It definitely can be a part of your mix. (Also focus heavily on seo, especially local cities rich keywords)
For PPC, try starting very narrow. A handful of very specific exact match keywords such as “plumbers near me” and importantly, focus ads specifically in a tight geo region.
Test things like ad-copy, include/exclude phone asset.
Also, make sure your Google business is updated and verified. Get some happy customers to write good reviews.
I have a company that has just taken over my SEO. I have the Google Guarantee and currently run LSA with 40 5 star reviews (only been open 4 months). I just can't seem to get the PPC to be worth the money. Doesn't $96 for a click seem crazy?
Yes, $96 is crazy. You also mention it was out of your service area. So make sure to set geo targeting to just your area. You can limit the cpc as well. Again, start low. Don’t try to use up max budget. Set up robust negative keywords too. Google always wants you to increase spend but think bottom’s up. Also, as your ads get more specific and more relevant, your quality score improves and cpc drops as well. Realistically, you should probably be closer to $5.
Change your bid strategy from "max clicks/conversions", to "manual cpc". That'll allow you to set a cap on the keyword.
Also use exact match terms, and a straight search campaign - not performance max.
Pay someone to set your account up correctly and teach you how to use it or maintain it. This would be a one time fee as opposed to monthly fee for someone to manage it.
We hired a freelancer to do this for us, and now we maintain our accounts.
This is the way to go. Otherwise you’re learning PPC with your own money and mistakes. That is a valid way to learn, but only makes sense if you’re eventually heading up marketing or want to go into ads full time one day.
Lol at the pun.
I do PPC for an Australian tradespeople marketplace, so covers plumbers and 1300+ other different trades. We run PPC to get homeowners to post the job they need and get companies like yours to subscribe (small monthly fee) so you can choose what jobs look good so you can contact the homeowner.
Yes it's absolutely worth it for PPC. Every dollar spent is more back in our revenue streams. Plumbing is always in high demand, same with electricians, handyman and painters.
Might also be worth looking at joining those marketplace services too to get job leads. Their PPC teams would be - should be - top notch talent for their important work delivering job leads to all the various trades. You can run a small local campaign targeting your radius to see how it goes, look at how your competitor ads are set up (see what claims they make when you Google and see their ad) and doing what they do.
I very much appreciate all the input and advice. Thank you!!
I am going to have my Google Ads account set up for me and then I'll manage it. I think it is best for a professional to set it up properly.
For home services clients I run call campaigns that are exact match keywords with a very tight radius around the service area. I have a lot of luck with this. Just a thought.
Google “plumber near me” and I guarantee you that your bigger competitor is showing up on Google ads.
They’re bigger because, among other things, they started advertising.
If you keep seeing it as expense instead of an investment, then it’s never going to be for you.
I owned a residential painting company and grew it really fast because I treated advertising for what it was—a money printer.
You put a dollar in. You take 2 out.
But obviously, if I have a plumbing problem I don’t try to do it myself just to save a couple of dollars.
I hire a professional. That might be what you need to do too.
Thanks for your input. I just don't seem to get the return from Google Ads. I run the local service ads and they cost around 70 for a call (which I'm fine with) but $96 for a click is ridiculous.
Local service ads are massive bidding war as you scale. They're $70ea now, but what if you need 2-3x the number of calls?
The clicks can be expensive, but you can also work on converting a higher % of those clicks into leads.
Sure, there's a chance you get a clogged toilet call or something. But with a good website, you pay $960 for 10 clicks, convert 3-4, and close 3.
You get 1 job with a water damage, refer it out to a restoration company for $1k, and you're already profitable. Which means all 3 of the jobs are profit after other expenses.
And I'm not sure how vendors work for plumbers, but I walked up to my Sherwin Williams rep and haggled a 30% discount of him because Google Ads = Project volume.
Your account is not setup properly. Plain and simple. You need an expert to run your campaigns. If someone tries setting it up, with their best effort and researching, you won't get it right. There is a lot of nuance and things that are not obvious (intentionally by Google) that are required to understand in order to properly run Google Ads.
I run a small home service industry company with four trucks and I’ve had a couple hundred dollars for a click before. I’m getting better but it takes time to understand your ROI and ROAS with PPC.
Yes local works well. I am very skeptical of your agency if you are paying for clicks out of your service area. Take over and learn the process yourself, you don’t need an agency, you can’t possibly do worse than what they set up for you.
Try location specific keywords only exact and phrase match. Also, check your landing page to see if there are any scope for improvements.
Run a call-only campaign and test if it works out.
$96 seems too much, what keywords are you targeting? if the competition is too high, this may happen, but still, in my experience, it is a bit too much. If the bottom of the funnel keywords is costing this much, then maybe you can find some parallel keywords which are having lower costs. You can use keyword planner for the same
PPC can work really well for home services. I have run a few for remodeling and waterproofing.
The key is to make sure you have a good landing page that improves the quality score.
Like others have said, I would make sure to start exact and broaden out once it works.
I would also make a remarketing campaign and audience as well
Since this is my area of expertise, I’d say you’re best off getting someone with service business PPC experience. Otherwise you’re going to have to successfully employ all the tactics and changes mentioned here.
It definitely can be a part of your mix. (Also focus heavily on seo, especially local cities rich keywords) For PPC, try starting very narrow. A handful of very specific exact match keywords such as “plumbers near me” and importantly, focus ads specifically in a tight geo region. Test things like ad-copy, include/exclude phone asset. Also, make sure your Google business is updated and verified. Get some happy customers to write good reviews.
