The chimney sweep industry constantly evolves, with new tools, technologies, and occasional regulatory updates emerging yearly.
Chimney cleaning professionals can use chimney sweep blogs and forums to stay informed and adapt to these changes. These platforms are valuable resources for learning new techniques, staying updated on technological advancements, and understanding regulatory shifts.
Moreover, business owners can discover unique strategies within these online communities to differentiate their services and outshine competitors.
But with many chimney sweep blogs, which ones should you trust? Which ones are the real deal?
Drawing from discussions with chimney service professionals and business owners, we’ve compiled a list of ten top chimney blogs and forums to follow.
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1. Wisdom from the Hearth
Source: Wisdom from the Hearth
Wisdom from the Hearth is the official blog of the Chimney Safety Institute of America.
Since 1983, CSIA has been the industry leader in chimney and venting education.
Its blog has useful content for professional chimney sweeps and homeowners and is one of the best online sources for industry news.
Thanks to its standing in the industry, CSIA can provide valuable information and insights you can’t find elsewhere.
Take this recent blog post, for example.
CSIA examines its website traffic to identify what homeowners need to know about their chimney and venting system. It’s an exciting read for any chimney sweep business looking to better engage homeowners in its area.
2. Ask the Chimney Sweep
Source: Ask the Chimney Sweep
Ask the Chimney Sweep is maintained by the owner of American Chimney, Clay Lamb, who has been in the business since 1981.
The site is a massive archive of multimedia content. Apart from regular blog articles, Lamb also maintains an active YouTube channel and podcast. This comprehensive content selection provides in-depth information on all chimney installation, repair, and maintenance aspects.
While technically aimed at homeowners, the blog is an excellent example of effective content marketing.
It’s structured to appeal to professionals and average homeowners trying to become familiar with the trade.
How?
Clay Lamb writes each piece from a place of real-world expertise and backs each piece of advice with on-site photos and videos.
This makes the articles engaging and accessible to the average person who wants to clean their chimney.
The #1 newsletter for the trades.
3. Contractor Talk Forum
Source: Contractor talk forum
While the main Contractor Talk site is focused on the construction trades, this forum attracts a broad audience from all field service professions.
Common topics include sales and marketing strategies, the joys and frustrations of running a small business, and emerging software and technologies reviews.
There’s also a job board and equipment trading board for those who want to upgrade their equipment or find a job.
In addition, the masonry sub-forum often has discussions specifically relevant to chimney sweeps, such as how to improve chimney longevity, and lengthy discussions on the pros and cons of the chimney sweep profession.
4. Smoke Signals
Run by the Connecticut-based company Northeastern Chimney, the Smoke Signals blog offers homeowners a comprehensive resource for anything related to chimneys, stoves, and fireplaces.
While the blog covers a variety of topics, the real highlight is the well-organized collection of guides for almost any specific issue a homeowner is likely to encounter. This blog has everything from how to care for your chimney in the winter to how to minimize creosote buildup in your flue. It even offers a detailed guide on why your chimney is covered in that mysterious white stuff, why you should care, and exactly what you should do about it.
The company also has an active social media presence on Facebook and Twitter, where homeowners can subscribe to receive their latest site updates.
5. Rockford Chimney Supply Blog
Source: Rockford chimney supply
Rockford Chimney Supply is an e-commerce business selling premium hearth products to professionals and DIY homeowners.
As such, its articles are generally relevant to both groups.
Rockford’s strong focus on DIY customers shows through its outstanding how-to content.
For instance, it has an excellent series of DIY videos showing homeowners how to install and replace chimney parts like dampers.
These videos cover precisely what equipment the homeowner needs to purchase beforehand and then explain each step of the process clearly and visually.
Even with that guidance, buying the right parts for a specific venting system can be tricky for most homeowners, so Rockford has made this process as easy as possible through its detailed online measurement forms.
Homeowners simply follow the measurement instructions, submit the form, and wait for a certified Rockford technician to send them a complete list of parts based on their specs.
For the DIY homeowner, Rockford’s blog is simply the best resource out there.
Source: The Chimney Sweep
The Chimney Sweep is a blog run by the Dallas-based chimney cleaning company of the same name.
For over 50 years, the company has provided high-quality chimney-cleaning and maintenance services to residential and commercial properties within the Dallas area.
Its expertise shines through in each piece of content on the blog.
For example, it recently published a piece outlining why practicing annual dryer vent cleaning is essential. And reading through it, it’s evident that each point or argument comes from on-the-job expertise.
And the firm tries to make every piece as simple as possible for anyone reading it.
7. Fluesbrothers Chimney Service Blog
Source: Fluesbrothers chimney service
Fluesbrothers Chimney Service is an experienced chimney company run by Jeremy Biswell, a CSIA-certified sweeper.
Based in Kansas, the company has several certified technicians and uses their expertise to publish in-depth articles on its blog.
The blog covers everything from chimney maintenance to fireplace repairs and components like chimney caps.
Take, for example, this article on fixing chimney leaks.
Every image visually illustrates the message in the content. This makes it easier for an expert or a novice to understand the article.
The blog's major highlight is an extensive library of videos that explain Fluesbrothers’ services and products in detail.
Source: Fluesbrothers Chimney Service
The videos are separated into sections, making it easy for anyone to find the necessary information.
