Tag: Digital Marketing

A jar has a black label that reads donate and is filled with coins.

Giving Back as a Small Business

Volunteering is a great habit for everyone to build into their routine whenever possible, whether it’s supporting a local organization or devoting time to a cause that’s close to our hearts.

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Ranking Up: Debunking the Service Area Myth on Google

By Zach Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior SEO and Marketing Strategist As a multi-national property inspection franchisor, our marketing team gets a lot of questions about how to increase ranking on Google. Of course every small business’ marketing efforts should be multi-faceted, with a mixture of in-person relationship-building efforts and digital campaigns. With that said, there is no question that Google is king for digital marketing, and that all starts with optimizing your Google Business Profile. There are many features on a Google Business page that can be utilized to improve visibility and ranking, but we commonly see people turn to their service areas for answers. Many business owners seem to think that slight changes to the service area field could create the presence bump they need in certain areas. But we’re here to say that this probably won’t be the solution to any Google ranking frustrations. To better understand why this is the case, let’s discuss what service areas actually are, how they should be properly set up, and which strategies are the real secret for ranking up on Google. Defining Service Area BusinessesGoogle Business Profiles can be created for free and are broadly set up in one of two

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Social Media Insights: How to Make Friends with the Almighty Algorithm

By Stepha Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior Communications Strategist When it comes to building a small business and developing productive, mutually beneficial relationships is key. But for people who are new to an industry, working in a crowded market, or are looking to scale, it can sometimes seem difficult to get in front of the noise. In situations like these, a healthy social media presence can really shine! Although in-person marketing is still the backbone of most small business marketing strategies (ie. the partnerships that are born at conferences, office visits, or networking events) it’s no secret that we live in an increasingly digital world and your team can’t make it to every office, meeting, or connection opportunity. Thankfully, social media can act as an extension of “in-person” marketing, providing more opportunities to connect and interact with clients, customers, and business partners far more immediately than in the past. For small business owners or marketers who are looking to get the most return from their efforts on social media, it is important to familiarize yourself with one factor that can be the key to success or stagnation online. It influences engagement on your posts, and can even determine whether your audience

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7 Underutilized Google Business Page Features That Boost Your Ranking

By Zach Vesper, NPI, Inc.’s Senior SEO & Marketing Strategist Establishing an online presence is an essential for every small business owner, and the current king of the online search (by a mile) is Google. Whether you like it or not, creating and keeping up your Google Business Profile is no longer an option for the modern business – it’s the baseline. Plus, since your competition is already on Google, new business owners have some catching up to do if they want to show up first in the search results. The good news is that there are plenty of features on every Google Business Profile that most business owners don’t take advantage of. After getting your Google Business Profile set up, here are a few little things that you can do to make a big splash online. 1. Find Your Google Review LinkThere are a surprising number of factors that feed into how high your business ranks in search results, from your business’ proximity to the searcher, to the quality of your website’s keyword selection. Still, out of the many, many factors that feed into a business’ overall search result ranking, the most powerful influencing factor is Google reviews. Of

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Boosting Conversions and Improving ROI with Call Tracking

By Sydney Bailey, NPI, Inc.’s Marketing Director As small businesses grow, marketing often becomes a more complex endeavor with leads flowing in from many different campaigns and platforms. To find out whether a marketing campaign is cost effective, it’s crucial to track the cost for each lead and each conversion—but how is this tracking accomplished? For digital marketing, tracking a lead is fairly straightforward. Thanks to cookies and analytics, businesses can know which marketing campaign a lead interacted with to land on their website. But other lead generation avenues aren’t so simple. Many customers still prefer to call service-based businesses to gather more information before making their final decision. Learning how to convert a lead over the phone is an art in itself, but it can be difficult to quantify a lead’s analytics from a phone call. For entrepreneurs that receive a lot of their business through inbound phone calls, capturing valuable information about which marketing campaigns are pulling their weight—and which ones aren’t—can be tough, but it’s essential when it comes to optimizing an advertising budget. Today, let’s discuss the best solution to this issue: call tracking. What is Call Tracking, and How Does It Work?Call tracking helps determine

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Why Now Is A Great Time To Franchise With NPI

Opening up a small business requires boldness and a willingness to think big, but the most successful entrepreneurs tend to have their pulse on the current trends and projections of their selected industry. In an industry like residential and commercial property inspections, it makes sense to track the health and activity of the local real estate market before making major investments. While recent housing struggles might tempt some to delay franchising in property inspections, encouraging real estate projections and the challenges of solo operation paint a different picture. Here’s why now might be a strategic entry point: Housing Market Projections for 2024According to the most recent housing market projections from Forbes, 2024 projects a rebound from 2023’s real estate woes. Declining mortgage rates predict a much-needed rise in inventory. While improved affordability may arrive later in the year, these trends signal a recovering market. While healthy real estate markets benefit property inspections, solo businesses often follow a boom-bust cycle. They launch during hot markets and struggle when things cool. Conversely, inspectors who weather tough times gain valuable experience and client relationships. When the market rebounds, they are perfectly positioned to dominate. Considering this cyclical nature and the time required to

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A jar has a black label that reads donate and is filled with coins.

Giving Back as a Small Business

Volunteering is a great habit for everyone to build into their routine whenever possible, whether it’s supporting a local organization or devoting time to a cause that’s close to our hearts.

Read More »
Confident home inspector enters building with work vehicle in background

Building Confidence as a New Home Inspector

When business owners enter into a brand new field, it simply takes time to develop a knowledge base. Undoubtedly, questions will come up with answers that are a bit too elusive, but clients still want to see confidence for them to feel reassured.

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