Why SEO Sucks and why Adwords can save your business? | Adwords For Realtors

I’m often asked whether Google Adwords is worth the cost for a small local business or Realtor.  Should you spend time and money on organic results or pay for Adwords?

It’s a great question and almost always the answer is yes, but “Adwords needs to be done right”.

Google Adwords can suck a lot of money from you and never return any revenue if you don’t follow a few simple rules.

1. Start with a small budget and test your funnel.

If you’re asking what a funnel is, then you might want to rethink your online marketing plan.

Make sure that when visitors come to your site you have a way to make a sale or capture contact information. Getting them to like you on Facebook, follow you in Twitter, or give you an email address is vital or you risk never talking to the web visitor ever again.

That’s why it’s call a “Call to Action” some type of Action must occur.

Driving traffic to your site with out a plan of what you want to happen once they get there is a quick way to lose money, so make sure you have a lead capture plan in place.

Once you have that plan in place you can use Adwords with a small budget to test the funnel, drive small amounts of traffic to see how well it converts and make changes before committing larger funds to a failing funnel.

2. Use Adwords to test for keywords and phrases before looking at SEO or Natural Search Placement.

I often see small businesses committing thousands of dollars with a SEO expert to get ranked for the first page for terms that will NEVER create sales for the business.

You can use Adwords to test those keywords, see if there is any traffic and see if the term has “Commercial Intent”.

What’s “Commercial Intent”?

Great question, “Commercial Intent”, implies that the term typed in the search engine by a searcher, has the possibility of creating a sale.  Here’s an example: “Cheap Flights to Hawaii” vs “Things to do in Hawaii”. We can assume that both terms are being used by someone planning to go on vacation or a trip to Hawaii.  However, “Things to do in Hawaii” has a very low “Commercial Intent”.  The searcher is browsing for information, she’s not looking buy anything.  She MIGHT buy something but it is NOT her intent.

But “Cheap Flights to Hawaii” has high “Commercial Intent”, the searcher is specifically looking for flights and upon finding one will probably book it, purchasing on the spot. Which terms would you want to rank for in Google?  Testing for commercial intent before committing to an SEO campaign can save thousands and make thousands.

3. Search Proof Your Business

If you master step 1 above and build a strong funnel, you never need to worry about Google updates. By creating a profitable funnel from purchased traffic you ensure you can always drive traffic to your site and convert it into real sales.

Many businesses rely on placing in the top position for Google. They never consider what will happen when and if Google delists them or gives them the Good Ole Google Slap.  Don’t let that happen to you, work with terms that are profitable with Adwords then use SEO to bring in additional leads.

Final Thoughts

If you think that placing high in the search engines is a benefit to your business, then Google Adwords is a must.   It will save you money, time and fix holes in your sales funnel.  This allows you to find the most profitable terms and guarantees traffic to your website no matter what changes occur to how Google decides to ranks sites.

Have any friends?

Do know a small business person or real estate agent that you think could use some help with Adwords.  Pass this article along to them.

They’ll love you for it and you’ll help us help more people!  Together we can save the world one business at a time!  Just kidding.

Don’t forget to comment. I’d love to know what questions you have!