As part of our move back to the Bay Area, I needed to have our HD-TV installed on a wall of our living room. Anything that requires a screwdriver in our household requires a call to a professional. I googled around for "home theater installers" and used ServiceMagic to identify a local contractor.
Although I've had spotty luck (at best) with ServiceMagic, this time they came through with a quality dude. Once I take a shine to someone, I can't help but quiz them about how they market themselves: how's their website doing for them, do they do any PR, do they worry about their online reviews, etc.?
After chatting with our new a/v installer, Chris Hinton (and no-doubt slowing down my own installation in the process!), I did some quick research in front of him...
"You're lucky your number was the first one ServiceMagic gave me," I said. "There's no other way I could have found you!"
"Look at my local Google Results:
"Now check out Yelp:
"So let's review. You've got poor SEO — you don't even show up in Google's Local Search results, even though you live around the corner from me."
"And look at that huge coverage gap in the East Bay on the Yelp map: you could be the top dog in the East Bay when it comes to A/V installation, if you got just a handful of 5–star reviews."
"And if you're still not convinced, check out how many people in the East Bay are on Twitter (via Twellowhood):
"These folks are affluent, they're hanging out online, and you could be interacting with them."
"For example, once 3D TVs become a bigger deal, a lot of these local Twitterati will want that equipment — and if they know about Hinton Home Theater Installation already, cuz maybe you've been tweeting about 3D tv's and video games, who do you think they will call? Don't you want them to call y-o-u?"
We'll see whether Chris takes my advice. Will you?
P.S. – Hinton Home Theaters did quality work at a good price, and Chris is a good guy. If you live in the Bay Area and need some home theater installation services, give him a call (408-823-9857). Tell him Todd sent ya.