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Understanding Clickthrough Rate and How It Affects Your Bottom Line

Understanding Clickthrough Rate and How It Affects Your Bottom Line

We don’t expect you to understand every aspect of what we do as home services marketers. But, the more knowledge that you can equip yourself with, the better suited you will be to effectively track the performance of your marketing campaigns.

There are certain elements that you as a business owner and client of a marketing agency deem important and use as a gauge to measure the efficacy of your marketing. Much the same, Google has metrics and components that they measure to hold us accountable as well.

Yes…we get it from both ends!

One of those elements that both you and Google should (and hopefully are) keeping an eye on is the clickthrough rate of your company’s listings on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

This goes for both paid ads and organic results.

Let’s take a step towards understanding this metric a little better…

What is Clickthrough Rate?

Google defines clickthrough rate as a ratio showing how often people who see your ad or free listing end up clicking it. Clickthrough rate (CTR) can be used to gauge how well your keywords and ads, and free listings, are performing.

Ultimately, CTR is the number of times users click on your ad or listing versus the number of times the ad or listing was shown.

For example, if your ad or listing was seen 250 times, and received 25 clicks, your clickthrough rate would be 10%.

The higher your clickthrough rate, the better your ad or listing is performing.

On the contrary, a low clickthrough rate is often a good indication that your ad or listing isn’t persuasive enough to entice the user to click to learn more.

A low clickthrough rate can most often be cured by tailoring the words of your ad or listing to speak more specifically to the issues that your target audience is experiencing.

What is a Good Clickthrough Rate?

Determining a good CTR is totally dependent upon your industry and the keywords being targeted with your ad or listing.

You may be shocked to know that, according to Hubspot, the average clickthrough rate across all industries is 1.91% for Google search ads.

And according to respondents from a survey conducted by Databox, the average CTR for organic search results (Search Engine Optimization) is between 3-5%.

Understanding the industry averages helps to make your expectations as a business owner a little more realistic.

What is clickthrough rate?

How Does CTR Impact Search Performance?

So this is where I was telling you that Google also keeps an eye on how our campaigns for companies like yours are performing.

If you think of Google as a business (which they are) and the people who search on Google as their customers (which they are) then you can understand why it’s important for Google to provide the best search results possible.

If they notice that a particular ad or search result is being shown often but never gets clicked, they consider that result to be irrelevant and will show it far less often which ultimately means worse placement for you.

It is crucial that your paid ads and organic search results are;

  1. Showing up for the correct search terms
  2. Persuasive enough to convince the user to click and learn more

If your results show up for incorrect search terms, one of two things will happen. The user will either not click on the ad, or they will click on the ad and learn that it has nothing to do with what they are searching for when they get to your website or landing page, resulting in them leaving immediately.

If you don’t get the click…bad. If they get to your site and leave immediately…also bad.

One of our goals as your marketing partner is to target the exact audience who is in need of your services and craft the perfectly worded search results to entice them to click, and in the end, convert into a lead for your business.

Clickthrough Rate affects quality score

It’s Beneficial to Understand for Yourself and to Partner with a Pro

Knowing how to judge the success of your home services company’s marketing campaigns is necessary if you want to have your finger on the pulse of your business.

That being said, knowing how to understand your campaigns is a totally different animal than being able to actually commit the time and execute the campaigns yourself.

It’s important to partner with a marketing agency that you can trust and rely on.

Visibly Connected has been partnering with home services companies like yours for over 11 years and we have literally made it our business to create successful marketing campaigns in the industry.

We’re always happy to help if you have any marketing questions and are available to chat if you want to learn more about how we can help you become more effective online.

SEO, PPC, ROI, KPI – what the hell does it all mean and what should you be paying attention to?

SEO, PPC, ROI, KPI – what the hell does it all mean and what should you be paying attention to?

There are so many digital marketing acronyms that It almost seems pretentious to some degree.

As a marketer, keeping up with all of the acronyms and their importance is just part of the job. But, as an outsider, it can seem very confusing. Let’s break some of these items down to see exactly what they mean, how important they are, and which ones you should be paying attention to.

Common Digital Marketing Acronyms

Here’s a quick explanation of the most basic understanding of the acronyms that we are focusing on in this article;

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine.

Pay-per-click (PPC)
an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click is commonly associated with first-tier search engines.

Return on Investment (ROI)
the contribution to profit attributable to marketing, divided by the marketing ‘invested’ or risked.

Key Performance Indicator(s) (KPI)
A way of measuring the effectiveness of a marketing agency and its progress towards achieving your goals.

But anybody can search Google to find a few definitions.

This article is about exploring those definitions a little further to understand how these terms are important to your home services business and it’s marketing.

So let’s do just that.

Understanding SEO and PPC, and how they fit into your business.

Most of the time that we are approached by a prospective client, they don’t know which particular form of marketing they want or need – they only know that they ultimately want to generate more service calls.

It is our job to analyze your goals and come up with a roadmap of the most effective ways to reach those goals.

local-hvac-seo

Let’s start with search engine optimization.

