DURHAM, N.H. — FurnaceCompare.com, an independent consumer Website for heating and cooling information, is now inviting heating contractors to display their company’s services and contact information for free on more than 3,500 city-specific pages. The site is said to be a top result in Google and other search engines when homeowners search for home repair information.

While homeowners increasingly turn to the Internet before contracting for a home repair, promoting an HVAC company online is a challenging (and expensive) proposition, according to FurnaceCompare’s CEO Chris Brooks. He said, “Many online advertising solutions simply don’t work well for heating contractors. Some require that contractors own and operate a Website. Other solutions require that contractors pay for every click that sends a user to their site — whether or not those clicks ever turn into a phone call. Still others require that contractors pay $30 or more to buy a lead that will be resold to three other contractors. This forces contractors to compete on price with other bidders that just bought the same lead. The ideal solution for contractors is that when someone searches in Google for a local heating contractor, the contractor’s company shows up — along with a description of services and a phone number. FurnaceCompare.com is now offering this service — for free.

“While it’s true that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, we think we can offer you the bargain of a lifetime. In exchange for promoting your company for free, we ask contractors to answer two to three questions about the HVAC industry in their town such as “What are the most common service calls that your company encounters?” or “What is the most common heating fuel that homeowners in your town use?” We then use this information to ensure that we offer the most accurate and relevant information to our site’s visitors.”

Heating contractors can display their company on FurnaceCompare.com by going to www.furnacecompare.com/heating-contractors/, choosing a city and state, and entering their company. All submissions are reviewed to ensure that the pages aren’t filled with spam before being published to the Web. FurnaceCompare.com displays no more than five contractors per city. Once those positions are filled, submissions for that city are closed.

Publication date: 02/04/2008