As a hard-core, self-proclaimed tree nerd, I love to talk, read and write about all aspects of tree care. I guess you may be guilty of the same obsession if you are reading this. Unfortunately, most people aren’t. Most of my friends, family and random strangers have had to tell me to shut the “heck” up when I go off on “tree tangents.”

Image/Pixabay

The good news is that most people looking for help with their trees love it. That’s why it is essential not only to have a great interactive website but also to send out new information, videos and pictures monthly, if not weekly.

Believe it or not, it is not that difficult. To be successful, you will need three essential things.

• Commit to doing it consistently. I see so many small-company websites that have great content, posts, videos, etc. – from last year! As much as volunteering to prune trees at the VFW was generous and thoughtful, if it was posted more than a month ago, it’s old. In today’s digital world, a month ago is ancient Rome. Though weekly or even monthly is better, if you can only post quarterly, commit to that and stay on time.
• Make it simple and brief. Post a quick video of a crew working, a disease, an obvious structural defect, a training event or just a beautiful plant. Pictures with a brief explanation or a video less than two minutes in duration are ideal. Even though we occasionally post longer articles going into greater depth, most of the time it’s quick hitters that resonate. People’s time and, more important, attention spans are fleeting.
• Don’t let perfection get in the way of getting it done. You want it to be good, but action is better than over thinking. I have posted some things I was not happy with just to honor our content-timing commitment, and they’ve been very well received. In contrast, I have spent a lot of time on things that fell flat. You do not need to be the best writer to write an informational email, or Steven Spielberg to post an interesting educational video. To quote Nike’s motto, “Just Do It.”

Having said that, it’s important to emphasize the need to be credible. Be an expert. Don’t post something that is not accurate. Make sure whoever speaks on your videos is articulate, projects their voice and knows what they are talking about. When writing content, try to be informational and, again, brief. Whenever we post something, we always strive to be accurate. You don’t want a rival company to make fun of your work. And believe me, they will.

How do you start?
To begin, work with an expert on digital marketing. There are dozens of local companies doing this work. Hire the company that is right for you. My advice is to choose a company that knows how to manipulate the algorithm. Yes, that sounds terrible, but it’s true. When internet searches first started, if you searched for the best steak house in town, you may have gotten a list of three to five restaurants that were the best. Now it’s more about who knows how to speak Google. That means you need someone who is an expert.

Obviously, you want to be a great company that is honest, does great work and gives back to the community, but, regrettably, sometimes that doesn’t matter. I bet you have been perturbed when you have searched for local tree companies and your company comes up lower than some of your competitors. You know the ones I’m talking about – argghhh! Luckily, I had two super-smart people who convinced me to start (posting content). More important, they had the expertise to help.

Even though I trusted these two experts, it took them a while to persuade me to be confident in my arboricultural knowledge and to lose my “head trash.” Head trash, or self-limiting beliefs, is sales jargon for doubting yourself: “I can’t write that much content.” “No one cares about this.” “I cannot create videos.” “We cannot send out three eblasts a month.” “People will get upset if I spam them with too much content.” Although there is some truth to all of that, they slowly convinced me to start (posting).

You got this
As I always say, if a technically challenged curmudgeon like me can do it, anyone can. Almost everyone owns an Android or iPhone. The good news is, you can write about anything that interests you – storm damage, insects, disease, native plants, your favorite trees, dangerous trees, before-and-after pruning, community service, etc. It is best to have limited verbiage, with a few pictures that make it easy to get through and a topic that is easy to understand. Be concise and pithy, because people love to swipe on by.

We try to post content at least a month before the related season. For example, we will send an eblast titled “Why Winter” in the middle of October telling our clients why winter is the best time to schedule pruning and removals.

The one- to two-month lead time allows us and our clients enough time to schedule an appointment in a timely manner. Even if our eblast is informational, such as “Our Favorite Summer Flowering Trees,” we encourage our clients to schedule a property review. Then we state at the end, “Being proactive is the best way to keep your plants healthy and safe.” It’s a simple catchphrase or motto that consistently echoes a positive message.

Use photos
The next step is to take pictures of everything: trees in flower, structural defects, insects, decay fungi, etc. This is not only great for the email you are currently working on, but, more important, you start to create a picture and video library. In winter, when things are slow, create and fill out a list of what you want to send out. This also is a great time to write the content.

Sometimes you might create a blurb that you don’t have pictures for, so you might have to add pictures later or pay for a service like iStock for photos. Your own pictures are always better, because they are specific to the area where you work. This is a simple but very important point. Google loves local content, and the pictures on your phone are geocoded.

Pictures also are important because they make the written content tangible. Pictures and videos also should be posted on your social media days before you send out your informational emails. If you are going to send out “The Most Common Insects in Our Area” in late winter, before the plant-health-care season, post pictures and videos of these insects, the damage they cause and how to treat to control them.

By the numbers
We sent out more than 40 informational emails in 2024. If that sounds daunting, it is at first. A simple cheat is to send out holiday greetings. We try to pick obscure holidays when people are not expecting a card. Independence Day, Flag Day, Arbor Day – obviously – Thanksgiving, even Pearl Harbor Day. These occasions are more about celebrating the holiday with family and friends than arboriculture. However, you want to say thank you and appreciate the people who work with you all year.

I know 40 sounds like a lot. When we first started, I thought 10 sounded like too many. Unfortunately, you will have a few people on your client list who unsubscribe, but not as many as you’d think. Do not let that deter you. One of my experts would always tell me more is better, which was hard to believe for the reasons listed above. What you realize over time is – it works.

People have incredibly busy lives, but they also need our services. We all have things we need to do for our homes; sometimes you just need someone to get your attention when you have the time to take action. Presenting your company as experts and focusing on things that are simple to understand makes it easy for people to get it and want to contact you.

Work with pros
The other major piece is working with professionals to provide you with the parts you can’t do. Professional marketing content, manipulating Google and additional behind-the-scenes efforts can help increase your website’s activity. I don’t understand some of that and I don’t pretend to; I focus on the content. Let the experts do their thing. You just need to make a plan and commit to do what you can. Start small, work your plan and grow your content when you get more confident.

Conclusion
When people are looking for a tree company – or anything else – they search the web. If you make the time to improve your digital content, you will increase the traffic to your website. With more content, in conjunction with your social media, you will get more clicks to your site, people will stay longer and they are more likely to contact you.

The more pictures, eblasts and content the better, but you need to start. We started slowly and now have quite a few archived eblasts that give our work credibility. These archived articles demonstrate to prospective clients that we are more than capable of helping them with all their tree care needs. And just as important, they deepen our credibility with our existing clients.