Top Online Services for Contractors

top online directories for contractorsAt Zing Marketing we often hear about different services that businesses are using to get clients. We hear about the best of them and the worst of them. We’ve had plumbers tell us about investing thousands of dollars that didn’t generate any income, and we’ve had contractors tell us the services that are generating leads at very little cost.

So we’ve decided to publish a post about some of the best services online that are available to contractors! Here are the services we hear about most often (in no particular order):

  • Google AdWords
  • HomeAdvisor
  • Thumbtack
  • Porch
  • Yelp
  • Yext

Let’s take a look at each of these in order from the highest reviewed service, to the lowest reviewed service:

Porch.com

Porch.com reviewPorch has received the best reviews of all of our clients. Roofers, plumbers, landscapers and others have all agreed that they get good quality leads through Porch.com for the price that they pay. We have not yet heard a negative review about Porch from the contractors that we work with. However, it should be noted that just as with any service that generates leads, not all leads convert to customers. The reports we receive from our clients say that they’re making a great profit off of Porch, and that they’re very happy with the service.

Google AdWords

AdWords ReviewNext up on the list is Google AdWords, and AdWords Express. The trouble with naming this service is that it’s only worked out for the guys who know how to use it. We have clients who avoid AdWords like the plague because they’ve spent thousands with no return. Those clients admit that they didn’t fully know how to use AdWords. Meanwhile we also have clients who use AdWords as their only way of marketing!

So in short, if you know how to use AdWords, or if you’re willing to pay a company to do it for you, this can be extremely profitable for you.

Thumbtack.com

thumbtack reviewThird on our list is Thumbtack. We’ve heard mixed reviews with these guys. For the most part our contractors are making money with Thumbtack, but 50% of them are complaining about having to charge low rates when using this service. If you’re a one-man show, Thumbtack can be a great service to use. For businesses that have a few staff, or even for larger companies, we wouldn’t recommend using this service.

Yelp ReviewYelp

So far we haven’t had any clients tell us that they’ve been making money with Yelp. For those of the businesses that we’ve worked with that have paid Yelp, they said they either broke even or lost a little, but that the experience wasn’t really bad. We just haven’t heard any raving reviews about using this service to build a business.

Yext

Yext reviewAlthough Yext pays SEO companies pretty well for promoting their service, we have not seen that Yext is getting contractors a return on their investment. Yext is a service that places your business on several online directories throughout the web, but it comes with a high price tag in comparison to other similar service.

Yext isn’t a bad service, it’s just not the best service that we’ve seen of its kind. Our clients haven’t been raving about it, but we also don’t hear many complaints. Your money is probably better spent elsewhere.

HomeAdvisor

HomeAdvisor ReviewThe last on our list is HomeAdvisor. Unfortunately we haven’t met a contractor that has had good things to say about this company. That isn’t to say they’re horrible and nobody should use them. We’re just saying that the reviews we’ve received have primarily been that contractors are spending thousands of dollars and getting calls from people who hang up right away, people who don’t really need work done, or just not getting calls at all.

Conclusion

So if you were to ask us what the best investment for a contractor would be, we’d probably first tell you to work with Zing Marketing. But if you aren’t quite ready for something like that, our survey shows that Porch and AdWords are a couple of the best places you could invest your money.

If you have any experience with these companies, leave us a comment and let us know! We’d love to hear how these companies worked out for you.