Is investing in a pay-per-click campaign worth the money? It all depends on your Internet marketing strategy.

Source: REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR Magazine
Publication date: 2009-10-01

By Jim Cory

You type your company's name into Google's search engine. Sure enough, there you are, close or near to the top on page one of the organic search results. The money you spent on a search engine optimization consultant, adding text and keywords to your site, has paid off. So should you now spend more money on paid or sponsored search, that is, on a pay-per-click campaign that places your link in the color bar on the top of the page or in the highlighted column to the far right?

A number of studies show that consumers trust organic search results more and tend to click there before going to sponsored links at the top or right of the page. Then there's the matter of redundancy. John Stevens, of Peterson Stevens, an Atlanta marketing company specializing in home improvement and a REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR contributor, doesn't think a sponsored link is a great idea if you're already on page one of organic search. "If you have a sponsored listing just above an organic listing, you're leaking cash," Stevens says. He also points out that repeat visitors to your site coming through Google may develop the habit of clicking on the sponsored listing, "costing you $2 every time they do."

Many companies, having optimized their websites, are reluctant to spend additional money - estimated by one expert at $2,000 per product category per month - on sponsored listings.

But those who know both Internet marketing and the home improvement industry point to strong, solid reasons for making that investment. First off, your company appeared in the organic search results because you typed in your company's name. But, says Todd Bairstow, of Keyword Advisors, a Massachusetts Internet marketing company that works with many home improvement firms, why assume homeowners know who you are? Without a substantial ongoing branding campaign, chances are good that they won't.

Instead, those shopping for windows or siding will enter generic keywords - such as "window replacement" or "siding contractor" - into the search engine. What will likely happen, depending on the local market, is that the organic listings will be dominated by "purchased lead" companies, that is, those that generate leads and then sell them to home improvement contractors. Companies such as CalFinder or ServiceMagic.

The point is, if your website is optimized and consumers are looking specifically for your company online, chances are good that they will find you. But if they're searching using more generic terms, such as "window replacement contractor," you may drop to the back of the pack, i.e., to the second, third, or fourth page of listings. And instead of seeing your company's name at the top of the search results, the consumer will likely see a company that sells leads or they will see your competition.

The local contractor "can't do the same job as the guy with 11 search engine experts can do," Bairstow says. One way to try, he suggests, is by using as many local keywords as possible on your website. Still, there's no guarantee.

Assuming that your company's website is well optimized and frequently re-optimized, what an investment in PPC does is to allow you to appear in both the organic search results and among the paid links on the top and to the right. It thus assures you a place on page one of search results. Appearing in both organic and paid search results, many experts assert, is best of all.

Multiple links on paid and organic search "double the chances that the homeowner is going to click on you," says Paul Baudisch, co-owner of Keyword Advisors. "It makes sense that when you increase the links, you increase the number of clicks. Some you pay for, some you don't. But you should be doing both."

George Faerber, co-owner of Bee Window, in Indianapolis, who two years ago founded an Internet marketing consulting company called BringMeMyLeads, points out that investing in both SEO and PPC is similar to owning the four fast-food franchises at the four corners of a busy intersection. "I want to get their business no matter what they want to eat," Faerber says. Right now, about 35% of Bee Window business comes from Internet leads.

Buying sponsored links lets contractors "level the playing field," says Adam Bressler, marketing director for Builders & Remodelers Inc., a siding and window company in Minneapolis. Builders and Remodelers launched its first PPC campaign this spring. Three Deep Marketing, a Twin Cities marketing firm that works with home improvement companies, created and manages the campaign. Tom Audette, of Three Deep Marketing, says that the cost of PPC marketing is about $70 per inquiry. He compares that with direct-mail results, where "if you send out 5,000 pieces, you're lucky to get 10 calls."

What's critical, however, is how those warm-call responses to PPC campaigns are handled, since callers are all over the place in the buying cycle for windows, siding, or other products. (For consumers researching roofing companies, the need may be more urgent.) Some may want to talk to a window company representative right away. Some may merely be feeling the market out, to get a sense of who's there and what products they carry ? and, of course, their prices.

The advantage of the PPC campaign is that even if the homeowner is not immediately interested in buying, you have established communication and can periodically market to them.

What Brawler found is that proper handling of the call and caller made a huge difference in the number of inquiries that ultimately became set appointments. When Builders & Remodelers started, he estimates that 20% of callers ultimately converted to appointments. Once scripted, that rose and is now 50% to 60%. The important part, he says, was "to gauge where they are ? whether they're gathering information or looking to get a quote." Leads that are not set go immediately to a contact management system for future marketing.

A swift response is also critical. "The Internet customer measures things in minutes, not days," Faerber says. "If there's something on his or her mind, they want to know now."

Having a marketer who knows the Internet managing the account can help make a PPC investment pay off. For instance, Three Deep Marketing checks keyword responses to Builders & Remodelers PPC campaign several times a day. "We're testing ads, making sure you're showing up in the top-three positions, monitoring your landing page," Audette says.

Faerber makes the point that with universal Internet use in U.S. households, home improvement company owners ignore this kind of marketing at their own peril. If you can only afford SEO or PPC, choose one or the other, he says. The important thing is to have an Internet presence. "Where are the customer's eyeballs? That's where I want my marketing dollars to go. This is the one marketing medium that is growing audience."

—Jim Cory, editor, REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR.

This is a longer version of an article that appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of REPLACEMENT CONTRACTOR magazine.