Step 4: Communicating Using Your Website
Since you will not have an opportunity to sell your inspection services face-to-face, it is important that your website be capable of doing your selling for you. To a potential client, your website is your way of communicating who you are and what you do (your niche service).
As a home inspector, you might work on some of the most expensive real estate in the world, but no home is as valuable, per square foot, as your own inspection website’s homepage. The right homepage can generate you many thousands of dollars in inspection business, if it is designed correctly. And you only get one chance to make a good first impression.
First Impressions Are Made on Your Website
Most home inspectors are hired without actually meeting their client until just before the inspection begins. When you get out of your vehicle at the inspection site and introduce yourself to your client, s/he has already hired you. There is almost no face-to-face salesmanship involved in the home inspection business. For most home inspectors, first impressions are solely made through their website, and to a lesser extent, through their business card, brochure, phone, email, or some other online contact.
Since you will not have an opportunity to sell your inspection services in person, it is important that your website be capable of doing your selling for you. To a potential client, your website is a sample of what you and your particular services are like.
Your Visitors Are Young and Experienced
Your website must be designed to address the needs of a typical homebuyer who is young and experienced with using the Internet to find information quickly. Homebuyers are online:
· Taking virtual tours of homes;
· Researching local schools;
· Shopping for mortgages; and
· Looking for home inspectors.
Homebuyers know how to visit a website efficiently to:
· Quickly determine if the information they seek exists on that site; and if it does,
· Arrive at a purchasing decision.
Therefore, success in gaining new clients in the home inspection business relies upon effectively communicating to potential clients visiting your website. By the time most visitors arrive at your website, they will likely have experienced thousands of other sites and will expect yours to follow the same standard conventions. Visitors expect your site design, look and feel to follow common conventions. To the extent that your website design veers from these internationally adopted conventions, your visitors will find it uncomfortable and leave with a click of the mouse.
Website Communication
People do not read a website word-for-word. So, do not simply copy/paste all of your marketing materials (copy or words) onto your website, including articles, brochures and documents you’ve written. It would be a waste of prime real estate. What is written for your website needs to be written specifically for that purpose.
Scanning
People do not read websites - they scan them. Instead of reading a page on your website from top to bottom, beginning to end, visitors will most likely scan a page for relevant information. If they want to read that information later, they’ll print it.
Jumping
Visitors jump around. They quickly move from pictures to words to video to ideas to phrases, back and forth, here and there, at a very fast pace. The idea is to capture a visitor’s attention with a chunk of information long enough to keep them interested, provide them relevant information, and direct them to make a decision to act.
Less is More
When writing content for your website, think in lists, not in paragraphs. If you need to write in paragraph form, make it less than 100 words. If your content is long and comprehensive, provide a short summary for the reader. Use headlines or blurbs for your content. If the headline is interesting, your reader will continue. Most people will read the first couple words of your content, and they’ll read on only if they’re engaged.
Navigation
Navigation is one of the biggest reasons visitors get frustrated. If visitors are frustrated by not having user-friendly, obvious navigation buttons available, they will leave your site in seconds if they are not attracted by the information presented.
Make sure that the information you are providing to your visitor is easy to find and navigate through. Highlight the information that your visitors need. Bring those chunks of information to the front. Have each chunk of information linked or connected to the other with easy to follow paths. Make sure your information can be easily printed or provide downloadable PDFs for your visitor to save and print later.
Certain Things
There are certain things potential clients are looking for when they visit your website. They could include:
· You are credible;
· You can be trusted;
· You are personal; but
· Most importantly – You can be contacted.
Blatant Attempts
The following are some ideas about what an inspection business can offer to a prospective client. Some include products and services. Most are freely available to the certified members InterNACHI, the world’s largest association of home and commercial inspectors, www.nachi.org. Some are blatant attempts to sell you something.
In this article, we’re concentrating on those things related to InterNACHI and its associated vendors. It’s your responsibility to discover what other things are available, and what could be applied to your services, your “menu.” The following are suggestions to inspire your own great ideas.
You Are Credible
They want to know you are credible. You must show them that you are real, legitimate, and true.
Put your InterNACHI certification verification seal somewhere above the fold of your homepage and with the other logos at the bottom of every page (where a visitor wouldn't need to scroll to notice). The seal is an InterNACHI member's most powerful sales tool, designed to be interactive with your visitor. Use it. www.nachi.org/webseal.htm
Display your certifications on a page as if they were on your office wall. Tell them how many years you’ve been in business and how many inspections your company has performed. Increase your knowledge and skills by taking training and have a web page dedicated to listing your experience and certifications. For premier inspector education, visit www.nachi.tv.
You Can Be Trusted
They want to know you can be trusted. Testimonials help demonstrate your trustworthiness. You can get testimonials by using a Client Satisfaction Survey such as www.nachi.org/survey.
Another simple way to convey that you are worthy of their trust is by promptly answering their emails. If they inquire about scheduling an inspection, immediately answer with an email. Better yet, reply with a phone call, assuming you have their phone number. The more attentive you are with your email communications, the more trust you will gain.
You Are Personal
They want to know that you are personal. You can show them that you are by putting your picture, and the pictures of every employee of your company, on your website. Include a small bio that is more personal than professional. If you have children, a hobby, a particular interest, show them. In your emails, be personal and friendly. Let your personality come through. State your promise to your clients. Go here for an example of a home inspector’s promise www.nachi.org/promise.
You Can Be Contacted
Every page on your website should direct your visitors to contact you. And they need to contact you. All of the content that your site contains should be providing reasons to contact you. Now. Provide your contact information. Make sure it is easy to find. The best thing to do is to embed a “Have me call you now” button on your site. Give your visitor immediate gratification by adding this button. An automated assistant calls you when your visitor asks to be contacted. www.nachi.org/immediategratification.htm.
