Roof installation, repair, or replacement is a major decision regarding your Vancouver, WA property and you definitely need the best roofer to do the job. It is a project that will cost a lot of money and hiring the wrong contractor will only lead to regret.

The question is, how can you tell that a roofer is as good as they claim? The best way is to see their previous work, but this is often still not enough. The contractor might have done some great work in the past, but it does not mean that they will produce similar results for you.

The building the contractor shows you could also be the only one where they did a great job and the rest are in a sorry state. To determine whether you should hire a roofer in Vancouver, WA to install, repair, or replace your roof, it is important to check their online reputation by following these tips:

7 Tips to Help You Find Top Vancouver, WA Roofers with an Excellent Online Reputation

Check the Roofer’s Website

Checking the roofer’s website is by far the fastest way to find out their online reputation. The website should provide basic information such as the history of the company, the number of years it has been in business, the types of services it specializes, and the brand it carries.

Ask for Insurance and License Certificates

You need to check whether the roofing company’s license is current and in good standing. When it comes to the issue of insurance, you should be wary of any company making the “fully insured” claim. “Fully insured” should ideally mean that the roofer has workers’ compensation and liability insurance, but that is not always the case. You should always ask for insurance certificates.

Double-Check their Certificates and Memberships

It is easy for a roofer to claim to be certified by leading brands in the industry or a member of a trusted trade association. However, you must always verify such claims. Top manufacturers have contractor verification tools on their website. You can also check the trade association directories, which are usually available to the public. If neither option is available, you can always contact industry authorities directly with your queries.

Get Feedback from Past Clients

It can be a good idea to ask family, friends, and neighbors that have worked with the roofer you plan to hire whether they were completely satisfied with the service they received. You can also read reviews of the roofer on websites such as Angie’s List and Google My Business. Based on this feedback (i.e. whether it was mostly positive or mostly negative), you can determine how reputable the roofer is and whether or not you want to work with them. SCORE has gone out and have found several Vancouver Wa roofers and directories that are resourceful.

Check the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Website

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) website does much more than simply accrediting contractors: it also publishes records of client companies. You can use it to find out whether a particular roofer has poorly resolved or unresolved complaints. However, always remember that simply because a roofer is not BBB-accredited, it does not automatically make it bad. The BBB website itself actually states that accreditation doesn’t mean that the BBB has endorsed or evaluated the business’s services or products.

Check the Warranty Period Provided

Unprofessional roofing contractors often use low-quality materials and poor workmanship to finish the roofing project as fast as possible. Such roofers are the worst since they don’t care about installing a roof that can sustain weather damage in the coming years. A good warranty should cover your investment for 25+ years. The warranty period will be displayed on the roofer’s website. Read the warranty agreement carefully since each one has its own terms and conditions.

Ensure that Excellent Customer Support is Provided

You should be careful not to hire a roofer that does not offer top-notch customer support. Great customer support leads to a positive first impression. The customer support team should be ready and willing to respond to your queries and demands at all times. It does not matter whether you send the roofing company an email or call them over the phone. The customer support team should do its best to respond to your queries within the shortest possible time. You can find out more about the roofer’s quality of customer support by checking online reviews or getting in touch with them directly.

If you follow the 7 tips above, you can feel more confident that you have chosen the top Vancouver, WA roofers with an excellent online reputation. Whether you have an old roof that simply requires replacement or a roof that suffered damage during a storm, you need to take your time to find the right contractor. Hiring the wrong roofer to work on your roof will cost you more in the long run.

Do you know why your business online reputation is so important? To some, that’s kind of a silly question to ask. Yet, even after how long the Internet has been around, there are still businesses just coming online for their first time, and they just don’t know of the possible problems waiting for them.

Many offline brands enter the online arena thinking they don’t need to waste time or money on something like reputation management, and yet it’s the sage advice of a decidedly offline guru that sums it up. Warren Buffet himself likes to say that it can take 20 years for you to build up your reputation, but it only takes 5 minutes for it to get ruined.

When you consider that, you can start seeing how you need to be doing things differently. Keep reading to learn specific reasons why the online reputation of your business is so very important:

Google Has A Lot To Say About Your Reputation

When people online need to look up information, most of them turn to Google. There are some that use Yahoo or Bing, but most turn to Google. They do this to look up restaurant menus, store closing times, coupons, and business addresses. If you haven’t made this information available through your website, then you’re risking ceding the top search results to negative reviews, fake information, and your competition.

