Latest / Marketing For Tradies / SEO is Dead? The TRUTH About AI, Google Ads & High-Converting Websites

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SEO is Dead? The TRUTH About AI, Google Ads & High-Converting Websites · Marketing For Tradies

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: SEO isn't dead, but it's changed from search engine optimization to search everywhere optimization.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, SEO is dead.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: AI search optimization is the new search optimization.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: But where this starts to go wrong is when business owners think they have to be everywhere in order to get results.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: Most people send traffic to a busy homepage full of menus and no strong call to action.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever people s this is one of the biggest hacks that you can make in doing advertising or paid ads.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how you define the problem that you're gonna solve gets into the nuance of how you create a lead magnet or offer.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: But you give yourself the opportunity to solve their problem, ideally for very low risk.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Creating lead magnets, getting people to opt in, nurturing them into a sale is the way that marketing has always worked and will always work.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: But welcome to Websites That Convert, the podcast where your website stops being a liability and transforms into your greatest asset.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Shannon, and I'm going to guide you through the strategies and insights you need to build a website that not only attracts but converts.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: So in today's episode, I'm doing something a little bit different.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: My producers have pre-prepared a number of videos that I'm going to be watching on the podcast today and also providing my commentary and feedback on the information that's being provided.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important because so many people are talking about marketing, and I want to help you decipher between what is actually legitimate advice that's helpful and advice that may just be complete BS.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get into the first video.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_04: SEO isn't dead, but it's changed from search engine optimization to search everywhere optimization.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_04: Google's still the most popular search tool in the world, but depending on your target audience, you will need to expand your SEO approach to other channels if you want to remain competitive.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so first of all, I love Neil Patel, super successful guy, has an amazing agency, has tools, software, SaaS, really into AI search optimization now, which is great.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: So his advice is usually super legitimate, and I agree with a lot of the things that he says.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: With that said though, one thing I pick up from this is that I agree SEO is dead.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: AI search optimization is the new search optimization.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: But where this starts to go wrong is when business owners think they have to be everywhere in order to get results.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Marketing can become so overwhelming when you feel like you have to be everywhere.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that depending on what your goals are, you can market on just one channel and just be search-based advertising and get to multi-million dollars per year.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So one thing I would take away from this advice is that you don't have to be everywhere in order to get results.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to grow your business and generate leads and get jobs booked in for your services, do not feel like you have to be everywhere.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: You see a lot of big brands and businesses who are marketing across multiple channels, and that's great.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're a local service-based business or a trades business that just wants more leads and more jobs booked in, you definitely don't have to be absolutely everywhere in order to make that happen.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a very, very slippery slope into advertising or marketing across all channels and just not doing it well.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: You need to prioritize the channel and focus on getting that to work.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: One channel done well is better than five, 10, or even three different channels done very poorly.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can definitely work your way up to multiple channels, but you need to prioritize the channel that's gonna get you the best results fastest.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And generally, for service-based trades businesses, that's gonna be Google Ads as your primary traffic source because these are the people who are in your target market because we can target them specifically with audiences, keywords, and other targeting strategies to make sure we're coming up for people that are in the market for what you offer, actively searching for the service that you sell and ready to take action.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: They've got buying intent.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if your priority is getting leads and booking more jobs, you should be focusing on the methods of marketing that are going to yield that result, not feeling like you have to be everywhere just for the sake of it.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But let's now watch the second video.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_05: You think Google Ads are too expensive.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's because you're measuring the wrong thing and it's giving you bad data.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_05: And when you make decisions based on bad data, you don't just pause good campaigns.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_05: You accidentally sabotage the entire business without realizing it.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I love this because one of the biggest issues that we see when we audit other accounts in Google Ads, your conversion tracking must be set up with the highest value action that you can track inside of your funnel.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: So for service-based trades businesses, this is generally form submissions from people requesting a quote or phone calls made from people who are inquiring.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: So conversion tracking will tell us how your ads are performing, but it'll also tell Google how your ads are performing and who is converting and allow Google to go and find more people that are most likely to convert.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just for performance tracking on the marketing side, it's also for Google's machine learning and algorithms to understand who your target market is and who is most likely to convert on your landing pages so you can get the result that you're after by that conversion metric being tracked.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_05: Put it into perspective.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_05: Let's say you run an ad, someone clicks, and they don't buy immediately.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_05: So you mark that click as wasted money.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_05: But here's what actually happened: that person saw your brand, visited your website, maybe even added something to their cart, then they left.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_05: Three days later.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is kind of getting into e-commerce now, what he's talking about here, but it's still something I want to touch on because what he's saying is that not every click is going to convert the first time, and that doesn't mean that your campaigns aren't being effective.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So studies have shown people actually need to see things at least seven times before they take action.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And this is relevant for product businesses, but absolutely for service-based businesses as well, depending on how urgent the service is that you are trying to sell.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, if it's an emergency plumbing type inquiry, they're more likely to convert faster.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're selling something like kitchen renovations or bathroom renovations or mechanically polished concrete, people are maybe not looking for such an urgent solution.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: In those cases, what you need to do is make sure that you have a strategy around how you're getting in front of those people after they visit the first time.