Help with direction (6)
I know search is the highest intent for home services lead GEN , but if you are too broke to bid on ad words ($13-$20 per click, takes at least five or six clicks to convert one there is a lot of price shopping and steep competition. Job net is around 5,6*ppc amount after overhead and material) which direction would you take ? I've tried pay per call with similar results, they want a quote then if I don't offer them arm and leg or huge discount they price check. I've only got enough funds for one option and there is a 1-2 month rush where it really matters. I'll have more funds every month but it's a slow steady drip. I've got offline campaigns going on as well.
option 1 sitescout
Did some research and lot of my competitors are running direct buys on the local news and whether websites and other sites. I can get access to them through sitscout.
option 2 50onred
I've heard PPV can be a really good alternative to adword search, i've also heard 50onred used coupon toolbars to generate their traffic. My target audience likes coupons not sure if they use their tooolbars or not. Use this to pop up on landers other companies are running when they are throwing 10-12 times their normal ad spend at them during the 1-2 month rush time.
Option 3 - dude you don't know shit and your way off, go in this direction instead.
im in the lawn treatment niche. Thanks for the time and thoughts.
I assume you need to target pretty precisely when it comes to location - did you consider Facebook?
Advertising where your competitors are - so sitescout or other DSPs ... that might be an option, but I'm not sure about the region targeting, they don't offer it as far as I know.
How about buying ads on local newspapers sites, official sites of cities/towns that are in your region of interest ... maybe there are some contractors lists or "request portals" that you know of?
Sometimes I see services offered on groupon-style discount sites ... that could be an option too.
And also don't underestimate the power of SEO - do you have your own site that is properly optimized?
Hey Matuloo thanks for the response.
Im about to run facebook with a static optin page where they get an extra treatment that they normally wouldn't get when they like the page, hopefully it will be good.
The sites on sitescout that I found are ones that only local people really care about I think. Like channel 2 news is one of the sites that my comp is direct advertising on. It doesnt really have much audience outside of the Metro so I was thinking it could geo target them that way.
" How about buying ads on local newspapers sites, official sites of cities/towns that are in your region of interest ... maybe there are some contractors lists or "request portals" that you know of?"
I will look into this for sure, awesome idea.
The Groupon style sites all want you to give % off your service then they take half of what your % off price is. I usually only attract " I just want the cheapest price and will jump to another provider as soon as i'm offered $2 cheaper per treatment" type customers. I lost over half my customer base the first year because I sold on price, it sucks bad.
I'm trying to sell on premium service, knowledge, golf course look grass and get as far away as selling on price as possible. With that said Is there a way to pull quality leads without offering some type of price incentive?
I'm working on my SEO slow and steady. I've got some stuff top 3 for some cities, rest is easing on up.
Im running letter, neighbor and flyer campaigns offline that are generating leads.
What do you think about PPV? Only reason i'm thinking about it is bc for instance trugreen.com is a national brand but it is indicative of the same path for local companies. Nov-Feb 300k visitors a month. Mar-May over 700k-1mil+. These guys are dropping 75% of their ad budgets in 2-3 month span. Theres gotta be some way to capitalize off of their traffic and the only way I know of is like that. Would you go after this or know of a different way I can put my ad on a competitors site?
Searched again and found good thread to help point in the right way. Thanks matuloo
PPV will let you put your ads in a POP over or under a certain site - so it's all about whether you can find sites that are relevant to you, it's the same as the sitescout example - in case there are sites with local reach, definitely go for it.
If you want to use premium service approach, here are some more options that you can try :
- write expert articles for sites/blogs that are relevant - hobbyists, garden architecture, lifestyle ... some will agree to post them for free, some will charge
- try to make a deal with local vendors selling related machinery - hobby markets for example - I've even seen classifieds boards in some malls. Maybe you can talk them into giving your flyer to customers who buy lawn related stuff there?
- offer free lawn service to some facility, university, mall whatever that is in a place that many people walk by or visit - and ask for a banner in return "our super beautiful lawn is handled by Mr. kdense"
- consider making a facebook page like this one : https://www.facebook.com/Garden-TIPS-179413458865916/ and promote posts to local audience
There is a lot you can do here 
Awesome man thank you so much.
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