Content Marketing Strategy Guide for Pest Control Companies

“Content is King.”

If you’ve been managing your pest control website for any length of time, you’ve probably heard that saying before—maybe more times than you can count. That statement has some real truth in it, by the way, because websites need solid content to:

• rank well
• engage readers
• entice potential leads to turn into clients

You may not know where to begin with your content creation, and you might even be wondering how you can create content when you don’t consider yourself a writer.

Well, the good news is that you can use this content marketing strategy guide by DAGMAR Marketing to help.

Importance of a content marketing strategy for your company

Here’s even more good news. With a solid content strategy, your website can stand out from those of your competitors. And, although many aspects of digital marketing and SEO can be pretty technical, content is an area where you can be creative, and be rewarded for that creativity.

Here’s more about the importance of your pest control company’s content strategy:

• Your pest control team members are the experts in eliminating destructive, sometimes dangerous, critters, but potential customers may not get that impression from a visit to your website. With a great content strategy, you can gain online authority.
• When your content is found online, and even shared, this is a “free” way to spotlight the power of your brand and boost your name recognition. Quality content is a key component of branding, a way to go beyond what might run on television and radio ads.
• Search engines, including Google, rely upon your content when ranking your website. And, when you publish great content on your site, you’ve automatically strengthened three crucial digital marketing items:
  • search engine optimization
  • link building
  • social media strategies
• You cannot rank well in a search engine without great content. And, “great” doesn’t mean blog posts that are only 500 words. Google rewards high quality, relevant, in-depth informational content.
  • Does the specific length matter? There’s plenty of debate about that question, but statistics show how the average word count of top ranking pages is around 1,900 words. And, those stats don’t lie.
  • Simply putting words on a page (or screen) isn’t enough. Your content must go beyond raw numbers to provide your site visitors with the information they want.

Blog posts are important for engaging readers. That said, your blog can’t be the sole focus of your content creation strategy. Instead, you’ll want to create quality content for your entire pest control website.

• The most important pages are your homepage and your service pages, which could include a termite extermination page, rodent control page, bed bug elimination one, and so forth. To kick your content into high gear, there are plenty of content elements you can add to these pages to make them an excellent source for clients, potential clients, and search engines. They include:
  • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Pick almost any topic on your site, and there will be tons of questions that people regularly ask and then search for the answers online. So, this is an amazing and easy way to increase content quality. As a first step, head to Google and do your own search, say, on “termite exterminators.” You may see a box titled “People Also Ask” in the search results (we did!). Sample questions you might come across:
    • What do termite exterminators do?
    • What is the best pest control service?
    • How is termite infestation treated?
  • More About FAQs: Through the process described above, you’ll have a list of commonly asked questions that are related to your initial search term. Decide which questions are relevant and answer them on your termite service page as FAQ content. Also click on each of the questions listed in the “People Also Ask” section to see more queries that you can answer.

• Checklists: Another great idea is to create a checklist, perhaps one to help readers know whether they have a rodent infestation. This is an easy way to significantly increase word count in a strategic way. Be sure to include highly useful, relevant content rather than randomly adding information. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes first and then create a checklist process that they can easily follow.
• Pest Control Library: Create long-form pieces of content about each of the main types of pests that people in your area are likely to encounter, and then place these guides in a pest control library on your site. Done well, these guides should provide readers (potential customers!) with vital information.
• Case Studies: Case studies provide your company with a great way to highlight your real-world experience with pest control, showing how you’ve successfully addressed challenges. Readers with similar problems will likely relate to the stories, giving them confidence in your ability to exterminate their pest infestations.

As you create this content, be sure to link among related pages and blog posts on your site. This is a strategic way to provide more topical depth and authority, and it also facilitates the search engine crawlers’ ability to find deeper pages on your site to index.

Interested in learning how we implement these strategies for our pest control company clients? Keep reading.