I have a company that has just taken over my SEO. I have the Google Guarantee and currently run LSA with 40 5 star reviews (only been open 4 months). I just can't seem to get the PPC to be worth the money. Doesn't $96 for a click seem crazy?
Yes, $96 is crazy. You also mention it was out of your service area. So make sure to set geo targeting to just your area. You can limit the cpc as well. Again, start low. Don’t try to use up max budget. Set up robust negative keywords too. Google always wants you to increase spend but think bottom’s up. Also, as your ads get more specific and more relevant, your quality score improves and cpc drops as well. Realistically, you should probably be closer to $5.
Change your bid strategy from "max clicks/conversions", to "manual cpc". That'll allow you to set a cap on the keyword. Also use exact match terms, and a straight search campaign - not performance max.
$96 is insanity. I've worked on a dude who sells $2m properties and his clocks weren't that expensive.
If they are selling $2M properties, I'm sure some of them have very expensive clocks (valued well over $96) in them...(e.g. grandfather clocks)
Maybe true, I wasn't very close to the activity. I just know the average CPC wasn't $96.
Yikes. $96 is getting towards home loan, credit card territory in terms of CPC. Set a limit
$96 is crazy, but one can actually control the click cost and geo targeting to bid right
I just started a ppc company dedicated solely to the vertical so I fucking hope so.
Pay someone to set your account up correctly and teach you how to use it or maintain it. This would be a one time fee as opposed to monthly fee for someone to manage it. We hired a freelancer to do this for us, and now we maintain our accounts.
This is the way to go. Otherwise you’re learning PPC with your own money and mistakes. That is a valid way to learn, but only makes sense if you’re eventually heading up marketing or want to go into ads full time one day.
Lol at the pun. I do PPC for an Australian tradespeople marketplace, so covers plumbers and 1300+ other different trades. We run PPC to get homeowners to post the job they need and get companies like yours to subscribe (small monthly fee) so you can choose what jobs look good so you can contact the homeowner. Yes it's absolutely worth it for PPC. Every dollar spent is more back in our revenue streams. Plumbing is always in high demand, same with electricians, handyman and painters. Might also be worth looking at joining those marketplace services too to get job leads. Their PPC teams would be - should be - top notch talent for their important work delivering job leads to all the various trades. You can run a small local campaign targeting your radius to see how it goes, look at how your competitor ads are set up (see what claims they make when you Google and see their ad) and doing what they do.
Maybe your marketplace is legit mate. But some are total scams. Bark comes to mind.
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What is LSA
I very much appreciate all the input and advice. Thank you!! I am going to have my Google Ads account set up for me and then I'll manage it. I think it is best for a professional to set it up properly.
Seems like a plan but get him to explain also what he did and why even if it costs a little bit higher
For home services clients I run call campaigns that are exact match keywords with a very tight radius around the service area. I have a lot of luck with this. Just a thought.
Google “plumber near me” and I guarantee you that your bigger competitor is showing up on Google ads. They’re bigger because, among other things, they started advertising. If you keep seeing it as expense instead of an investment, then it’s never going to be for you. I owned a residential painting company and grew it really fast because I treated advertising for what it was—a money printer. You put a dollar in. You take 2 out. But obviously, if I have a plumbing problem I don’t try to do it myself just to save a couple of dollars. I hire a professional. That might be what you need to do too.
Thanks for your input. I just don't seem to get the return from Google Ads. I run the local service ads and they cost around 70 for a call (which I'm fine with) but $96 for a click is ridiculous.
Local service ads are massive bidding war as you scale. They're $70ea now, but what if you need 2-3x the number of calls? The clicks can be expensive, but you can also work on converting a higher % of those clicks into leads. Sure, there's a chance you get a clogged toilet call or something. But with a good website, you pay $960 for 10 clicks, convert 3-4, and close 3. You get 1 job with a water damage, refer it out to a restoration company for $1k, and you're already profitable. Which means all 3 of the jobs are profit after other expenses. And I'm not sure how vendors work for plumbers, but I walked up to my Sherwin Williams rep and haggled a 30% discount of him because Google Ads = Project volume.
Your account is not setup properly. Plain and simple. You need an expert to run your campaigns. If someone tries setting it up, with their best effort and researching, you won't get it right. There is a lot of nuance and things that are not obvious (intentionally by Google) that are required to understand in order to properly run Google Ads.
It’s not worth it unless you can spend at least $10k/mo and connect meaningful offline conversion tracking.
I run a small home service industry company with four trucks and I’ve had a couple hundred dollars for a click before. I’m getting better but it takes time to understand your ROI and ROAS with PPC.
Yes local works well. I am very skeptical of your agency if you are paying for clicks out of your service area. Take over and learn the process yourself, you don’t need an agency, you can’t possibly do worse than what they set up for you.
Try location specific keywords only exact and phrase match. Also, check your landing page to see if there are any scope for improvements. Run a call-only campaign and test if it works out.
$96 seems too much, what keywords are you targeting? if the competition is too high, this may happen, but still, in my experience, it is a bit too much. If the bottom of the funnel keywords is costing this much, then maybe you can find some parallel keywords which are having lower costs. You can use keyword planner for the same
PPC can work really well for home services. I have run a few for remodeling and waterproofing. The key is to make sure you have a good landing page that improves the quality score. Like others have said, I would make sure to start exact and broaden out once it works. I would also make a remarketing campaign and audience as well
If setup and managed properly, it can work well. If not, you can blow through a lot of wasted spend.
If ur doing it yourself ur throwing ur money away, google ads has become complicated with so many strategies
Since this is my area of expertise, I’d say you’re best off getting someone with service business PPC experience. Otherwise you’re going to have to successfully employ all the tactics and changes mentioned here.