Miles Heating & Cooling: A Local HVAC Website That Keeps Working
Miles Heating & Cooling is a family-owned heating and cooling company in Mitchell, Indiana. Cody Miles and his father, Walter, serve homes and businesses across Lawrence, Orange, Martin and Monroe counties. We first met in September 2021, a few weeks before they wanted to launch, and I've worked with them ever since.
Where they were starting from
They had a new business and no website. They also had a question I hear a lot from local trades: they live between Bedford and Mitchell, so why did a search for HVAC companies near them show Bloomington businesses first?
They wanted a site that worked on a phone, made it easy to call, and showed that they were available around the clock. They also had to stand out against much bigger companies.
Getting to know the business
Our first meeting was a long conversation about how they work. They told me about their 24/7 service, the payment options, the maintenance agreement, and discounts for veterans and firefighters. They brought family photos and some content they had already written, and they were open to ideas about what else a customer would want to read. Before I wrote anything, I looked at the top competitors around Bedford, Mitchell and Bloomington to see who showed up in searches and why.
Building the site
I built the site on WordPress with a heating and cooling theme, and set up the hosting, security and email so they didn't have to think about any of it. The pages covered services, service areas, the family, reviews, deals and contact, with a phone number that works with one tap. I wrote the page titles and descriptions for each page so the site would show up properly in search, and set up their Facebook business page at the same time. It launched in October 2021.
Their first round of feedback was practical: make it work better on phones, put the office hours at the top, add the logo beside the name, and show reviews in place of a blog. We made those changes right away.
Keeping it current
A website for a busy trade company needs small updates all the time. Over the next few years I added a financing page with an online application link, updated the coupons and the Amana brand information, added a sump pump service, and listed the towns they serve. I handle the theme and plugin updates, the security monitoring and the yearly hosting renewal.
Local listings and reviews
I set up their Google Business Profile when they launched. In December 2023 we sat down to look at their marketing as a whole. I updated the categories and details, started the application for Google Local Services Ads, and talked through ways to ask customers for more reviews. I later added them to Bing Places as well.
Where things are now
The website is still in use, and I keep it updated. For a local trade company, a website has a simple job. It should help the person with a broken furnace find the number and call. We keep working on making that easier.