Conversion Rate Optimization For Pest Control: Complete Guide

1. Page Speed

Just about everyone knows page speed is important…

But how important is it?

According to Google, as page load time increases from 1 to 3 seconds, the probability of a bounce (visitor leaving the site) increases by 32%. If it takes 5 seconds to load, the bounce probability increases by 90%.

Basically, people do not want to wait for your slow website.

Especially when there are plenty of other competitors to choose from.

We live in the era of speed, and that means your website needs to load immediately.

So, how do we fix this?

First, go check and see how your site is doing: https://pagespeed.web.dev/ 

This is a tool made by Google to check your page speed stats.

SUPER useful and really the only tool you need to audit your page speed.

Once you input your URL, you will see 4 stats:

• Performance

• Accessibility 

• Best Practices

• SEO

What we mainly want to focus on is Performance.

And within performance, the main thing that matters is “First Contentful Paint.”

This is how long it takes for your website to load initially.

So don’t worry too much about your overall score, but take a good look at this one.

If yours is 5+ seconds, I have good news and bad news for you:

1. You will convert much more traffic after this

2. You’ve been losing a ton of leads

Also, something to note is that there are two categories for page speed.

One is mobile, the other is desktop.

We should be focusing on the mobile score, as about 60-70% of users will come from mobile.

Your desktop score will typically always be better anyway.

Now that you know your score, how do we actually improve page speed?

The first thing we like to do is install WP Rocket and Imagify.

I’m confident these are the only two plugins you need for page speed.

And both are incredibly simple and easy to use.

Because I’m doing a course on tools, I won’t spend too much time on this…

But once you install WP Rocket, check off everything in: 

• File optimization

• Media

• Preload

And you should be good.

Next, go to Imagify, make an account, and check off everything.

Then click “Save and Go To Bulk Optimizer.”

Then click “Imagify em all” and that’s it!

Next, sign up for Cloudflare.

Cloudflare is a no brainer for every single website.

“Cloudflare offers a comprehensive set of services, including CDN, security (such as DDoS protection, firewall), DNS management, caching, and more. It optimizes website performance by distributing static assets across its CDN but also adds layers of protection and optimization, like automatic image compression, script optimization, and more advanced traffic handling.”

So not only is it great for security, but it helps page speed too.

I personally recommend the pro plan for $25/m, but the free plan is great too.

Go to cloudflare.com, sign up, enter your domain, and change your name servers.

It’s fairly straightforward so I much spend much time explaining.

Comment if you’d like a video walkthrough on this and I’ll do it sometime.

Now, your page speed should improve immediately after doing all three of these. 

This should be enough for most companies.

If you want to go the extra mile, go to Page Speed Insights and see what’s wrong.

They actually tell you each factor that is poor…

And usually how to improve it.

However, don’t go blindly fixing these problems.

Usually, it’s slow because of necessary themes or plugins on WordPress.

So fix these at your own risk.

2. Trust Badges

Trust badges seem like a vanity metric…

But they’re actually a great way to drive conversions.

There’s some kind of psychological significance to being “certified” or “verified”.

And we should capitalize on it.

a. SSL Certified

I was actually going to make a course on security…

But a lot of security measures coincide with conversion rate optimization.

So, every single website needs an SSL certificate.

If you don’t, everyone who lands on your site is going to see something like:

“Warning. This website is not safe. Continue anyways?”

This is a huge red flag to any potential prospects, and more common than you think.

You can check this by looking for a padlock icon near the address bar.

Or you can check to see if it has “https” and not “http.”

The "s" in "https" indicates that your site is using SSL encryption.

b. Google Guaranteed

The next most important is Google Guaranteed.

This is the badge you get after you sign up for a Local Service Ads account.

And unlike most other badges, it actually shows up on your profile.

Not just some sticker you put on your website.

So, this is great for customers to see and will definitely make them trust you more.

This is just a bonus of Local Service Ads, which you should sign up for.

3. Better Business Bureau Accreditation 

Better Business Bureau is the classic trust badge.

Just about every company doing 5M+ is accredited on BBB.

They are super authoritative and well-known, so I definitely recommend it.

However, it can get a little expensive, at about $500-$1000 a year.

If you’ve got money to spare, this is a solid investment.

But if not, no worries.

d. National Pest Management Association Certification

This is another classic badge I think every pest control company needs.

They offer two main badges, QualityPro and GreenPro.

QualityPro means you’re a quality company and GreenPro means you’re ecofriendly.

NPMA will run various audits for these such as:

• Hiring practices

• Employee training

• Consumer relations

• Quality of products used

This is another huge trust badge, but is expensive as well.

The setup is around $200 and the annual fee is around $500-$1000 depending on size.

Again, if you have extra money to spend, it’s not a bad idea.

Keep in mind:

If you’re in another home service, I’m sure there’s a niche certificate for that too.

e. HomeAdvisor Screened & Approved

Last but not least (actually it is), is being screened and approved on HomeAdvisor.

