Question

Anyone profitable in plumbing?  

Answer 1

I can give you the largest plumber in the state of Tennesee that is a great reference for us. Have over 20 plumbers across the US I can show you on a screenshare.  

Comments

I'm interested

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@adrianaadriane636 DM me.  

Answer 2

I am. Run a ton of plumbers.  

Answer 3

@authorized @quasijudicial34 Were you able to be profitable off the bat? I'm getting a little frustrated with the campaign I'm running. Getting paid per call - $40 per call. Only running 200 zip codes in LA. So if I go for really tight keywords, I have to bid really high to get impressions/volume. I've been bidding around 8-14$ to get decent volume. But if we don't get a call in 3-4 clicks then we lose money. So then I started trying to loosen it up with some +bmm/pure broad match to experiment and see if I can get some good search terms for cheap. Had no luck today and spent ~$60 with 0 conversions. All in all I'm probably ~40% behind on this campaign. For every $100 spent we make back $60. I'm just stuck with tiny geographic area so I'm trying to squeeze water from a stone Thankfully we have a 2nd call buyer and we will be adding ~8000 zip codes to the campaign. This should help a lot. I can target more precise stuff and still get volume. Also tons of volume to test broad stuff and collect good search terms. Anyways. I am used to losing $ up front but I'd like to mitigate as much as possible. Did it take you a while to crack the code? What type of ads/keywords do you go for? What's your general strategy? Scratching my head on this one. Would appreciate it if either of you would be down for a chat, messenger or Skype

Comments

@damning how come you get paid per call? Is that not unnecessary financial risk on your end?  

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@damning I’m not sure why you’d opt to be paid per call- also if you have a tight budget you need to crank down those key words to phrase and exact and continually adjust . Stay away from seed keywords they are going to eat your budget immediately. Also set an ad schedule - break down your daily schedule into 5-6 time blocks so you can see where your peak times are for calls . The first two weeks is data collection and you really need budget to get good data to make decisions later . I tell people we need to spend more and expect to lose more those first two weeks but this loss lays the groundwork for the campaign . What is your bidding strategy and what type of ads are you running ?  

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Most are profitable out the gate as I have tons of data. However, depending on where you are advertising you need a fairly significant budget and bid. If you are bidding in Los Angeles that is one of the most competitive markets.  

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@teodoro8645 I'm working for someone in the pay-per-call industry. That's just how they run their biz model. If they charge X per call, they just do all the advertising and make sure the ad costs (per call) are less than X. Usually they aim to spend 50% of payout per call. So if you can get $40 per call, you want to get the calls for $20/ea. Of course it doesn't always work out that way, especially at first. Which is why I'm looking for some clarity.  

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@authorized I'm running manual bids on expanded text ads. I have two campaigns: 1. Low-funnel, high intent, high bid - these are services & qualifiers. All exact, phrase and +bmm. ex kws: "drain cleaning near me" [toilet plumber open now] 2. Broad match on 3-5 word keywords, lower bids. This campaign mines for valuable search terms and helps me learn new negatives, how people search for services, etc. Same terms as my high-funnel, just no modifiers at all. ex kws: drain cleaning near me toilet plumber open now The 2nd campaign is necessary for now because I just can't get enough volume with my limited geographic area (200 kws in LA). So that's why I'm loosening up the KWs and mining for more terms I'm going to have more geographic area in the near future so I'll actually have the volume to target the KWs I want. And get to test call only ads.  

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How did you guys learn all this from? Just experimenting for years or books/classes you've took? I'd love to run ad campaigns for my General Contracting business, but there are so many people I'm scared to outsource not knowing who to trust

Answer 4

@quasijudicial34, @authorized, @adrianaadriane636 - how do you guys charge them? Per lead, fixed retainer, % of spend? If per lead, fixed retainer - what amounts?  

Comments

JP Roux I charge a set up charge that varies based on number of ad groups and ads typically around $1000-$1500. Then I charge a monthly retainer in addition to ad spend . I charge $299 minimum per month or 20% of ad spend whichever is greater. $299 is low for most and I don’t always start there but for small clients that I know are an easy win I’ve found it gets me in the door and after a month or two of good results I can get the ad spend increased easily and my retainer up. Plus the set up fee carries me a bit .  

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@authorized I fully agree with getting the foot in the door. I find new clients are reluctant with setup fees as they haven't seen results yet. Would love to know how you get them to commit to the setup fee. I charge on a sliding scale of unique leads generated pm. $0 < 20 leads in a month; 20 to 49 leads = $295 pm; 50 to 99 leads = $495 pm and 99+ unique leads = $695 pm. They usually feel then that the risk is shared. If I don't produce, they won't be hit hard with a management fee.  

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JP Roux every client I work with has different pricing based on their budget and if they want more extensive testing with landing pages and if we use any call tracking or click fraud software. My plumbers range from $5000-$75k/mo.  

Answer 5

We work with plumbers. We charge a flat rate set up and a flat rate management fee.