When you’re an State Farm Agent, there is a lot of competition that is attempting to attract the same potential customers with the same policies. You might be wondering what you can do to stand out from competing agencies. Prospects looking for an insurance agent will usually go online to research before deciding on who to choose. One of the most effective and fastest ways to increase your visibility online is through PPC advertising.

What is PPC?

PPC (pay-per-click), is an online advertising pricing model where you only pay when an ad you serve is clicked on by someone. The payment isn’t based on how many people the ad is exposed to, but how many people interact with it. This model became popular with search engines, but now you can use PPC to advertise in different ways, including video, display, and social media ads. And it’s a perfect channel for State Farm Agents.
Different search engines such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo allow you to purchase ad placements in the SERP (search engine results page). When someone types in a keyword in the search box that relates to your specific business, your ad will show at the top of the website results. You will need an ad platform if you want to grow your agency and use PPC. Google is the most popular and most used search engine.
Google Ads is most popular for PPC advertising. Every time a search is conducted, Google goes into the pool of advertisers bidding against each other for that keyword and chooses who will appear in the ad space. Who gets chosen is based on their Ad Rank. Google calculates a business’s ad rank based on the highest amount you are willing to spend for each click (Cost per click), and the quality of your ad, including your landing page, relevance, and click-through rate that provides your quality score. This system works like an auction. If your big is the best among the others, your ads will be chosen to appear on the SERP.
Writing ads that contain a strong and attractive headline, a detailed, but brief description, and have a landing page that connects to the ad, PPC advertising will increase your online traffic, convert your visitors into clients, and grow your agency quicker than you think. PPC advertising is flexible to your needs and budget. There is much to benefit from using PPC advertising.

Expose Your Agency to Your Targeted Audience

PPC is an effective and targeted way to reach prospective State Farm customers and you have access to different targeting factors such as keyword usage, time of day, location, demographics, and more. You can cast a wide net that can lead to amazing returns by using PPC. Advanced marketing and targeting techniques such as re-targeting, and display campaigns will also benefit you as a PPC advertiser. You can serve targeted ads to people who have visited your app or website before. Leads enter the marketing funnel and each interaction increases the chance of a purchase. Display campaigns let you serve personalized ads to people who are on websites that relate to your service or product you provide. If someone who has already visited your site, visits a site included in Google, your ad will appear in the footer or sidebar of the site.

Increase Brand Awareness for Your Agency

SEO can take months, but PPC makes you visible to a relevant audience instantly. Your paid ads for your agency through Google appear in the top slots on the first page of organic search results when someone is using the search engine to research a specific product or service relevant to your business. 41% of people click one of the top three paid ads on the search result page. That’s huge for any State Farm Agency looking to grow.

High Return Means More Profits

When you use PPC advertising for your State Farm Agency, your return on your investment is higher when compared to other types of marketing. You can limit your cost per click spending and you are in complete control of how much you spend on ads. Knowing the price for a search term, you can calculate a budget for your PPC advertising campaign and be able to pinpoint which search terms are most profitable, track your performance, and manage your expenses.
We have experience helping State Farm agencies get to the next level. Check out how we grew one State Farm Agent’s leads by double digit percentages for five years straight (Case Study)!

To get a custom digital growth plan for your State Farm Agency, contact us today.

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State Farm Insurance Agents face a challenging market. They must compete against well-funded lizards from competing companies and fellow State Farm Agents in the same marketplace.

State Farm Agents, however, can create a level playing field by optimizing their Google My Business listing. If a State Farm Agent can increase their rankings through Google My Business (also known as Google Maps), they will consistently get more targeted leads every month. And they won’t have to depend on State Farm to send the agency leads every month – they can generate their own leads on Google.

State Farm Agents need Google visibility. Most State Farm agencies are aware of the importance of advertising, but they tend to ignore the importance of having their agency listed in Google My Business. This listing is a dynamic picture of your State Farm agency that showcases your most remarkable qualities and allows potential consumers to learn about and interact with you directly on the search results page.

Customers will pick your State Farm agency over rival agencies if your Google My Business profile is optimized better than the competition: even against other State Farm Agents. Still, there are other advantages to optimizing your Google My Business profile for effective marketing.