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the best way to do this for service-based businesses is to create a retargeting campaign on Instagram and Facebook.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So this is an audience of people who've interacted with your brand somehow.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: They've looked at your website, maybe they've found you through Google Ads, they've viewed your landing page, they haven't converted into a lead yet, but more than likely they're going to end up on their social media profiles.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when your business is going to keep coming up for them until they convert, reminding them and keeping you front of mind so that when they are ready to take the leap and leave their details, they'll remember your business more likely and they'll have access to the landing page so they can leave their details and convert into a lead then.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So what he's talking about, a little bit e-commerce based, but we can still make it relevant to service-based businesses.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_05: Then they left.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: Three days later, they Google your company name directly and buy.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_05: Two weeks after that, they buy again.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_05: A month later, they refer you a friend who becomes your biggest customer.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_05: But in your Google Ads dashboard, that original click shows you as a loss.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_05: The average customer touches your brand between six and twenty times before making a purchase.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_05: But most markers only give credit.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, again, love what he's saying here.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Super relevance for service-based businesses as well, even though he's talking about products.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, what I just touched on with having a retargeting campaign and also having an understanding that your ads have nuances to it.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: So even though we want to track return on ad spend and we can see how many clicks and how many conversions came through specific campaigns, sometimes the flow on effect from advertising can be massively higher than what's actually attributed in the Google Ads account.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because again, people can find you uh through Google and then there may be lead time to when they actually inquire.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: They may tell their friend, their family, their colleague about your business that they found, and then they actually refer people, or they work with you and then they refer people so that the customer lifetime value and return on ads been can be massive and not always attributed in the ads campaigns.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So let's move on to the next video.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_03: The number one Google Ads mistake.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_03: You probably don't have a problem with the ads themselves.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_03: After the click, you most likely have a landing page problem.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: Most people send traffic to a busy homepage full of menus and no strong call to action.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever people Okay, I'm just gonna stop that there because first of all, I love what this guy is saying because he's completely spot on.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: We have seen conversions triple or quadruple just from taking campaigns from being sent to a home page on a website to a specifically designed high converting landing page.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the biggest hacks that you can make in doing advertising or paid ads because you don't want to lose traffic that you're paying clicks for.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really important that you're sending them to one landing page that speaks to the target market you're trying to sell to, has a strong offer and accessible, easy to use, and appealing call to action for that visitor to take.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you do that and you're running paid ads traffic, assuming you're getting the right type of people through your ads, you'll get conversions.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt about it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So let's keep going.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever people search, send them to a page with that keyword built to convert and looks great on mobile.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: It should have no navigation and the only links should auto-scroll it back up to the form.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let us what he's saying here is that we want to limit exit signs or ways for people to exit the page because psychology takes over, human behavior takes over, and what they want to do is keep going through the funnel.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the starting point of a funnel where you're sending traffic to a landing page, again, that's set up specifically to convert.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: The only way for someone to leave the landing page or leave the funnel, either completely just exit out of it and close the browser or leave their details on the inquiry form.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like when you send someone to a website and they've got all of these pages, all of these options that they can scroll through and read through and get distracted and be much less likely to convert.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: A landing page like this is gonna get way better results when compared to sending traffic to a home page or even a service page on a website because it's got less exit signs, it's more relevant to the traffic that you're sending to that page.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do it properly, you've got those calls to action and the conversion tracking in the campaigns, which are going to allow you to get more leads and better results and also track those results much easier as well compared to your general website.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So think of your website as the brochure of the capabilities that you have.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Think of your landing page as a part of your sales funnel that's specifically created with one job, which is to convert traffic into leads.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it does that really well when you compare it to trying to generate leads through a website.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go on to the next video.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: In order to get engaged lead, which is people who show interest in the stuff that you have to sell, then it means you have to show people who are not interested and get them interested.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so the question is, what is that bridge that goes between not interested and interested?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: You give them value, and you give them value ideally around a problem that you want to solve for them.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, how you define the problem that you're gonna solve gets into the nuance of how you create a lead magnet or offer, but you give yourself the opportunity to solve their problem, ideally for very low risk, which is either very cheap or nothing at all.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: And then by doing that, you earn the most valuable thing you can have in business, which is trust.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then at that point, that's when the real conversation begins and that's where monetization starts.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I'm just gonna start this by saying obviously love Alex Homozy.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: He is the GOAT when it comes to business growth and marketing.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to put this into context for service-based business owners and the kind of businesses that we tend to work with.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, it's really easy to get caught up thinking that you have to do everything and you have to be trying to create strategies and tactics to target everyone at each stage of the buyer's journey.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: And eventually you probably should.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're just trying to get to like a few hundred thousand per month to start with, or even if you're beyond that, like even if you're at a million dollars a month and you're a service-based trades business, honestly, there is enough people actively searching on Google where you can create a Google Ads campaign that's targeting people that are ready to buy.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: So you're basically eliminating the entire lead time from trying to get people to opt in for a lead magnet and then trying to nurture them into buying something from you.