SEO is what we consider to be the foundation for any successful home services marketing campaign.

Search engines are becoming more and more geographically aware of their users’ intent when searching for particular home services such as “HVAC repair” or “Plumbers near me”. This is why search engine optimization is so powerful for service companies with a service area of let’s say a 20-mile radius.

You want to make sure that your local map listing as well as the relevant pages on your website are completely optimized and are showing up when those users in your service area are searching for your services.

The great thing about SEO is that your results aren’t determined by how much money you are willing to spend each month. Your results are based on the effectiveness of our work as your marketing agency month in and month out.

The only caveats to local SEO are the amount of time it takes and that a local home services company will have a hard time targeting a particular neighborhood that is 50 miles away because there are simply too many service providers between your physical location and that of the user in that neighborhood.

Pay-per-click, on the other hand, is able to do exactly that.

PPC marketing is a great way to target specific geographic areas with laser-like precision. You have the ability to say when you want your ads to show up, what search terms you want to trigger them, where you want them to be displayed, and how much you’re willing to pay for the clicks.

This kind of granular control over your marketing is very powerful when it comes to expanding your business in a hurry and even testing potential service areas.

You just better be prepared to have a budget that matches your goals because search engines don’t run ads for free.

Let’s dig a little deeper to understand in what scenarios these marketing tactics work best, what type of ROI to expect, and how to track a successful campaign with the proper KPIs.

When does SEO make sense and how will I know it’s working?

I’ll be honest – there really isn’t a scenario that we wouldn’t recommend local SEO to a home services client.

As I mentioned before, it is the foundation of any successful home services company out there when it comes to digital marketing.

It is highly effective for a new home services business that is looking to establish a foothold in their territory.

SEO can take a word-of-mouth company and expose them to a segment of customers that they would have never had the chance to access before.

And SEO, done right, is a breath of fresh air for the home services company that has been burned by less than effective marketing agencies in the past.

You’ll know search engine optimization is working when your local map listing and website start showing up in the first-page search results for relevant search terms in your service area. This is known as keyword rankings and is a major KPI, or key performance indicator, when it comes to SEO.

But let’s be honest – that’s kind of a lame KPI. While it’s important, first-page Google rankings don’t necessarily translate to more service calls.

We take things much further than keyword rankings when it comes to SEO that we provide our home service clients.

Some major KPIs that we track as your marketing agency are;

  • Keyword rankings – what position your local map listing and/or website rank for specific keywords.
  • Monthly website traffic – how many organic users are driven to your website each month, specifically from our efforts.
  • Website bounce rate – how often users reach your website and immediately leave or close the window.
  • Average time spent on page – well…how long users spend on a specific page on average, obviously.
  • Pages visited per session – how many pages a user clicks through to on your website in a single visit.
  • Average session duration – how much time a user spends on your website in a single visit overall.
  • Users’ geographical location – where users are accessing your website from.
  • Conversion rate – the percentage of users who are either calling or filling out a form.

Let’s understand why some of these metrics are important…

We want to know how many users we send to your website each month because it lets us know how effective the title and description of your pages are which is what shows up in the search results. If we notice that you are showing up in search results often but nobody is visiting your site, that tells us that we need to improve the quality of your title and description to persuade the user to click on your website.

Your bounce rate and average time spent on page go hand-in-hand. If all of the traffic we send to your website is spending less than 30 seconds on the page and not calling you, then we know we are sending the wrong traffic to your website and we need to correct that.

A user’s geographical location is important because let’s be honest, someone in India isn’t going to bring a whole lot of value to your local home services company located in Texas.

Where Visibly Connected really comes in clutch is with your conversion rate. We analyze the number of people who visit your website versus the number of phone calls and web forms you get each month. If that number is low, we make changes to the user experience of your website to help improve those numbers.

Search engine optimization is a long game and nothing really happens fast in terms of results. Our goal is to be as transparent as possible about that with our clients.

But the thing is – the payoff is huge.

When we are able to consistently put forth the effort to rank your local map listing and website on the first page of search results, analyze the traffic, and make necessary adjustments to maximize the potential of that traffic, all you have to do is answer the phone, reply to emails, and run service calls.

So why would I run PPC ads and what kind of return should I expect?

There are a couple of scenarios that PPC or pay-per-click marketing is most effective.

For one, PPC is a great way to stimulate your revenue while SEO is in its early stages and the results aren’t as glorious as you would like.

Another scenario where pay-per-click advertising would be best utilized is if you are trying to grow a particular service in a hurry such as AC Installation or Roof Replacement.

Where PPC really shines is its ability to allow your home services business to scale.

You are able to segment your marketing budget to really understand where you are getting the most return on your investment in terms of services provided and the geographical market.

By knowing if you spend $3,000 per month to get an additional 20 service routes in a specific city, you can hire additional service techs without the burden of wondering where the next customer is going to come from.

