Search ads show up when someone types the job into Google, such as “boiler repair Doncaster”. We pick the keywords and the areas to cover, write the adverts, and keep weeding out searches that were never going to become work, so you aren’t paying for them.
05 / Paid ads
Google and Meta ads for small local businesses
A campaign needs more than an eye-catching advert.
It needs a clear message, the right audience and somewhere useful for people to go next. We plan paid advertising around the enquiries you want to earn, the work you can take on and the budget you are prepared to commit. The right starting point may be one focused campaign, not necessarily every platform at once.
A / The channels
Which channel suits the job?
Meta
Facebook and Instagram adverts reach people who weren’t looking for you yet, so the picture and the offer have to stop them scrolling. We build the campaign, choose who sees it and advise on the images and wording.
For business-to-business offers, LinkedIn lets us target people by job title, company and industry. Clicks here are dear, so we’d only suggest it when one new client is worth a lot to you.
B / Running and measuring
Picking a channel is only the start.
What counts as a result?
A click costs you money and earns you nothing by itself. We agree with you which actions count, such as a quote request, a booking or a phone call, before we set up any tracking.
The advert and the page have to match.
Someone who clicks an advert for boiler repairs should land on a page about boiler repairs, with your phone number near the top. We also test the contact form or booking link ourselves. The landing page is part of the campaign, so the web design matters as much as the advert.
What the tracking sees
We set up conversion tracking for the actions we’ve agreed with you. It won’t catch everything. If someone sees your advert and rings a week later after spotting your van, that call won’t show up.
Is it paying for itself?
Every month we weigh the spend against the enquiries it brought in, and check how many were for work you actually want. We also ask you where your jobs came from, to catch the ones the tracking missed. Then we change the campaign to match what the figures show.
C / Questions people ask
What it costs and when it’s worth it
How much should I spend?
Our management fee starts at £250 a month per channel, or £400 for any two and £550 for all three. Your ad budget is separate, and you pay it to the platform directly.
As a guide, we’d suggest around £300 a month for a local Google campaign, around £200 for Meta and at least £600 for LinkedIn. See the ad prices and where those figures come from.
Google treats your budget as a daily average, so a busy day can cost more than a quiet one. Read Google’s budget explanation.
What do you do each month?
To begin with, we set up the campaign, the keywords or audiences, the adverts and the conversion tracking.
After that, we go through where the money went, cut out the searches and audiences that aren’t bringing enquiries, and adjust the adverts. You get a report at the end of every month.
Is there a minimum contract?
No. Ad management runs month to month, and it isn’t part of the 12 months on a website plan. You choose the months we manage, and if you want to stop or take a break, tell us before the next month begins. Pausing an advert partway through a month doesn’t automatically cancel that month’s fee.
How long before we know if it’s working?
Your first monthly report shows what you spent and the enquiries that came from it. On a small budget one month is rarely enough to judge, so we’d usually give a campaign two or three months before deciding whether to keep it.
Do paid ads improve my organic local ranking?
Buying an advert does not buy a better organic local position. Paid campaigns and SEO can support the same business, but they are different activities. Read Google’s local-ranking guidance.
Will ads definitely bring in work?
No. An advert gets you seen, but we can’t promise how many people will ring. That comes down to your offer and your website as much as the ad itself.
When would you tell me not to run ads yet?
We’d tell you to wait if your diary’s already full for the next couple of months, or if your website doesn’t make it obvious what you do and how to get in touch. The same goes if you have few or no Google reviews, because people click the advert, look you up and ring someone else. And a budget that would only last a week or two isn’t long enough to learn anything.
In those cases we’d usually put the money into your website or your Google Business Profile first.
Keep exploring
The other things we do
A clear offer with a carefully planned campaign.
We’ll want to know what you spend on ads now, if anything, and what kind of jobs you want more of.
Start your paid ads brief