Let’s go through the three main ways you may use Google My Business to improve your Google online profile.

1. Google My Business Boosts Visibility

Users are increasingly entering and abandoning Google without visiting any other websites. How so? Since the content on the search engine result pages (SERP) answers their questions, users don’t need to click through to websites. That’s bad for most websites, but good for those State Farm Agencies that optimize their Google Maps listing.

As more customers use your Google Maps to search for a local State Farm Agent, they can find your agency if you optimize your Google My Business account. See several State Farm agents who have improved their Google My Business profiles to show up for the query: “state farm agent Austin tx” below.

2. Reviews Allow New State Farm Agents to Trust You

Secondly, your Google My Business reviews will allow customers to automatically trust you without you ever having to say anything. There’s nothing like 3rd party verification. In fact, 79% of shoppers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends. When you build out high-quality, 4-5 star reviews on Google My Business, that’s similar to generating personal recommendations for your prospective agency customers.

3. Google My Business Drives New Calls To Your Agency

Finally, users are not looking at your Google My Business account for fun. They want a good State Farm agency to handle their insurance quickly, professionally, and at a good price. If they see your agency ticks all their internal check boxes for a solid State Farm Agent, they will call you. Google My Business will even provide the call data that is generated from your Google My Business profile. See the example below.

Conclusion: Get Better Results with Your Google Maps Listing

Our team specializes in Google My Business optimization. We’ve handled dozens of Google Maps listings with excellent results. We would love to help your State Farm agency succeed in the Google game. To see what we did for another State Farm Agent, check out this case study where we grew annual total leads by 149.6% With Local SEO.”

Contact us today to get a free audit for your State Farm agency.

Header image from Wikimedia.

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What is a Google My Business Page?

A Google My Business page is your own little piece of Google real estate on the Google Map Pack. This is a page that shows up in normal Google search results but also shows on maps.google.com – one of the most widely used local apps on mobile devices. 

Think about it: when your prospect’s AC goes out in the hot summer, where is the first place they reach? Their cell phone. One of the main places they look is on Google Maps – exactly where your business can show up. 

To create a Google My Business page for your HVAC company, go here: https://business.google.com/create 

Options to Help Your HVAC Google My Business Page

After you have created a GMB profile for your company, you want to fill out as much information as possible. That gives you the best chance at visibility and shows more attention to detail for potential customers. This also helps foster credibility about your HVAC company.

Some of the more commonly used information on these profiles are your working hours and days, contact phone number, email address, and any sort of health regulations you want to highlight. Beyond this, add photos, your logo, a cover image, and more to showcase your services and stand out to future customers. Google recently added attributes which can flag your business as being supportive of, or owned by, a minority group. 

Consistency is the Key in HVAC Google My Business

With all of the material and customization that is available on your Google My Business page, it’s important to make sure that all of the information is consistent across the internet. This means that your GMB page needs to accurately mirror information on sites like Yelp or Angie’s List. Also make sure that the page connects correctly to your website home page, and ensure consistency on all your social media profiles. Doing all of this will greatly help prospects find your HVAC company and pick your business over the competition. 

Extra Tips for Google My Business Optimization

After you have created your GMB page and verified that all the information on it is current and correct, you then should begin interacting on your page. HVAC companies usually set up their GMB pages with minimum information and never interact with customers. Those pages are pushed to the bottom of the results, under those company GMBs that are active. You can fight against this trend (even if you do not have many reviews) by doi0ng a two simple things. 

1. First, post at least 10 pictures to your GMB page. They can be of your employees or recent work that was done, or something related to HVAC. Having those pictures automatically puts your business above the businesses who have not bothered to upload pictures. 
2. Secondly, make sure that you are interacting on your GMB page. That shows Google you you are a current and interactive business and encourages Google to show more of your GMB in results which nets you more clicks and leads.

Search Pros Helps with Google My Business Optimization for HVAC Companies

This info should get you started on optimizing your HVAC company’s Google My Business page. To get the best results, call the professionals at Search Pros. We are a team of passionate digital growth professionals who have helped multiple businesses grow exponentially, and we have growth plans for HVAC companies.