You also have the ability to easily reach out and target communities that may otherwise be a pipedream with organic marketing methods.

Another thing to consider is saturation.

Search engine optimization is great to establish dominance in your local service area, but eventually, you will saturate the market and just maintain that dominance.

With PPC, you can extend your reach and grow as a home services company to eventually TAKE OVER THE WORLD *lightning crash*.

Or at least the major metropolitan area if that’s what you’re into.

Some KPIs that go into determining a successful PPC campaign include;

  • Impressions – how often your ad is being seen.
  • Click-through rate – the percentage of users who click your ad.
  • Cost per click – the average dollar amount a search engine charges per click on your ad.
  • Conversions – users that either call or submit their information after having clicked on your ad.
  • Cost per conversion – the average dollar amount spent to achieve either a phone call or form submission.
  • Conversion rate – the percentage of users who call or submit their information after having clicked on your ad.
  • Overall cost – the overall dollar amount spent on your ads campaign.

Let’s look at how some of these metrics affect the overall quality of your ads campaign…

While we look at the overall picture, the main metrics that we analyze when running a PPC ads campaign are the click-through rate, conversion rate, and cost per conversion.

We want to maintain a high click-through rate because that determines how many people actually see your landing page and offer, such as “New System Financing”. Without people clicking on your ads, nobody will see your offer, and that means no service calls.

Once a user reaches your landing page, we are able to track how many of them convert into a lead by either calling or submitting their information on a form. This percentage is your conversion rate. Our goal is to convert as many users as possible into leads for your home services business.

Lastly, we want to really focus on the overall cost per conversion. This is important because it helps us really understand your ROI or return on investment.

One of the most common misconceptions that we run into with potential home services marketing clients is that a business running PPC ads is going to make money hand over fist with a modest investment.

That’s just not the case no matter who you are working with.

PPC advertising is an effective way to grow your business and target specific services and geographical locations but depending on the industry, can require a considerable budget.

Understanding the investment is the most important part of running PPC ads. If you know your margins and comprehend the value of a lead based on the frequency at which you are turning those leads into service calls, then you should be set up for a successful ads campaign.

The concept isn’t very complicated.

Once you understand the basic terminology and know what to look for, the concept of digital marketing isn’t very complicated.

The difficult part is being able to adapt and recognize all of the nuances that go along with maintaining multiple digital marketing campaigns.

As long as you equip yourself with enough information to make the appropriate decisions, you should experience success with your home services marketing.

Visibly Connected has been a marketing partner for home services companies for over 10 years and we love to be a resource of information for anyone in the industry. Feel free to reach out if you have questions!

The Power of Google Ads for Pool Service Companies

The Power of Google Ads for Pool Service Companies

Are you ready to take advantage of Google Ads and get results for your pool service company?

Although marketing tools like SEO are incredibly powerful, they take time to build value and see results, whereas Google Ads can get you results at a more rapid pace!

Securing top spot visibility on SERPs requires continuous work with strategies like SEO and tends to fluctuate depending on your competition and work efforts.

With Google Ads, staking your claim in the top spot is a paid service.

You may be asking yourself- “Google allows businesses to purchase real estate on their result pages, why?”

Creating successful google ads

Of course, they do…and here’s why.

At the end of the day, Google is a business.

Over the years, Google has completely changed how it’s searchers find businesses and how they display information.

For companies willing to invest in paid advertising, you can earn yourself a very cozy spot above all of your competitors.

Let’s dive right into those crystal clear results you’ve been dreaming about!

Have any questions about Visibly Connected’s Marketing Services? Request more information today!

Building Business for Pool Service Pros: How it Works

Jumping into the pool

Google Ads is an advertising platform designed to generate leads for companies that bid on the use of specific keywords within their clickable ads (which appear at the top of Google’s search result pages).

The team here at Visibly Connected has garnered some incredible results with the right Pool Service ad campaigns. One of our most recent pool maintenance & repair clients was able to capture 43 leads in just 18 days.

But that doesn’t matter if they were low-quality leads, does it?

That’s the thing…we were able to provide leads at a whopping 60% close rate – that’s massive.

Keep in mind, not everybody gets results like that right away and your mileage may vary. However, if you follow a few key steps when creating your campaigns, that success is not so far fetched.

To create a successful ad, you’ll need to formulate and launch a strategically planned out AdWords campaign.

To launch your campaign, you will need to determine a few things:

Ad targeting & Call to actions

  • Choose a campaign type & name
  • Choose your ad display location
  • Determine & set your daily budget
  • Select your keywords
  • Create a very specific call to action
  • Create the ad
  • Create a landing page that reflects only your chosen call to action
  • Lastly, set up thorough tracking to monitor your ROI

Once you’ve successfully set up and launched your Google Ads campaign, it is crucial that you monitor your ads success very carefully and adjust accordingly.

Creating the best ad for your target audience and turning them from a click into a conversion may take some perfecting.

Once you find your system and learn how to adjust your ads for greater success as you go, just sit back and watch the leads make a splash, and if the waves aren’t big enough, adjust a little more.