Here are just some examples of how we use content marketing for the pest control companies we work with to give them the online competitive advantage they deserve:

Tier 1 Pest Control Company Content

As a first step in our content marketing plan, we determine what tier 1 content is needed. Tier 1 content can be defined as:

• copy that speaks directly to the pressing needs of your most profitable audience; usually, this content addresses the types of questions you frequently get from leads and online searches
• In this content, we would target your main keywords and top services.
• This content would be fairly in-depth, with a word count from 2,500 to 5,000. It would provide a deep dive into the pest control topic, one that includes valuable tips and advice.

Example of a Tier 1 Piece of Content:

How to Identify and Respond to a Cockroach Infestation

Tier 2 Pest Control Company Content

Next, we create tier 2 content, which is specifically designed to support tier 1 topics, like the example described above. Although tier 1 content is fairly in-depth, you can’t deeply explore everything related to your tier 1 pest control topic in just one post.

What we consider tier 2 content includes:

• content that takes some aspect of the broad tier 1 piece, and focuses more specifically on a sub-topic contained within that content; this is where we drill down into specifics
• This level of content should always be linked to from the parent tier 1 piece of content.
• Ideally, this content should be 2,000 or more words in length.
• Link out to third party resources that support your information, especially when citing statistics and studies, or quoting from another source, such as a news story.

Example of a Tier 2 Piece of Content:

Key Steps to Take When Cockroaches Move Into Your Home

In this deep dive on a specific sub-topic contained within your tier 1 content, be tactical. Link to resources, both on your site and from third parties; include FAQs, checklists, and so forth, along with eye-catching imagery and helpful videos.

You may be concerned that linking out to third-party sources will cause prospects to leave your site, or leave an impression that you must not really be an authority. In reality, linking out is a time-tested way to provide readers with the best information possible. It also boosts the “trust factor” with Google and other search engines. Be strategic about how and when you link out, sure, but don’t be afraid to link to relevant, quality resources, and also embed videos that add value to your piece.

Typically, our content marketing strategies go to tier 3, following the pattern described in this post. You could go even deeper, to a tier 4 or 5, if necessary. Our recommendation is that you start with two or three tiers and measure performance; then, if you see that you have a topic that could benefit from an even deeper exploration, go for it.

Why this content structure works

1. This strategy allows you to create a site chock full of content of topical depth. By implementing this strategy in each of your main service areas, you’ll have more than 10,000 words covering each key aspect of your pest control company, with pieces strategically linked to one another.
2. People are searching by voice queries more and more—and, when you include quite a bit of FAQ and checklist content, this type of evergreen content can satisfy voice-related searches. After all, voice search often consists of “How do I” or “What is the best?” Not convinced? We already have statistics showing that 58% of people have used voice search for information about local businesses, and voice searches are expected to make up to 50% of all search queries by 2020.
3. It’s easier to go social with what you write. Because this type of content is more actionable (not promotional), it has higher potential for social media sharing.
4. Tiered content fits in well with virtually any content marketing strategy because it usually contains useful checklists and resource links that can (and often will) accrue inbound links over time. Plus, if you need to make any edits to your copy, this content is easily updated.
5. It’s easier to harness the power of email! You can use tiered content in email marketing campaigns, sent to various audiences, including potential clients and leads, or to past clients as non-promotional content to keep your services front of mind.
6. This type of content is a key part of killer SEO strategies. Yes, we’re an SEO agency, but we’re listing this benefit last because we believe that good content strategies, well implemented, will naturally rank well. So, if you meet all of the criteria listed above, you can relax, confidently writing for users first and search engines second.