Social Media Also Has A Lot To Say

You can probably name the major social networks off the top of your head: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. Do you know how many users they have? More than 2 billion! With that many people talking online, odds are good that some of them are actually talking about your business and brand. If you don’t have an online presence somewhere in social media, then you have no one out there answering questions or responding to comments. You’re losing brand loyalty among your customers. You’re also losing customers. Neither is good for business.

Avoid Letting Bad Reviews Tank Your Brand

Another major component of online reputation management is having someone monitoring all of the online reviews about your business. The popularity of sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, PissedConsumer, and RipOff report continues to rise. You need to see what people are saying about your business so you can build on your strengths and perfect your flaws. Some sites even let you respond directly to bad reviewers in an attempt to set things straight, which makes you look good. This is crucial, because 90 percent of consumers use reviews to decide who to do business with, and 84 percent of them trust online reviews from their peers.

Prevent Others From Claiming Your Business Listings

Anyone can actually list your business online, and it takes time to claim those listings back. By the time you get online, you might find your business name being used on Facebook by a group of customers angry at your business, your domain name being held by a squatter that wants big bucks for the URL, and what should be your Twitter handle getting used as a parody account. You might even find competitors pretending to be you online so they can make your business look bad. Get in there and claim your turf.

Word Of Mouth Moves Fast

Word of mouth can be great for you, if it’s positive. In fact, even in the online world, word of mouth advertising is still free in many cases, and that means it’s still the most cost-efficient form of advertising. However, when it goes negative, it can be corrosive to your reputation. Think of the last time you saw a big business ‘fail’ across social media. Their reputation hit wasn’t something that happened then and then faded over time. Just one bad screenshot can go viral and stay floating around as a meme for years.

Content Can Make You King

There are plenty of tools for automatically releasing content through social media accounts at prescheduled intervals. There are even tools that can automate content creation. However, online users see it all the time and just scroll past it. Worse, they might unfollow your accounts. They don’t follow any business just because they like them or want ads waived in their face, they follow them because the brands can be helpful. Your content shouldn’t just be relevant and authentic, it also needs to be interesting and useful. Put out content that makes people’s lives easier, that solves problems, and that saves them time or money. When they know you’re thinking of them first, before they ever spend a dime, when they do spend money, it’s going to be with you.

In Conclusion

Catering to Google is essential for your business, especially if you have brick and mortar locations. Be a part of the conversation about your brand in social media. Make sure the online names that match your business are actually yours. Manage the word of mouth about your business, and generate customer loyalty through great content.

Doing these things not only honors the importance of your online reputation but will take advantage of it too.

They say competition in business is a good thing, but if you’re the one getting beat up on by the competition, you might find it hard to appreciate that saying. While this can be a frustrating situation, especially if you believe in what you’re doing, there are usually seven main reasons that the competition might be beating the pants off of you. Take a deep breath, be willing to look at your business without the rose colored glasses, and see how many of the following may apply to you.

They Offer More Value

First, make sure your competition isn’t just better. This not only goes for technical skills or ability, but what about how rapidly you respond to calls or e-mail inquiries, how easy it is to set up an appointment, or what level of customer service you give? This isn’t just about being solid or professional in all those areas, but how do you compare to who you’re competing with?

If you’re polite but professionally curt while all the competition is extremely friendly and easy to chat with, maybe that’s the edge letting them stay ahead. Do they offer more value than you currently do? Marketing only gets so far and if you are the low man on the value totem pole, then you need to fix this above all else.

Fighting for King of the Hill

Sometimes you’re in an industry in an area where there is a very established presence. Fighting the old dog to be king of the hill can be rough, especially when dealing with smaller towns or cities, like Portland and Vancouver and in certain regions. Here the best thing you can do is to understand this is a long-term fight and to take advantage of modern tools, marketing, and strategies to inch your way in.

This is especially true with focusing on the younger part of your market. Consumers 40 and under, and those 30 and under in particular, care a lot less about tradition or who has been around the longest. Reaching out hard for them will pay off over time by letting you catch more and more of the market share as they age into the main percentage of local consumers. That needs to be the focus for stepping up as the new king of the hill in these scenarios.

They Understand Online Advertising

Online advertising matters. They get more business than TV ads, print ads, and are the main way many people find professionals to take care of various needs or services. There are many opportunities to advertise online, but every method has its own quirks and depending on the business, the ROI can be quite different. Understanding how online advertising works and how to test to see what gives you the biggest return will determine in many markets which business ends up on top.

They Have Better SEO

SEO determines which websites end up on top and which are buried in the online never never. Whether a long-time resident, a young person reaching adulthood, or a new person moving into the area, the first instinct is to grab the smartphone and Google for local businesses. If your website is on top, you’re going to get most of the business. Better SEO determines who Google puts on top and who isn’t pulling any new business.