So What Does All This Mean for Your Pool Service Company?

Well, that depends.

You really need to sit down, map out your goals, and inventory your capabilities and resources to help you achieve those goals.

Is this something you can do on your own? Sure it is.

Many small businesses have been able to achieve success with Google Ads on their own with plenty of research and practice.

If your plan is to go it alone, just be patient and don’t get discouraged if you don’t get perfect results right away.Google ads

There are plenty of resources available online which can help you map out the perfect Google Ads campaign. The real work comes when it’s time to analyze your results and make minor changes based on the metrics you choose to track.

Most often, the key metrics we track on Google Ads campaigns are Cost-per-click, Conversion Rate, and Cost-per-lead.

For instance, according to Wordstream, the average conversion rate across all industries on Google Ads is 3.75%. This should be your standard when tracking your results.

Ready for some inspiration?

Between all of our different clients’ Pool Maintenance & Repair ads, we yield anywhere between 8% and 19% conversion rates. Way above the average.

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HELP YOUR BUSINESS

Let us get to work on your
home services marketing today.

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Impactful Perks of Google Ads for Pool Service Companies

  • Harness the power of Google’s massive reach
    Google is the number one search engine used everywhere, no question about it. Through Google Ads, you have the ability to harness some of that powerful reach and generate incredible profit for your own business.
  • Gain a diverse range of targeting capabilitiesSearch Intent
    With the unique Google Ads platform, you gain a wide range of targeting capabilities, all designed to capture the attention of your target audience ahead of your competitors and present you with any relevant business opportunities first.
  • Take advantage of search intent and top-tier positioning
    With the right ad, you can be placed directly in front of your target customer on a daily basis. Once you’ve got their attention, all you have to do is take advantage of your search result position and entice them to click your ad before they scroll further.
  • Gain complete campaign control with easy adjustment capabilities
    With Google’s paid ads, YOU are in full control. Your ad campaign remains completely customizable throughout the entire process. Google’s ad campaigns make testing and perfecting your advertising efforts a breeze.
  • Choose your budget
    The Google Ads campaign platform allows you to select your exact budget, closely monitor performance in relation to that budget, and adjust it whenever needed.
  • Expand your brand awarenessBrand awareness
    Because Google Ads can put your business at the top of search result pages, your potential for brand awareness and service area domination skyrocket in comparison to other advertisement avenues!
  • Rake in more conversions
    With the use of well-optimized ads, you have the ability to target and acquire the exact conversions you need when you want them. Through keen search intent planning and successful campaign development, the conversions will keep pouring in.
  • Maximize ROI with your choice in bidding strategy
    By testing and implementing different Google Ad bidding strategies and finding what works best for your campaign, you have the ability to fully maximize your ROI, all while quickly growing a loyal customer base.

Get Your Pool Service Leads Now with Google Ads

As a pool service provider in today’s digital market, finding new and effective ways to reach your customer base ahead of your competition is a must. Our team of ad campaign specialists has developed proven methods for capturing your target audience and helping you rake in the conversions.

If you are ready to take over the Google Ad space for your service area and start getting reliable leads, call us today at 281-940-7463– Why wait for success when you can have it now?

How Landing Pages Land You More Business

Landing Pages 101

Outside of landing pages, it’s important to understand that websites are a powerful tool for any business. And at this point, it’s less of a fancy advertising piece and more of a bare essential.

Modern businesses without a website are simply not competing on the same playing field and maybe not even the same league at this point.

Yes, Facebook and Instagram are wonderful ways to present your brand online and dominate target markets that your product or service desperately wish to reach; however, there is no substitute for a proper website, but how do businesses take even this increasingly necessary step to the next level?

The answer? Landing pages. landing-page-content-web-design

A landing page is basically the part of a website a user lands on from clicking a link on another website or part of your own website or an ad of some sort.

What makes them so special?:

  • Landing pages can heavily affect your website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
  • Landing pages provide a clear path of direction for the visitor. One that points in the direction of a preferred conversion for your business at that.
  • Landing pages produce useful data for your brand.

A properly positioned and formatted landing page can be the difference between having potential leads that merely end up as site visitors and having potential leads which end up as customers or potential customers at a later date.

This helpful article will help expand upon the importance of a landing page, mistakes to avoid when creating one, and how exactly a simple webpage can amplify your business and provide more conversions.

Convert More Leads With a Proper Landing Page

Great landing pages are one of those trends we have seen gain traction in the digital marketing realm and it shows no signs of slowing down.

Now that we know what landing pages are, another question may be swirling, what’s the difference between a landing page and a website’s homepage?

We’re so glad you asked.

 

The Differences Between a Landing Page and a Homepage

A website’s initial page where all other pages and features converge through links is known as its homepage.

Here visitors can see just about everything from a wide overview of what your website has to offer and is usually further broken down within the initial, broad sections that are presented on this page.

