The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Local Lead Gen - Simplified

Marketing, social media, advertising

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
#AndyTalks 010 - Local Lead Gen - Simplified

Generating leads for local service businesses with AdWords paid search is simple - when you put yourself in the searcher's shoes.

In this video I end up on a (ever so slight) rant. I see these mistakes time and time again. :)



TRANSCRIPTION by @Drive2Riches

(Josh asked for some thoughts about how I track conversions for a local service business.)

If you're a local service business, typically you want people to ring you. You want to get on the phone to them because that's how you're going to sell to them best and also the people who are willing to speak to you on the phone are the ones most likely to convert.

Lead generation for local service businesses using AdWord paid search is actually very, very simple. I'll see if I can explain it in under a minute.

Let's say you live in Rathmines, which is an area within Dublin and you need a plumber. You might start your search on Google by typing in "plumbers" or "plumbers near me" or something like that. But you're going to quickly realize that's not specific enough. Most people or a lot of people will probably just go to straight to typing in "plumbers Dublin" or a variation of that. I call that a "geo modified" search term. The search that they've typed in has a geography, a location in the search term so it's geo modified.

A geo modified search term indicates the searcher is looking for a local service to them. It's often better qualified visitors to your website than somebody who hasn't typed in a geo modified search term.

Take an example of somebody looking for window repairs on Google. They might be trying to do it themselves and looking for information to learn how to do it themselves or they could be looking for a local service business. When someone types in "window repairs Dublin" they're no longer information-seeking to learn how to do it for themselves. So my advice to local service businesses is to always start with geo modified search terms.

So, our plumber in Dublin would want to be found by people looking for "plumbers Dublin" or "Dublin plumbers," "plumbers in Dublin" things like that. The ad that somebody should see when they type in "plumbers Dublin" should be "Dublin Plumbers" or "Dublin Plumber" -- put it in the headline. Even better, is if they typed in "Rathmines Plumber" because Rathmines is an area within Dublin and of course if they type in "Plumbers Rathmines" your ad should say "Rathmines Plumber."

So if a local service business, like a plumber in Dublin, whatever areas they cover, they should be making sure they bid on each location, plus "plumber." Then they should write the best ad they can, which is going to be one that contains the location in the headline, "Rathmines Plumber," "Swords Plumber," "Dunleary Plumber" all these locations.

So you're in Rathmines. You type in "Rathmines plumber." you look at the Google search results and you try and find an ad that says "Rathmines Plumber." At a guess, there's going to be none because everybody's just going to say "Dublin Plumber," so you're going to be better if you can put Rathmines Plumber into your ad. . . . they click your ad because yours is the most enticing; you get a good CTR; Google loves you; you get rewarded with lower CPC; higher impression share.

Now the visitor hits the landing page. What do they see? Can they see what they are looking for? They search for a Rathmines plumber. The ad said Rathmines Plumber. Guess what the first thing they should see on the landing page is? How about a big headline saying "Looking for a Plumber in Rathmines?"

What do you think they're going to say to that? -- Yes! Godammit I've been on Google all morning trying to find a plumber in Rathmines, thank God. And I'm looking for a plumber because I want to download their e-book on how to choose a plumber -- no, no sorry, I wanted to read an article about how to choose a plumber.

Actually no, I wanted to find out that you've been in business since 1975 and that you've got 3 vans and all the rest of it. Please what's your email address because I want to send you an email because they've got an emergency in the house and I want to send you an email.

You know what they want to do, they want to ring. So, maybe you should put your phone number, big and bold, top right maybe just below the "Looking for a Plumber in Rathmines?" Bang, phone number. Maybe put three bullet points -- we cover Rathmines; we're great; 24/7 callout -- all that kind of stuff.

Good idea to put a form as well, in case people can't ring because they're at work and they don't want to get in trouble. I suggest putting "Request a Callback" as the title of that form, rather than "contact us." If you want people to fill in the form, maybe just ask for their name, their phone number, their email address and give them space for a message but make it optional.

