If you’re wondering if Google Ads are worth the investment in 2023, it is essential to understand the various advantages, potential downsides, and what you must do in order to make them work for your small business.
This article will explore these key points as well as outline some of the necessary success factors to make Google Ads work for your business.
Once you know these things, you can then decide if investing in Google Ads could be beneficial for your business.
Key Takeaways
- Google Ads remains a valuable marketing tool in 2023 due to its reach and ability to deliver fast results.
- Google Ads are a tool. Like any tool, how effective it can be depends on how well it is used (the skill of the user).
- Precise targeting options, budget control & flexibility make it a great digital marketing tool for the right businesses that use it properly.
- Investing time & resources into Google Search Ads can help maximize ad spend with successful campaigns.
The Value of Google Ads in 2023
Google Ads are very much still an essential marketing tool in 2023 given its overwhelming dominance across search engines and exceptional ability to quickly generate outcomes.
Google is the “800 Pound Gorilla” when it comes to search engine traffic.
Google stands at around 90% market share in the search engine market. No other advertising option can match that reach or provide similar results..
Also, when people are going to Google looking to hire a small business and Google something like “roofer near me”, or “paving company (city name)”, etc. they have what we call “buyer intent.”
Those searchers are in the market to hire a business like yours and they’re trying to find the right company for them. Due to that, properly run google search ad campaigns can get your business in front of the most-targeted buyers in your local market.
Market Dominance and Reach
Google paid search engine marketing is a phenomenal tool for lead generation when it is done properly because of how many people use this search engine looking for small businesses to hire.
Think about it, when you need something nowadays, most people just “Google it.”
Google’s search queries amount to 1.2 trillion searches a year. These are a result of Google’s 3.5 billion daily users doing 40,000 searches per second, providing an immense reachable audience for your advertisements!
What is key with effective Google advertising is targeting the right people and excluding as many of the wrong ones as possible.
Google’s paid ad network is a massive platform and while there are a lot of ways to advertise on it, certain ad units tend to be a better fit over others, depending on your business type, size, and who your ideal customer is.
Rapid Results Compared to SEO
Ads run on Google offer a far more rapid return on investments than traditional SEO strategies. Google Ads is a “pay-per-click” (PPC) platform, allowing companies to bid for strategic keywords and get their ads placed at the top of Page 1 search results in front of potential customers looking for exactly what your business offers.
Properly targeted Google paid Ads are hands-down the quickest and fastest way to attract new customers for most small businesses.
Evidence shows Google Ads bring great returns with each dollar invested.
For the right home services businesses that have higher ticket services and have good margins, the speed and profitability of a properly run Google Ads lead generation campaign is unmatched.
Key Advantages of Google Ads
Google Ads lead generation campaigns have many advantages; two of which are the ability to target specific demographics with accuracy and flexibility, and the ability to control your ad spend easily – allowing you to make sure every advertising dollar is being spent on the placements showing the greatest returns.
This makes it a very attractive marketing tool for businesses big or small when looking to use Google Ads effectively.
Precise Targeting Options
Google Ads offers an array of precise targeting choices, making it possible for companies to reach their ideal customer base and boost conversions.
By using this platform’s options such as “buyer intent” keyword selection, proper negative keywords to weed out the wrong people, demographic selection, proper geographic targeting, or even interests, you can construct ad campaigns that align with the preferences and requirements of your target audience.
Remarketing is another strong capability provided by Google Ads.
Remarketing allows businesses to serve ads even if users have visited the website previously but not taken any action – like buying a product or signing up for email lists.
This type of tailored advertising could help enhance your chances at getting those customers who haven’t yet converted into sales leads.
Budget Control and Flexibility
Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) provides businesses with complete control over their marketing budget through a convenient Google Ads account.
With the pay-per-click system, it is easy to track spending and optimize ad spend for higher ROI. Your campaign can be adapted quickly according to changing market conditions or business goals due to its capacity of being paused at any given time.
