# Small Engineering Firm - Getting more Business



## tehparadox1 (Sep 10, 2019)

So I started a small civil engineering firm a couple of months ago.  Have three projects totaling a little over 10k.  My focus has been on small residential homes needing grading plans, E&amp;S plans, and assistance on permitting process. Any ideas on how to get more business?


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## Orchid PE (Oct 31, 2019)

@tehparadox1

Introduce yourself to architects in the area. At the last engineering firm I worked at we had a couple of architects that brought us plans they needed engineering on. Sometimes is was residential work, sometimes is was MEP+S work. Just tell them you would appreciate the opportunity to submit bids on any future work they may have. Also, make the assumption they already have an engineer they like to work with, so don't go in there with the attitude of "I can do the work better, for cheaper." Just come off as an engineer that is available if they need an alternative.


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## Orchid PE (Oct 31, 2019)

Also see if your county has any projects out to bid.


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## Orchid PE (Oct 31, 2019)

Get a nice, simple website with good SEO. Many people looking for residential work will google stuff like: civil engineer in [city name here], residential engineering in [city name here], etc. Try to be some of the top results for these searches. Also get on google maps. This will help your search results, and a lot of people will go to engineers that are close by. Use "Google My Business" to manage your listing.

Here are the top 10 searches, by impressions, that my previous firm appears in (blue is company name):


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## Orchid PE (Oct 31, 2019)

Note most of our views come from google maps searches.


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## Ann Crystal (Sep 2, 2020)

[SIZE=10pt]I think you should actually create the website and make some SEO to expend your business to wider audience. It does not require huge investments you can use a number of SEO tools designed for website promotion. Feel free to check it.[/SIZE]


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## Ann Crystal (Sep 3, 2020)

Ann Crystal said:


> [SIZE=10pt]I think you should actually create the website and make some SEO to expend your business to wider audience. It does not require huge investments you can use a number of SEO tools designed for website promotion. Feel free to check it.[/SIZE]


Oh, I just found this website word counter that helps a lot in in checking the parameters website. Hope it will be useful for you.


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## Orchid PE (Sep 27, 2020)

alexurus said:


> yeah maybe some marketing is need because there are like a million engineering firm in your state !






alexurus said:


> how much it cost to add an advertising on FB please ?


Even though this is probably a fake account, they brought up a good topic of marketing.

As engineers, we follow a Code of Ethics.

https://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics

Examples of unethical marketing:

https://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/ethics-resources/board-ethical-review-cases/advertising-engineering-services-2


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## LouisFalbo (Feb 23, 2021)

Ann Crystal said:


> I think you should actually create the website and make some SEO to expend your business to wider audience. It does not require huge investments you can use a number of SEO tools designed for website promotion. Feel free to check it


I agree with you, a website can help bring your business to a new, more global level. Working on its promotion, the first results may appear in a couple of months. I did it myself as my project is new, and was not rational to hire someone to do this. Moreover, there are many auxiliary tools available for this, you can check this link right here now. It's a tool that has greatly helped me optimize my site. Initially, it helps to plan the SEO architecture of the website and I use it for keyword grouping. I tried to do it manually but got a lot of mistakes. It's necessary to take into account possible combinations of synonyms and other points. With this tool, I can accomplish this much faster and without mistakes.


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