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Creating lead magnets, getting people to opt in, nurturing them into a sale is the way that marketing has always worked and will always work.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're trying to get leads and customers and jobs booked from people who have a problem that they already know that they need a solution for.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: For example, they need a new roof, or they have a plumbing issue, or they're looking to do a renovation on their house, or they want a retaining wall.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: These kind of services don't really require an ebook or an opt-in or a lead magnet as such, because you're going to find that these services aren't something people can be persuaded into purchasing.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: They already know that they need it.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And what are they gonna do when they're ready to take action on that?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is they're going to not opt in for a lead magnet, kind of educating them on these type of services.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to go to Google and they're gonna search for the service that they need in the location that they're in.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when you wanna be coming up for them, sending that traffic to a high converting landing page and converting those leads into customers once they're generated through your inquiry form.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't have to be overcomplicated in trying to cover all of the different steps in the buyer's journey by creating these lead magnets because of the nature of the service that you're trying to sell.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm absolutely not saying that this doesn't work, that it absolutely does.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Lots of businesses have lead magnets.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to do it that way, you would need a high volume of people coming through because you're gonna capture a large number of people that opt in for your lead magnet, and then you're gonna funnel them through, nurture them into being interested in buying from you.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then that's when they're going to turn into a qualified lead, and then you can close them into a customer then.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: But for service-based trades businesses, local service-based businesses in general, you'll find that there's enough people in your addressable market to focus only on those people who are most likely to convert into a customer.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: And like a lot of the conversations that I have, priorities are with getting those qualified leads.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't want to waste time with all those tirekickers who are just looking for a free lead magnet or opt-in for something that would be almost impossible to convince or persuade someone to buy, like a retaining wall, for example.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: So don't feel like you have to do everything and have it all covered.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can work your way up to creating lead magnets and things like that for your business once you've nailed the traffic channel that's going to get you the best results and the best results in terms of the number of jobs you're going to book in.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: So tap out that market first, and then you can start thinking about lead magnets and opt-ins and ebooks and educational content in that way.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: All right, let's go on to the next video.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_02: What happened in the last 24 months is organic social has changed from how I grew up, where you get as many followers as possible and a percentage see it, to the algorithm, the AI, is so good now.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: What every brand of your size and age is missing is a bigger commitment to organic social.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: And when the organic social overindexes, that becomes the performance app.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_02: I would argue that Meta continues to be the scaled underpriced platform.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Literally, besides Super Bowl, as a media channel, Meta's value of actualized attention against what you buy is actually remarkable.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: The problem is that most people don't realize how much the DTC game has changed the last 24 months.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: You need to make a much more specific, strategic focus on organic social.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, again, love Gary V, but for service-based trades businesses, don't feel like you have to do social media.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: Tap out the traffic channel that you're going to get the best results with, which is Google Ads, because these are the people who are in your target market actively searching and ready to buy.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: They have buy intent and because they have search intent, they're actively searching.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Send them to a high converting landing page, generate leads through that.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Use your social media as a authority building tool so people can see your work, but don't expect to be generating leads through that.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Even with your Facebook ads, absolutely valuable if you can do them right, but you're gonna get a lot of leads easily, but these leads will not be qualified because when you're targeting people on Google Ads, it's like you're fishing with a fishing line in a pond that you know your the fish that you want to catch is in.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: With Facebook and Instagram or any social media advertising, you're fishing with a net and hoping that you catch something of value.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna get a lot of other fish in that net that aren't in your target market and definitely not ready to buy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So organic social, absolutely valuable.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: We should all be on there, we should be posting content, but don't think it's going to be your highest value traffic channel because that's not the purpose of it.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's the purpose of it is to build value for your brand and authority for your brand if you're selling a service in a local area.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: You want to prioritize those traffic channels that are gonna get you the best results through leads and inquiries and customers and booked jobs.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: So that is all for this episode.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you liked the format.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know if it's something that you want me to continue doing.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: I actually really enjoyed this.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to see what content is out there and what everyone's saying and also provide you with more context around what's being posted and what people are saying.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's not that these experts aren't experts in marketing, they absolutely are, but when you can put more context to it in terms of how it relates to your business, that's when you can take the most valuable things out of it to implement into your marketing without overcomplicating things.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want to overcomplicate things.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: I guess one big theme of this episode, now that I'm reflecting on it, is that simplicity scales.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Complexity isn't always the answer.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be everywhere in order to get results.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you need to prioritize the type of marketing that's gonna get you the most return on your ad spend and return on your marketing investment.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So hope that's been helpful.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, let me know what you thought of this episode and any other videos you'd like me to react to.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, please feel free to send them to me and I'll do another episode like this in the future.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks guys.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Websites That Convert.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you found value in this episode, please give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Follow us on all social media.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a service based business owner that's looking to double their website conversions, book a call with my team using the link below.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you in the next episode.