Andy Black
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Lead Gen for Local Service Businesses
(Originally posted here.)
So you're trying to increase inbound calls or email enquiries for a local service business?
Start by watching this 4 min video:
When someone searches for "window repairs", they could be looking for a local service, or they could be looking for articles showing how to do it themselves. We can't tell from their search term.
They could have a cup of coffee and notepad next to them when they search (browsing/researching), or they could have their phone and credit card next to them when they search (shopping/buying).
When someone searches for "window repairs dublin", we know they are looking for a local service - in Dublin. I picture them searching with their phone to hand so they can ring the local service business.
So when someone searches with a geo-modified search term (a search term with a location in it), they are MORE likely to convert.
If you can't sell to these searchers, then don't try and tackle the non geo-modified search terms (window repairs, blacksmiths, shepherds, etc).
So start with geo-modified searches.
...
Next, get your head round the fact that:
Read this fella:
When you say your Dublin Plumber landing page converts at 20%, you really mean that 20% of people who visit your page searching for a plumber in Dublin convert into an enquiry.
If I send people looking for Car Insurance to your Dublin Plumber landing page, then they ain't converting into enquiries at 20%.
TIP: Always specify what conversion rate you're talking about. In this case I might call it my click-to-enquiry-rate.
...
If you're going to use AdWords paid search to generate leads for a local service business (and I suggest you start there and at least rule it out) , then you need to know the difference between search terms and keywords. You're going to be bled to death if you don't.
Read these three posts here:
...
Sales happen when you get the right person to the right offer at the right time.
This is why I love AdWords paid search.
The right person is the person searching for your offer.
The right time is the moment they are searching.
All we have to do is get them to the offer that matches what they were searching for.
Get people searching for a service with a location in their search term, to a page that shows that service and location right in front of them.
Here's a quick exercise: Google for "tax attorney chicago" and see how many of the ads mention "Tax Attorney" and "Chicago" in their ad. If you're not based in the US, then do a search for something similarly expensive and for a large city.
Even for something this expensive (Google estimates €33 CPC for top ad positions for search term "tax attorney chicago"), less than half of the ads manage to echo back what you were searching.
Don't click on the ads because you're costing those advertisers a fortune, but I can guarantee that a lot of the landing pages you get sent to won't make it obvious that they are Tax Attorneys, or that they cover Chicago.
Maaan, the competition for local lead gen is soooo poor. I love it.
I can throw up the simplest ugly ugly landing page, and get a 10% click-to-enquiry-rate because I'm just echoing back what they were searching for in my landing page.
When a graphic designer gets involved and beautifies my crappy page, the click-to-enquiry-rate can be 20%-40% for a local service business.
...
My page might be a two column layout.
In the left column:
In the right column:
...
Most businesses want the phone call, or people who want to talk on the phone. Hence "Request a Callback" rather than a "Contact Us".
Maybe half the calls will be new enquiries. The rest might be returning customers who Googled for the phone number, or people ringing back about an enquiry that's in progress.
Obviously more of the form fills are new enquiries.
I've been using Callrail and other solutions to track inbound calls. This is good if the Blacksmith company has a few offices in the country, and we're using a different tracked number for each office. Sometimes we can see that one office is missing 20%+ of their calls (and typically screaming the loudest that they're not getting leads... go figure).
The keyword can be captured in Callrail reports, and I think can be passed back to AdWords. I typically just download both the AdWords and call tracking data and join it up. I'm working on a better solution at the moment though.
So not all calls and form fills are new enquiries, and not all new enquiries will be logged as a new lead.
Not all leads will convert into sales.
So these intermediate steps of Calls/Form-fills -> Enquiries -> Leads are actually just INDICATORS of performance. We really need to see the number of sales that are made each week/month/quarter to really see wtf is going on.
This might mean hooking up to their CRM (downloading their data and joining it up). Or (often), trying to pull teeth to get them to log leads and report on sales.
...
You should also read these two posts:
And read posts you might have missed in here:
(Originally posted here.)
So you're trying to increase inbound calls or email enquiries for a local service business?
Start by watching this 4 min video:
When someone searches for "window repairs", they could be looking for a local service, or they could be looking for articles showing how to do it themselves. We can't tell from their search term.
They could have a cup of coffee and notepad next to them when they search (browsing/researching), or they could have their phone and credit card next to them when they search (shopping/buying).
When someone searches for "window repairs dublin", we know they are looking for a local service - in Dublin. I picture them searching with their phone to hand so they can ring the local service business.