Don't put "submit" as the call to action on the button below the form. I mean we're not wrestling are we? How about take into account that people don't really read and they might not have read the headline above the form. I'd say a good call to action on the request a call back form is "Request a Callback" maybe with a little chevron, a little arrow just to indicate something's going to happen when they do it.

What about all those great testimonials and information you've got about the company and case studies and things like that, They're good aren't they? They are good. Add them below; add them below. People are going to be on mobile or computer, they can scroll or they can scroll. Give people a clue though that there might be content below the fold, so don't have your fold so big that they can't see there's anything down below. For people who are going to scroll, maybe put a small call to actions inserted down the page so they don't have scroll all the way back up.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

welshmin

Bronze Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
202%
Feb 4, 2016
138
279
31
Brisbane, Australia
Hey Andy, glad to have you back. Hope everything is looking up for you in this tough time.

Glad to have you relaying this topic again as it is, in my mind, the most important concept for local lead gen, far beyond any other.

What would you typically (ballpark) expect to pay per click for these local searches?

Here in Brisbane I am seeing typically around $15 or so per click. Do I need to niche down further perhaps to find less competitive keywords?
 

Evil_Jester

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
192%
May 25, 2015
263
504
31
Dallas, TX
Perfect timing. The other day I decided to do this with the steel industry with some twists to it.
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
Hey Andy, glad to have you back. Hope everything is looking up for you in this tough time.
Thanks.


Glad to have you relaying this topic again as it is, in my mind, the most important concept for local lead gen, far beyond any other.
Yep. It's so obvious what to do when you think about the person searching, and not about yourself.

Obviously very few business owners think about the needs of others, because the typical Search Term -> Ad -> Landing Page combination SUCKS.

Here's a thread on why that matters:


What would you typically (ballpark) expect to pay per click for these local searches?
This will depend on the competition.

Some verticals are much more expensive than others (tax attorney vs cooker repairs). Some locations are much more expensive than others (London vs small-ville).

The only way of finding out is to run campaigns.

Check out this thread:


Here in Brisbane I am seeing typically around $15 or so per click. Do I need to niche down further perhaps to find less competitive keywords?

Finding less competitive keywords certainly helps.

As does increasing your CTR (removing unwanted impressions, improving ad copy, using sitelinks, callouts, call extensions, location extensions, "review" extensions, etc).

As does removing unwanted clicks (from unintended search terms, or from non-buyer search terms).

And then it's all about increasing your EPCs too:
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
A few people doing local lead gen, and a few people asking about the landing page. This video is still my current thinking.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
Here in Brisbane I am seeing typically around $15 or so per click. Do I need to niche down further perhaps to find less competitive keywords?
Google Ads is a marketplace. Bids go up and down all the time but one thing remains the same...

...people wouldn’t bid if it wasn’t profitable (hopefully).

Less competitive keywords can help, but it’s a bandaid, not a solution.

...The solution is to increase customer lifetime value (CLV).

Higher ticket sales, upsells, referrals, and repeat buys are all part of the CLV.

You might only breakeven on the initial sale due to high CPCs, but you can make 2-3x on the backend.

Many people forget that but it’s how the big boys dominate in PPC.
 

whiz

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
356%
Nov 29, 2017
202
719
32
New Jersey
Haven't been on here for a while because I've been trying to make this lead gen stuff work.

Just came back to this video for the 5th or 6th time.

This video is a masterpiece when it comes to Search Ads for local service businesses.

I've been doing it for about a year now and everything here is so true. Relevancy and simplicity is key. Tell them you're in their area. You're a good company. You're available now. Call us!

Save all the complicated shit for SEO or internal pages. Landing pages should create action or cause a bounce.

90% of my conversions spend no more than 5 seconds on the page anyway.

