Do you ever wonder why you're not getting the quality of leads that you want, calling you from the internet? Well, when was the last time you took a really close look at your website? Actually clicked through it and thought about what kind of client am I trying to get and what do I want them to do? Having audited over a thousand websites in my career, I can instantly identify key mistakes that landscapers make, that cause big operational problems, like low quality lead generation, or even low recruiting outcome. And today I'm going to share one of those key issues.
Just the other week, we had our Landscaper's Modern Sales and Marketing Summit. It was a real success. It was so much fun. We had over 45 landscapers from all over the country for the full day virtual event and part of that event... Oh, and you can get the recording of that. We've edited it into an online course at LandscaperSummit.com, and for a limited time, we'll also still ship you the whole do-it-yourself video kit, the print workbook, everything. Check it out at LandscaperSummit.com. But during the summit, we did live website reviews where the audience typed in their website in the chat, and I did a live review. And one of the things that I saw was so shocking that I accidentally dropped an F-bomb. I apologize, but it was a genuine response. And when I share the footage, you'll understand why. And that way, maybe you won't make this mistake on your own website.
So welcome to the Landscaper's Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. My name's Jack Jostes, and this show is all about helping lawn and landscape contractors increase your profit and enjoy a better lifestyle. This show is all about helping you meet with fewer, low quality leads and more of the right people, so that way you can ultimately make more money and spend more time with your family or doing things that you like. And in this show, today I'm really excited to share real footage from the summit of a landscaper, Chris Ahlgren. Chris gave me permission to share this, and he's a good sport because we found kind of a big mistake. So let's see what it was.
Ahlgren Landscaping Website Review During The Landscaper's Modern Sales and Marketing Summit
Jack Jostes:
We're going to do Ahlgren Landscaping. Ahlgren is famous on Instagram. I don't know if you've seen them. But okay, so we've got a pop up here. I'm not sure, I think it was Chris, right? Chris, does that show up on mobile, that pop-up?
Chris Ahlgren:
To be honest, I'm actually not sure.
Jack Jostes:
Okay, because if it does, this is against one of Google's algorithms. It's called Mobile Interstitial. Yeah. So, they have a penalty where they won't show you on mobile search if you have-
Chris Ahlgren:
It does not. Nope, it does. Yep.
Jack Jostes:
Okay. So that's worth the price of admission here, that alone because that can massively decrease your chance of showing up on Google on a mobile device. And remember when I showed you how many searches there were for landscaping near me, landscaping jobs near me. We live in a mobile search world. And so by having that pop up on there, you're breaking one of Google's... And this is a really weird thing, but I'm going to put it in the chat. So everyone else, and Jenny, if you can add that to the follow-up. So that would be my number one thing for you to change. It's okay. Oh, and now I'm on... Can't we embed this directly on the website?
Chris Ahlgren:
We use Hibu for our website and that's the only way they were able to do it.
Jack Jostes:
Oh no, they're not holding your website Hibu, are they?
Chris Ahlgren:
They are.
Jack Jostes:
Yeah. Hibu. So I'm sorry to hear that. So you're paying Hibu for a website where you can't even embed a contact form? That's okay.
Chris Ahlgren:
Not a autopilot form, but if we had a regular one, we could.
Jack Jostes:
Okay. Well, so what I like though is... Check this out. Where is Chris Ahlgren's business located?
Robert Felton:
Plainville, Connecticut.
Jack Jostes:
Plainville, Connecticut. And thanks for including Connecticut because how many Plainville's are there in America, right? And then how can we call Chris? Oh good, here's the phone number. How else can we contact him? Boom, button. Okay, so bonus points for doing that. Those are what I call Calls to Action, and they're above the fold. Meaning, this is the fold at the bottom of the screen. So it's looking good. You've got the word, landscaping in here. You've got some photos. You've got some people in uniforms. You've got a branded vehicle. So, so far I'm seeing some good things. Okay, you're mentioning that you service these areas. Again, that's super helpful. You've got a 30 second video:
Alghren Website:
Ahlgren Landscaping, LLC has been beautifying the greater Hartford area...
Jack Jostes:
Nice. First mow is free. Interesting. So he has an offer on here. I need to print the coupon? What the... What am I going to do? Wait a second. Wait a second. What am I going to do now? Seriously, I'm going to print this thing. It's opening my-
Chris Ahlgren:
It's like going to the grocery store, Jack.
Jack Jostes:
All right. Well so, hey everyone, let me print this and come back in 20 minutes. So I guess what we're getting at here, the same thing with the first website... I'm going to download this. I'm really curious. What does this look like?
Chris Ahlgren:
I'm curious too.
Jack Jostes:
You don't even know, do you?
Chris Ahlgren:
Nope.
Jack Jostes:
You guys can still see my... Oh (bleep), it's blank! So you wanted them to print a blank piece of paper? Oh, Chris. Hey, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be mean or give people-
Chris Ahlgren:
No, but I'm taking notes.
Jack Jostes:
But seriously, the main offer on your website is for people to print a blank piece of paper. It's like some kind of comedy show or something.
Chris Ahlgren:
Yep.
Jack Jostes:
Okay, so that would be... All right, what do you want people to do? When I met with Andrea, she's like, "Oh, well I want them to fill out this form. So they call the office and then the office tells them to fill out the form." Instead think about, remember the wonderful process that we outlined for Andrea. Here it is on the giant piece of paper, is we're going to complete the questionnaire. We're going to make a really nice, easy link for them to fill out. If you want Andrea, we could have them print it and fax it to you. So I think Chris, was this helpful so far?
Chris Ahlgren:
Yes.
Jack Jostes:
Okay, we will not... So a couple other things, again I don't want us to just think that Chris's website is totally stupid. It's not. It has some really good stuff. It has the phone number. You've got the geography, you've got quality photos. You've got people in uniform. You've got your vehicles. We got to fix this offer here. You've got reviews. So there's a lot of good stuff on here, Chris. I think with some fine tuning, maybe a fall cleanup, if you will, just walking through the yard and clicking up stuff. Here, look at this. Nice. So you've got some content. It doesn't appear to me that it's got the... Oh, okay. So look, you do have Plainville. So it's not bad. From an SEO standpoint, you've got some good things to work with. That was fun, you guys. I've never had a, print a blank piece of paper happen during this. So that was a first and it was fun.
Chris, thank you so much for sharing your website in the website feedback section, and for allowing us to share this in the podcast. Chris, if you came to my house and just walked through my yard, you would instantly see me making the same kind of mistakes in the landscaping and gardening that I've done myself. But that's why we work together, right? And I'm looking forward to working with you on this. And for those of you who are watching, no need to be embarrassed, no need to be ashamed. If you look at my website from 11 years ago, the first one that I made, it had all kinds of problems, and it's just part of the process. You build a website, you don't maybe really put the thought into it from a lead generation standpoint, and then you can learn things to improve.
So if you're curious, if you'd like me and my team to take a look at your website, we actually do a free video website review where... Fill out the form at RamblinJackson.com, and within three business days, we'll send you a video and we'll point out some things that we see that you're doing well. We'll point out some things that... Maybe you have a downloadable, blank piece of paper for a coupon on your website, things to improve. And there's no obligation to meet with us or anything. We just send you a video, try and help you out. So go ahead and get your website review at RamblinJackson.com. And thanks so much for tuning in to the Landscapers Guide to Modern Sales and Marketing Podcast. I look forward to seeing you next Friday and have an awesome weekend.