Today Get Leads AU started their campaigns on Google Ads. While things have been an amazing success for us here and our team seems to grow every week over June-August we have noticed a drop off with work coming through from new clients. Existing clients continue to feed us work from friends and colleagues but we haven’t had a truely new customer for a few months. I know, winter in Wagga can be slow and cold.
Today we’re launching our Google Ads campaigns. As a web developer I’m focused on creating impactful marketing content, I’ve always understood the importance of being visible online. But today, I’m taking it a step further by diving into the world of Google Ads to expand my reach and help more clients find their way to success. I wanted to take this opportunity to document our process here in the Google Ads space and to eventually prove it’s success.
Building Effective Lead Pages
One of the first steps in this campaign was the creation of dedicated lead pages. These pages are meticulously structured to capture the attention of potential clients and convert them into leads. Here’s a breakdown of how these pages are designed:
- Clear and Concise Headlines: Each lead page features a strong, attention-grabbing headline that clearly communicates the value proposition.
- Engaging Visuals: I’ve included high-quality images and videos to make the content more engaging and visually appealing. I’ve even grabbed some from the local Wagga area to make it seem more local.
- Compelling Copy: The copy is tailored to address the pain points of potential clients and offer solutions that can help them achieve their goals.
- Strong Call-to-Actions (CTAs): Each page ends with a powerful CTA, encouraging visitors to take the next step, whether it’s downloading a free resource or scheduling a consultation.
- No distractions: If your customers have options they may take them such as clicking a link to a menu item or a button that takes them off-page. These two pages below have none of those distractions with no menu or footer. It seemed strange to me at first but after a while I came to think let’s just see how it goes.
Here’s my two starting lead pages for Google Ads here:
Utilising YouTube explainers
To complement these lead pages, I’ve also created a series of explainer videos on YouTube. I personally hate getting behind the camera and seeing my face large as life. But on many occasions I’ve had business coaches tell me that it’s a necessary evil. These videos provide detailed walkthroughs of the services offered and showcase how clients can benefit from them. By leveraging video content, I aim to make complex topics more accessible and engaging for my audience. I avoid technical talk as much as possible. Customers don’t care if they’re running 4Gb or 16Gb VPS. They only care that the site is fast. I also avoid showing or walking through technical interfaces or walkthroughs that bore the be-daylights out of most clients.
Here I got to have some fun with Final Cut Pro, a video toolset on Mac that makes video quick, easy and professional. I also substituted some clips using my Envanto Element library which is a great all rounder. Plus added a couple of videos from my Adobe Stock subscription. Lots of fun and something I wish to do more.
Offering Valuable Giveaways
Ok to date my giveaways have not worked, I’ve had around 5 people signup to get my helpful hints and tips. How disappointing. In addition to the lead pages and videos, I’m offering several valuable giveaways. These include free website health checks that can help potential clients understand the strengths and weaknesses of their current websites. By providing these resources, I hope to build trust and demonstrate my expertise in the field.
Rising to the Top: Ranking No.1 for “Web Design Wagga”
When I started this journey, I had no online presence for the keyword “Web Design Wagga.” I’ve got a stack of posts I’ve put out there and even had some failures. However, through strategic SEO efforts, best practice effective coding practices and targeted specific and related keywords, I’m proud to say that I’ve achieved the top ranking on Google for this keyword. This achievement is a testament to the hard work and dedication put into this campaign.
But for how long for I wonder, Google is so volatile with it’s rankings and formulae I wouldn’t be surprised if I wake up tomorrow and I’m back to position 3 or 4. For now, I’m basking in the glory though.
Outpacing the SEO Competition
For the past 12 months, competitors have been running Google Ads, and have managed to dominate the market. Despite their efforts, Get Leads has now entered the space with a specialised team dedicated to running our ads. I’m a bit excited. Our targeted approach and expertise have already started to make waves, and we’re eager to see the results unfold over the next three months.
Beyond Hosting: Offering Comprehensive Management Services
One of our key offerings is holistic or complete website management. If you’ve run a website before you’ll know they are made up for lots and lots of little paid plugins. We take the pain out of renewing these because we can get bulk discounts for them as an agency. We also believe in partnering with our clients to achieve their business goals and drive success and this goes hand in hand with the most appropriate plugins to use.
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Feel free to reach out for more information on how we can help you achieve your digital marketing goals. We’re here to partner in your success and ensure that your online presence is as effective as possible. Contact us today and let’s make your digital dreams a reality!
Update // 16 September 24 – One Month after launch
I started using Google Ads at the beginning of August, and we’re almost six weeks in. I’ve spent a couple of thousand dollars on Google Advertisement and have received absolutely zero leads. It’s been very challenging to see no results with such a high spend. Average click through or click through cost is $28 AUD which is massive compared to the expected $5 per click. Clearly something is going on that is wasting our money.
Today, I worked with my Google Ads guru to try to understand what’s going wrong. I thought it best to have an expert handle it, so I could easily turn the ads on or off to generate leads. Unfortunately, this approach isn’t yielding any leads I’d expected. Disappointing that my Google Ads recommendation is to go run Faceook Ads which I’m dead against given the type of market here looking for website services. IE clients that expect your time is free and a website should cost $500. Maybe I’m being a little stereo typical but I’ve never and nobody I know in digital marketing has ever attracted an ideal customer via this method.
The Google Ads plan September October 2024
For the next six weeks, we will continue to run these Google Ads. Over the next month, I plan to review them more closely now to see exactly where my money is going. Looking at the last 30 days, I noticed that the keyword “website development” triggered some major activity, and I spent almost $500 on that keyword set. I’m disappointed with this keyword because it’s not exactly what I expected people to be searching for if they want a new site. I anticipated searches for “web designer wagga,” but instead, I found “website developer” in my top performing keyword, what a letdown. Am i missing my ideal customers and picking up some other traffic I’m not keen on?
I was told that “website designer” wasn’t included or was removed due to low search volume, which seems ridiculous. That keyword gets 15,000 searches per month worldwide. For my region, I expected it to attract some searches. The term “website designer wagga” is more specific and location-based, likely more accurate for those searching within the Wogga area. It shows 170 searches per month, compared to the 15,000 global searches for “website designer.”. Instead we’ve re-added this keyword as a “Broad Search” .
Let’s see what happens next with an update due in October. Will I use Google Ads as a marketing tool again remains to be seen. I’m still ranking no.1 for Organic traffic so while things aren’t going to well on the advertising side we’re killing the competition with a super healthy website on-site and off.
