We truly believe that a contractor who provides an expert answer to a question about their trade is more likely to be a high-quality contractor and therefore we also will increase the BuildZoom score for contractors who provide high-quality answers to questions.

Here are some basic guidelines for how it all works:

1. All of our question are located on http://www.buildzoom.com/answers.

2. If you can see a question that looks interesting, click it to read the full version.  You may also want to review some of the existing answers (if there are any).  If you like an answer, you can click on the arrow pointing up to vote for it.  Answers with more votes will show-up higher on the list.

3. To answer a question, click on the answer button located below the question.

This will open up a field where you can add your answer.  You can even upload photos if they support your answer.

4. Before you click “Add answer,” please make sure to add your business name and e-mail address.  Make sure to use the same e-mail address that you used when you registered on BuildZoom (to make sure we can give you credit for your answer).

5. Once your answer has been posted, we’ll match your e-mail address back to your BuildZoom profile and your answer will be represented as coming from your company.  If a potential client likes your answer, this will help them learn more about your business.

6. Your BuildZoom score will also be updated to reflect the answers you have left.  Additionally, we’ll showcase your answer on your BuildZoom profile so that potential clients who are looking at your profile will be sure to see your awesome answers!

First, visit the profile page for your business and click the button that reads, “Is this your business?”

Then, fill out the registration form provided.  This information is necessary to make sure we can validate your association with the business.

Once you have filled out the registration form, you will be granted provisional access to the profile and taken to a dashboard that will allow you to update your information.

You will receive a call within the next two business days to verify your identity.  Once we’ve verified your association with the business, your application will be moved from provisional to permanent status.

The info verified badge will appear if our research team has been able to verify your license information with your state license board.   Everytime a contractor makes an update to their license information, this badge will disappear until our research team has been able to re-verify its accuracy.

If the badge is not there, it does not mean that the information is inaccurate; it just means that we haven’t yet had a chance to double-check the information.  The process normally takes 2-3 weeks although it is fast-tracked for premium contractors.

1. Log-in to your account and click on the “Reviews” tab:

2. Find the review you want to dispute and click the “dispute” link.

3. Explain why the comment is either fraudulent or inaccurate.  Please provide as many details as possible to help our reviews team in their investigation.  The review will be hidden until our team has fully investigated the situation.

4.  Once your dispute has been received, our reviews team will reach out to the reviewer and ask them to provide more details and furnish proof of a business transaction so they can fully determine whether to remove the review or leave it up.  If we don’t hear back from the reviewer, the review will be permanently hidden.

A resolution will be achieved within 5-7 days.

Click on “SEO,” and you’ll be presented with the following screen:

Click on image to enlarge 

To update your URL, simply add the new name into the “unique alias” field and hit “Save changes.”  Your profile’s URL will be updated automatically and the old URL will redirect to the new URL.

• Using our contractor search engine.
• Browsing through our regional directories.
• Submitting a service request that we match to qualified contractors.

To ensure we can provide homeowners with reliable recommendations, we created a scoring system that analyzes all the important considerations a homeowner should make when looking for a contractor, including:

• Whether or not a contractor has an active license.
• The contractor’s standing with the local Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Customer feedback (based on reviews left on BuildZoom.com).

If a contractor meets all of these basic criteria, they receive a good score on the site and will show up relatively high on BuildZoom.com.  Based on feedback we’ve received from homeowners, we’ve also added a variety of secondary metrics we look at when determining the BuildZoom score, including:

• The # of projects that have been uploaded and their overall quality.
• Names and photos of people who work for the company.

There are a number of other variables we measure that we don’t disclose to prevent anyone from “gaming” the system however they are all based off pretty standard considerations that homeowners make when deciding whether or not they want to hire a contractor.

As we’ve discussed several times in this forum, once you have properly optimized your site for Google, you must then turn your attention to cultivating your online authority.  Last week, we shared several quick hits you can get but there are several things you can do on an ongoing basis to continue cultivating authority.  One of these involves creating an online referral network.

This is as simple as creating a page on your site called “Recommended Contractors,” and then listing all of the contractors in your referral network and linking to their sites (or BuildZoom profiles).  For each, you should spend some time to explain why you would recommend them: think about this as almost an inverse “testimonials” page, in which you describe what makes each contractor worthy of your referral.  Once you have done this, follow-up with everyone who you have just openly endorsed and let them know about your recommendation.  Let them know that if they feel the same way about your business, you’d appreciate it if they would similarly endorse you and explain why.

