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Advice building a website and getting traffic for electrical work locally

normandylife
normandylife Posts: 12 Forumite
First Post Photogenic
I am starting to wind down to retirement now which is in 3 years time. I have have just  taken a year out  recently to travel and do stuff that I have put off for so long, so I have lost my flow of old customers. 
But I do miss work and the banter that goes with it, I was a self employed electrician for the last 30 years. There was always plenty of work coming in from word of mouth and the phone still rings with old customers.
I am in great health, so I want to get a few years "harder" graft in before I retire, even though I will still keep going past 67 at a slower rate or one that I can handle.
I need to sort my marketing/advertising which I tended to taper off after a short while when I had enough work, Yell. local Newsletters etc.
These days I do not have a clue, I have come around to the fact as an old Git and technophobe that I need to build myself a cheapish website and look for work in my local Villages and small towns which I would like to hit and only do domestic work.
Trouble  for me is getting traffic to see my website and I am sure there is other stuff I need to know SEO, Google campaigns etc.
Can anyone point me in the right direction, I was thinking of Wix or something like that, but like I mentioned I want people to see me when they search, NOT big Cities I might add, so if I use my unheard of little Villages/Towns it should be cheaper and easier to find me, I think?

Any advice would be great. I am not even ruling out getting someone to do it for me and maintain if it was not to expensive. Just local little jobs and nothing bigger than say a extension or small re-wire down to just putting a light or socket in.

Comments

  • Vitor
    Vitor Posts: 907 Forumite
    500 Posts First Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited Today at 9:32PM
    I’d start by setting up a Facebook Page and running the occasional advert targeted to people in your local area. It doesn’t need to cost much, you can run Facebook ads for around £1 a day. The more you post (photos of recent jobs, safety tips), the more your Page will show up when people search for a local electrician.

    Next, set up a Google Business Profile, it’s free and it’s what powers the “electrician near me” results on Google Maps. Add a few good photos of your van and recent work, and ask some of your old customers to leave honest reviews.

     A lightweight site linked to a Google Business Profile and a Facebook Page still adds credibility and improves how those two platforms display your business. Wix now, inevitably, has AI 'wizard' to help build a page from a selection of templates so it's pretty simple to create one.

    I think it's worth getting your own domain for web-site and email address. Maybe it's me, but seeing vans with "honest_bob_builder@hotmail.com" painted on the side don’t exactly shout professionalism.
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