In my last article in the July GEARS magazine, I explained what a Mobile Friendly website is and what it means to gaining new customers. It also explained the differences in mobile websites versus websites built for computers, and it also touched on SEO and briefly on the definition of a Google Paid Search campaign. In this article, I’ll dive into the nuts and bolts of a Google Paid Search campaign and explain the differences between Google Paid Search results versus Organic Search results. This information is extremely important for any business but is incredibly important to ATRA Member Rebuilder shops.
As a Transmission shop owner or manager, you’ve probably been bombarded by YP (Yellow Pages) type companies promising more customers. You need to understand what they are peddling and how it relates to your business. First and most important, don’t say yes to any of these companies until you have all the facts and that you feel comfortable with the investment. Many of these types of companies will try to pressure you into paying very expensive monthly invoices that can easily total thousands of dollars. In return, they will elude to a promise of more customers. At the end of the day, while marketing your business is necessary to survive, it’s very risky and it can be extremely expensive and could potentially show little to no return on your investment.
We take a personalized approach with our customers. We prefer to start with a small to moderate budget, we’ll build a great Google search campaign and begin monitoring its performance through the month. At the end of each month, you’ll receive a report and will have the opportunity to provide feedback about customer calls. Based on the report numbers and your feedback, we’ll adjust your campaign. When one of the YP type companies builds you a campaign, they build a “one-size fits all” campaign and turn it on. Then, it’s up to you to read and interpret the results in order to adjust the campaign. Basically, these companies take your money and close the door, leaving you stranded on an island without a boat.
Carl’s 7-factors of why a Google Paid Search campaign and great Organic SEO should be extremely important to you.
- Customers are more likely to use their mobile phones to search for help when their car breaks down.
- Over 71% of Google searches result in a page 1 click. Page 2 and 3 get less than 6% of all clicks.
- The top 5 Google search result listings account for 68% of all clicks.
- Good organic rankings always equate to higher quality traffic that is much more easily converted to a lead or sale.
- Google paid search campaigns let you control your costs and measure your success.
- Your paid search ads will be seen the day you start the campaign.
- You can immediately pause your paid search campaign when your shop gets a little backed-up.
How to build a Google Search campaign
Starting a Google search campaign with us is very easy, affordable and painless. We start by having a conversation with you regarding your needs and expectations of running a Google Search campaign. We’ll want to know all about your business and what sets you apart from your competition.
Building the campaign: We’ll build several ads that are designed to feature specific services and important information about your business that sets it apart. Perhaps you’ve been in business for 47 years or you are family owned. Mentioning these will get your ads more attention because they help build trust.
Setting the ad schedule and location: We want to know where your typical customers are located in relation to your shop. We’ll target these areas so that your advertising dollars are only spent where you stand the best chances of gaining new customers. Setting the proper days and times that your ads run is extremely important. We’ll make sure your ads appear mostly when people normally look for car repair help.
Determining keywords: This is a vitally important step and will be the determining factor on whether your ads are showing up or not. We’ll research the latest top keywords that customers use to find business like yours. These keywords can change over time which is one of the reasons why we continually monitor your campaign each and every month.
Setting a daily budget: Budget determines how often your ads are seen. Deciding what daily budget to start with extremely important to your campaign’s success. We can help guide you to a good starting point. If you are smaller shop and only have a few bays to fill, you may be able to get away with $10 per day. If you have multiple locations with several bays per location, a decent starting budget would more likely be $60 per day. Another factor in determining budget is your competition. How many transmission rebuilder shops are within a 10-mile radius of your shop? If there are 10 or more, you should consider a higher daily budget in order to get noticed.
There’s actually quite a bit more to developing, building and maintaining a Google Search campaign. That’s why you should contact ATRA today to learn how to get started.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic search results are those that show on a Google search results page and below the Paid Google Search results. These are also known as “homegrown” results and work their way onto page 1 only if your website continues to follow all of Google rules. Google is in the business of promoting the best of the best websites on page 1 and 2. If your website is SSL secure, mobile friendly, updated regularly, contains good information related to what you do and includes the proper SEO coding, then you stand a decent chance of working your way onto page 1 or 2.
Meet Carl at the 2020 ATRA Powertrain Expo
I will be speaking at the ATRA Powertrain Expo in Nashville. My Management Seminar is on October 11th at 10:45am and is titled “How to Increase Customer Calls based on Your Website”. Hope to see you there!
To find out more about the ATRA member websites or to receive a complimentary analysis of your current website and marketing, visit members.atra.com and click on the Hosted Websites link within the Member Toolbox section of the page.
Carl Borsani has been in the Marketing and Communications industry for over 30 years. His company, Graphic Home, LLC, is a full-service design and marketing studio based in Dayton Ohio and serving customers nationwide.
Carl has worked with ATRA members for several years helping them improve their online presence while developing strategies to drive more traffic to their doors.
