In today’s technology savvy world, you may have been told that it’s important to have a website for your tow truck business. What most people won’t tell you, though, is how to make your website truly work for you, not against you. So, here are some tips on how to optimize your towing website.
Why should I optimize my towing business’s website?
First of all, it’s important to understand why you can’t just slap a few words on a webpage and call it a day. Everyone uses the web these days to find what they need, even large companies. So, a great website can not only help bring more individual customers to you; it can help larger contracts find your business and decide if they want a long-term partnership.
That’s why it’s also vital to create and maintain a towing website that properly and professionally showcases your tow truck business’s brand. But you’ll have to do a bit more than the basics to improve your website. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to improve your site without being a total marketing guru.
7 tips to improve your towing website
1. Market naturally
Your goal may be to get more towing contracts and more customers. However, if you come across as sales-pitchy on your website, it can turn potential clients away. Think about it: You’re more likely to shop or try a product when a friend recommends it to you rather than if it’s being sold to you by someone who sounds like a used car salesperson. So, make sure the content on your website reads more like you’re talking to a friend and not as a salesperson (while still being professional).
Additionally, don’t try to simply pile in keywords to your site. The Google algorithm has become much more intelligent, so overloading your keyword count on a single page may actually make you rank lower on Google search results. Google can tell when you’re using the term out of context and in an unnatural manner. Instead, use variations of the words you want to rank for and work them naturally into your website’s content.
If you’re having trouble knowing which keywords to include on your webpage and how often, plugins like Yoast SEO offer you an easy way to monitor if you have too many, too little, or just enough keywords on a webpage.
2. Be easily reachable from your website
This is more than making sure your phone number and email are easily found on your site. Remember, your potential clients are more than likely businesspeople who are pressed for time or a stressed-out customer on the side of the road. Either person needs to be able to reach you quickly and easily.
If you’ve used WordPress to create your webpage, do a quick Google search on how to place a “Click to Call” HTML code anywhere that your phone number appears on your site. Don’t worry – you don’t have to be an expert on coding. Most tutorials will simply tell you what the code is and where to put it exactly. Do the same for when your email address appears on the site.
Pro tip: The easiest way to make your phone number and email easily found on your website is to put them in the top or bottom banners of your webpage.
You may also want to look for a LiveChat plugin to make you more accessible through your towing website. Look for a plugin that will notify you through your desktop or even your phone if a person responds to the LiveChat prompt or pop-up. This can create an easy way for potential clients to connect with you without clogging up your email inbox.
3. Tell people what you do & Where you tow
This may seem like a no-brainer, but make sure your towing website specifically mentions what type of towing you do, where you tow, and which services you offer. Being specific in these factors can help you do three things:
- It helps people know about everything you do and what your specialties are.
- It targets the exact types of customers and contracts that you’re looking for.
- It allows you to rank higher in Google search results because there’s less competition to rank for more specific keywords.
For example, if your tow truck business’s website simply lists that you tow in the Washington D.C. area, there’s a lot left up to interpretation. Do you tow commercial or personal vehicles? Are you a roadside assistance business or an impound towing company? Do you service eastern, southern, northern, or western D.C. areas?
The goal is to answer these questions right away and to have less competition to rank higher on Google. So instead of saying that you tow for the Washington D.C. area, you might also have a page or section on your website that states that you “offer roadside assistance to the metro D.C. area, Mitchellville, Fairland, Forestville, and Marlow Heights.”
4. Use metadata to your advantage
The meta-who? Your metadata is essentially the information that you see on Google before you even click on the link to a website. So, in the same vein as the previous tip, make sure your metadata is specific and relevant to your towing business. Metadata is a short descriptor, so you may not be able to include all the cities and services that you offer. However, even “We offer roadside assistance and repossession services to eastern D.C.” could yield more results than “We tow in Washington D.C.”
5. Keep your website active
Google loves to showcase newer information ahead of sites that haven’t been updated in a while. So, make sure you keep your website up-to-date with relevant information for your specific company. The easiest way to do this is to include articles and commentary on towing-related topics. Only you have your opinions and your specific expertise on the types of towing that you do. So, showcase what makes you special!
Write on the topics that interest other tow truck drivers and potential clients. Offer your commentary on news stories (which may also give you some traffic from people searching for the news story, not just from people who are looking for tow trucks).
If you’re too pressed for time to write in-depth articles, research a few writing services where you can give a community of writers a topic that they can write about for you.
6. Keep your towing website fast & easy
Customers who are either stressed or pressed for time won’t have the patience to wait on a slowly loading website or one that’s difficult to navigate. Fortunately, there are tons of online tools that can tell you how responsive your website is. Just search for “how to measure website loading speed.” Most of these programs will have space where you can copy and paste your webpage’s URL. Then, their website will analyze how long, in seconds, it takes for that page to load.
If one of your pages is taking longer to load, check your site for images that load more slowly than others. Make image sizes smaller and find out how to optimize your front-facing plugins for its fastest loading speed.
7. Use Google Analytics
Finally, if you truly want to deep dive into what works for your website, use Google Analytics. It’s a free tool that you can use to monitor your website for trends like which pages people are staying on longer, which pages they’re visiting the most, and when they’re visiting your website the most. You can then use this information to improve pages that aren’t performing well and to get rid of methods that aren’t working.
If Analytics seems a little complicated, Google actually offers a free course on how to use the platform. It will teach you a little about things like SEO, conversion rates, and how their system works at a glance.
If you want to learn more about how to save money on your tow truck insurance, however, all you have to do is contact one of our agents. Our tow truck insurance experts are more than happy to get you multiple quotes on the types of insurance you need. To get started, just give us a call, fill out our online form, or LiveChat directly with an insurance specialist today!
