CASE STUDY: WICHITA PLUMBER SHOWS SMALL MARKET DOESN'T MEAN SMALL RESULTS
Think your city is too small for a real plumbing website to work? This Wichita plumber proved that small markets can deliver big ROI. Full case study inside.
I hear this all the time.
"My city is too small. There aren't enough people searching for plumbing online. A fancy website would be a waste of money."
I heard it from Steve in Wichita, Kansas. Population: 400,000 metro. Not exactly Los Angeles.
Steve ran a 3-man plumbing operation. Solid guy. Good work. But he was convinced that online marketing was a "big city thing."
"Nobody in Wichita is Googling for a plumber," he told me. "They just ask their neighbor."
Steve was wrong. And the numbers proved it.
turns out people in Kansas have Google too
The Starting Point
Steve's online presence was... minimal. To put it kindly.
- A Facebook business page with 89 followers and no posts in 4 months
- A Google Business Profile with 9 reviews (4.7 stars though, so that's nice)
- No website at all. Zero. Nada.
His marketing strategy was: do good work, hope people remember your name, leave some business cards at the hardware store.
And honestly? It worked okay. He was doing about $22,000/month in revenue. Enough to pay his guys, cover expenses, and take home a decent living.
But "okay" isn't the same as "good." And Steve knew he was leaving money on the table. He just didn't know how much.
What the Data Showed
Before we built anything, we ran the numbers on Wichita's plumbing search market.
Monthly plumbing searches in the Wichita metro area:
- "Plumber near me" ... 720/month
- "Plumber Wichita" ... 590/month
- "Water heater repair Wichita" ... 210/month
- "Drain cleaning Wichita" ... 170/month
- "Emergency plumber Wichita" ... 140/month
- "Sewer repair Wichita" ... 110/month
- Plus dozens of long-tail variations
Total estimated monthly plumbing searches in Wichita: 3,200+
That's 3,200 people every month actively looking for a plumber. In a city Steve said was "too small."
And you know how many plumbing websites in Wichita were properly optimized? Two. Out of roughly 80 plumbing companies. Two.
Steve's eyes got real wide when we showed him those numbers.
What We Built
Since Steve had no website at all, we started from scratch. Which in some ways is easier than trying to fix a broken one.
The website: - Clean, professional design - Mobile-first (62% of Wichita plumbing searches happen on phones) - Page load time: 2.1 seconds - Click-to-call on every page - Online booking form
Service pages (12 total): - Water heater repair & installation - Drain cleaning - Sewer line repair - Faucet repair - Toilet repair - Gas line services - Garbage disposal repair - Sump pump services - Water line repair - Bathroom plumbing - Kitchen plumbing - Emergency plumbing (24/7)
Service area pages (5 cities): - Wichita - Derby - Andover - Newton - El Dorado
Google Business Profile overhaul: - Complete all fields - Upload 30 real job photos - Start weekly Google Posts - Implement review request automation
Blog content: - 2 posts per month - Wichita-specific topics ("How Hard Is Wichita Water?" and "Winter Pipe Protection for Kansas Homes")
The Results
Here's where Steve's "small market" theory fell apart.
Month 1: Website live. Google indexing. Very little traffic. Steve was patient (after we reminded him 3 times to be patient).
Website visits: 85 Leads: 2
Month 2: First rankings appeared. "Emergency plumber Wichita" hit page 2. Google Business Profile views jumped 40% after the optimization.
Website visits: 190 Leads: 6
Month 3: "Drain cleaning Wichita" and "water heater repair Wichita" both hit page 1. In a small market, there's simply less competition. It happens faster.
Website visits: 380 Leads: 14 Steve's reaction: "Where are all these people coming from?"
Month 4: 7 service pages on page 1 of Google. The Derby and Andover city pages started generating leads from surrounding areas.
Website visits: 520 Leads: 21
Month 5: Google Business Profile reviews hit 32 (up from 9). The review automation was working. People were clicking and leaving reviews consistently.
Website visits: 680 Leads: 28
Month 6: Steve called me and said, "I think I need to hire someone."
Website visits: 810 Leads: 34 Revenue from website leads: $14,000/month
His total revenue went from $22,000 to $36,000/month. A 64% increase. In 6 months.
small market, huh?
Month 9: Full Local 3-Pack domination. Steve's listing appeared in the top 3 map results for almost every plumbing search in Wichita. His nearest competitor had half his reviews and a worse website.
Website visits: 1,100 Leads: 43 Google reviews: 58
Month 12: Full year results.
Website visits: 1,400/month Leads: 52/month Google reviews: 87 Total revenue: $48,000/month (up from $22,000) Revenue from website: $26,000/month
Why Small Markets Are Actually Easier
Here's what Steve's experience taught us (and what we already knew but had to prove to him).
In small markets: (And if you want to check search volumes in your own market, set up Google Search Console first.)
1. Less competition = faster rankings. In Houston, you might need 12 months to hit page 1. In Wichita, Steve was there in 3 months for several terms. Fewer plumbers doing SEO means lower barriers to entry. (Read about how long it takes to rank on Google for realistic timelines.)
2. Lower search volume but higher conversion rates. Wichita has fewer total searches than a big city. But the conversion rate is higher because people in smaller markets are more loyal and more trusting of local businesses. Steve's conversion rate was 9.2% compared to the national average of 5-6%.
3. Market dominance is achievable. In New York, you'll never own the entire market. In Wichita, Steve became the obvious #1 choice. When you're the clear leader in a small market, you get the lion's share of every search. There's no splitting leads 10 ways.
4. Lower cost per lead. Less competition means cheaper keywords (if you ever run ads) and faster organic results. Steve's cost per lead from organic traffic was about $3. Try getting that in a major metro.
5. Community effect amplifies results. (We cover the full playbook on local SEO ranking factors for plumbers.) In a smaller market, word travels faster. When Steve started dominating Google AND providing great service, the referrals amplified the online presence. People would Google him to get his number, see the professional website, and feel even more confident in the referral.
The Math on Small Markets
Let's break it down simply.
Wichita has about 3,200 monthly plumbing searches. Steve captures roughly 25% of the organic clicks (because he dominates the rankings).
That's 800 website visits/month. At a 9.2% conversion rate, that's roughly 74 leads/month.
But wait, not all leads convert to jobs. At a 60% close rate, that's 44 booked jobs/month from the website.
At an average ticket of $400... that's $17,600/month just from organic website leads. Plus the GBP clicks that go straight to phone calls without touching the website.
In a "small" market.
Steve's Advice for Other Small-Market Plumbers
I asked Steve what he'd tell another plumber in a similar-sized city.
"Stop making excuses. I told myself for years that a website wouldn't work here. Meanwhile, the plumber down the road who had a half-decent site was eating my lunch. Once I got a real website, I realized the market was way bigger than I thought. People ARE searching online. In every city. Even Wichita."
He paused. Then added:
"Also, do it now. Not next year. Now. Because once your competitor reads this article, they're gonna do it too. And it's a hell of a lot easier to be first."
Smart man. Knows his pipes AND his strategy.
[Want to dominate your small market? Start here.](/#pricing)
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P.S. Steve's in Wichita, Kansas. Not New York. Not LA. Wichita. And his website generates $26,000/month in new business. What's your excuse? Let's talk.