The key difference between the two and the ultimate reason they should be distinguished between is that while homepages are broad and subject the visitor to a wide variety of information and options, a good landing page does quite the opposite.

Landing pages are designed to be narrow pages that direct the visitor into one or two areas of specific actions.

 

How Landing Pages Affect Search Engine Optimization

Analysis results

 

Narrow page designs from a landing page are all part of the multiple reasons a landing page can help your business grow. One of the potentially most overlooked features, however, is the part it plays in visitors even finding your website at all.

 

Say for example that you own a salon and wanted to draw more business through your website. Owning a salon on the surface may seem streamlined and direct in what one may offer their customers but we both know this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Customers who wish to purchase a simple trim of their hair versus someone who is looking for a completely different look that involves dyes and chemicals will require vastly different solutions. Throw in a customer who is simply looking to purchase a certain brand of conditioner and you already have three different specific customer purchasing actions that can take place.

Creating appropriate landing pages that are specific for a haircut, a separate landing page for chemical work, and a third for your online store of products will help your customers find what they are looking for quicker and more directly.

This pleases Google.

Google makes up the heavy majority of search engine searches by a long shot and has algorithms that allow its engines to know what pages are relevant for incoming searching both broadly and local.

Providing potential readers with precise answers establishes trust and proves your brand to be an authority within your industry.

Considering 9 out of 10 online activities begin by the user asking a search engine, establishing importance on Google and other search engines are of dire importance to your brand’s SEO.

 

Good SEO Helps Customers Find Solutions          seo-business-solutions

Going back to the salon example, visitors who enter a homepage that sees every option, service, and product offered by the company but are only interested in fulfilling a single problem they are currently facing may leave your website altogether if they feel as if they are experiencing information overload.

Even homepages with fewer options can be difficult to navigate and cost businesses, potential customers, because they will simply leave the website rather than deal with frustrating misdirection.

Proper landing pages should present the visitor with the specific subject matter they are currently seeking. Presenting too much within these pages will reproduce the same issues that can be faced when visiting a homepage.

A great landing page will provide one, maybe two areas in which a customer is given the opportunity to perform a business conversion that also helps by providing value to their solution process, such as:

  • Purchasing a good or service.
  • Signing up for a newsletter.
  • Downloading a piece of content.

Provide solutions and defined landing pages and your business will see exponential growth among a sea of information.

 

Landing Pages Are Perfect For Collecting Data and Information

Long gone are the old ways of marketing and sales as we once knew them and with the passing of time, businesses must also adapt.

This also ushers in an era of opportunity and by creating quality landing pages, your business can view and monitor the solutions you are offering your customers to see which are performing and which simply aren’t.

Take the time to monitor what the data tells you about your customer and implement it within your business. You may be surprised and can use this information to better market your products and services or potentially cut off ineffective offerings. Landing pages are the perfect arena to experiment and learn more about your customers.

 

Land More Clients With Confidence

marketing-with-confidence

The value of landing pages are already being seen by companies who properly structure and implement them across the web and the future is bright for this wonderful tool.

If your business is interested in building landing pages, connecting customers with your products or services, and capture more audience data, download our 27 Greatest Tips, Tricks, and Ideas for Home Services and then contact the team at Visibly Connected. A local company in Humble, TX with a global reach, offering digital solutions for modern businesses.

Keywords: The Key to a Successful Google Ads Campaign

Keywords: The Key to Your Successful Google Search Ads Campaign

keywords are a vital part of ad campaigns.

Have you ever wondered how Google can find exactly what you’re looking for when you type it into their search engine?

Yes, the key to Google searches and the modern convenience we have virtually all become accustomed to is not only the key but a word.

We’re talkin’ keywords folks, words, terms, and phrases that search engines use to identify and locate our various searches every day.

But with so many web pages available and digital advertising continuing to rise, competition is ramping up their efforts, and search engines are continuously evolving to organize credible, valuable information for users.

The issue for companies looking to get their message across to customers then becomes how do you ensure that your content reaches those you desire when searches occur.

There is a lot that goes into this increasingly complex topic, including a lot of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), but it all starts with effectively utilizing keywords for your content.

Furthermore, for our purposes, instead of divulging into an extensive discussion of every sub-topic involving keywords, we’ve curated this article to specifically focus on Google Ads.

Keyword usage can be tricky, but with the right tools, a lot of time, and a solid content marketing strategy, your brand can effectively put its solutions in the front of searching customers.

The Various Types of Keywords for Google AdsPlanning out your Google Ads Campaign is extremely important!

If you’d like to see a chart of this, please feel free to visit the source, the gurus, the Mecca, and click here as the syntax can be a bit confusing to convey through written text.

When you create a Search advertisement on Google Ads, you must tell Google which words you want to use to trigger the ad you are sending into the digital advertising landscape.

There are a handful of different types of keywords to be aware of:

Broad Match – The vaguest of keywords. Input the words you wish and leave it at that. Very broad (duh), and generic. Great for reaching a wider audience, but it can attract unwanted visitors.

