When people are faced with water or fire damage to their home or business, they’re looking for a quick solution to a serious problem.

To attract these customers, many restoration companies use pay per click ads.

Unfortunately, many restoration companies try PPC themselves and wonder why it’s not working. Some of the more common mistakes that I’ve seen include:

Putting every keyword in one ad group

Not using ad extensions

Only using broad match keywords

Not using keywords in the ad copy

Not actively managing your campaign

Not removing “low search volume” keywords

If you’re making several of these mistakes, it might be time to consult a professional. Effectively managing a PPC campaign requires an extensive amount of knowledge, that can’t be learned overnight.

But if done correctly, PPC can be extremely lucrative for restoration companies that bring in thousands of dollars from jobs. If you’re simply looking for some pointers to guide you in the right direction, make sure to implement these 6 tips.

PPC Tips:

1) View Your Competitors’ Ads:

Google several keywords that you're targeting and see what your customers are using in their ads.

If you’re both using the same ad copy, such as "we work with insurance companies," then make changes to differentiate yourself.

A competitive analysis is a crucial step in managing any PPC campaign.

2) Don’t Limit Your Budget

In the restoration industry, if your budget is set at less than $20/day, you’re not going to see a whole lot of results. It's a competitive industry and as a result, keywords have a higher first page bid price.

Try testing your budget without setting a cap and analyze its performance every few weeks. After a month, set a budget and make changes to your budget to maximize your ROI.

This will give you more insight on the types of searches your customers are making and give you valuable data to use in the future.

If you’d like to see what your competitors are spending, use tools like SpyFu and iSpionage.

3) Include a CTA in Your Ads

Knowing what your customers value helps to create an appealing call-to-action.

When a customer is looking for a restoration company, they want to feel assured that they’ve found a company that meets their needs.

You can do this by tailoring your ads to meet their values. Below is a list of restoration customer values and a specific CTA that can be used for each one:

Getting a deal that is worth the service Call-to-action: Ask about our competitive prices

Having my home look the way it did before the damage Call-to-action: Call our experts for a quote.

Available at any point in the day Call-to-action: Call us 24/7, 365 days a year

A quick response Call-to-action: Call us for an immediate response



4) Add Geographic Keywords

Use Google’s keyword research tool to discover geographic keywords that you can use in your account. Many people will use popular towns and cities when they’re searching for a service so it helps to target these search queries.

Contractor SEO has put together a list of the most searched for restoration keywords and describes how to search for geographic keywords.

5) Use Minimal Keywords in Each Ad Group

Try to limit your ad groups to 3-5 keywords max.

If you only have one keyword in an ad group, that’s even better. By creating ad groups where your keyword is highly relevant to your ad and landing page, you’ll be creating ads that are tailored to each specific search.

6) Optimize Your Landing Pages

A key element of Google’s Quality Score is the relevance of your keyword to the page that people are landing on. By sending visitors to a landing page that mentions your keywords, you’re creating a better experience for the people visiting your website.

Since potential customers are more likely to convert if you send them to an optimized landing page, Google rewards this activity through its quality score. Higher quality scores help your ad rank higher and makes it so that you don’t have to bid as high.

Unbounce has created a great resource for people looking to optimize a landing page.

Bonus Tip: Target Other Languages

Look up the demographics of your area to see statistics on the races and languages spoken in your area. It’s common for PPC advertisers to just use English and not think about targeting any other language. But if you do business in an area where a lot of people speak another language, it might make sense to target that language as well.

More PPC Tips

It’s important to continue to develop your knowledge of marketing, whether you’re outsourcing it or not.

Here at KathodeRay Media, we send out weekly internet marketing tips that feature tips on how you can improve your PPC strategy.

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