This is definitely a bonus…

But if you have the rest, you might as well get this one.

And if you’re doing any lead generation here, then absolutely get it.

The fee is around $300 a year, which isn’t horrible.

Keep in mind, these trust badges aren’t just for people to think you’re trustworthy.

It’s also for Google to think you’re trustworthy.

And Google wants to rank entities that are trustworthy, via EEAT.

So personally, I’m a big advocate for these.

Unfortunately, as your agency, we are not going to buy these for you.

3. Photos and Videos

As I mentioned in the Google Business Profile guide…

Photos and videos are a HUGE ranking factor and conversion factor.

And almost no one is using them.

I already talked about them for Google Business Profile, so let’s talk website.

a. Landing Pages

First off, what is a landing page?

It’s any page you want people to land on, put simply.

This would be your home page, service pages, location pages, etc.

I believe every landing page should have a picture of someone smiling on the right side.

This way people connect and associate happiness with your company.

By the way, this should be an actual person at your company.

Google does not like you stealing content or generating AI images, and neither do people.

So, I suggest picking one figurehead for your company.

That could be you, a partner, a star technician, whoever it may be.

This way people become familiar with the brand and feel like they know you.

Also, you beat huge companies by doing this.

b. Showing Services

Please do not use stock images for your services.

ACTUALLY take a picture of each kind of service you provide.

Then ideally with a smiling technician in it.

People want to know what to expect, and they understand largely through media.

So, what better way than to actually show people?

Bonus points for doing videos.

Almost no one does videos and is a super easy way to stand out.

We live in a digital world, people want to see it online before they get it in person.

You can also repurpose these videos to GMB, socials, etc.

Very high ROI activity to make this content.

c. The Team

I think this is a super underrated activity as well.

If you’re truly bought into improving your website and SEO…

You should have a team page with a picture of each employee, their name, and a short bio.

This is very get out of company owner, but I promise it is worth it.

People connect with people.

And when they actually see who’s at your company, it changes things.

It’s no longer a pest control company, it’s a team dedicated to helping them.

So, I highly recommend this as well.

Keep in mind:

The great thing about content is that it exists forever.

You take 100 photos, upload them everywhere, and don’t do anything for 5 years?

They’re still going to be driving SEO and CRO.

4. Reviews

Again, I already talked about reviews as they pertain to Google Business Profile.

But what about your website?

If you have great reviews, plaster them EVERYWHERE.

We like to put them on every single landing page.

Again, this is typically your home page, service pages, and location pages.

This is another great way to establish trust with your prospects.

And if you have great reviews, why not use them?

People want to know what others are saying about your business.

Even though they’re on your Google Business Profile…

It’s a nice reminder of how great you are.

We typically use the TrustIndex plugin, but they’re all basically the same. 

5. Live Chat Integration

You’d be surprised, but a live chat integration actually gives a nice boost in conversions.

And lets customers contact you the way they want.

Win-win. 

We typically like to use the LiveChat plugin for this.

It’s $29 a month and well worth it.

However, if you’re on a budget, you can get something like tawk.to. 

For most live chat tools, you’ll want to create automatic responses to chats.

So go in and answer some of your most common questions.

This could be:

• Do you serve my city?

• How much does it cost?

• Do you do wildlife control?

• Is the service eco friendly?

• How long will the service take?

And so on.

Just try to provide as much information as possible.

6. Specific Landing Pages

Yes, having the landing pages in of themselves helps CRO.

If someone is searching for raccoon removal and land on a raccoon page…

They much more likely to convert than your home page.

…as long as it is optimized properly.

They should be able to contact you right away, learn about the service/city, etc.

I won’t go too deep into this because there will be a course on it.

But please, set up location pages and service pages.

They make SEO and ads way easier.

7. Copywriting

As a former copywriter, I am passionate about this one.

And I know that how you write copy has a huge impact on conversions.

First off, what is copywriting?

It’s any writing you do for your business.

Flyers, social posts, Google Ads, website copy, etc.

And it just so happens that most of your copy will be on your website.

I won’t get too technical here, but I’ll cover the fundamentals.

The first thing you need to understand is funnel.

What stage of the funnel are they in?

What do they want right now?

What is their biggest pain point right now?

What is holding them back the most right now?

As you can probably tell:

In order to write great copy, you have to understand your customer.

Which is why I’m such a big advocate of having a niche agency or a person in-house. 

It certainly doesn’t have to be me, but pick someone.

Niching down on local businesses or home services is not enough, in my opinion.

So anyways, understand the customer and their journey.

At some points in the journey, they just want to learn more or DIY.

And at others, they need you to come ASAP.

Typically, blogs are always more top of funnel and landing pages are bottom of funnel.

Then pages like your home page, about us, etc. are middle of funnel.

So, write accordingly. 

The main thing to nail here is hooks and CTAs.

A hook is to grab their attention and a CTA is to get them to act.

