If you spend money on advertising, directories or a website, you should know what you get back. Yet many tradespeople cannot say where their last ten enquiries came from. The good news is that tracking does not need to be complicated.
Start with the simplest method: ask
Every time someone rings or messages, ask: “How did you hear about us?” Write the answer down. A notebook or a note on your phone is fine.
People are not always accurate, and some will say “Google” when they saw your van, but over a few months patterns appear.
Give each source its own route
If you can, make each source easy to tell apart:
- A different phone number for your website, for adverts and for your van
- A different form field or hidden tag for each website page
- A separate email address for each campaign
See what your website tells you
Free tools can show you how many people visit your site, which pages they look at and how they found it. Google’s tools are the usual starting point. You do not need to understand everything, just the headline numbers:
- How many visitors per month
- Where they come from: search, social, direct, or a link
- Which pages they visit most
- How many take an action, like ringing or sending a form
Track calls from your website
Ask your provider whether clicks on your phone number and quote form are being counted. Knowing that fifty people tapped “call” this month is far better than guessing.
Look at your Google Business Profile
Your profile shows how many people called, requested directions or visited your website from it. It is a quick way to see how your local presence is doing.
Keep a simple monthly note
Once a month, jot down:
- How many enquiries came in
- Where each came from
- How many turned into jobs
- What you spent on each source
After a quarter or two you will know where your money works hardest.
What to do with the answer
If one source brings most of your work, protect it and build on it. If one eats cash and brings little, cut it. If a source you thought was weak turns out to be strong, give it more attention.
You cannot improve what you cannot see. Even a notebook and a monthly tally will beat guessing.
Built in where we can
We set up basic tracking on every site so you can see how it is performing. See what is included.