They arrive, judge it from a quick scan (or just a 1 second glance) and press the click-to-call button.

Thanks @Andy Black for all the great information you've spread across this forum.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
D

Deleted58089

Guest
So the business model goes like this, because I am a little confused.
You make a simple landing page for a service in a certain location. You run google ads on it and try to get a customer to call you. Then, you call a local provider and give the lead away for free. Afterwards, you try to close that client by providing him more leads, through google ads which he pays for, for a fixed fee each month. And after he agrees on working with you, you change the number on the landing page with his.

A great and simple method to get clients by providing results upfront.
How much time do you spend on average for managing a client's ads?
Do you have one landing page per client, or a website with multiple partners?
Do you have a fixed fee you go after for each client, or you adjust for each one?
Which do you think are the most important skills for this business?

Thanks Andy for your simplicity and your willingness to help!
 

Blackman

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
131%
Dec 28, 2018
135
177
London, UK
@fmob007

There's another thread on the forum, which is directly relevant to this one started by Andy here >>> HOT TOPIC - Lead Gen for Local Service Businesses

That thread will answer a lot of your questions. Also make sure to go through the links contained in that thread to other threads, where you'll find even more info - Andy is a content pumping machine, so it'll take you a while to absorb everything.

Yes, you've got the general business model right, which is to generate leads for local businesses, and manage the Google Ads campaign for them for a fixed monthly fee, plus the ad spend.

I'll leave the rest to Andy :)
 

Andy Black

Help people. Get paid. Help more people.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
370%
May 20, 2014
18,566
68,698
Ireland
So the business model goes like this, because I am a little confused.
You make a simple landing page for a service in a certain location. You run google ads on it and try to get a customer to call you. Then, you call a local provider and give the lead away for free. Afterwards, you try to close that client by providing him more leads, through google ads which he pays for, for a fixed fee each month. And after he agrees on working with you, you change the number on the landing page with his.

A great and simple method to get clients by providing results upfront.
How much time do you spend on average for managing a client's ads?
Do you have one landing page per client, or a website with multiple partners?
Do you have a fixed fee you go after for each client, or you adjust for each one?
Which do you think are the most important skills for this business?

Thanks Andy for your simplicity and your willingness to help!
Thanks @Blackman.

Yes, it’s pretty simple. Tbh, I mostly get inbound leads of businesses that want to work with me, and they often already have a website. When I get more intentional about specific industries it’s normally because I’ve come across some way of getting multiple inbound prospects. It could be because I’m working with a client who also serves businesses in that industry and they can recommend us to many of their clients.

There’s so many ways to skin this cat, *and* there’s lots of ways to take this once you’re able to build up enough MRR to cover your monthly living expenses and focus on it full-time.

The trick is to start sooner and with less of what you think you “need”.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Blackman

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
131%
Dec 28, 2018
135
177
London, UK
Referred a call to my service provider this afternoon and when I listened to how the conversation went, it immediately reminded me of Andy's threads on lead gen and why you have to carefully structure your campaigns on Google Ads.

So let's just say someone was looking for a carpet cleaner in Chelsea, which is an area within London, the conversation went like this:

Customer: Hi there, do you do carpet cleaning?
Business owner: Yes, we do.

Customer: Do you cover Chelsea area?
Business owner: Yes, we cover Chelsea.

Customer: I'm based in Chelsea and I need my carpet cleaned, because it's very dirty, so I wanted to get a quote and find out what is your availability like?

And then the call goes into more detail, etc.

You sort of have to giggle sometimes how your laser-targeted campaigns of perfectly selected keywords, highly-matching ads and super relevant landing pages refer just the right type of customers for the business owner - it's like having access to a database of real people looking to buy your products/services, whatever business you're in.

As Andy always likes to mention, we don't just get clicks - those are visitors, real people looking to solve their problems and it's fascinating to watch behind the scenes how the match between the customer and the product/service happens.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top