Broad Match Modifier – Indicated by a + symbol before the keyword, this type of keyword allows for keywords or their close variation to match so-long as they have the same meaning. This match type typically filters out some unwanted traffic.

Phrase Match – A phrase match is noted as follows: “keyword(s).” Additional words are again welcomed, and so are close variations, but this modification allows for a more specific set of traffic and looks to narrow things even further for advertisers.

Exact Match – Keywords that are presented as follows: [keyword(s)]. Brackets are used to tell the search engine that the words entered between them must be searched exactly in to trigger your ad. Highly exclusive and overuse may result in ads not showing due to the low search volume of the chosen terms.

These keywords also have an additional counterpart, which helps the search engine weed out unwanted traffic for your ads known as Negative Keywords. Negative Keywords can be presented in the previous Match types but tell Google to not trigger your ad for that search query.

For example, if you are an industrial air conditioner supplier and repair shop, you may have the keyword “industrial air conditioner repair” as a Phrase Match keyword to activate your ad. To avoid unwanted traffic from people searching “car air conditioner repair”, you would simply put car in the Negative Keyword section to help Google decipher which traffic is desired and what traffic is not.

Keywords take strategic planning.

Research and Planning Is Important

A large part of setting up your Google Ads for success is taking the time to research and plan your Google Ads campaign.

Google has plenty of tools such as their Keyword Planner or Performance Planner, which help advertises see realistic projections of how well your keywords will perform, how much they will cost, the bidding strategy you should choose (more on that later), and more! There are even additional tools available throughout the Internet.

Google allows advertisers to research and see past performances through a variety of date ranges to determine the keyword search volume that is taking place for the desired keywords and even the devices that are being used to search for them.

Having your ads selected by Google depends on a variety of complex factors, with one of them being the bids that are in place when it is time to select ads from your brand and its competitors.

Since businesses can compete for the same keywords, Google can provide your marketing strategy with an opportunity on almost any budget by allowing manual or automatic bids that keep you in control of your budget and costs.

Headlines, Landing Pages, and Keywords

Your ad is comprised of many different parts, but one of the easiest to recognize is its Headlines.

Your Headlines are the predominant part of your ad and the first part in which a searcher will view/read upon seeing your ad.

Your Landing Page is the page that users will land on once they have clicked your advertisement and are navigated to their intended destination as chosen by you, the advertiser.

The connection here is going to be a variety of things, as is the theme when creating ads; however, one of the main components that help tie everything together is your ad’s Headlines and Landing Page.

These components must work together and have terms that match and also match what the user is expecting by clicking on your ad.

Google Ads campaign building.

The correlation between them and the effectiveness of your keywords will even affect the price you pay when bidding, and the number of times your ad shows up during searches.

A practice to avoid here is what’s known as “keyword stuffing,” and it’s a big no-no. Don’t blindly push your keywords on users uncomfortably because Google will know, and it will not show your ads to your audience.

Instead, develop Headlines and Landing pages that work with your keywords and deliver a positive User Experience for those who click your ad and land on your web page.

Under the keyword section of your ads, there is even a measurable column that will show you the overall quality of your keywords and User Experience in connection with how people interact with your Landing Page.

The higher the score, the better your chances are at winning a bid and being shown to more potential customers.

[idea]Pro Tip: Be Observant, Be Patient, Be Curious

Changes in Google aren’t always in real-time, and collecting data can take a bit of patience, but be sure of one thing, nothing in this landscape is constant.

Updates, search volumes, the competitions, consumer behavior, etc., they all change with the times.

Try different things, A/B test, and find the keywords that your target market is searching for that leads to your desired conversions.[/idea]

Keyword Specialists of HoustonKeyword specialist of Houston

There is a lot more that goes into keywords, such as monitoring your competition, knowing the right strategies to utilize to gain meaningful conversions and general housekeeping that is necessary for maintaining a Google Ads campaign.

Luckily, you’re not alone!

If you’re looking to enter the arena of Google Ads or want to simply improve the campaign you have already started, contact the experts that have been helping clients grow more visible on through digital marketing for over 9 years.

Visibly Connected has the experience and tools to help your business reach customers and gain leads through customized strategies for your Google Ads campaign.

An overwhelming majority of searches online happen within the Google network of search engines, are you being found?

Contact us and be seen by the right customers today!

Google Ads: Beyond Creating an Ad

Google Ads: Beyond Creating an Ad   

Using Google Ads for your brand’s marketing platform can provide your Home Services business with tremendous opportunity and a great return on investment.

Google ads, Creating more than just an ad.

Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords, is a user-friendly ad platform that allows Home Services businesses the opportunity to market to customers searching for their products and services.

But don’t be fooled, user-friendly is the last thing you’ll be saying about this platform if you are unprepared for what is in store. Beyond learning the interface, which we highly recommend taking one of several free classes offered by Google through their Google Academy, advertising on Google is a lot more than merely setting up your ad and watching the leads come in.

