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raisetherank's podcast


Dec 3, 2020

Welcome to raise the rank digital marketing podcast, just for roofers, get marketing tips and strategies from Chuck Magee, digital marketer, and roofing company owner. Let's start leveling up your roofing company with entrepreneurs that practice what they preach and live, what they teach.

Good morning. It is almost Thanksgiving and time for a little. Shut downtime, but before we get into Thanksgiving and Christmas time, and are you guys starting to think about what you're going to be doing in 2021? Let's talk about one of the bigger marketing channels. Obviously, it's Google, but let's talk about one of the things that Google is doing that I see.

So many guys are not in yet. And that is Google guaranteed program or LSA. And that stands for local service ads. So this is something that is really huge, that all of my clients are in is really paying off well. It's really converting well. So let's dive into it and explain what it is, how to use it, how to best maximize it.

And one of the huge changes that just rolled out on November the 16th. This has been coming. Everybody knew it was comp. Well, I say everybody knew it was coming. I knew it was coming and it is going to be, I think, really big for everybody that's using LSA. So, let me explain what LSA is right quick. In case you don't know Google, that's the Google guarantee.

That's where you have the the green badge and the green check. Mark. You have to do a background check. You don't have in roofing. You don't have to have all employees check now in other verticals like plumbing and some, some of the other ones. I think that you're going to have to get all technicians.

Background check, but in roofing, you don't, it's just the owner and it doesn't cost anything to get into this. And the placement of this ad is really, really good. It is at the very top of the Google results page. And that's called a SERP search engine result page. It's at the very top in a horizontal three-pack.

That's right above the vertical three-pack of Google pay-per-click. So it's, it's great real estate to own up there. And we'll talk about it at the end of this podcast. Some things that you can do to get yourself moved up in that three-pack, because you know, there could be one guy in your market I've seen where there's none seeing where there's one and I've seen where there's.

  1. So it just depends on how competitive your market is for one, but on October, the eighth, Google started testing bidding, and this was one of the big changes that just happened on the 16th of November. Google started testing bidding in LSA. That's something, this new, this was a set price. And in roofing is typically anywhere from, I don't know, 25 to $27 up to the upper thirties.

Uh, I think the highest I see any of my guys pay him was around $34. So it's a set fee, or it was a set fee and still can be a set fee and we'll get into that. But in the US Canada, and I think some places in Europe, they started testing bidding. Obviously, Google started making a lot more money, so they rolled it out on the 16th, which is pretty quick from testing.

October rolling out mid-November. So here's, what's cool about it for you guys. This is going to be big for you because if you take advantage of it, you can set your maximum vid or let Google do it and it could help place you a little bit higher. In the three-pack. Okay. So let's talk about how this bidding works.

So if you, if you go to your dashboard, I was at this podcast, so I can't show you any screenshots or anything, but if you manage your own dashboard and I manage it for all of my guys, so if you have somebody managing it for you and they haven't let you know this, you need to let them know that you want to get into the bid part of this.

And I'll tell you why you want to do this. The minimum beard is going to remain. What the B it is now. So if you're paying $29 for $32, that's going to be your minimum bid. Now the maximum bid can be 2.5 times this, right. And that sounds insane. But before you get to thinking, that's crazy. Let me explain how this works.

Okay. So let's take an average of my guys at $30. So if you look at the maximum that you can be at, you're going to be looking at $75. Okay. That sounds really high for a lead, but I mean, what are you guys. Paying home advisor. I mean, I wouldn't, I wouldn't give the HomeAdvisor 5 cents for one of their leads, but you, you may be closing well on them.

And I don't think so. Uh, go out there and get your own leads through Google, Google. Pay-per-click Google LSA, because this is a really good one right here. So if you were to bid that $75, does that mean that you're going to pay 75 for. Every lead. Absolutely not. So if nobody else takes advantage of upping their bid or in my, I recommend letting Google maximize your bed, then you're only going to pay over what there be.

It is. And if it comes out to any, any sense, say $29 and 50 cents, Google's going to round that up naturally. That's what they always do. But if you look in your dashboard, you're going to have a couple of options. You can either click raise bed and it Google's going to give you either some options there that you can click.

So if you're paying 29 and then he hit you with a 32 or 34 and maybe a 41 or something like that, but yeah. Uh, again, I would recommend clicking the maximize be it, let Google bid it. So somebody who's going to be bidding, say $35, then that's going to put you bidding 36. Yes. You're going to pay more money for a lead, but if you're converting well, then it's going to still be worth it.