For those operating on tight budgets, this platform offers advantages such as having daily expenditure caps and gaining better insight into how campaigns are performing in order to ensure optimal use of resources.
Potential Drawbacks of Google Ads
Google Ads can be a great asset to the right businesses, but understand that it demands both time and financial investment for an effective campaign.
One of the primary drawbacks is mastering the platform which requires commitment as well as expensive charges in competitive markets.
Mastering Google Ads is similar to learning how to fly a commercial airliner.
There are many things that can be done inside a Google Ads dashboard but not all of them are as effective as others for the average small business.
Time Investment and Learning Curve
Small businesses that don’t have their own marketing teams or resources may find it difficult to invest time in understanding and managing Google Ads campaigns.
This platform can be quite intricate and evolves all the time. Mastering its many functions and approaches is necessary for a successful lead generation campaign.
To tackle this challenge, they could team up with a reliable digital marketing agency (hint, hint… like Inbound Service Leads) experienced in launching and optimizing these types of initiatives.
By partnering with an agency like ours, that frees you, the business owner, up to focus on all the other many hats that you have to wear in the business.
High Costs in Competitive Industries
One of the biggest mistakes we see is when businesses that are in competitive industries try to “dip their toe” into Google Ads lead generation with inadequate budgets.
It’s a recipe for failure…
In really competitive industries (i.e. Roofing, Paving, Exterior remodeling, Gutters, etc.), the investment to compete with Google Ads can be high – making it a challenge for smaller businesses to keep up with competitors that have bigger budgets.
Google doesn’t set the ad costs in your local market. Instead that is set by how much the competitors are willing to pay to get a click.
The average cost per click (CPC) on most competitive home services is around $10.00-$20.00 dollars (sometimes even higher in bigger markets) and this can put companies who lack in marketing finances at an immense disadvantage.
This begs us to ask: are investments in Google Ads worth it for these smaller organizations? It depends… It depends on how knowledgeable you are about running an effective Google Ads campaign for a home service business. It depends on how competitive of a market you’re in (there’s a difference in running a campaign in a rural area versus a more competitive market).
To stay competitive within these markets it is essential that the team you hire to run your Google advertising campaign knows what they’re doing AND that you are devoting a big enough budget to generate the return on investment you desire.
Essential Components for Google Ads Lead Generation Success
Google Ads lead generation campaigns require both established goals and high-performing landing pages in order to be effective.
By emphasizing these areas, companies can ensure their ads are crafted for maximum returns on investment.
Creating clear objectives and top quality destinations for visitors is key when aiming to maximize success through Google Ad initiatives.
1. Well-Defined Campaign Objectives & Strategy
When crafting and implementing Google Ads campaigns, it is essential to have clear objectives in order to ensure marketing efforts are aligned with the business’ overall goals.
Having the right strategy is the most important factor in the success of a campaign.
Good campaign goals could include focusing on attracting “buyers” for your service within your local market and converting those prospects into pre-sold leads.
By pursuing this focused strategy while developing their campaign objectives, businesses can create more targeted ads that increase chances of a click through to the next step in the marketing funnel.
That brings us to the next critical piece of the puzzle.
2. Effective Direct Response Landing Pages
Where you drive the ads to matters… a lot.
Effective landing pages are essential for businesses to convert ad clicks into leads and sales.
Here’s why they’re so important…
A big mistake we see a lot of well-meaning agencies and small businesses make is to drive their PPC traffic straight to the home page of the website.
Do this and you’re lucky if you get a 2-5% conversion rate from a click to a lead.
Compare this to the 10% – 40%+ conversions rates we get from the exact same traffic sent to a properly designed direct response landing page.
Effective landing pages need to have crucial components included in their design to maximize lead conversion rate.
Since 2012 our team at Inbound Service Leads has been split testing these pages and evolving the critical elements that must be included to get the highest possible number of people to contact your business for a quote or an estimate.