So when someone searches with a geo-modified search term (a search term with a location in it), they are MORE likely to convert.
If you can't sell to these searchers, then don't try and tackle the non geo-modified search terms (window repairs, blacksmiths, shepherds, etc).
So start with geo-modified searches.
...
Next, get your head round the fact that:
Your landing page does NOT convert!
Read this fella:
When you say your Dublin Plumber landing page converts at 20%, you really mean that 20% of people who visit your page searching for a plumber in Dublin convert into an enquiry.
If I send people looking for Car Insurance to your Dublin Plumber landing page, then they ain't converting into enquiries at 20%.
TIP: Always specify what conversion rate you're talking about. In this case I might call it my click-to-enquiry-rate.
...
If you're going to use AdWords paid search to generate leads for a local service business (and I suggest you start there and at least rule it out) , then you need to know the difference between search terms and keywords. You're going to be bled to death if you don't.
Read these three posts here:
- The Single Biggest Reason People Lose Money With AdWords
- Don't Let Google Control Where Your Traffic Goes
- Hidden Dangers Of Wide Funnels
...
Sales happen when you get the right person to the right offer at the right time.
This is why I love AdWords paid search.
The right person is the person searching for your offer.
The right time is the moment they are searching.
All we have to do is get them to the offer that matches what they were searching for.
Get people searching for a service with a location in their search term, to a page that shows that service and location right in front of them.
Here's a quick exercise: Google for "tax attorney chicago" and see how many of the ads mention "Tax Attorney" and "Chicago" in their ad. If you're not based in the US, then do a search for something similarly expensive and for a large city.
Even for something this expensive (Google estimates €33 CPC for top ad positions for search term "tax attorney chicago"), less than half of the ads manage to echo back what you were searching.
Don't click on the ads because you're costing those advertisers a fortune, but I can guarantee that a lot of the landing pages you get sent to won't make it obvious that they are Tax Attorneys, or that they cover Chicago.
Maaan, the competition for local lead gen is soooo poor. I love it.
I can throw up the simplest ugly ugly landing page, and get a 10% click-to-enquiry-rate because I'm just echoing back what they were searching for in my landing page.
When a graphic designer gets involved and beautifies my crappy page, the click-to-enquiry-rate can be 20%-40% for a local service business.
...
My page might be a two column layout.
In the left column:
- Top left is the company-name and/or service-location (e.g. Dublin Blacksmith Services).
- Below the company-name and/or service-location I might have a relevant tagline (Domestic & Commercial Blacksmith Services throughout Dublin).
- Then I might have a heading such as "Looking for a Blacksmith in Dublin?". Something where they go: "Yes! That's exactly what I'm looking for!".
- Then I might have 3-5 bullet point benefits.
In the right column:
- Top right I typically have the phone number on the page (big and bold and where people expect to see it).
- Then I have a call to action heading above a form. The heading is "Request a Callback", since we want people to fill in the form who want a callback. Often these enquiries aren't as strong as a phone call, but this caters for people who're doing a quick search at work and can't make a personal phone call, and who don't want or can't send an email from their work PC.
- Then I ask for "Your name", "Your phone number", "Your email address", "Your message".
- The call to action on the button isn't "Submit"... it's "Request a Callback >".
...
Most businesses want the phone call, or people who want to talk on the phone. Hence "Request a Callback" rather than a "Contact Us".
Maybe half the calls will be new enquiries. The rest might be returning customers who Googled for the phone number, or people ringing back about an enquiry that's in progress.
Obviously more of the form fills are new enquiries.
I've been using Callrail and other solutions to track inbound calls. This is good if the Blacksmith company has a few offices in the country, and we're using a different tracked number for each office. Sometimes we can see that one office is missing 20%+ of their calls (and typically screaming the loudest that they're not getting leads... go figure).
The keyword can be captured in Callrail reports, and I think can be passed back to AdWords. I typically just download both the AdWords and call tracking data and join it up. I'm working on a better solution at the moment though.
So not all calls and form fills are new enquiries, and not all new enquiries will be logged as a new lead.
Not all leads will convert into sales.
So these intermediate steps of Calls/Form-fills -> Enquiries -> Leads are actually just INDICATORS of performance. We really need to see the number of sales that are made each week/month/quarter to really see wtf is going on.
This might mean hooking up to their CRM (downloading their data and joining it up). Or (often), trying to pull teeth to get them to log leads and report on sales.
...
You should also read these two posts:
And read posts you might have missed in here:
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