to local SEO success. It's one of [00:13:00] the few things that really drives to Google that you are who you say you are because you've got all this user generated content.

People who are not you, again, giving you those votes of confidence to say this is a good business to work with. Between besides distance, having the most reviews of any other contractor in your area can be one of the biggest driving factors to making you number one in your area and getting you the lion's share of all those phone calls and clicks from the Google map section.

Aaron Parker: Man. And if they post a daggum photo, Lord have mercy.

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Look how good it looks now. Take one. Just have a picture of that for when you do that review later. 

Aaron Parker: That's absolutely it. What I'd do is I would stay in with them after the job, right on their front steps. They'd be talking about how great it looks. It's a, Hey, let me airdrop you a photo here. You post that review, airdrop them that photo, boom.

Hey, would you put that photo right there in that review for me? You just, a lot of people, they're so scared to ask, right? First off, they're [00:14:00] scared to ask. Second, they're scared to sit with them. Until they do right for me, I ain't got nowhere really that important to be beyond right here and get this review.

The review is very important. So if I've got the customer right here on site. They've just paid me. They're stoked man. Their emotions are high Right now is a place for you to capitalize on how stoked they are you know beyond when they go back inside cooking dinner, they forget about it They got to put the kid they got to bathe the kids put them to bed they forget about you.

So get them right now in this window of opportunity you have And Chris is saying, if you got a photo, make sure you take one and have it to where they can be stoked about it, then you airdrop it to them. Boom. Now, that review has so much more fuel behind it. Google loves photos. I sometimes love and hate that because Google seems like they're always like ready to root on a tattletale, [00:15:00] it's like the photos only show up with a lot of people only leave photo reviews whenever it's bad. 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: Yep. 

Aaron Parker: And it's guys, you have to stack the deck in your favor. You need to stack the deck because believe me, you're gonna get. A negative review. You're going to get one. Okay. Somebody, some Karen out there is going to be pissed for no reason.

She didn't take her medicine today and she is mad at everyone. And there's nothing you could have done. Nothing. Even if you did a perfect job, that review is coming. Okay. I like to think of it as street cred, but at the end of the day. It's something that is going to come. So you've got to stack the reviews, stack the deck in your favor.

So when it does come, it doesn't hurt you at all. And Chris is showing you a little better way with those photos to give those reviews a little more off. Chris, what do you think would happen if somebody like had all of their reviews with like photos, like how powerful would that 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: be? Yeah, that would [00:16:00]absolutely be amazing.

If you can get that done, I think that'd be great because. What people don't realize is like you as a business owner, you can upload photos to your Google business profile, random people, like people who leave reviews when they do that, they're also contributing photos to your Google business profile.

Like you said, if they're good or bad, they're contributing them. So if you're a painter and someone leaves a bad review of you and they show all the drips of your paint all over their floors and their carpet, and they take a picture and they post that. Guess what's going to pop up and people look at your business.

If that's the last photo that was contributed that mess you made for somebody. So absolutely you've got a good or bad, those photos are there. So make sure like you said, Aaron, you got to make sure you're stacking the deck. You got to make sure you are killing it with good content. To bury that those street cred, bad reviews.

Aaron Parker: They're coming boy. They're going, Hey, Chris, thanks for joining us, man. Thank you for your knowledge and your expertise guys. Thank you for tuning in today. If you're wanting to get you a website done, give [00:17:00] footbridge a call. The number is scrolling across the bottom of the screen. They are the experts in this, they make it very easy for you to get your website up and running.

They write all the content. I think it takes what? 30 to 45 days to, to get one running. Chris, is that a. About right 

Chris Lonergan - Footbridge Media: there about, yeah, you were usually like, three to five weeks, depending on, what peak seasons we're in. Yeah. 

Aaron Parker: Cool. Cool. So give them a call. Start now. The best time to start a website was I don't know, five years ago.

The second best time is today. Give them a call and make sure you quote this in the comments. If you watch all the way to the end stack, the deck, that is the word of the day. I'll see you guys in the next video.