Case Studies: Successful Google Ads Campaigns
Google Ads campaigns have proven to be a great success for many of our home service business clients. Here are a few examples:
Patriot Roofing
Our Roofing client has been using our online advertising services for over 2 years and has grown from a 1-man show to a 20 person, multi-million dollar company. He gets 30+ inbound leads a month and is staying booked out months in advance because of the digital lead generation system we have in place for him. Watch the video below from our client to hear about his results:
North Shore Wildlife
Another client of ours operates a Wildlife Pest Removal business and we manage his online advertising lead generation campaign. It is working so well, he’s consistently getting 30-40+ leads a month, and has grown his company to the point where he is now working on the business instead of in the business. Watch the video below from our client to hear about his results:
GoPro Tree Care
Yet another client of ours is a Tree Service company that needed help with his Google advertising campaign. He had another company try to run a campaign for him that failed. He hired us and we have achieved stellar results for his business and he’s growing steadily and also attracting bigger clients than he ever had previously. Watch the video below from our client to hear about his results:
Examining case studies on successful campaign executions can provide important insights that you can use in your own online advertising effort. After all, success leaves clues.
Summary
Google Ads has become an invaluable marketing platform for businesses in 2023, providing them with the advantages of accurate targeting, cost-control options and quick returns when compared to SEO, social media platforms, traditional media etc…
To optimize its usage and get a maximum return on investment, it’s necessary to spend time studying the medium’s capabilities, adjusting campaigns accordingly as well as keeping up with any changes.
By focusing on clearly defined objectives combined with effective landing pages, companies can make use of Google Ads to achieve their business goals effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the negatives of Google Ads?
Google Ads require a considerable amount of first-hand knowledge to be able to run an effective lead generation campaign.
Knowing how to properly set up the campaigns, how to structure an effective landing page, proper tracking, and more are all essential so it’s not a wasted effort.
Is Google Ads worth it with a small budget?
As for any good answer, it really depends. It depends on how competitive a market your business is in, what the average cost per click is, how many clicks you can drive, and how effective you are at converting those clicks into leads.
For some businesses you can get away with a smaller budget and get enough leads to get enough paying customers.
For other businesses where the CPC is higher, a smaller budget won’t cut it and likely won’t produce enough leads to generate enough revenue.
Google Ads can be effective with just a small budget for the right businesses, providing the right methods and knowledge are applied.
There are many clients we have taken on with a smaller budget, got them return on their advertising investment, and then increased the budget incrementally over time.
A “small budget” is a very relative term and it depends on a lot of factors. If you are curious about typical budget ranges for your type of business you can of course schedule an appointment with our team for guidance in this area.
Visit InboundServiceLeads.com to schedule a consultation.
Are Google Ads worth it 2023?
In 2023, Google Ads can prove to be hugely beneficial if crafted correctly.
To make sure your campaign yields optimal results in terms of traffic and conversions, it’s important to get it set up right.
With an appropriate strategy for advertising on this platform, your business has potential to gain substantial growth.
We have helped countless businesses grow to multi-million dollar companies by leveraging Google Ads lead generation campaigns.
How much does Google Ads actually cost?
Small businesses in the home services fields that have defined service areas can typically get started with an ad spend of $1,000 – $2,000 per month when using Google Ads on the Search Network.
Higher ticket services however may need budgets of $2,000 – $6,000+ to get enough revenue to be happy with the results of their Google Ads lead generation campaigns.
This cost usually falls between ten to thirty dollars for each click for highly-targeted Google search ads but it is dependent on the keywords used as some may be more expensive (up to fifty or so dollars per targeted click).
How can I maximize my ROI with Google Ads?
Achieving the highest return on your investment with Google Ads can be accomplished by defining clear goals, utilizing optimized landing page designs, having a proper strategy that has worked for businesses like yours, and constantly evaluating and enhancing campaigns.
That’s the exact approach we take here at Inbound Service Leads for our clients and that’s why it’s such a powerful part of the digital marketing strategies for our clients.