Home Services Ads take time, planning, nurturing, and research. They are ever-changing, and so too is your audience.

You Must Plan Your Keywords

Keywords are the words used to trigger your ad.

An example of this would be if you are an Electrician and wanted to run advertisements that would showcase your Electrical Repair services. You would need to fill your ad with the words, organically, of course, that would trigger when searches for “Electrical Repair” were done.

We won’t get too technical here but as simple as that sounds, you have to consider a few things:Mapping out your keywords is extremely important.

  • What if they are looking for Electrical repairs but for their automobiles instead of their homes?
  • Is “Electrical” the best term or should you have used “Electrician”? Does it matter?
  • How do you ensure your ads are being viewed in a serviceable area?

These are but a few of the reasons why planning your keywords and researching the trends in your target market are so important. You must research and implement the words your customers are searching to reach the right customers.

Create strategies that find your target market while withholding your ad from unwanted search results to save you money and generate leads.

Creating Professional Ad Content

No matter which platform within the Google Ads network you are choosing to use, one thing rings true, you’re going to need professional content that converts and follows Google’s guidelines.

Forget about Home Services leads; you won’t even show up if your content is unprofessional, breaks guideline standards, or isn’t optimized to trigger searches.

This function is also not a “set and forget” function because over time, your audience can change and you’ll need to readjust.

From professional ad copy for the Google Search Network to perfectly cropped pictures to showcase your services on the Google Display Network and more, professionalism counts each and every time.

Monitoring Your Google Ads and the Competition’s

Search volumes change, and competitors adjust.

Just because you have the highest-ranking Home Services ad, for now, doesn’t mean you will next quarter or next month.

Competitors are watching you, and you should be watching them as well.

Use forecasting tools to project how your ads will perform against the competition in the future and always monitor your ad’s performance to see which tweaks need to be made.

If you fail to monitor those behind you, you will find yourself slipping in Ad Rank and may find yourself off of your target market’s radar. Things change constantly online; be sure to stay up to date so that you can chart your course for the future.

A/B testing takes time.

A/B Testing Takes Time

A/B Testing is essential to your Home Services marketing efforts so that you can find what works and what doesn’t but don’t forget; this will take time and patience.

Creating these tests and waiting for their results is a true test of one’s patience. It can be easy to find yourself switching things here or there without realizing you haven’t given the current models adequate time to track their performance.

Develop tests and stick to timelines that can help you produce accurate results and deduct which changes need to be made for your long-term marketing strategy.

[idea] Pro Tip: Monitor Where Your Ads Are Being Shown-

Be careful when setting up and monitoring your account that your ads aren’t being shown to any and everyone. What good is an advertisement for New Roof Installation if it’s reaching an audience outside of your service area? [/idea]

Listen to Google

One of the more interesting features that Google Ads has unveiled is its “Recommendations” section.

This section will send you notifications and give customized suggestions on changes you can make to your campaign so that you can adjust accordingly and create ads that are better optimized.

This feature isn’t a 100% end all be all of the fixes that need to be made; however, Google has released this helpful tool as a great way to help marketers of all levels get the most out of their ads and help them spot errors they otherwise may have missed.

Save the Hassle and Outsource Your Google Ads

Out sourcing your ad management can save you a lot of hassle.

Everyday business functions that make your Home Services company run and grow can be stifled when other functions get in the way. We here at Visibly Connected offer a solution to that obstacle.

We understand the time and efforts that are associated with running Home Services advertisements and how that can affect your business negatively if things are not monitored and strategized.

Are you looking to gain more Home Services leads using the Internet?

Contact us today and see how we can help your digital presence and advertisements optimized and generating your company qualified leads.

Win More HVAC Leads

Win More HVAC Leads With High Converting Landing Pages

The Benefits of Landing Pages for Your HVAC Company

Landing page with more HVAC leads

Let’s talk HVAC. The Internet is amazing. An ocean filled with waves and waves of content, information, and opportunity.

It can also be an ocean filled with distractions.

As an HVAC business owner, this can present a real problem when you are trying to convert leads into sales.

Consider for a moment most HVAC websites, including your own. Your home page, the first, main page of your website probably has sections that go something like this:

  • About Us
  • Air Conditioning Services
  • Heating Services
  • Installation Services
  • Maintenance Services
  • Contact Us
  • Chat/Additional Contact Links
  • Testimonials
  • etc.

If you throw in all of the offers and other services and information about awards and your company, it really starts to add up.

Of course, these links go deeper down still into other areas of your website and can present a bit of information overload, especially if you are dealing with a lead who is simply ready to convert and looking for an offer.

The good news is that there is another way…landing pages.

Your home page and service pages all serve a distinct purpose; however, through the power of a landing page, we’ll show you 7 tips on creating an HVAC landing page that converts leads and produces revenue for your company.

