Phase 3 · Grow
Google Ads in Austin, sized to the jobs you can take
Search ads and Local Services Ads for local service businesses in Austin and Albuquerque. Every call tracked, reported as cost per lead, and paced to what your crews can close this month.
Or call 512-553-1774
The problem with most ad campaigns
Where the budget goes
You have probably run ads before, or paid someone to. Here is how it usually goes.
The campaign gets built once and nobody touches it again. Half the budget goes to searches that were never going to book: “HVAC salary,” “how to fix my own AC,” a city you don’t serve. The clicks land on a homepage that doesn’t match the ad. The report shows impressions and clicks and never says how many people called.
And sometimes it works too well. Leads arrive faster than two trucks can answer them. Appointments get missed, callbacks pile up, and the two-star reviews land right when you were finally getting seen. That one is harder to undo than the wasted budget.
Grow is a phase, not a default
Ads are Phase 3 for a reason. They send people to your site right now, which only helps if the site converts and the listing looks like a business worth calling.
So the order is: site and listing first, reviews climbing, tracking in place. Then ads. When they turn on, they land on pages built for them and the calls get answered by an office that has room. I have turned down ad budgets from businesses that weren’t ready.
The exception is a new business with no reviews and no rankings that needs jobs this month. Then ads run from day one, alongside the base work, with clear eyes about what a lead costs while the reviews catch up.
What I run
Every call and form tracked
Before a dollar is spent, the tracking goes in. A call tracking number on the ad landing pages so every call is logged with its source. Form submissions tagged to the campaign that produced them. Analytics wired so a click can be followed to a call.
The monthly report shows spend, leads, and cost per lead, by campaign. When the office shares which leads became jobs, it shows cost per booked job too. Impressions and clicks are in there for the curious, at the bottom.
Illustration of the monthly report. The numbers are examples, not a client.
Leads in step with crews, not ahead of them
Illustration: leads stay just under capacity, and step up when a crew is added.
A two-truck operation can run somewhere around a hundred jobs a month before the wheels come off. An ad campaign can produce more leads than that in a week if you let it. That is not growth. It is a scheduling problem with a review problem attached.
So the budget is paced to capacity. We agree on how many jobs the business can take this month, the campaign is tuned to produce roughly that, and the number moves up when a crew gets added. Growth follows capacity, not the other way around.
Google Ads management for Austin and Albuquerque businesses
Austin is an expensive click market for home services. Cedar Park and Round Rock searches cost real money, which is exactly why the tracking and the negatives matter more here than anywhere. Albuquerque clicks are cheaper, and the opportunity is in the suburbs and service lines the big operators don’t bid on.
Most of my ad work is for HVAC, insulation, plumbing, and mechanical contractors, where a single booked job pays for a month of spend.
What it costs
$1,500
A month. Minimum ad spend, paid directly to Google.
$700
A month. My fee to manage it, regardless of spend.
Minimum ad spend is $1,500 a month, paid directly to Google. Below that there isn’t enough data to make good decisions with, and you end up guessing. The management fee is separate: $700 a month, regardless of spend.
Ads are growth work. They get scoped and approved on their own, and they start when Phase 2 is stable.
Common questions
Ready to stop guessing on ads?
If you’re running ads now, I’ll look at the account, the landing pages, and the tracking and tell you where the money is going. If you’re not, I’ll tell you whether you’re ready. Fifteen minutes either way.
Or call 512-553-1774.