You’re Not Taking Advantage of Creativity

A regular, professional, standard advertising campaign or outreach has never gone viral. It has never resulted in massive results or above and beyond sales. Being willing to take advantage of creative freelancers and creative professionals makes a big difference and can create advertisements that pull in attention, create brand awareness, and make old quality creative outreaches that will stick in potential customers’ minds months or even years after the outreach took place.

You’re Fighting a Negative Reputation

This can happen in some surprising ways. You may have many happy customers, but then have many stories going around your business in the community that you don’t even know about. Hiring some services to get a sense of what the community thinks of you independent of your efforts can make a big difference. Don’t just look at online and print reviews, but keep in mind employee stories carry huge weight. A few mistreated employees bad mouthing how they’re treated in the business could be sabotaging your efforts.

People Don’t Know Who You Are

This ties hand in hand with knowing your market. There’s no question SEO & online advertising is huge…but in some areas there are two main radio stations that 95% of the town listens to. In that market inexpensive radio advertising could be the absolute best option, but you have to know that to take advantage of it. Brand awareness isn’t just marketing jargon, people need to know who you are before they’ll trust your services.

Look over these 7 notes honestly, and chances are you’ll find one or more that might explain why your business is losing to the competition.

Are you thinking about becoming an entrepreneur? You may want to start your own business instead of continuing to work for someone else while having a limit to the amount of money you can earn each week and each month. Before you get your start as an entrepreneur, you should know of the advantages and disadvantages associated with becoming one.

The Advantages of Entrepreneurship

There are plenty of good reasons to become an entrepreneur. These are some of the reasons people decide to take the leap and start a business of their very own. Just as the best influencer up to date on entrepreneurship.

You Can Work When You Want To

When you run a business of your own, you get to decide when you want to work. You can work at times that are more convenient for you and do things around your own schedule, especially if you have children. If you have spare time on the weekend, you can do some work and take off throughout the week. It is entirely up to you.

It is convenient to get an opportunity to work when you want to, but you still need to hold yourself accountable to get the work done. If you are not putting forth enough effort to complete certain tasks, your business can struggle, so you must keep that in mind. Most entrepreneurs will set a schedule that works for them and then stick to it.

You Can Do Something You Love

Instead of staying at a job you dislike while doing things that do not satisfy you or bring joy to your life, you can do something you love. Starting your own business means finding something you are passionate about doing and having fun with it. It does not matter if you want to open a hair salon, bakery, auto mechanic shop, yoga studio, or a life coaching workshop. It is about finding your niche, discovering what you are good at, and then using your talents to work as an entrepreneur instead of working a traditional 9-5 job.

You Make the Decisions

As an entrepreneur, you get to make the decisions. You can decide how much work you are going to put into something. You can decide which clients to work with and how to market your business. If you have never liked being told what to do, being an entrepreneur might be perfect for you because you call all the shots when it comes to your business.

The Disadvantages of Entrepreneurship
Despite the benefits of entrepreneurship, there are things that some people would consider disadvantages.

You Have a Lot of Responsibilities

Running your own business takes a lot of work. You are going to have plenty of responsibilities to take care of each day and things can quickly get overwhelming for you. There may be times when you feel like there are not enough hours in the day for you to get all your work done. Some entrepreneurs are stressed because of the workload they are expected to handle.

Although entrepreneurship is stressful at times, it is still rewarding. You can work on reducing stress by staying organized and getting into a routine where you are completing specific tasks at a certain time each day. Once you are in a routine, you can get more done, stay productive, and feel less overwhelmed with everything that is going on.

A Steady Check is Not Guaranteed

The downside to working for yourself is that a paycheck is not guaranteed. When you put in hours at a traditional office, you will receive a paycheck at the end of the week or month depending on how often your employer pays. However, you can spend hours putting effort into your business without earning much of anything in the beginning. It is easy to get discouraged, but there are a lot of helpful tips on how to have success as an entrepreneur. You should get as much advice as you can before you get started.

There are both pros and cons to entrepreneurship. While there are risks involved and a paycheck is not always guaranteed, most entrepreneurs agree that it is worth taking those risks. If you have success, you can earn an unlimited income while doing something you love and truly enjoy for the rest of your life.

If you have established a reputable organization or looking to start managing your reputation, then you have come to the right place in finding guidance and resource. Score Vancouver wants to help you establish a presence that will drive and scale your business to the next level. Whether that is increasing your presence online or, promoting your business or referring your business. We will find strategic avenues that will get you the best of both worlds.