Implementing Your Pest Control Firm’s Tiered Content Marketing Strategy

• Create a list of your top services, along with the main keywords for each of those services. If you don’t yet have a list of the best keywords, you can use a keyword tool to find them. We recommend Ubersuggest (free) or KWFinder (paid).
• Now, make a content map that details your top level/tier one topics, plus the tier 2 sub-topics that relate to each tier 1 area, and so forth. (link to google doc that is formatted like our content map)
• Enter your keywords into Google’s search bar and mine the “People Also Ask” section for each of your keywords. This is a convenient way to put together relevant FAQ questions for each topic.
• When you’re ready to publish a piece of content, use the year (and sometimes the month) in the title of the page and update it regularly to keep it current (and change the month/year in the title tag when updating). Note: Do not put the date in the URL. We want the URL to stay the same no matter how many edits/updates we make to it. If you use a day/month/year structure in your URL, it can change, which will affect links and social signals you’ve possibly acquired over time.
• We’ve focused on written content in this discussion of your content marketing strategy. Go beyond the written word, though, using images, videos, screenshots, downloads, and more in your published content.

How to Market Your Company’s Tiered Content Properly

• Catchy headline can encourage people to read and then share your information. The reality is that people like to share interesting stuff. According to a UCLA study, our brains are wired to share information. Because there is so much content out there that potentially can be shared, you need to make yours more valuable to readers—including a headline that’s worth sharing. Ready for this? This study determined that 59% of Twitter shares are likely based on a headline alone.
• Join in the conversation! Promote yourself and your articles, sharing your content on your personal and professional social media platforms. This type of content should be shared multiple times annually on each of your accounts; this is not a “one and done” activity.
• You can also use sponsored posts on Facebook to create awareness and brand recognition.
• Here’s a strategy to jumpstart sharing and clicks on your content. You can use a social media promotion site such as Quuu Promote, making sure that you don’t overdo it.
• When you link to a third-party resource, also tag them on Twitter and/or email them to give them a head’s up. It’s okay to ask that they share your content with their audiences.
• Reach out to industry publications manually, asking them to publish a summary of a piece of your content on their blogs. If they accept your guest post, link to your own content for further reading within the text to get a valuable, relevant link to your content that can help it to rank in search engines.
• Promote your content to your email subscribers. This can go a long way in improving brand recognition and may cause one or more of your subscribers to ask about your services or to share the email with someone who will need pest control services.

Measuring the Performance of Your Pest Control Content Strategy

You’ve now spent significant time and effort into creating and marketing your content, and it’s okay to take a minute to just breathe. But, don’t take much more than a minute, because it’s now time to monitor and measure the performance of your content strategy. Here’s how.

Google Analytics: This is the most basic way to measure all sorts of website metrics—and what’s great is that Google Analytics is free. So, there is no reason not to take advantage of this opportunity on a site you own. To measure content performance, set a note or otherwise keep track of publishing dates for each piece of content that you plan to analyze. This allows you to do a before-and-after comparison of your content and its performance. Here are just some of the ways you can track and review your content:

• Pageviews: Check how many views a specific page or post has gotten; if you set a note in this analytics program when you’ve published or updated a particular piece of content, you can review pageviews after that date for comparison purposes.

• Sessions/Users: This will give you a sense of how many users visit your content. Although it’s not a straightforward metric, you can compare it over time to see if you’re improving your traffic numbers.

• Time on page metrics: Overall, the longer site visitors stay on a specific page, the better. And, if your time on page metrics are improving, it’s more likely that visitors are reading through that page of content.

• Goals: When you track goals (such as calls or contact form submissions), you can see if a specific page is converting according to the goals you set. This will let you determine if you’re getting leads from your content.(Let’s create a shareable custom content dashboard and link it here. There are probably plenty out there to get us started)

Search Console: Search Console is another Google tool, and it’s also free. And, yes. If you’re tracking Google Analytics, it also makes sense to use this tool, too, because it also gives you content-performance information. Google Analytics gives you almost no information about keywords leading to clicks on your site, while the Search Console provides plenty.

• Clicks: See how many clicks a specific page has received, as well as its click through rate (CTR). The CTR is a ratio of clicks to impressions (impressions = number of times your URL shows up in a search). The higher the CTR, the better.