#1 Effective Pieces for Your HVAC Landing Page          puzzle pieces

Your HVAC company’s landing page or “Lead Capture Page” needs to consist of a few different parts to enhance your closing rate and create a more effective page:

  • Headline/Sub-headline– Inform your leads and capture their attention with a headline and when appropriate, a sub-headline. Attention-grabbing yet informative. Balanced.
  • Supporting Image– Visuals sell! A proper, professional photo related to your offer is critical and creates an aesthetically pleasing page without an overload of distractions.
  • Description of the Offer– People want to know what they are getting and what they are giving. A brief description will help encourage your target market to complete the next and most important landing page component.
  • Information Form– This is the most critical component of your landing page. Capturing additional information is the difference between success and failure here. Whether your offer will simply add additional contacts into your pipeline or close on a hard sell, you’ll need the information of your leads to complete the action and gain the desired result.
  • Supporting Elements– This is optional for your page but can go a long way. Adding testimonials, awards, or certifications helps to build trust and adds authenticity to your offer by giving a little extra push to those leads who may be on the fence about completing your form.

#2 Remove Distracting Links from your HVAC Website

This is not the time to have leads moving about your website. Get rid of links to your homepage or other areas of the website.

Keep your leads here and capture the information or book the appointment you are looking for. A simple yet highly important step, considering the entire point of the landing page is to provide your leads with a distraction-free page featuring an HVAC offer to benefit your company and provide them with value.

#3 Match Your HVAC Landing Page and Call-to-Action Headlines

Reduce confusion and keep your pages looking uniform.

Inconsistency reduces trust.

Losing customer trust costs you money.

The last thing you want is for a lead to go from willing and ready to purchase only to skip out because they feel that the offer they clicked on was not the offer they were then completing once they arrive at your landing page.

Furthermore, if your headlines don’t match, it could result in confusion from the lead as they may believe the webpages are mixed up or that they clicked the wrong link.

Keep things organized and diminish these risks.

#4 Showcase the Benefits of Your HVAC Offers

“Finance a Trane XR14 with the new Climatuff® compressor today!”

“See how the new Trane XR14 can help you keep your temperatures low and your energy bills lower, today!”

The second one sounds a little more appealing don’t you think?

By putting the needs of the customer first and showcasing your product or service to provide value by solving your customer’s problem, you’re building trust and increasing interest at the same time.

Be clear, concise, and remember to make it about what your lead will gain rather than your company.

#5 Social Media for HVAC: Provide an Opportunity for Sharing

Social media on a mobile phone

It’s simple really, the more people your page is shared in front of, the more potential HVAC leads you can gain.

Throw in some social media widgets that showcase the various platforms your company is on and have customers and leads spread your marketing message for you!

 

#6 Create More Than One HVAC Landing Page

You’ve heard the saying that the first rule of investment is diversification, so invest in your marketing efforts by mixing it up.

The general rule of thumb: more landing pages means more HVAC leads generated.

By providing differing landing pages that each hold on their own, your company will gain the benefits of:

  • Reaching far more customers.
  • Showcasing various products/services in their own right.
  • Distinctly targeting various similar yet unconnected markets.
  • Devise campaigns for potential clients that are different stages of the buying process (i.e. a New System Install versus a Spring Tune-Up).

Multiple landing pages give your business a chance to shine in different ways and create more traffic in which to capture a lead or complete a sale.

[idea] PRO TIP:

Proper HVAC landing pages don’t only help you gain leads through collecting data and closing deals. Your HVAC company can benefit from landing pages by ranking higher on search engines like Google due to their ability to enhance your website’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is basically a marketing term for measuring how well your HVAC website can be found by people searching for your services online.

To learn more about landing pages click here and review some of what we’ve spoken on, but also how to take it to the next level and improve your company’s SEO. [/idea]

#7 A/B Testing: Track your HVAC Success With Science

A/B testing is a great way to test and measure what works for your landing pages.

In fact, one of the main benefits of creating multiple pages isn’t necessarily the opportunity to create an entirely different offer but rather to create the same offer in an entirely different way.

Presentation counts and how people perceive your company’s offer will go a long way in converting your leads.

Small changes are the key to A/B testing.  Divide your traffic among 3 landing pages, each with a change to the same element (e.g. Change the title of the landing page), and analyze different metrics from each page such as time spent on the page, conversions, scroll depth, etc.

Be sure to play around a bit and fine tune what works for your specific market.

Getting Started on Your HVAC Company’s Landing Page

HVAC web page

If you’re ready to start building landing pages for your HVAC company, we highly recommend using Unbounce, and by clicking here you’ll receive 20% off your first 3 months of use.

Unbounce is a wonderful tool that makes creating and maintaining landing pages a breeze.

Don’t have the time? That’s okay too!

Contact the experts at Visibly Connected, a team specializing in lead generation for HVAC companies.

Our creative team possesses the tools and techniques to help increase your lead captures, maximize your advertising budget, and locate customers that are in need of your services.

Learn more by Downloading our free Ebook, The 27 Greatest HVAC Lead Generation Tips, Tricks & Ideas or give us a call today at 281-940-7463 to start getting the most out of your online marketing efforts.