Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is often misunderstood as a strategy only for big corporations with unlimited marketing budgets. Nothing could be further from the truth. PPC marketing is for small businesses, too. In fact, the home services industry could really benefit from PPC if they knew how to take advantage of it.
If you are not familiar with PPC, it is a form of online advertising that bases its charges on how frequently an ad is clicked (or viewed in some cases). Every time you are charged, it is an indication that someone has made a decision to click your ad.
As for home services, the days of Yellow Pages advertising are long gone. Home services today are found almost exclusively via online searches. People go to Google, Bing, or even Start Page and run a quick search. Combining organic searches with PPC marketing can produce some amazing results.
Determined the Sales Cycle
The first step in taking advantage of PPC is determining the sales cycle. In home services, there are two sales cycles:
- Short – The short sale cycle is typified by one-off, emergency services. Someone might be looking for a plumber who can stop by within the next couple of hours to fix a leaky toilet. Someone else might need emergency HVAC service.
- Long – The long sales cycle refers to services not provided on an emergency basis. Think kitchen remodeling, lawn care, or swimming pool construction.
The point of determining the sales cycle is to craft ads appropriate to the services being offered and how customers might search for them.
General Tips for Better PPC
Once the sale cycle is determined, it’s time to start crafting ads to target the desired audience. We will not get into figuring out that audience here. We trust home services companies already know who their main customers are.
Here are some general tips for better PPC in home services:
- Optimize Local – Home services are local services. Ads should be crafted to optimize local service areas. They should target specific neighborhoods, zip codes, etc.
- Optimize Keywords – Keywords are just as important in PPC marketing as they are in organic search. But in home services, it is important to focus on high-intent keywords. These include town and city names, detailed service names, and the ever popular ‘near me’ phrase.
- Include Negative Keywords – It is important to include negative keywords in all ad campaigns. Negative keywords refer to irrelevant information you do not want considered in searches. Ultimately, they will save you money and generate more qualified leads.
- Include Key Information – Home services providers should include key information in their ads. This definitely includes a phone number and possibly a location and one or two in-demand services.
- Create Urgency – Creating a sense of urgency can encourage people to click, especially in relation to services in the long sales cycle. Urgency already exists in short cycle services; you need to create it for long cycle services.
All these tips are underscored by the need to optimize landing pages. A landing page is the page your customer will land on after clicking your ad. It should speak directly to the need addressed in the ad. That way, customers are taken directly to information about the service they need.
PPC marketing is a fantastic tool for certain types of industries. It works extremely well for home services, so it is surprising that more home services companies do not utilize it. We invite home services companies in the Salt Lake City area to contact us to learn more. We are confident we can make PPC work for you.