Please note, that you shouldn’t barter links or only link to someone if they link back to you.  This practice, called a “link exchange,” is aimed at gaming the system and Google frowns down upon it.  However, if what you are doing is adding value to the online community (sharing insights into reliable contractors you know), then you are engaging in a beneficial exercise that could have very positive consequences for your own long-term authority.

The more challenging aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) involves the cultivation of “authority,” which primarily happens through link building.  To help explain, let’s consider a search for “general contractors in Los Angeles.”  Every month, there are around 3,000 searches for this particular term (according to Google).  Being ranked highly for this term could mean a steady flow of highly targeted inbound leads for your business (if you were a general contractor in Los Angeles).  Now, let’s quickly look at the results for this query:

Click to enlarge

We can see how Martin’s Construction clearly outranks Plaskoff Construction in the search results.  Both sites have the keywords that would indicate they are general contractors in Los Angeles, the main difference is that Martin’s Construction has 744 inbound links compared to about 101 for Plaskoff Construction according to Open Site Explorer.  The second point to be made, is that it is not only about quantity; it is about quality.  For example, if you get one link from a Website with high authority (such as your local newspaper), it can be far more influential than 10 links from low authority sites.

Now this is a highly competitive term so don’t feel intimidated.  There are loads of terms that can get you qualified leads if you are able to build a decent level of authority, which begs the question, “How do I build authority?”

For contractors, there is some low hanging fruit you should consider:

1. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) 

Your local BBB is likely to be one of the higher authority sites in your area.  If you are already accredited with them, you should be able to get a link back to your site from your BBB report.  Some local BBB’s may allow you to add a link back to your site even if you are not accredited although we highly recommend accreditation (it’s actually one of the most important ranking factors on BuildZoom).

2. Adding a link to your profile pages on high quality listing sites 

There are several high quality sites that we recommend using, including Houzz, Thumbtack and of course, BuildZoom.  You should make sure all of these sites have a link back to your Website.

Link on BuildZoom

3. Adding a link from your social profiles 

The two most important social profiles are Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.  You should make sure to add links from both of these profiles back to your site (and if you don’t have a profile set-up already, you should set one up).

Once you have taken care of all the low hanging fruit, the best way to continue building your authority is through sharing.  When you have completed a great project, make sure to take at least 5-6 great pictures of your work and then:

4. Post the pictures to your Website

Make sure to create a dedicated page for your project that includes both the photos as well as a summary of the project.  The more detail you include, the better: potential customers who see your project page will want to know about the budget, timeline, materials and more.

5. Post the project to your additional properties 

In addition to your site, you’ll want to post the project to BuildZoom, Pinterest, Facebook and Houzz.  Make sure you link back to your site from the project description section.

6. Consider using a news distribution service like PRWeb 

PRWeb is one of the best ways to share your content with a large audience.  When you share a story through PRWeb, it gets in front of a large audience of bloggers, journalists and other people in your community.  If they share your story through additional channels, the links that will be created will help build your overall authority at a rapid pace.

Authority isn’t built overnight, but if you stay consistent and disciplined, you’ll find that the results of your efforts will be a steady stream of inbound leads that will help you grow your bottom line.  If you’re interested in learning more about how BuildZoom can help, please contact us today to speak with a representative.

Through GoDaddy: 

1. Log-in to your account and launch the Domains Control Center.

2. Select the domain you want to point to your BuildZoom site and launch the DNS manager.

3. Update the @ file in your A record to point to 108.163.183.210 as indicated:

4. Remove the www host file from your CNAME record.

5. Add a www host file to the A record and point it to 108.163.183.210 as indicated:

6. Click “Save Zone File.”  Your A record should now look like this:

Once you have completed these steps, your domain will have been configured properly to point to the BuildZoom server.  Please notify the Sites team so we can properly route your domain to your dedicated site on our end.

1. After you log-in, access your Facebook page.

2. Click “Edit Page” and then “Update Info” to access your page options.

3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you’ll see a field labeled, “Website.”  Input your business Website’s URL and click “Save Changes.”