But watch your lead flow, watch your conversion rates so you can make that decision. Okay. A question that I get asked all the time, and I've heard all kinds of incorrect answers on them in webinars from guys, only us is, will. Raising your bid help get you more visibility or the highest visibility could get you more visibility.

Yes. But will it get you the number one spot? Absolutely not. There are. And we'll go over a couple of things that are gonna lead to making you number one, number two, number three, and all things being equal. Then Google is probably going to just put you in a rotation, but I'll explain why you're going to be picked number one or number three.

And the bed here is going to be. Part of it, but if you're 20 miles away from a. Potential client, this making a Google search. Google is not going to make you number one. I can assure you that is going to be the guy that's the closest. So what are my recommendations here? One, Google control on this one.

I don't agree with giving Google control in your pay-per-click account. You need to keep that manual for the most part. Google has got some good things going on with their AI, but I would absolutely not just give complete control there, but I would on this one, I would let them maximize it. Set your budget hat.

And what do you mean by that? Set it insanely high because you're not going to make that budget anyway, for the most part, I have one client that gets anywhere from. Three to 10 calls a day. Uh, Nope, of course. They've had some activity, whether activity in their area over the past couple of months, but for the most part, you're not going to hit that budget anyway.

So keep that budget high. That does make a difference to Google because Rambo, if you've got your budget set for $500 for a month and you do this by the weekend, LSA. Google has to be conservative on how they're going to rotate you because if not, they're going to bust your budget and you're not going to be in the rotation at all.

So they're going to restrict how they put you out there in the, in the three-pack. So keep that budget hot. If it gets to be too much and you can't run the leads or it's not paying off, then back it off. But I have not seen anybody hit their budget yet. And I mean, anybody. Add pictures to your dashboard.

Okay. That sounds really simple, but this is going to be more of a conversion element than it is for Google to put you high in rotation. You got to remember this. If you are in, I've got some brand new companies and they're going head to head with some absolute base out there. So if you're a guy and you've got seven reviews or 15 reviews, and you're going upside a guy, this got.

  1. Okay. That's a problem. You've got to get yourself in a competitive posture with this guy. So how do you do that? Well, you got to make yourself look better. You obviously can't do it overnight with reviews, but you do need to get out there and start gathering up reviews as fast as you can. It is important.

The number of reviews and your star rating is a factor anywhere and everywhere. Google shows you to one of their customers. And remember, this is a Google customer before us, your customer or our customer is their customer. And they're going to protect that customer. And they're going to show who they feel is the best and not always are the reviews going to be the best roofer, but that is a huge factor with Google.

Another conversion element is to book those leads inside of your Google local service dashboard. Okay. Well, if you haven't seen that, then you're not going to know what I'm talking about, but you can, you can keep up with your client's information and there are their email address and all that kind of stuff.

You can even get reviews. Through the dashboard. I'll explain that in just a second. You want to get at least one review and your Google local service dashboard. Now the problem with reviews in the LSA dashboard is they do not show in your Google, my business profile. Your Google. My business profile reviews do show when somebody is looking at you in the LSA.

So that is problematic, especially if you're a new company and you don't have many reviews, you don't want to bleed it down, get 20 or 30 over in LSA. And then you've only got 15 or 20 over in your Google. My business profile that that GMB profile, in the long run, is going to be more important. However, those LSA leads are going to make you some money.

So as a recap, what all do you say about the LSA? Chuck? What are your recommendations? Get in it, maximize your LSA dashboard. Look as good as you can get some pictures in there. Get some pictures of your team. Get some human beings in there. Humans relate to humans. Make sure you get your team members in there.

Uh, put yourself in there. Anytime that you're an owner, you need to be front and center. You need to be on the homepage of your website. You need to have a blurb about yourself. You need to have a video about yourself. You need to be front and center. People need to be able to contact you. Your, your email needs to be all over your website on contact pages.

You need your picture. A video, you need that on the contact page. So in LSA, set your bid high, get those pictures in there. Get those reviews, get one review in your LSA dashboard. Let Google maximize the bed and watch it through. Watch it by the week, watch it by the month. See how you're converting.

Everybody that I manage is converting whale, making money off of these leads. They just wish they were getting more calls. Now there's nothing you can do other than put yourself in the best position there. And then let Google do his thing. And, you know, remember any time you got rain or any kind of weather activity, that's when you're going to make out and you're going to make out bright on Google, local service.

If you have any questions about Google, local service message me, give me, you know, I'm easy to find. You can go to our website, raise the rank.com. I'm happy to help. But just one takeaway from this, you will make money from Google LSI, the Google guarantee program.

 

Join us at Raise the Rank for more information on Google LSA