Paid Search: Outperforming Residential Home Service Competitors

As we travel further into the ever-expansive digital age, the internet becomes more and more ingrained into our everyday lives. We use it for everything from communicating with friends and family to researching products and services before making a purchase. Because of this, small businesses have had to adapt their marketing strategies to include a strong online presence, and paid search has become one of the most important tools in a business owner's toolbox. Research conducted by the Statista Research Department has found that in 2022, paid advertising spending in the U. S. was estimated to reach 95.2 billion dollars. This is out of the over 280 billion total online media advertising spending forecast for the year. Needless to say, companies left and right are devouring paid search channels for their shot in the spotlight of SERP real estate. However, many fail to shine through the competition due to common mistakes. In this guide, we'll show you what it takes to create a stellar paid search campaign that will help you rank higher in SERPs, drive quality traffic to your website, and improve your ROI.

Paid Search and PPC Advertising

Paid search is a form of digital advertising in which advertisers use paid placement, or pay-per-click (PPC), to secure visibility for their ads on search engine results pages (SERPs). Paid search is distinct from organic search, which refers to non-advertising methods of securing visibility on SERPs. Paid search is a key component of PPC advertising as it's a model of online advertising in which businesses can purchase ad space on SERPs. When a user clicks on an ad, the business pays a fee to the search engine. This fee is typically based on a cost-per-click (CPC) model, meaning that businesses only pay when someone clicks on their ad. Paid marketing is an effective way to drive traffic to a website and can be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes. For small businesses, paid search can be a cost-effective way to compete against larger businesses that may have more resources dedicated to organic search marketing. And for larger businesses, paid search can help supplement organic search efforts and reach new customers. At Wizard of Ads®, we help home service businesses build their brands and grow their businesses with our proven marketing strategies. Our approach to paid search is focused on generating the highest quality leads at the most efficient cost per lead. To learn more about the "wizdom" we offer, book a call with us today!

SEO vs. PPC

SEO and PPC are two of the most common digital marketing strategies. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages, so it's important to understand the difference between them before choosing which one to use for your business. SEO is short for search engine optimization. It is a type of search engine marketing that optimizes a website for Google's search engine algorithms to earn higher web traffic levels and improve the visibility of the site. One of the main benefits of SEO is that it is a long-term strategy that can continue to bring in results even after you stop working on it. However, it can take a while to see results from SEO, and it requires ongoing effort to maintain those results. PPC is a form of online advertising in which businesses pay Google for each click that their ads receive. PPC is a shorter-term strategy than SEO, and it can provide results more quickly. However, you will continue to pay for each click that your ad receives, even after you stop running the campaign. PPC is best used as a complement to SEO, not as a replacement for it. Both SEO and PPC can be effective ways to generate traffic to your website. Which one is right for you will depend on your business goals and budget. But ideally, it's great to use both methods to get the most visibility for your website.

The Benefits for Small Businesses

As a small business, paid search is a great way to get your name out there, attract new customers and outshine the competition. Here are some other enticing reasons to give paid search a go.

Saves Time

Paid search is a great way for small businesses to save time on their advertising campaigns. By using paid search, businesses can automatically target their ads to potential customers who are searching for relevant keywords. This ensures that your ads are more likely to be seen by people who are actually interested in what you have to offer. Paid search can also be customized to target specific demographics, interests, and even locations. Paid search is an extremely powerful tool for reaching your target audience. Best of all, paid search is relatively affordable, making it a great option for small businesses on a tight budget.

Immediate Results

Another favorable benefit of paid search is that it provides small businesses with immediate results. You can create an ad campaign and start driving traffic to your website within minutes. This will not only get your business in front of potential customers right away but also give you an idea of how effective your keywords and ad copy are. Paid search is a great way to test different marketing strategies before investing a lot of time and money into other methods. Paid search is also very flexible, allowing you to adjust your budget and bid amount at any time. This can be helpful if you want to scale up your campaign to reach more people, or if you need to cut back for any reason.

Real Time Data Tracking

Paid search allows you to track your progress in real time, so you can see how well your ads are performing and make changes on the fly. This is a huge advantage over other marketing channels where you have to wait for weeks or even months to get feedback on your campaigns. For example, if your HVAC company is running a paid search campaign and you notice that your ads are not getting clicked on as much as you'd like, you can quickly make changes to your ad copy or targeting settings. Then, within days or even hours, you can see how those changes impact your results. This level of flexibility and control is simply not possible with other marketing channels. Paid search is highly measurable. You can track exactly how many people saw your ad, clicked on it, and then took action (such as making a purchase). This level of transparency is incredibly valuable for businesses of all sizes.

Can Start Running with a Low Budget

Low budget? No problem! Paid search is a great way to start small with a low budget. You can set your daily budget to as little as $10. Make sure you check your account daily after applying a new budget to assess your PPC campaign performance. You can always adjust your budget up or down to get the results you need. For example, if you are a plumbing company, you may want to start with a budget of $50 per day. After a week, check your campaign results to see how many clicks and impressions you’ve received. If you feel that you need more clicks to generate leads, you can raise your budget to $75 per day. On the other hand, if you feel that you are getting too many clicks but they are not converting to customers, you can lower your budget to $25 per day. PPC is a flexible way to advertise and with the right strategy, it can be very effective for your business.

Why Use Paid Search?

At its very core, paid search is about outperforming your competition in the auction to drive more traffic to your site at a lower cost per acquisition. These days, if you don't have a solid paid search strategy in place, you're likely missing out on valuable leads and customers. If we haven't convinced you yet, here are [three top reasons](https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication Files/17-025_dce88d96-f2d7-4147-80b3-f1d345a76765.pdf) why you should start investing in paid search today:

• Increases page views

Paid search is a great way to increase paid traffic and pageviews on your website. By bidding on high-traffic keywords and running popular ads on these keywords, you can ensure that your website appears at the top of SERPs, which in turn drives more traffic to your site. As a residential home service business, this is crucial because the more traffic you have on your website, the greater the chance that someone will click on your ad and contact you for services.

• Helps businesses understand consumer intent

Consumer intent is basically the main reason why people search for something on the internet. When you know what someone is looking for when they search for a certain keyword, you can target your ad directly to them, which increases the likelihood that they will click on it. For instance, when someone is looking to replace their air conditioner, they will most likely type in “air conditioner replacement” into the search engine. However, if they are just looking for information on air conditioners, they might type in “air conditioner reviews” instead.

• Drives an influx of reviews

In addition to reeling in more customers, paid search also has the ability to increase business reviews, which is essential for any home service company. The logic behind this is pretty simple—the more customers you have, the more likely it is that you’ll receive reviews. And as we all know, online reviews are important for boosting SEO and generating leads. Paid search makes it possible to increase the number of customers, which in turn leads to more reviews and a surge in the customers' trust and reliability in your brand. As you can see, paid search is a valuable tool for any small business looking to improve its online presence and generate more leads. If you’re not already using paid search, you're choosing the fate of standing in the shadow of your competitors. Getting started can be an intimidating venture, but it doesn't have to be. At Wizard of Ads®, we have a team of experts that can help you get started with paid search and ensure that your campaigns are set up for success. Book a call with us today to learn more!