4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence

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I was speaking with a fellow professional land surveyor about a property survey he is conducting for land next to a property I recently surveyed, when he said, “Later, I’ve got to ask you what is your secret?”

Are you struggling to build a successful web presence for your professional land surveying business?

The “secret” he wanted to know, was how I’ve developed such a large web presence. What he really wanted to know is my “secret” for getting such successful search results for my land surveying business and personal brand. At first, I was a little taken aback, as I really didn’t want to divulge any “trade secrets” (such as they are) but in reality, there are four basic ingredients a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence.

In this Professional Land Surveyor Premium Post (signup here) I’ll share my “secret” 4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence.

Basic Common Sense, Hard Work and Consistent Focus Are Required To Be Successful

First, there really aren’t any “secrets” at all, other than the basic common sense, hard work and consistent focus required for any success. However, like anything else that you’re just learning, there are tips, tricks and techniques that, once learned, work to build and create success.

Second, I noted above about being successful at showing up in search results on the web. While getting top ranking in search results is the currency on the interwebs, and is certainly very desirable, this article does not strictly involve getting high-ranking search results (although you will). You must understand that getting quality search results and maximizing search engine optimization (SEO) is very technical, is ever-changing, and is an art and science unto itself. With that said, what you will learn in this premium post, while certainly touching on SEO, is for building organic search results, which I think, best converts leads to sales.

With that said, here are the 4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence:

1. Grow a Social Media Presence.

To grow your digital footprint and build your web presence, you will need outposts to connect and communicate with people interested in doing business with you. I recommend using social media sites and your website (see next section) as these outposts.

Social media sites make great outposts for your web campaigns because they are, of course, social…and they easily help research, linking and broadcast publishing, as well as connecting with people. The key to integrating a successful social media component to your professional land surveyor business is to use social media, as you should everywhere, to bring value to your connections.

Providing low value social media content or too self-absorbed content is a death trap. If your social media feed screams ME, ME, ME, ME, then you’ll likely be unsuccessful. Nobody likes to hang around anyone who only drones on about themselves, so don’t do that!

Tips for being successful with Social Media:

Use Multiple Venues (below I list some suggested social media sites). First, social media sites come and go. Remember MySpace? So, safeguard your relevance by being active on many social media sites/platforms. Second, you’ll have better odds of creating leads and sales by casting a broad net. Your potential customers, I’m sure, are diverse and unique, and as such, use a wide array of social media sites themselves. So, you don’t want to miss an entire group of potential customers by not being active an any one social media platform.
Complete All Profile Info. Most social media sites allow you to fill out a profile as part of your account. Do complete all the available profile information, including, and this is IMPORTANT, uploading an appropriate profile image (branding is very important here).
Link To Your Website. As part of your social media account profiles, in addition to above, make sure to include in your profile a link back to your website. This builds links back to your website, which helps with search results, and makes it easy for your connections to learn more about you and your business.
Separate Personal From business. Do not mix your personal social media efforts with that of your “business” or “professional” social media accounts.
Publish Quality, Relevant, and Useful Information. Do not publish low value information just for the sake of filling space. Your goal is to become a sought-after resource and be seen as an expert in your field.
Don’t Drone! It is perfectly acceptable, and even desired, to toot your own horn. So go ahead and publish self-serving updates that show off your talents and accomplishments. The issue is not that you promote yourself and your company as much as it is how much you do so. As a rule, I recommend that for every one or two self-serving updates you publish, that you make the next four to six updates be related useful information and/or sharing of updates and links from your connections.

Here’s a list of some social media sites I recommend:

2. Build a Quality Website.

Your main outpost on the web to generate sales leads and interact with your customers most likely is on your website. That’s why it’s important that your professional land surveyor business website is a quality website.

Quality can mean a lot of things, but complicated need not be one of those things. How would I quantify quality?

A quality website is one that is:

Attractive
Useful for Visitors and Customers
Informative
Generates and Converts Sales Leads
Up To Date, with no “Under Construction” pages.
Includes a Blog (see below)
Easily Updated
Includes Some Form of an Online Store

I’m amazed at how many professional land surveyors don’t yet have a website for their companies. Maybe worse, are the ones that started to set up a website but never finished. Outdated information and unfinished web pages communicate that very message to the world – That you are behind the times and don’t finish what you start. Is that really the message you want to convey to the world?

You can read the 5 Easy Website Improvements To Build Your Professional Land Surveying Business premium post, which goes into more detail on how to improve your company website.

Please contact me if you’d like to work with me to help you with your branding and website design.

3. Communicate With a Blog.

One of the best things you can do to improve your web presence is to include a blog on your company website. You’ll not only be providing valuable and interesting information to your website visitors and clients, but you’ll also improve your search results.

If you don’t think that calling it a Blog is right for your professional website, then simply title that content as News (that’s what I did). Whatever you choose to call this content is up to you, but know that publishing regularly updated content gets rewarded by search engines, like Google, and builds relationships with your potential and existing customers. Search engines, like Google, typically reward websites with pages (like your blog) updated often, written by humans, provide information of value, and include keyword rich material.

Important ideas to keep in mind when setting up and using a blog:

Publish useful information or news regularly to improve your websites digital footprint, via search engines, and build relationships with your customers.
Do allow comments on your published articles. This not only provides a fantastic way to interact and communicate with your customers, but also adds credibility.
Do enable content sharing. Give your website visitors the opportunity to share your articles with their friends and the world.
Do share and link to your blog posts or news items via your other social media outposts.

If your hosting solution or website platform doesn’t support this feature, contact me for website solutions I can offer to improve your website design and sales.

4. Practice Persistence.

“Set it and forget it” is not an ingredient for a successful professional land surveyor business web presence, however, the practice of persistence is. The real growth in web presence comes from the regular publication of high-value, quality information. It takes time.

The main reason that my fellow professional land surveyor was able to “find” me and my land surveying company in so many places on the web, and ranking high in internet searches, is because I’ve been regularly and persistently working at growing my digital footprint and we presence for many years now.

Really, this is branding and marketing 101. First, develop a consistent brand and message, and then, second, communicate your brand and message to position your company for when the sale is ready. As an example, say that you put up one billboard sign for one week with your message, and that it’s in a relatively low traffic area. Sure, you might get noticed and make a sale or two.

Now, let’s say that, instead, you put multiple brand consistent messages on several dozen (or more) billboards scattered throughout high traffic areas with regular placements over a one year period (or more). Don’t you think this would be more effective when many people realize they need your services and remember seeing your branding and message in multiple locations and different times? Of course it is.

The internet is no different. You want to breed familiarity (in the good way, not the contemptuous way) while building trust. When site visitors (potential customers), customers and search engines see that you have persistence and are able to regularly publish quality, high-value articles and social media updates, you will have gone a long way in building that trust and be more likely to convert that first interest (a search) into a sale

In Closing: Feel free to contact me if you would like to work with me to improve your existing website, design a new website, or forcontent and media creation and management. Let me work to improve your business, like by improving your website, while you concentrate on what you do best.

This Professional Land Surveyor Premium Post by Eric Colburn, PLS, Professional Land Surveyor Revivalist & Adviser.

4 Ingredients for a Successful Professional Land Surveyor Business Web Presence