How Local Blog Content Can Increase Calls for Plumbing Businesses
Let’s talk about the sound every plumber loves: The phone ringing.
Not a telemarketer. Not a supplier. But a homeowner in your town who says, “I have a problem, and I read on your site that you know how to fix it. When can you come out?”
That’s the dream.
But for most plumbing businesses, the phone only rings when they pay for it. You’re dumping money into Google Ads, fighting for scraps on Angi, or praying for referrals.
When you stop paying, the phone stops ringing.
That is a risky way to run a business. You aren’t earning customers; you’re renting them.
There is a better way. It’s called Local SEO, and the fuel that runs it is a blog.
Now, before you roll your eyes and say, “I’m a plumber, not a writer,” hear me out. I’m not talking about writing a diary. I’m not talking about sharing your feelings.
I’m talking about building a library of answers that catches customers right when they are staring at a leaking pipe or a cold shower.
If you want to stop competing on price and start owning your local market, you need to understand how local content actually works.
The “Lead Gen” Trap vs. Being the Expert
Why do you hate buying shared leads?
Because you know the drill. The lead comes in. You call them back within 30 seconds. But you’re already too late. Three other plumbers called them, and now the customer is just asking, “Who is the cheapest?”
It’s a race to the bottom.
When someone finds you through a blog post, it’s a totally different ballgame.
They searched for a problem. They found your article. You explained why their water heater is making that popping sound. You helped them before you asked for a dime.
When they call you, they aren’t calling three other guys. They are calling you because you are the one who helped them. You’ve already won their trust before you even park the van.
How to Get “Local” (The Secret Sauce)
You aren’t competing with the whole internet. You don’t care if a guy in New York reads your blog if you are based in London.
You need to show Google that you run your specific town.
Most plumbers get this wrong. They write generic posts like “5 Tips for Saving Water.” That is boring, and it puts you in competition with massive global websites.
To get the phone to ring, you need to get Hyper-Local.
1. Attack the Water Quality
Every city has different water. Is your city known for hard water? Do you have high chlorine levels? Is there a specific neighborhood on well water?
The Strategy:
Write a post titled: “Why [City Name] Hard Water is Killing Your Water Heater (And How to Fix It).”
Why it works:
- It calls out the specific problem your neighbors face.
- It mentions your city name naturally.
- It proves you know the local infrastructure.
2. Talk About the Houses
Plumbing isn’t just about pipes; it’s about the houses they are in.
If you work in an area with historic homes, you know they have specific issues (like cast iron drains or lead pipes). If you work in a new development, you know they use cheap builder-grade fixtures that break in five years.
The Strategy:
Write a post titled: “The Most Common Plumbing Issues in [Neighborhood Name] Historic Homes.”
Why it works:
When a homeowner in that neighborhood searches for “plumber near me,” Google looks at your site and says, “Hey, this plumber talks about that specific neighborhood a lot. They must be the best match.”
3. Match the Weather
Plumbing is seasonal. Your content should be too.
- In November: Write about sump pumps and frozen pipes.
- In April: Write about checking outdoor spigots for cracks.
- In June: Write about garbage disposals (summer BBQs mean more food waste going down the drain).
When you match your topics to the weather outside, you become relevant to what people are stressing about right now.
Catching Them Before the Emergency
There are two types of plumbing calls:
- The Emergency: “My basement is flooding!”
- The Research: “My drain is slow, but it’s not stopped yet.”
The Emergency customer clicks the first Google Ad they see.
But the Research customer is where the real money is made. This is the person looking for a tankless water heater upgrade. This is the person looking to repipe their house. These are big jobs.
These people do homework. They read blogs.
If you write a detailed comparison of “Tankless vs. Tank Water Heaters: What’s Best for [City] Families?”, you guide their decision. You explain the pros and cons. You talk about gas lines.
By the time they finish reading, they know they want a tankless unit, and they know you are the expert who understands it.
Building Trust (Without Sounding Stiff)
I’ve said it before, but it’s huge in the trades: Trust is currency.
