Hardly any of this is about looks. It is whether a stranger can tell that you stop at whether you work outside the Beltway, where they park, and what it runs.
Name the neighborhoods and get the edges right
Serving Baltimore tells a customer nothing, and the city is small enough that people expect precision. Somebody in Govans has no idea whether a shop photographed in Federal Hill will come north.
List the neighborhoods you cover in the names people use, and be careful at the boundaries. Calling a block Canton when the people on it say Highlandtown costs you credibility instantly.
Answer the parking question honestly
Parking is the first thing a customer here thinks about and the last thing most sites mention. On a Canton street with permit blocks, an address without a parking answer is half an address.
Say what there is. Lot behind the building. Metered until eight. Permit only, so use the garage. If it is genuinely hopeless, say so and give the nearest Light Rail or bus.
Say whether your van fits
A great many streets here were laid out long before full-size vans, and on trash day they are effectively single lane.
A roofing and pointing outfit saying plainly how it handles narrow blocks, no driveway, and no alley access get calls from people who have already been turned down twice.
Put the MHIC number where it is visible
Maryland expects the Home Improvement Commission number in advertising, and customers here do look it up before letting somebody onto a roof.
Footer of every page rather than an about page nobody opens. It is the cheapest way to separate a real roofing and pointing outfit from the outfit working the next block of rowhouses.
Explain the party wall and the shared roof
Almost everything here is attached. Work on one rowhouse is work on a shared wall, a shared parapet, and sometimes a neighbour who has to agree to it.
A page explaining how you handle neighbour access, shared roofs, and party wall repairs answers the question that stops people ringing at all.
Say what you know about lead and older rentals
Rental property built before 1978 carries real obligations here, and landlords are the ones searching for someone who understands them.
If you work on rentals, say what you are certified for and what you will not touch. That single paragraph brings in repeat commercial work rather than one-off jobs.
Photograph houses that look like theirs
A stock kitchen says nothing. A roof coating on a Hampden rowhouse with the marble steps and formstone in shot tells a homeowner you have done their exact job on their exact street.
Phone photographs are fine. Work around a February freeze-thaw cycle rather than against it, and keep the frames that show flat roofs finished rather than halfway apart.
Put a figure next to each service
Leaving the price off reads as expensive. A floor, a range, what flat roof usually runs, or a flat inspection fee gives somebody enough to act on.
Publish a band and the phone rings less and converts more, because whoever calls about a flat roof has already accepted roughly what it costs.
Keep the listing and the site telling one story
Hours, coverage, categories, and phone number have to agree between the map listing and the site. Where they conflict, somebody in Hampden believes the listing.
Check it after snow weeks and after anything that closes the streets you work on.
