HVAC Marketing Tip: Blogging for Local Audiences

If you’re like many of the companies that come to us for HVAC SEO services, you may have seen what looked like outstanding results coming from just one blog. All of a sudden your organic visits are skyrocketing…but the extra traffic isn’t converting into any leads. That’s probably because your blog is bringing in visits from out of your service area. When you’re blogging about common HVAC problems or industry trends, you’re likely drawing in national traffic from users searching long-tail keywords that relate to your blog.

That doesn’t mean your blog isn’t useful! The information you’re providing is relevant to many and since you’re ranking so highly for it nationally, you’re helping to establish your business as an expert in your field. This is great for building authority—and although your blogs may not be converting right now, there are ways you can tweak them so that they can in the future.

Benefits of Business Blogging for Local Audiences

Business blogging offers many advantages to contractors, including HVAC companies. It can help your local SEO presence by:

Giving You More Opportunities to Rank & Attract Visits

Naturally the more pages you have on your site, the more opportunities you have to rank, attract visits, and get more leads. Your blog is a great tool for maximizing your online real estate so use it! Use this opportunity to target long-tail keywords you haven’t had a chance to target in landing pages, and optimize them around your local service area to bring in more qualified leads.

Generating User Engagement

Blog posts offer the opportunity to connect with your audience in unique ways, but you need to consider more than the content on the page. With a growing number of homeowners turning to HVAC contractors’ social media pages for information, it can be beneficial to share your blogs on the tools your local clients are likely using—like your company’s Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (for HVAC contractors doing commercial work), and Google+. These outlets can help you generate user engagement, and Google+ posts with geo-modified terms can also provide additional local rankings that link back to your blog.

Another way to share your blogs with your target audience is through email newsletters. This way, you can promote your latest blogs to former customers who may come back for HVAC repairs, replacements, or maintenance work and simultaneously offer incentives—like coupons or financing offers that may be appealing as well.

Earning Local Links

Blogging for local audiences can also give you the opportunity to gain links back to your company’s website, which can help you expand your local presence even further. By getting involved in local events or with other organizations in the area and then blogging about it, you’re more likely to have content picked up from your website and shared by relevant business partners or community members. At the same time, blogs offering HVAC tips and advice may rank nationally but offer another means for backlinks, as they demonstrate authority.

How to Optimize HVAC Blogs for Local Audiences

Many of the rules for getting blogs to rank locally are the same as those for getting your landing pages to. Posting frequently, incorporating keywords your potential customers may be searching for, and using geo-modifiers in content and meta data are just some of the basics. By going back and making sure these core elements are implemented into older blog posts and continuing to integrate local SEO best practices into future ones, you can begin to attract audiences in the neighborhoods you actually serve.

Fully use business blogging to your advantage when it comes to SEO by also:

Blogging on Relevant Subjects

While providing information on potentially nationally-ranking subjects, like common heating or air conditioning problems, can be incredibly useful to your target audience and help establish authority, it’s also important to blog about subjects relevant to those in your target service area. If your blog also includes information pertaining specifically to your local audience, it’s more likely to draw in local visits that are then more likely to convert.

Some topics that can help you connect with prospective customers and establish your company as the local authority in HVAC include:

• Weather and climate—particularly before or after a storm and between seasons when homes and businesses are looking to have heating and cooling systems installed.
• Local events or charities your company is participating in
• Local awards you’ve received or publications that have recognized your company
• Company and employee news

Doing Your Research

Google Analytics can be a great tool for seeing the types of blogs and pages that have converted in the past so you can create similar posts in the future. If you notice a particular blog you’ve already written has generated a lot of organic traffic but has very few conversions, go back and find ways to tie it in with the local audience. Take advantage of the traffic you know are you getting by adding more personal touches—like staff bios with information local audiences can relate to, weather forecasts, and geo-modifiers when relevant.

Tracking Your Business Blogging Efforts

It’s going to be pretty hard to tell if your local SEO efforts are paying off without keeping track of the results. Make sure your site is connected to Google Analytics so you can track the organic traffic and, even more importantly, the conversions you’re getting from specific blogs. You’ll likely also want to track social media efforts if you are using your Google+ or another page to draw in additional blog traffic.

Need Help Blogging for Local Audiences?

If you own an HVAC company and need help managing your blog to attract local audiences, we can help. At Blue Corona, we’re experts in HVAC SEO and content marketing for HVAC companies and can handle it all for you—from optimizing content to social media to tracking—to help you maximize your online real estate and get more qualified leads from your blog.

Get started today by contacting us or filling out the form below to see how your website is performing.