• Queries: This may be the most valuable aspect of Search Console because you can see what queries led to impressions and clicks on a particular page. Armed with this information, you can find keyword variations to add to your content and/or decide if there are spots where you could further strengthen the piece of content.
  • You could, for example, harness the power of the console by choosing Search Analytics, and then toggling Impressions, CTR, and Positions. Sort by Impressions and see which queries have plenty of impressions that are showing in positions three through ten in the Google search engine results pages. Add the best phrases to your title tag and/or in H1/H2 tags on your page.

When Will My New Content Start Working?

It’s hard not to be impatient. We want to see the results of our shiny new content right now! It’s like being a kid at Christmas all over again.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t usually work that way.

SEO is a marathon, not a sprint, which means that you’ll need to wait a bit for results. Having said that, new, expansive content that connects with readers and satisfies a deep need tends to take three to six months to really start working.

This means it will take about that long to consistently see traffic/visits increasing. In some instances, content may begin to show up on the first search engine results page (page one, not number one) for some search terms.

Are shorter time frames possible? Sure, but that will depend upon both your content creation and outreach, and how effective they are. You can speed up results if an authoritative site links to your page, or if the content happens to go viral. Although it would be great to go viral or get a strong link, don’t count on that happening. If and when it does, it’s a real bonus.

How to Maintain Your New Content Over Time

New content is published on the internet every single day—meaning, in the millions of pages. Much of it won’t overlap what you’re writing about, but those numbers will include some content about pest control services. So, if you want your content to remain strong, it’s important to maintain it properly. (Yes, comparing it to the need for follow-up pest control treatments is a pretty good comparison!) You’ll need to review your content regularly for accuracy, timeliness, and usefulness.

Here’s how we maintain our content, and our clients’ content:

• Continue to check your Search Console to uncover what keywords your content ranks for, and find keyword phrases that your content might not necessarily cover in depth. Work on those terms to increase your relevancy for the search patterns you discover.
• Update content when it makes sense to do so. Perhaps there is a new pest control treatment that is especially environmentally friendly. If so, update pages and posts that discuss green treatment solutions. As another example, as you write new case studies, find smart places to add snippets of information about them, along with new places to link to them.
• Even if nothing newsworthy has happened, update your content annually, anyhow. This includes adding the year to the headlines and title tags to show the content is current. This can help to boost CTRs.
• Regularly promote your content on social media channels. After it’s reviewed for freshness, you’ll know it’s current and still applicable to readers.

Some Additional Pest Control Content Tips

• Consider the explicitness of language to use. Yes, you’ll want to warn people of the dangers certain pests present, and you’ll want to assure potential clients that you will eliminate those pests. But, you’ll have to decide how much you’ll want to describe specific actions taken.
• Avoid using industry jargon. Speak in the language of your customers, who won’t necessarily know the details about a particular piece of equipment, for example, that you use for your treatments.
• People are increasingly reading content on mobile devices, so consider how your published content will appear on a smartphone or tablet.
• Add call-to-actions throughout your content, especially the long-form pieces. If a reader needs to get those rats out of his house, he’ll want to contact you, ASAP—not after reading the rest of a 5,000-word post. You can fix that easily by adding a “contact us” button or some other call to action device in strategic places.

Pest control content marketing can’t be an afterthought, something you do only when you have extra time. It must be a focus of your marketing plan, because compelling content can help to attract new leads and spotlight your website and company brand.

FAQs and checklists with deep authoritative information can really help to boost the user experience and engage readers, including potential customers. But, having said that, you also must review your content regularly, and measure its success to help ensure that it’s working well for you and for the people who need your pest control services.

If you need assistance crafting your pest control company’s content marketing strategy, contact us to schedule a consultation. DAGMAR has a lot of experience working with companies like yours, and with creating the best content strategy for their businesses.

Read more of our Pest Control Marketing Guides: