Pay per click

[NJinspector]

I am looking at investing in the the google "pay per click" plan. Marketing directly to realtors and traveling to the open houses is not yet panning out the way I would like.

Purchased a yellow page ad, (book just arrived). I know I should give it time, but I am impatient when it comes to this. So, I am looking for more ways to gather some leads.

The only issue I see with the pay per click is this. If I have a limited budget, and can only afford , lets say the average monthly budget according to google, where does that put my listing. If it is not in the top ten, is it really worth it?

Glad I didnt quit the day job yet![:-banghea

Thanks in advance

[Les]

Hey Jason,

Marketing this business is an "explosive" topic. That said, I can tell you there is not a single soul out here that can tell you what will or will not work in your market area. Over time, you will find agent marketing becomes less important. The typical time is abt 4.3years. That is the average stay in any particular house for the average person in a stable residential area. It is less for areas that are growing and longer for those in a "slow-down". Here is mid-Mich we are at that average and can rely upon the data we have collected to predict our monthly activity.

Do not rely on your web site to make you sucessful! Please read the following with my sincere intention in mind - Your site is not that good! Neither is ours www.accurateinspections.com. Get rid of the "our" stuff and start saying "I", 'cause that is who you are talking about. Link with everyone, incl ASHI.

A marketing budget for newer inspectors is impossible, but a business plan is critical. Shoot there were years when I spent thousands on marketing with no way to track the results. Now we try to stay at abt 1% which is still thousands for a multi-inspector company, but not sensible for a single person.

I am sure there will be lots of replies to your question - consider all of them!

[chicago]

Hi Les ..I' m more interested in the fact you carry pay per click on your site.

Heard they make you sign aggrement not to divulge what they give you, but could you give me a round about idea of how many views per day average would be needed to make taking on these ads worth anything.

[Martin Lehman]

PPC has worked fairly well for me. I put a whole lot of work into my website and it has produces most of my business.

To answer your question, if you're not on the first page, dont count on getting any calls. At a minimum you need to be on the first page if not the top.

I have optimized my site well, and now have a top spot on google in the organic rankings for my keywords "san diego home inspection".

Your site will need some work, it needs to be more personal and needs to get the lookers pumped so they call, and not just to ask, "how much?" but to call and book the inspection.

It hard work and takes time and editing, but it pays off.

[inspector57]

I am currently using a pay per click on both yahoo and google and I think it works. The key is to track your results. I recently relocated and spent big bucks (for me) in the paper yellow pages, big mistake. I never got ONE call for the entire year. Paper phone books are dead in my area.

Since my intent is to market directly to consumers rather than realtors, I have upgraded my web-site and am using PPC until the organic search placement gets high enough. I use both yahoo and google and try to limit geographically and turn off the advertisments on other sites. I only want to show up on the search results when someone is searching for a home inspector, not on home inspection sites that have advertising.

Jim

[Scottpat]

With type of montly budget do Y'all use for PPC on Google?

[Martin Lehman]

Scott, my monthly bill averages about $110 for $3.50/click.

I am usually in the top 4-5 listings. Its fairly competitive for my keywords, and I believe the top spot pays around $10/click.