Why You Should Invest in Paid Advertising NOW

By Julie Hays, LMH Agency. 

A professional guide on utilizing paid ads to better promote your business. 

It’s more than likely that you have seen Google Ads, whether scrolling through your Gmail or searching for restaurants nearby. But when it’s your business, knowing when and how to start paid advertising can be challenging, especially when creating a keywords list.  

Here at LMH Agency, we’ve worked with hundreds of home service businesses with varying experience levels to resolve errors and map the ins-and-outs of paid advertising. With this knowledge, we created an easy-to-follow guide detailing what paid ads are and when you can implement them to generate more website traffic. 

What are paid ads? 

Paid ads (like Google Ads) are a type of online advertising that allows you to display keyword-based ads at the top of a potential customer’s search engine results page. The interesting thing about paid ads is that you only pay for a lead when a customer clicks your ad. Using targeted keywords helps you narrow down your target audience to reach the customers already searching for your service. 

How Google Ads benefits home service businesses 

As you can imagine, advertising on sites like Google or Bing can be incredibly powerful. After all, where does your potential customer go when they have a desire for a service? The search engines.  

Intelligently placed ads allow you to get in front of your exact right customers based on the keywords they’re searching for in the location you serve. In many cases, when customers are searching for service-type businesses, they’re ready to convert.  

So, when do you start them? 

When to start Google Ads 

Our theory is that it’s never too early to start paid ads after you have a working website. Once your website is up and running, you can start driving traffic directly to your site and set up a Google My Business so that you can be found when potential clients are searching for you. 

On a deeper level, the timing of your paid ads campaign can also help improve your results. Luckily, Google has a lot of built-in tools that can help you analyze your current traffic and any opportunities that you’re currently missing. The Google time of day report provides you with customized website traffic reports, including when people most frequently visit. 

So, if you have your website up and running, now is the perfect time to begin experimenting with Google Ads to get in front of your ideal audience.  

How to get started with Google Ads 

The best way to get started with paid ads is to do your research. Learning about your target audience (including when they’re searching for businesses like yours and what keywords they’re using) can help you create an effective Google Ads campaign. 

Learning everything you can about your competition can also be valuable. Competitive research includes learning when they’re running ads, the type of ads they’re running, and what keywords they’re targeting. You can also look at your competitors’ reviews to figure out how you can go above and beyond in your customer service. 

Tips for maximizing your ideal audience 

Here are some tips to help maximize your paid ad campaign results: 

• Track your ad spend: Google allows you to review the times of day when you spend the most money and when your budget runs out. Keeping track of when your daily spending wears out can help you identify if you need to increase your budget or divide it more evenly throughout the day to reach nighttime traffic. 
• Create a keyword strategy: A keyword strategy helps you identify which keywords are likely to return the best results. Researching relevant keywords can also help you improve your organic SEO results. 
• Set a budget: Identifying a budget that includes the maximum cost per click (CPC) you’re willing to spend can help you control costs. Compare how much each lead is worth to you with how much you’re willing to spend to get that lead. 
• Refine your unique selling proposition: Before running ads, narrow down and refine your unique selling proposition. Consider adding a deal or discount to your ads to generate interest. 

The bottom line 

In-depth research can provide you with the information you need to create effective paid advertising campaigns, so be sure to check your data and see what your audience is looking for and where they’re hanging out. Google Ads are just one important part of creating an effective marketing strategy for local businesses.  

Original article source: LMH Agency.