PPC Marketing Strategy for Plumbers, HVAC & Home Services Professionals

Pay Per Click Marketing Strategy for Plumbers, HVAC & Home Services Professionals

In a previous post I explained how the search engines work and differences between the Paid (PPC), Organic and Map Listings on the Search Engines – understanding the search engines. In today’s post I want to talk PAY-PER-CLICK or PPC marketing strategy.

There are three really important benefits of PPC:

PPC marketing works on an Auction system like eBay. You literally pick the keywords that you want to show up for and bid what you would be willing to pay for each click. There are a number of factors that determine placement which will be discussed later in this post but at the broadest sense, the contractor who is willing to pay the most per click will be in the top position and the 2nd most will be in the second position, etc.

PPC Marketing is a great way to get your company to the top of the search engines right away and to start to drive qualified traffic to your website.

As I have explained in other posts, I feel that you will get a better ROI from Organic placement, but if you have a additional financial resources, running a PPC campaign on Google AdWords or Bing Search will give you additional exposure online and can generate a solid return on investment if managed properly.

Paid / PPC Listings

In the paid section of the search engines you are able to select the keywords that are relevant to you and then pay to be listed in this area. The reason it is referred to PPC or Pay-Per-Click is because rather than paying a flat monthly or daily fee for placement, you simply pay each time someone clicks on the link. The PPC platform is based on a bidding system and the company that bids the highest gets the best placement. Below we have explained how the Ad Auction process works.

Understanding How the Google Ad Auction Process Works

Many people believe that your position in the sponsored listings is driven exclusively by your bid price. There are actually several variables that come into play in addition to bid price to determine where your ad will appear in the sponsored listings:

• Max Bid Price – this is the max bid for a given search term  –  set by you
• Quality Score – is determined by Google based on a number of variables
• Click Through Rate (CTR)
• Relevance
• Quality of Landing Page

Your Max Bid Price X Quality Score = Your AdRank

• AdRank is the position in which you will appear in the listings.

Here is an example of how you Google determines your AdRank:

So in this example, the advertiser bidding $2.00 per bid with a 12 quality score actually ranks #1 and the advertiser bidding $4 does not even show up in the top three listings because his quality score is too low.

The next questions is, how is your Cost Per Click determined:

With Google, you only have to pay as much as the maximum bid of the bidder directly beneath you in the bidding auction.

Google has a formula that is written as P1 = b2q2 / Q1 - Ultimately it is AdRank of advertiser below / quality score of advertiser 1. Take a look at the example below:

So even though advertiser 1 bid $4.00 he is only paying $3.00 per click.

*** By increasing your Quality Score you can actually reduce your Cost Per Click and improve your position in the sponsored listings.

Understanding how the AdWords Auction Process works helps us understand that we must both bid appropriately and make sure that our ad/pages are relevant.

Be sure that your keywords, text ads & landing pages are as relevant as possible. The best way to do this is by creating separate landing pages for each of your keyword categories or keywords.  E.G. If you are bidding on “Dallas Water Heater Repair” then have a page on your website that is specifically referring to “Dallas Water Heater Repair” and point the ad to that page. By doing so you will improve your quality score and reduce your cost per click.

Getting Started with PPC

In order to start a pay-per-click campaign you will need to setup a Google AdWords account by going to www.google.com/adwords

• Login with your gMail account or create a new account
• Click “Create Adwords Campaign”

• Google will then ask you a series of questions to understand what type of business you are & the type of services you are looking to promote

• Fill in your campaign details
  • Be sure to set your target area in Location & Service Area
  • Click on the “Extensions Link” and add
    • Location based on Google Places Listing – this will show your sponsored add with a Blue Push-Pin on the Map next to your listing
• Call Extension
  • This is so that you can place a unique phone number into the ad for call tracking purposes. Your phone number will also show up on the ad itself and could possibly generate calls directly from the ad without a click (or a FREE CALL)

• In the next set Google will ask you to write your Ad & select your keywords. For your add be sure to have a clear call to action – E.G. Call us now for Quick service at 444-444-4444.
• In the keyword section be sure to list each of your important services combined with / without the services that you operate in. Refer to Chapter 9 where we provide the list of the most commonly searched plumbing related keywords.
  • Even if you use generic keywords like “plumber”, “Plumbing”, “emergency plumber”, etc  your ad will only be shown to those within your service area (as defined by you in step one).  Google can do this by referring to the searchers IP Address which shows their approximate location at the time of the search.
  • I do not recommend creating a generic add for all of your keywords. Rather, create a different ad for each keyword combinations and land it on a separate page on your site. By doing so you will have a better quality score and thus a lower cost per click for top positioning.

When done properly as defined above Pay Per Click campaigns can be profitable and drive a solid return on investment. Unfortunately, if done incorrectly and sloppily these types of campaigns can be a total waste of money.  Be careful of the so called Pay-Per-Click management firms. In many cases they charge upto 200% above the cost per click that you could get directly from Google. Google does not offer these companies any type of discount or volume discount. If you opt to hire a PPC management firm we recommend finding someone who will invest the time to property align your keywords, text ads & landing pages and further will charge a flat monthly management fee rather than a percentage of your budget. Be wary of those providers that don’t disclose their markup.

If you follow the instructions in this post you will be able to setup a PPC campaign and understand the underlying strategy involved in getting the lowest cost per click and the best conversion rate possible.

For more ideas and techniques download our FREE internet marketing & SEO Guide at http://plumberseo.net/free.

Josh Nelson is the Co-Founder of PlumberSEO and specializes in helping Plumbers, HVAC Contractors & Home Services Professionals Increase their sales & grow their business by more effectively marketing online.

He is the Author of The Complete Guide to Internet Marketing for Plumbing Contractors and often speaks at PHHC, Contractor & Other Industry Events. Download his FREE Internet Marketing & SEO Guide at http://www.plumberseo.net/free

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