You Are Friendly to First-Time Buyers
Recall the data in Step 1. Since many homebuyers are first-time homebuyers (47%), your website must communicate to that type of site visitor. Use a marketing logo on your website’s home page to attract the attention of first-time homebuyers specifically. Visit www.nachi.org/first-time.htm to download the logo.
You Inspect New Construction
Since 1 in 5 homes sold is new construction, your services better include that type of property inspection. Visit www.overseeit.com/ to get leads from homebuyers seeking a variety of services including:
· New construction phase inspections;
· Final walk-through inspections;
· Project and contractor oversight;
· 1 year builder warranty inspections; and
· Annual inspections for property owners.
Your Sign Is in the Yard
Since 59% of all homebuyers used a yard sign to find their home, and 46% used an open house to find their home, consider offering the following service found at www.moveincertified.com/home.
You Provide Pictures
Recall from Step 1 of the article that 84% of all homebuyers reported the photos to be the most useful information. If you’re not providing photos on your website and in your inspection reports, you’re making a mistake.
To learn more about improving your inspection reports and writing skills, we have a couple training videos available at www.nachi.tv:
· http://www.nachi.tv/introduction/home-inspection-training-video-1-with-ben-gromicko.htm
· http://www.nachi.tv/introduction/home-inspection-training-video-2.htm
· http://www.nachi.tv/tips/inspection-tips-and-techniques.htm
For samples of inspection reports, visit http://www.inspectoroutlet.com/sample-inspection-reports-from-ben-gromicko.aspx
Website Examples
Here is a list of websites that we think are great to learn from because each website has:
· Things to catch the eye of a visitor;
· Content that is engaging; and
· Calls to action.
As you visit each website, notice where your eye moves. Be aware of what catches your eye first, second and so on. Pay attention to how you scan the webpage to find what you’re looking for.
www.kitchenerwaterloohomeinspector.ca/
www.finalgradeinspections.com/services.html
www.safehousepropertyinspections.com/
Fun, isn’t it? Now, test your own website. Visit your website and look at it through the eyes of a prospective client – a young, internet savvy, first-time homebuyer who’s working with a real estate agent.
Above the Fold
Make sure the best content, your main message, the critical stuff that will attract attention, is located above the fold. “Above the fold” means the location in the top part of the screen that the site visitor sees before scrolling down. Your best information should be above the fold so that people can see right away what you want them to see.
There’s a general pattern to the way people browse a web page:
· Visitors will scan your site, looking at the main sections of the page above the fold;
· In about 3 seconds, they will choose to stay on that page or move on; and
· When a visitors stays on a page, they look at the top part of the screen, with a concentration at the upper-left corner.
When people decide to stay on a page and read content (copy or words), they move their eyes left to right with a concentration to the main chunk of content at the upper-left corner. A visitor’s eyes will move differently over a photo-heavy page, a page with a video or a page with a two- or three-column layout. Visitors tend to look at logos that are colorful and interesting, videos screens and pictures.
You Provide Video
If you don’t have an interesting video for embedding on your website, we have a video available titled “What Really Matters in a Home Inspection.” Inspectors can copy/paste some html code to embed the video on their website. It’s free to members of Mountain Association at www.mountainassociation.org, or for sale at http://www.bengromicko.com/what-really-matters-video.aspx.
You Include Peace of Mind
The perceived benefits they receive from a complimentary home warranty or inspection coverage will compel them to hire you. And real estate agents love home warranties (Recall 87% of homebuyers are with a real estate agent.) When the perceived value is greater than the cost, it’s a win-win situation. Consider grabbing the attention of first-time homebuyers and agents with www.mountainassociation.org/news/#100-day-logo.
You Build and Maintain Client Relationships
The home maintenance book helps build and maintain a client relationship that lasts long after you perform an inspection.
· It demonstrates another benefit to hiring you;
· The perceived value of the book is far greater than the cost;
· Real estate agents love the home maintenance book because it confirms that most issues with a house experienced by recent homebuyers are usually related to maintenance.
The home maintenance book titled “Now that you’ve had a home inspection…” is available at www.nachi.org/now. Put the image of the book’s cover on your home page above the fold.
That Was Step 4
That was Step 4 – communicating using your website. So far we’ve learned:
· Identifying your target market and focusing on your ideal clients (Step 1);
· Developing your niche service – your menu (Step 2);
· Understanding what your clients want and providing a return on your clients’ investment (Step 3); and
· Communicating Using Your Website (Step 4).
Step 4 puts it all together on your website. Your website must be designed to address the needs of a typical homebuyer who is young and experienced with using the Internet to find information quickly. Success in the home inspection business includes effectively communicating your niche services to your ideal clients who are visiting your website and desiring to invest in you.
Thank You
We thank you for your time. We hope you found the information valuable to your success. We wish you the very best.
NACHI.TV
One last word about NACHI.TV. We have two HD online training videos available. They are very popular with home inspectors:
· “5 Ways to Use a Home Maintenance Book” to help reduce liability and increase sales at www.nachi.tv/tips/home-maintenance-book.htm; and
· “10 Top Success Tips for Inspectors” at www.nachi.tv/tips/10-top-success-tips-for-inspectors.htm.
If you are interested in one-on-one consultation about your business, please feel free to contact the author.
BEN GROMICKO, author of “4 Steps to Marketing Success in 23 Minutes”
Helping property inspectors achieve success and maintain inspection excellence.
(For a FREE downloadable PDF of this article, visit www.bengromicko.com)
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