You should have hooks and CTAs in all of your copy, regardless of what stage of the funnel.

My favorite way to hook is by asking a question.

It’s so easy and works great.

For example:

• Are you tired of raccoons eating your garbage?

• Do you see ants everywhere in your house?

• Thinking you have bed bugs?

• Looking for an eco friendly solution?

• Want to never worry about pests again?

I could do this forever. 

You get the idea.

As famous copywriter David Ogilvy says:

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”

So basically, hooks are super important and should take most of your focus here.

On the flip side, we have CTAs.

This is anytime you tell your prospect to do something.

It could be asking them to visit your website, call now, fill out a form, etc.

For example, which company would you choose:

• “Call now for all pest control services.”

• “Ready to get rid of pests once and for all? Call us now!”

Obviously this is a quick example, but you get the idea.

After reading a CTA…

People should feel called to act.

For something simple like pest control, don’t overthink it.

I always like to ask a final question and then give an enthusiastic answer, like my example.

8. Speed To Conversion

Let customers convert as fast as possible.

A contact form should be on the first or second section of all of your landing pages.

More and more people now don’t want to call.

And maybe they’re on a busy subway and call right now.

So like I said in #5, let customers communicate the way they want.

And let them do it as fast as possible.

Which means don’t make them fill out a 20 question interrogation to contact you.

Keep it to bare essentials.

The more form fields, the more friction.

The more friction, the less conversions.

As for calls, your phone number should be written out in a button on the top right corner.

It should be written out because people on their computer want to type it into their phone.

It should be a big colorful button so people clearly see it.

It should be in the top right corner because that’s where our eyes naturally go.

Make sure your navigation bar doesn’t disappear, some do.

Always allow them the option to click on the button they’ve seen the whole time.

Also, have a CTA button to call every 3 sections or so.

Each page should have 5-10 sections so around 2-3 CTAs per page.

Make it as easy and smooth to convert as possible.

If they’re ready to buy, don’t make them read your 1500-word page.

They don’t care.

They just want to give you money.

9. Offers

If you haven’t read $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi already, please do.

But if you haven’t or need a refresher…

Here’s his value equation.

Keep in mind, this is a tough one in the pest control industry.

A pest control service is fairly common, so what “dream outcome” can you give?

Maybe it’s about never having pests again.

Maybe it’s about having the most eco friendly product.

Maybe it’s about getting a premium and luxury pest control service.

That’s up to you.

I personally suggest offers to my clients and ask them to think on it.

At the end of the day, it’s your business.

And your offer is a huge part of that, so take it seriously.

Once you have your offer, plaster it EVERYWHERE.

Facebook Ads, home page, flyers, etc.

And ideally even have a few offers that you cycle through.

Someone might see your first offer and not convert, then see the second and do.

So figure out your competitive advantage you want to go all in on and turn it into an offer.

10. Omnipresence

The ROI is hard to track on omnipresence, but it’s huge.

However, there are different kinds of omnipresence.

It could be all social platforms, all variations of offline marketing, etc.

But the one I want to touch on is Google omnipresence, as that’s my expertise.

So, how is this possible?

Put simply, rank every way there is to rank.

The top ones are:

• Local Service Ads

• Google Ads

• Google Business Profile 

• Website

And here are all of the ways to rank (SERP features) for pest control: 

• Featured Snippet

• Knowledge Panel

• Local Pack (Map Pack)

• Image Pack

• People Also Ask (PAA)

• Sitelinks

• Video Carousel

• Reviews (Star Ratings)

• Related Searches

• Google Ads (Top and Bottom)

• FAQ Snippets

• Local Services Ads (LSA)

• Knowledge Cards

• Featured Video

So, when an SEO agency says they’re going to rank you #1…

How are they ranking you #1?

With a people also ask question? A featured video?

This is something many local businesses, and even SEO agencies neglect.

The goal here is be as omnipresent as possible.

So we don’t want just the website ranking, we want Google Business Profile ranking too.

We don’t just want people also ask, we want a featured snippet.

In this regard, there are always things to improve.

Don’t worry so much about these metrics and factors though.

As long as you have a solid understanding of SEO and make actually quality content…

You’ll be good.

The problem is when you trying finessing the system.

Closing Thoughts 

And that’s all I’ve got for conversion optimization!

I’m sure I could’ve added more here, but this is a really solid list.

In my opinion, optimizing for conversions is the easiest lever to pull for more customers.

Let’s say your conversion rate is currently 5%.

And once you implement all of these, now it’s 10%.

You are getting 2x as many appointments booked, and therefore 2x as many customers.

There’s no other mechanism like this.

Which is why even though I’m an SEO, I still push hard on this.

So, hopefully you learned at least one new thing about conversions from this course.

If you’re a pest control owner and want us to do this for you or learn more…

Book a call here: https://calendly.com/dannyleibrandt/discovery. 

Thanks for your time! 

Let me know your thoughts in the YouTube comments.

Would really appreciate it.