Google doesn’t charge for your home improvement business’s Google My Business page, so that’s free brand exposure, right? Not necessarily. When you coast on free online marketing opportunities, you usually hurt your bottom line and you definitely step aside to let the competition shine.

The myth surrounding freebie traffic opportunities from Google is that you don’t have to do anything to take advantage of them. The notion is that “you don’t have to spend money, and you don’t have to spend time.” Neither is true if you want to be as successful as possible in online home improvement marketing.

Here are three common ways local business owners try to skate by with free or super low-cost online marketing and why those efforts are unlikely to work:

• Buying content at bottom-of-the-barrel prices. If you think you can get content that converts and doesn’t hurt your brand in the long run for $1 or $2 a page, think again. It’s worth paying more for on-page content that includes SEO requirements and provides relevant, useful information for visitors.

This is especially true in the home improvement industry, where users are looking for trustworthy product recommendations, how-to content, and brands that are passionate about turning houses to homes.

• Building your site on a free template that doesn’t match the needs of your business. WordPress templates — and those from other providers — can be a great place to start. But it’s rare that you can pop your content into one and call it a day.

Even if you don’t plan on a big budget for your web design, know that you’ll have to put time into making decisions about how the pages look, and you might want to work with an expert who can coax templates into unique functionality to serve your clientele. That way, even if Google does send free traffic your way, your site is capable of converting it.

Site design can be as important as the content itself for ensuring visitors don’t quickly “bounce” from your site and that they eventually convert. Ensure that yours gets the job done.

• Letting Google do the work for you. Home improvement marketing is about positioning yourself as the leading local, regional, or national expert in your niche. When people see your brand online, you want them to think it’s the right company to turn their windows into gorgeous decor elements or convert their fight with morning sunshine to an amicable relationship.

You know what doesn’t give that impression? An untouched Google My Business listing that only conveys robotic facts such as business name, address, and phone number. Putting in the time to customize your GMB page, meta descriptions and titles, and other SEO elements helps you connect more organically with people looking to trust someone with their personal abode.

The bottom line: There’s no such thing as completely free online marketing. Treating SEO and page traffic opportunities as low-cost, low-effort endeavors may lead to you putting less value on them. And it’s a slippery slope from there to giving up control of your own internet marketing and allowing the competition to outpace you online.

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