I finally decided to take my business full time, I’m seeking ways to get visibility. I have listed my business on google (waiting for the verification part to finish), yelp and am thinking about angi or home guide.
Any advice?
great question! My brother and I started doing this back in October of 25’ and we contemplated if we should go the Angie route. We first started off only using Facebook and group in our area. We’re based out of lake and mchenry county if northern Illinois and that worked great for a time. Then we started using an app called next door and honestly 60-70% still comes from that single lead source. Nice thing about next door is that it’s free. We then got our Google page up and running which was great….. then all the spam calls started. Honestly don’t bother with Angie or any other of those paid leads. I’ve only ever heard horror stories from other handymen and contractors that have used it. You’re paying for a potential lead. Not worth it in my eyes. Just focus on getting your google page up and word of mouth referrals to start. Hope this helps. Good luck!!
We used Angi in the beginning and it was rough. Putting money into something that doesn't have a guaranteed payout was discouraging. Our money would have been better spent on advertising. I've also heard other businesses having great luck with Next Door.
Congrats on making the big move to full-time 🙌
For GBP optimization, I recommend checking this Ask an Expert session post and watching some of the guest recordings. The advice and recommendations he shares are transferable to any business.
And take a look at this post as well for effective marketing campaigns shared by other members!
Check your local restaurants for advertising space on bulletin boards or menus. There are also local meetings for business owners to network as well as local landlord associations and property management companies.
