Which is better? Angie's List or Home Advisor?

It's always tragic to hear how a small family business lost a lot of money on Marketing and Customer Generation, only to waste their time on empty leads and be spammed by other businesses. My local contractor facebook group often has horror stories and posts about both Home Advisor, Angie's List and others.

If you need leads aka customers, who do you sign up with? The answer is neither. So what is the best lead generator for your home service business?

Here are the 8 most beneficial steps that will help you gain leads without losing money or becoming a spam target: 

1. Have a well-built website. Make sure it's functioning and structured properly, loading well and that search engines like it.
2. Tighten up your Search Engine Optimization. Make sure your SEO is excellent so search engines can find you and show you to customers looking for your services. This type of service really needs to be done by a professional like TNW Creations but don't hire one of those big companies who change agents so often, they can't remember what you even do for a living. Go local if possible, boost your local economy and support your neighbors.
3. Make sure your business is shown in Google My Business.This listing is free from Google. But if you don't have the time or the tech skills to make it happen, this service is often part of an SEO plan that your professional SEO Service Expert will set up for you.
   Related Post: Did you lose ownership of your Google My Business listing or did someone else claim it? Click here for the steps to report this.
4. Make sure your business is shown in Bing Places. Another free way to spread awareness about your services. If you don't have time or the tech skills to figure this out, much like Google My Business, this service can be included with your SEO plan by your professional SEO Expert. 
5. Keep on top of your reviews!  Answer (politely even if it slightly kills you) to negative reviews and be sure to thank positive reviews. Encourage your happy clients to review you. Make it easy for them by providing the link in an email. Sometimes a Social Media Manager will help regulate and monitor your reviews. 
   
   
6. Engage on social media. Speaking of Social Media Manager, if you're too busy or hate social media, you can hire a local person. Lots of stay-at-home Moms are great choices for a social media job! Social Media raises your SEO and is crucial to have so don't ignore it.  Want someone with professional experience? Hire a Digital Social Media Marketing business like The Social Mermaid. Don't go with a big corporation or you'll just become a notch in their belt that they can't find or forget about.
   
   
7. Network locally!  Join your free local facebook groups, NextDoor.Com and other active social networks in your area.
   
   
8. Consider becoming a Chamber of Commerce member or look for a local chapter of BNI (Business Network International). Make sure you have the bandwidth to spread yourself out for the meetings and physical in-person networking that this will entail. The price may seem steep at first but it's far less expensive than HomeAdvisor or Angie's List and the networking and benefits you receive from working with other local businesses like yourself will pay for itself quickly!