The good news is that an article trying to sell WordPress software is not necessary. That’s because WordPress is totally free software. This is probably the main reason that more than 75 million websites use WordPress, and 30% of the top 10 million websites are on WordPress. That kind of popularity comes from providing the tools to succeed on the internet. A home services business can use WordPress to grow and bring in business.

These include:
• home cleaning services
• home repair businesses
• personal services provided in the home
• lawn care and landscaping
• pest control
• interior design
There are others, but the point is that a WordPress website can deliver business. Read on to find out how you can use the power of WordPress specifically for a home services business, but first the general advantages. Then there are 3 clear steps for the home service business owner to use WordPress to grow their business.

Free or Very Low Cost

Yes, the software is free, and if you host your site at WordPress.com, you can do so without any hosting costs. However, the most powerful tools for building a business website that works will cost money if on WordPress.com, and even then they aren’t all available. Placing your WordPress software and site on hosting service like Hostgator, Bluehost, or many others, you can take advantage of all of the power of the software for as little as around $8/month. It’s a valuable business tool at a tiny cost.

WordPress is Open Source

Because WordPress allows third-party vendors to develop add-ons and plugins for the software, there are tens of thousands of them. These plugins provide features and tools that make it possible to do just about anything you want with your site, even put up an entire online store with payment processing tools.

WordPress is Easy to Use

Though there are many “dummies” type books, the software itself is a lot like a word processor for writing your articles or posts. Adding images is easy as well.  It doesn’t take long at all to become proficient at adding content to your site.  Because it is a Content Management System, you create categories for your material and the software automatically places it in the right places on the site with the right format and navigation to find it.

Step 1:  Write interesting content of value to visitors – The first and most important thing is to write about your business, what you do, and how it is of value to your site visitors. If you clean homes, what materials do you use? Are they environmentally friendly? Home repair services can write about keeping things repaired to avoid long-term damage that de-values the home, and there are safety concerns as well. Lawn care services can write about plant care and have lots of images of beautiful lawns. Pest control companies can write about the damage pests do, as well as any health hazards they carry.

Step 2:  Develop premium content or offers to get leads – Once your site visitor through a search or other way finds your site and likes the information you’re providing, offer more detail delivered automatically via email. Offer an emailed coupon, a free inspection, or anything they’ll find of value that you can deliver in a cost-effective way. Of course, they’ll have to give you their name, home address and email address to receive the offer. Using a WordPress theme with a sidebar allows you to have your call-to-action and offer form right next to the relevant content.

Step 3:  Promote, promote, promote – Sure, you want to try to use keywords and phrases in your content to help with the search engines, and definitely use your location in every article. In other words, instead of just “preventive pest control services,” use “yourtownname preventive pest control services.”  You’ll gain some clout with Google when local people search. However, if you rely only on searches, it could take a really long time to see results. Put your domain name on everything you print and in all ads of every type. Always direct people to your website.

Put these three steps into play on a self-hosted WordPress site and you’ll find the business will start flowing your way.