If you’ve dabbled in search engine optimization, you know the importance of keywords in attracting organic and paid search traffic to your page. But “keyword stuffing”–filling your site with tons of keywords that are unnatural and awkward–is a major no-no for modern SEO.

But keywords do still have a place in any good SEO strategy. We’ll show you how to use Google’s keyword planner to find new search terms and keywords to target for your home inspection website.

Using keyword planner

Google’s keyword planner is a free tool is mainly used for paid keyword research, but it’s also a great way to get an idea of what your potential customers are searching for. The, you can write about those keywords on your site to attract more visitors.

To use keyword planner, sign up for an AdWords account using your email address and website.

Once you’re logged in, mouse over the ‘Tools’ tab at the top of the page. Select Keyword Planner from the dropdown menu.

Begin a search for new keywords by clicking ‘search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category.’ For the purpose of this example, we’ll use the phrase ‘home inspections’ with www.inspector-pages.com as the landing page.

Complete the rest of the form by filling in your industry, target language, and location. Then, click ‘Get ideas.’

The keyword planner will return a chart showing the search volume for this term over time–how many people searched for it in your area over a week, month, year, etc. You want your target keywords to have a steady or increasing search volume.

We’re going to be interested in the section beneath that chart. Click on the tab labeled ‘keyword ideas.’

Here you’ll find a list of keywords related to your industry, specific to your location. For each keyword, you’ll see the number of monthly searches, the competition level and the suggested bid (used for AdWords campaigns).

If we sort the form by number of monthly searches, we can see that the most-searched term is what you’d probably expect: home inspection. But as you work your way down the list, you’ll see some other related terms you might not be focusing on: building inspector, house inspector, etc.

Competition level

The next thing we want to zero in on is the level of competition for each keyword. You can see the first few on the list have a high level of competition, meaning there are lot of other people targeting those same keywords in your market.

But if we scroll down the list a bit, we can find several other similar keywords with a decent amount of search traffic but a low level of competition. These are the low-hanging fruits we want to reach for.

To capture people searching for these terms, you’ll want to make sure each of them are addressed on your website. Ideally, you’ll set up individual landing pages that specifically talk about each of these keywords. This will capture searches and lead them to other pages on your site.

How to capitalize on these keywords

Let’s say you decide you want to focus on ‘radon inspector,’ (assuming, of course, this is a service you offer). You’ll want to create a designated landing page on your site where you talk all about your radon inspection services. You could show photos, offer pricing and of course, include a call-to-action for interested customers to contact you. You’ll also want to be sure your location is mentioned on the page.

Because there are a significant number of people searching for this term in your area, but the competition is low, searchers will be more likely to land on your site than your competitors’ and, in turn, book a service with you.

As you can key, it’s easy to get lost in Google’s keyword planner, searching variations on any and every term related to your industry. And you should! It’s a free way to bring more web visitors in the door each month.

You can take this keyword research one step further into the paid realm by setting up AdWords campaigns for each of your target terms. Kissmetrics has a wonderful tutorial to get you started with your first campaign.

Want more free marketing tips and tricks? Follow Inspector Pages on Twitter. 

Social media can be a funny thing to navigate. Each platform has its own set of norms and best practices, and the audience differs slightly from one platform to the next.

Even so, there are some definite faux pas you’ll want to avoid no matter which social outlet you’re using to promote your home inspection business. Here are 8 mistakes to avoid on your social channels.

1. Not creating a dedicated business account

Chances are you probably already have your own personal accounts on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. This is a great place to keep your friends and family informed about what you’re up to.

But you should also have separate, dedicated accounts specifically for your business. This way, even people you don’t know personally will have an easy way to find and follow you. You’ll also reap the benefits of having more results in search listings.

2. Posting off-color jokes

Even if you think it’s harmless, there’s a fine line between something being funny and offensive. For your business, it’s best to err on the side of caution when it comes to posting anything that has the potential to offend your audience. Save the off-color jokes and toilet humor for your personal account.

3. Political commentary

Your business account is not—we repeat, is not the place to sound off about your political beliefs.

The one exception to the rule, in our opinion, is when it comes to political matters that directly affect your industry. In that case, it’s appropriate to help your audience understand how the issue might affect them. Otherwise, leave politics out of the conversation.

4. Spreading yourself too thin

Just because dozens of social media platforms exist doesn’t mean you need to have a presence on all of them. In fact, spreading yourself too thin can make it impossible to market effectively on social media.

We suggest picking between one and three platforms to hone in on, then building a strong presence there. Which brings us to our next mistake to avoid…

5. Not knowing your audience

Think of social media platforms like different places to hang out. Some people prefer to hang out in quiet coffee shops, while others prefer lively, crowded bars. Some gathering spots have a younger demographic, while others cater to an older crowd.

Social media platforms work the same way. Facebook is popular across all age groups, and it’s recently seen a spike in popularity among the 50+ demographic. Twitter skews much younger, with the majority of users being in the 18-29 age group. LinkedIn is most popular with users between 30 and 64.

Your message should be tailored accordingly. While you might post on LinkedIn about growing your business by hiring five new inspectors, on Twitter you’ll get better engagement by sharing a funny picture from a job site or a fast fact about the industry.

6. Not having a strategy

Your assumption might be that posting something is better than posting nothing, but that’s not true if what you’re posting isn’t in alignment with your brand. Keep this in mind: when someone goes to your account for the first time, the very first impression they’ll get is from whatever you posted most recently.

Each time you post, ask yourself: is what I’m posting in line with the image I want to convey for my business?

7. Posting non-native content

What is native content? Simply put, it’s the type of post that fits in naturally on each platform.

For Facebook, that would be short text posts, horizontal images and video. You won’t see too many vertical images or long-form posts showing up in your news feed.

For Twitter it’s (sometimes painfully) short commentary, quips and photos with an entertaining or informative slant. Posts that bleed into multiple tweets or contain lots of abbreviation are non-native and won’t perform well.

For LinkedIn, it’s business updates, behind-the-scenes photos and content that applies to your industry. You won’t see too many family photos or funny status updates here.

With a bit of strategy and regular posting, you’ll see your social channels grow consistently over time.

Writing a blog has endless benefits for your home inspection business. Not only does it give potential customers a glimpse inside your world and help build value, it also boosts your search rankings by telling Google your site is consistently updated with fresh content.

So why don’t more home inspectors write a blog? The biggest objection we get from our members is one of two things: I don’t have time to blog or I wouldn’t know what to blog about.

We’ve solved the content problem for you with 20 great ideas to get you started. As for finding the time? Put down your smartphone and get to work!

1. Today’s Inspection

Take us through your latest inspection. Point out what you found and why it’s important.

2. The Most Common Home Inspection Issues

Make a list of the most common problems you see on a job site and how they could be corrected.

3. Spotlight on a Problem

Take an in-depth look at a common home inspection finding, why it’s bad and the steps needed to fix it.

4. Commonly Missed Red Flags

What signs of problems do buyers and sellers commonly miss? How can you spot them?

5. Spotlight on One Room

Take us through the kitchen/bathroom/attic/crawlspace and tell us what you look out for during an inspection.

6. Horror Stories

Always have a camera ready! Your next inspection horror story will make your next great blog post.

7. Questions to Ask Your Prospective Home Inspector

What should customers be looking for when choosing a home inspector?

8. What to Expect During Your Home Inspection

Many clients are nervous first time homebuyers. Take them through the process and what they can expect.

9. What type of home inspection do I need?

Explain the different types of inspections that are available and why a prospective customer might need them.

10. Lead Based Paint

Explain the dangers associated with lead based paint and which homes are most likely to have it.

11. Mold

Explain how and where mold likes to grow and how to keep it at bay

12. Termites

Tips for homeowners to ward off termites and signs they might be invading

13. (Insert Issue Here)

You name it—take a closer look at any issue you might find during an inspection, from radon to A/C leaks.

14. How to Inspect Your Own House

Just because someone isn’t buying a home doesn’t mean they can’t look out for issues, and you should be a resource for them.

15. Sample Report

Take potential clients through a sample report. Show them the thorough results they’ll get when they work with you.

16. How Much Does a Home Inspection Cost?

A great opportunity to explain your pricing model. Detail what goes into the price of a home inspection and the factors that may cause it to vary.

17. How a Home Inspection Outcome Can Affect a Sale

Explain why a home inspection matters and how it can affect a pending sale.

18. Interview With a Satisfied Customer

Do a blog post interviewing a happy customer, either via text or video.

19. Trends in the Market

If you’ve been in your market for many years, you probably notice trends over time. Are more homes on the market? Is a certain neighborhood becoming an up-and-coming place to buy?

20. Funny Faux Pas

Have you ever found a furry rodent family living in an attic? Maybe a plumbing problem that required you to don a gas mask? Show it off in good fun on your blog.

Do you have a home inspection blog? We’d love to link to you! Send it to us here.

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the all-important, ever-changing method for building a website that’s search engine friendly.

For nearly all small businesses, the vast majority of their web traffic comes from organic searches, for example, when someone goes to Google and types in ‘Dallas home inspector.’

There are many, many factors at play when it comes to getting your site to rank well on Google, but the most important factor (at least as of mid-2015, at the time of this post) is relevance to the user. In short, a site that delivers the information the user was looking for.

So what can you do to bump your way up Google’s search results? Here are 7 tips you can implement, even if you’re a complete beginner.

1. Header tags

In layman’s terms, the header tag denotes the headline for each page of your site. Don’t try to get too creative with these; the header tag should tell Google—and the reader–exactly what the page is about.

Add them to your post by going into the HTML editor (called ‘Text editor’ in InspectorPages) and adding h1 open and close tags around your header text, like this:

<h1> Here is my header </h1>

It’ll come out looking like this:

Here is my header.

2. Meta description

The meta description is a short sentence or two that tells the reader what the page is about, almost like a preview.

You should aim for no longer than 142 characters, and try to incorporate your page’s main keywords.

For this post, my meta description might go something like this:

“We’ll explain 7 SEO tactics complete beginners can use to achieve better search engine rankings.”

Hey, that’s pretty good. I think I’ll use it.

While the meta description holds a small amount of weight in Google’s algorithm, it’s of utmost importance in getting people to actually click on your site once it shows up in the search results. It’s like your 5-second pitch to convince people why they should click on your page.

3. Image file names

If you’re a true beginner, you probably patted yourself on the back just for figuring out how to upload an image to your site. Ready for the next step? Good, because it’s an important one.

When you uploaded that image of yourself from your computer to your website, it might have been saved with a filename like ‘Me.jpg’ or something equally generic.

Use that image name as one more opportunity to tell Google what your site is about. Instead of calling it ‘Me.jpg,’ your image should be titled ‘FrankSmith_HomeInspector.jpg.’ Make sense?

4. Keyword rich URLS

Check out the URL for this blog post:

See how the URL is made up of the words in the title of our post?

But, some publishers default to an arbitrary numbering system, instead giving posts this kind of URL:

http://www.inspector-pages.com/blog/14259

That kind of URL does nothing for your search rankings. In fact, it’s a wasted opportunity.

Most modern publishing platforms default to keyword rich URLS, but if yours does not, contact your web administrator to have the settings changed.

5. Link within your domain

Nobody likes to be confused. That’s why Google gives higher placement to well-organized sites.

You can help Google understand your site’s hierarchy by linking between your own pages in a way that makes sense.

For example, today I’m talking about digital marketing tactics, but maybe I also want to suggest that you try out some face-to-face marketing tactics. See how I linked to a related page within my own site?

Not only does this help keep readers on my site longer, it tells Google that these two pages are related. They’re both blog posts, and they’re both about marketing tactics for home inspectors. Now Google is beginning to get the gist of what my site is about.

As with the other tips in this post, moderation is key. Too many internal links will have your site’s structure looking less like an organized map and more like a spider web.

6. Reference your location multiple times

Your city, county or region shouldn’t only be listed on your ‘Contact’ page. You should sprinkle them in throughout your site in a way that feels natural.

We’re willing to bet you use the phrase ‘home inspection’ on your site quite a bit. Here and there, expand the phrase to something like ‘home inspections in the Chicago area’ or ‘quote for your Jefferson County home inspection.’

Don’t overdo it! But do help Google understand where you’re based. This way, searchers in your area are more likely to see your site in their search results.

7. Add fresh content

Have you ever clicked on a website to find that it hasn’t been updated since 2010? It doesn’t make you feel too confident that the material is current.

That’s why Google gives higher preference to sites that are updated frequently. A blog is a great answer to this.

You don’t have to commit to posting weekly or even on a regular schedule. But, by adding a new post every month or two, you’re letting the search engines know your site is current, fresh and accurate.

Have a great SEO tip for other home inspectors? Share it with us on Twitter @Inspector_Pages.