Inviting a plumber into your home is intimate. You are letting a stranger into your bathroom or kitchen. You are trusting them not to make a mess.
Your blog is your chance to show your personality.
Don’t Be a Robot
“We provide exemplary services for all your sanitary requirements.”
Gross. Who talks like that?
Write like a human being.
- “Look, we know nobody likes calling a plumber. It usually means something is wet, smelly, or expensive.”
- “We saw a crazy clog in [Town Name] last week—you wouldn’t believe what we pulled out of this pipe.”
When you write like a real person, you make them let their guard down.
Prove You Know Your Stuff
Google uses a system called E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).
If you write a detailed guide on how to shut off the main water valve in an emergency, Google sees that you have Expertise. If you include photos of your team doing the work, Google sees Experience.
The more helpful content you have, the more Google trusts you. And when Google trusts you, they put you on Page 1.
The Technical Stuff (Keep It Simple)
You don’t need to be a web developer to get this right. But you do need to follow a few rules to make sure your blog actually turns readers into callers.
1. Connect the Dots (Internal Links)
Imagine your blog post is a handshake, and your “Service Page” is the contract. You need to connect them.
If you write a post about “Signs Your Sewer Line is Collapsing,” you need to include a link in the text that says, “Concerned about your lines? Check out our Sewer Repair Services.”
This leads the customer from “learning” to “buying.” It also tells Google which pages on your site are the most important.
2. Make it Skimmable
People are reading your site on their phones, often with one eye on an overflowing toilet. They don’t have time for long paragraphs.
- Use bold text for important warnings.
- Use bullet points for lists.
- Keep sentences short.
3. The “Call to Action” (CTA)
This is where most plumbers drop the ball. They write a great article and then… it just ends.
You have to tell people what to do.
Don’t just say “Contact us.”
Say: “Don’t let a small leak turn into a flooded basement. We have trucks in [City] right now. Call us at [Phone Number] and we’ll make it disappear.”
Why “DIY” Articles Are Actually Good for Business
“But if I teach them how to fix it, they won’t hire me!”
I hear this all the time. That’s dead wrong.
Here is the truth: The people who are going to do it themselves were never going to hire you anyway. They are the ones who will go to Home Depot three times and spend all Saturday cursing at a wrench.
But the ideal customer—the busy professional, the parent, the senior—they want to know what is wrong, but they don’t want to do the work.
When you write a guide on “How to Replace a Garbage Disposal,” you show them exactly how annoying and difficult it is. You show them the tools they need. You show them the risk of leaks.
Halfway through the article, the ideal customer thinks, “I don’t have time for this.”
And who is right there with a button saying “Book a Pro”? You are.
By teaching them, you prove that your labor is worth paying for.
Consistency: The Long Game
Here is the hard part.
You can’t write one blog post and expect the phone to ring off the hook tomorrow. SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.
You need to show up consistently. Google likes websites that are alive. If you post once a month, every month, for a year, you will build a fortress of content that your competitors can’t touch.
Your competitors are lazy. They will post twice and quit. If you keep going, you win.
Think of each blog post as a little employee that works for free, 24/7. It’s out there on the internet, finding people with plumbing problems, earning their trust, and sending them to your phone number.
Get Off the Hamster Wheel
You built your plumbing business because you are good at your trade. You solve problems. You build systems that work.
Your website should be a system that works, too.
Right now, if you aren’t blogging, your website is just a billboard in the desert. Nobody sees it unless you pay for ads to drive them there.
By creating local, helpful content, you move your billboard to the busiest highway in town. You start attracting customers who are looking for you, not just the cheapest price.
You handle the pipes. You handle the crew. You handle the business. You probably don’t have time to sit down and research keywords or write 2,000 words about backflow prevention.
That is where we come in.
At Krafted Copy, we build authoritative content assets for tradespeople in the US, UK, and Canada. We know the difference between a snake and a hydro-jet. We know what homeowners are searching for. And we know how to write the kind of copy that makes the phone ring.
Stop renting your customers. Start owning your market. Click here to contact us and let’s build your content strategy today.