You can check out a recent chat with the founder, where he shared how Fluesbrothers Chimney Service achieved massive success with ServiceTitan.
8. Chimney Champions Blog
Source: Chimney champions
The Florida-based company of the same name runs the Chimney Champions blog.
The company’s expertise in chimney inspection, cleaning, relining, and maintenance shines through in the value-packed articles.
Also, the blog is subdivided into different categories: chimney repairs, chimney sweeps, fireplace basics, and gas fireplace safety tips.
This makes it easy to navigate and a one-stop resource for everything related to chimneys and fireplaces.
For example, there are pieces on the benefits of wood-burning fireplaces, tips for picking the best firewood, and reasons why chimney liners are crucial.
9. Chimney Safety Institute of America Blog
Source: chimney safety institute of america
The Chimney Safety Institute of America blog delivers safety tips for chimney professionals and homeowners.
As a result of the Institute’s authority in the industry, it’s able to share safety tips and illustrate chimney care tips you're less likely to find anywhere else.
For example, one recent piece gives a detailed breakdown of the best types of wood to use in a fireplace—a great read for avoiding house fires.
The Institute also has an active YouTube channel filled with videos covering chimney sweep tutorials and fireplace safety tips.
10. Rooftop Chimney Sweeps Blog
Source: rooftop chimney sweeps
The Rooftop Chimney Sweeps blog is run by the dedicated team at the chimney sweeping company, who have been sharing expert tips since 2016.
The blog is separated into different categories, covering chimney repair, cleaning, maintenance, animal removal, and installation of fireplace accessories.
This makes it a blog that both homeowners and professional chimney sweepers find helpful.
The firm’s experience in delivering quality customer service makes its articles reliable and informative.
For instance, a recent blog post explains the need for chimney waterproofing. Reading it, you’ll notice that every shared tip stems from real-life experience.
Bonus: ServiceTitan Blog
Now, the ServiceTitan blog differs greatly from others listed here.
In addition to tips for technicians, the blog shares expert advice on running a successful chimney cleaning company, covering everything from sales and marketing to hiring and administration.
For example, one article covers the tools every chimney service tech must have.
What if you wanted to increase your business's profit margins and boost the productivity of your employees?
Some articles describe how you can use ServiceTitan software to streamline business operations and generate more profit.
It gets even better.
The blog has real-life case studies of trade companies that have grown their revenue using ServiceTitan. They share their challenges and give a step-by-step account of how ServiceTitan solved them.
For instance, in a recent piece, the founders of Fluesbrothers Chimney and Fireplace—Jeremy Biswell and Brandi Biswel—share their secrets of growing their company to 18 employees and $2.5 million in expected yearly revenue using ServiceTitan.
That's not all. The blog has a large archive of podcast interviews and YouTube videos.
Each episode and video contains tips from marketing professionals, financial experts, sales gurus, and thriving trade companies.
The blog is an excellent read for any tech interested in growing their career or business owner who wants to boost their revenue.
How Can Chimney Sweep Contractors Leverage Blogging?
Chimney sweep contractors can use blogging as a digital marketing tool.
This is important, primarily because most people rely on Google to find solutions to their problems.
So, you can leverage the knowledge of in-house experts to write about topics your target audience already cares about. The topics can range from fireplace safety to chimney cleaning or installation of chimney accessories.
But how can you ensure that your target audience finds them?
Well, you can optimize your content for search engines to rank on the first page of search engine result pages, where your target audience can find it.
Even better, you can promote it to your customers or email subscribers.
Pro tip: Promoting your blog posts with ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro Email feature couldn’t be easier.
With it, you can create emails with eye-catching designs without hiring designers. This saves costs and makes your emails easier to read.
To ensure your emails resonate with recipients, you can build hyper-targeted email marketing campaigns using customer information you already have stored in ServiceTitan.
For example, you can promote a piece titled “Reasons Why Regular Dryer Vent Cleaning is a Necessity” to customers whose memberships are about to expire.
It will have more effect than blasting that same article to every customer, including those who recently signed a new contract.
To complete the circle, ServiceTitan’s Marketing Pro feature gives you visibility into the performance of your emails.
This reveals the emails bringing in the most revenue.
And if you have other marketing campaigns in the pipeline, you can use ServiceTitan’s Home Services Marketing software to monitor their performance.
Typically, most tools only track the number of incoming calls your ads generate. But ServiceTitan goes a step further to rank all your campaigns by revenue and the calls they helped book.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Have questions about chimney sweep blogs?
Great.
Read on to find answers.
Which is the best chimney sweep blog?
There’s no one best chimney sweep blog. Instead, there are many good ones out there with articles you’ll find useful.
Each one may cover different topics and have different opinions on specific subjects.
So, we advise you don’t stick to just one. Instead, read several to get a well-rounded understanding of chimney sweeping.
What does a chimney sweep blog typically cover?
A chimney blog covers topics related to chimney sweeping.
Examples include fireplace maintenance, chimney repair, industry trends, tips for homeowners, and so on.
What are the benefits of reading these chimney sweep blogs?
Chimney sweep blogs provide in-depth information about specific topics. They can also reveal what homeowners care about and let you in on the latest industry trends.
ServiceTitan Chimney Sweep Software
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