Customers Misunderstanding My Location...?!

SmokeyRosePress

Hi, I cannot seem to figure out for the LIFE of me what is happening.

I keep getting leads from folks who are usually from the west coast, whereas I am located in Pennsylvania. I have my location set to show my town and state (since I operate out of my home, I don't list my actual address anywhere) and I have also edited my targeting to focus on areas only within an hour or two of where I am located. So even though I can do and have accepted jobs as far as Washington state and California, I keep targeting customers in my area only to get direct leads from the west coast, and then once they realize I'm across the country, they cancel the job with me.

The weird thing, too, is that I also will get an influx of inquiries on my own website from folks who are across the country when I have had targeting on Thumbtack turned on, and when I turn off targeting, I get less inquiries on my website, and the few that I do get are actually within a closer distance to where I am actually located.

How can I fix this so that potential customers aren't constantly turned off by my actual location?? I don't like that this seems to mislead them, and I don't want to continue paying for direct leads when they want someone truly local. I also don't want to close my Thumbtack account because it has helped bring me new clients, both local and non-local, who have been great to work with.

Thank you for any help!!

DustiO

@soonerkimmy found a good solution for this with her business. If you want to keep showing up for customers anywhere, but you want to make sure they know where you are, you can add that to the name of your business so it shows up first thing when they see you in search results. Here's a screenshot of her profile:

If you don't wish to show up to customers not in your area, I would uncheck the box (I would also check the other 2 boxes if you want more local leads):

Hope this helps!