I”ve showed you real examples of how PPC leads are easier to close than a kid in a candy store.

This, of course, assumes your PPC “funnel”—all the steps in which prospects take from seeing your ad to contacting you—is effective.

As promised, today I’m following up that email with how to craft a PPC funnel that guides leads to your doorstep.

To create a lead-generating PPC funnel, it’s necessary to get in the right mindset. So imagine the following…

–You’re the guide on a hiking trail.

–Prospects who see your PPC ad are your tour group.

–Your objective is to lead this group down the proper path—making sure they don’t get lost at any point along the way—to the end of the trail.

For our purposes, the “path” consists of all the steps a prospect has to follow during a PPC campaign. The “end of the trail” is the prospect successfully following the path and contacting you about your services.

With that in mind, here’s a “trail map” for getting PPC prospects to stay on the correct path and reach the “end”…

1. Your PPC ads get seen by the RIGHT people

To get clicks from the right people (i.e., people who are actively interested in your services), your ads have to be properly targeted. And to accomplish that, your ads have to show up for the keywords that raring-to-go prospects are searching.

This requires optimizing your keyword bids, and it often takes a fair amount of time and research. You need to find out what keywords people in your area are searching, what keywords your competitors are using, and the bid prices for every keyword.

After that, you must consistently monitor your campaign’s performance to ensure you get the most effective bids while getting as much leverage as possible out of your keywords.

In all, things get pretty technical. And it can be easy to blow through your budget on ineffective keywords. Or keywords that cost an arm and a leg. Or trying to compete with the companies that spend literally $100,000+ a month on PPC.

(Yes, they exist. We have a few as clients!)

The hassle of the keyword-bidding process is a major reason we unleashed No-Risk PPC into the remodeling world.

We handle the entire keyword-bidding process for you. We know the keywords that red-hot prospects search. And we know how to bid to get MAXIMUM value for minimum investment.

But you don’t have to worry AT ALL about any of that. We require a monthly ad budget of $0.00 from clients!

2. Your PPC ads make people want to click on them

There are “trigger points” you can use in your advertising that, when applied, practically force a remodeling prospect to take action.

It’s like Pavlov’s dog. As soon as that pooch heard the ding of the bell, he automatically started salivating.

It’s the same with remodeling prospects. As soon as you hit their “trigger points” in a PPC ad, they almost instinctively click on it.

So, what are these “Pavlovian-esque” triggers that make remodeling prospects automatically click on your PPC ads?

That is a large topic, so I’ll save it for another email. That said, this webinar about Identity I held a few years ago is a good place to start discovering the answer. You can also search through past blog posts of mine—you’ll find dozens of articles about writing powerful, on-target copy.

3. Your website or landing page’s message matches your PPC ad

Let’s say you’ve completed steps one and two like a pro. Your PPC ads show up consistently on the results page. The message of your PPC ads is on-target. And the right people are clicking on them.

To keep the prospect on the right path, there must be a logical flow between your PPC ad and the page it leads to.

For example: Does your PPC ad mention a sale for 20% off? If so, you better make dang sure the page the ad links to mentions 20% off IMMEDIATELY in big ol’ conspicuous writing.

The same goes for the type of service, product, and anything else you’re advertising via PPC.

If someone clicks on your ad with the expectation of learning more about bathroom remodeling, MAKE SURE to link to a page that talks about bathroom remodeling. If they want to know more about siding, make sure they are directed to a page that talks about siding. And so on.

This seems like common sense. But you’d be surprised how often a company creates a PPC ad for a certain service, and then links to a page with little to no information about that service (such as the contact page… or even the homepage in some instances).

And—to go back to the second point—powerful and on-target copy is a must for your landing page. If prospects can’t see why you’re the right company for them RIGHT WAY, they’ll leave your site in seconds.

4. Your phone reps “seal the deal”

I remember watching a 1,500m track race during the Olympics years ago.

This guy was winning by a comfortable margin. All he had to do was keep pace, and he’d easily take home the gold.

He tripped and fell six feet away from the finish line.

All the other runners whizzed by him. And he finished last.

When it comes to PPC leads, it’s also possible to trip seconds away from the finish line.

Sure, PPC leads are raring to go. But they can change their mind if they don’t like even the smallest thing about your company.

That’s why whoever answers your phone and sets appointments HAS to “bring it home” during the last stretch of the PPC funnel.

Or, in other words, NOT SCREW IT UP.

That might sound kind of jerk-ish. But I’ve witnessed way too many remodeling companies botching easy-to-close leads with their terrible phone skills. (Here’s a blog post with actual examples. Prepare to cringe—hard.)

If setting appointments over the phone is an Achilles’ heel of your company, don’t worry. I’ll give you the exact blueprint to stepping up your phone game in the very near future. It’s actually MUCH easier than you think to step up your phone skills tenfold.

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To recap, here are the four steps to crafting an effective, lead-generating PPC funnel:

1. Get your ads seen by the RIGHT people.
2. Make your ads powerful and on-target, so people want to click on them.
3. Have a message on your PPC landing page that matches your ad.
4. Make sure whoever answers your phone knows how to set an appointment.

It may not be quick. It may not be easy. But when you hit all four of these, you’ll guide your prospects from your PPC ad to contacting you about investing in your services.

Of course… if you’d rather have someone else do all the work for you, you know where to turn.

-Rich

© 2018, Rich Harshaw. All rights reserved.