Your company bio is one of the most important pieces of advertising you can do, especially in this age of Internet marketing. A bio must accomplish several goals. It must be active and engaging, while performing the difficult task of making prospective clients feel like they know your business in a matter of a few concise sentences.

Following are some tips to help you write an effective company bio:

1. Who is reading it? It is not just homeowners and clients that will read your company bio. Depending on your business, you may want to target possible investors. Your bio should also stand out to local media outlets who may be looking to profile unique local businesses (i.e., free advertising!). You bio should be engaging to a wide spectrum of readers.
2. Useful information that is easily understood. A slew of industry jargon may be fascinating to other contractors, but they are your competition. Instead try to provide useful information, explaining what your company does and how you do it better than the rest, in layman’s terms that anyone can understand. Be clear and concise, if there is any confusion about what exactly you do, readers will most likely move on to some other company’s website. (more…)

A recent Money Magazine article put an apt spin on today’s remodeling market. First the good news, the cost of materials are falling rapidly and bringing down the cost of remodels themselves. This bodes well in that homeowners, who may not be able to sell their house in the present market, can at least get the best price on those much-needed renovations they’ve been putting off. This could mean some work for contractors yet. And a good selling point for convincing on-the-fence homeowners to go for that remodel now rather than later.

But there are two big downsides. One, the pool of contractors looking for work is growing steadily and driving down prices further. Two, that means profit margins are slimmer and contractors who get the go ahead may have to do more work for less money.

But it is work.

While the article in Money Magazine is geared toward homeowners, there are some important lessons for contractors as well. Mainly getting to know the homeowner in today’s market. Even those with the means to put on a new roof or expand the master bedroom are thinking twice about it. For a few reasons:

• the return on investment is at a low point in the current housing market
• the future is incredibly uncertain

Fortunately, however, there are more reasons why homeowners who can, should remodel:

• material costs are falling fast (especially for oil-based products such as vinyl, asphalt)
• smaller, necessary “fix-ups” still need to be done
• increased competition means lower prices, more concessions
• putting money into the home now, while costs are low, will help the home maintain its value

Still, it’s a very touchy game on all sides. Contractors desperately need work, homeowners still need or want upgrades, but the housing market is not finished declining. It is therefore very important that homeowners understand which projects will have the best return on their investment and will likely be meticulous about choosing a project and a contractor, as the Money article itself encourages. (more…)