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PPC Basics for HVAC Companies

PPC ads are simple text or banner advertisements that appear on Google, other search engines, or websites. When a user clicks on your ad, you pay for the click (hence the term: pay-per-click). You only pay when someone clicks on the ad, so it doesn’t matter how many times your ad is displayed. It only affects your ad budget when the user clicks through to your website. This means that even if they don’t convert into customers, you know you are at least getting people

 to your website. (You’re not paying for people to ignore your ad.)

PPC Ads Raise Brand Awareness

Your website may rank highly on Google, but the search engine usually shows ads before the first organic results for HVAC companies. This means making use of Google Ads for HVAC can place your company’s information above all of your competitors. That increases the number of of times your prospects see your company’s information. In addition to your ad, your natural search result also appears on the results page where it normally would. This means you essentially get listed on the first page of Google twice, which can be incredibly helpful in increasing brand awareness, traffic, and leads.

Bring in More Leads

HVAC PPC advertising can also increase your leads, which in turn increases your sales. While SEO, blogs, and social media posts can eventually ramp up your lead generation, they take time to become successful. That’s not the case with PPC ads. As soon as you set up your Google Ad campaign, your ads are immediately available and will appear in any related searches. As long as you have set up your campaign correctly, your ads will appear in front of potential customers who are looking for your HVAC services.

In addition to working more quickly than your SEO or social media, PPC ads are also have advantages over other forms of HVAC company advertising. For example, they are more targeted. You know your ads only appear in front of people who have entered a related query into Google. Unlike print or billboard advertising where many people who see such an ad are not interested, everyone who sees your PPC ad is actively searching for HVAC companies in the area.

You Ads Appear Where the Most Users Are

At one time, many people looked for HVAC companies in the phonebook or local newspapers. Today, that’s not the case. An overwhelmingly large number of people go online to find heating and air services. If you don’t use Google Ads, you are missing out on potential customers.

The need for PPC ads does boil down to this: your potential customers are using Google to find HVAC services. If they see your ad, they’re likely to click on it and get in touch with your company. If you’re not on Google with PPC ads, one of your competitors will be. Don’t lose out on new leads and sales. Invest in PPC advertising and make it a regular part of your marketing budget.

If you need help growing your HVAC company, check out our HVAC Growth Service.

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However, the idea that SEO, especially local SEO, isn’t effective or useful for HVAC companies is a major misconception. In fact, local SEO is a vital part of any HVAC company’s marketing. Here are a few reasons why. As the we move into the summer months, boosting your local SEO is a great way of bringing in new customers.

Local SEO Focuses on Local Customers

Unlike standard SEO that works to get the attention of search engines for general searches, local SEO is focused on searches done in your area. For example, if your HVAC company is located in Atlanta, your local SEO will include keywords such as “HVAC Atlanta Georgia” and “Atlanta HVAC services.” Any search for an HVAC company in Atlanta or even Georgia is likely to return your website as a result.

With services, people often do include their location in the query. This is because they need someone who serves their local area. Just like you don’t need your website to attract potential customers from other parts of the country, these users don’t need to see HVAC companies in other locations. By including local SEO on your website, you’ll better match these queries.

You’ll Match “Near Me” Queries

In addition to matching queries for HVAC services in your specific city or state, your website will also show up in “near me” queries. This means if someone searches for “HVAC companies near me” and has their location turned on, Google will see where the user is and modify their search to include their city and state. Again, it will return your website if the location matches. 

Often, Google draws this information not from your website but from your Google My Business listing. You need to make certain you’ve claimed your listing and that you keep it updated with the correct information. While your website’s local SEO will help you rank in these searches, Google My Business is also a factor. Having both increases your chances of ranking higher.

 Local SEO Works Well with Mobile Searches

Most people have their location settings on their phones turned on, which means even if they search for “HVAC companies” without any location specified, Google will still prioritize results that are close to them. More and more searches are done on mobile devices today than on traditional computers or laptops, so you need to be ranking in these searches if you want to grow your customer base.

Another reason to rank in mobile searches is the convenience they provide. If a user searches on mobile, they typically have the option to immediately call you. In many cases, especially if you have a Google My Business listing active, your phone number appears alongside your listing. All the user has to do is tap the number to call you. The easier you make it for someone to contact you, the better.

These are just a few reasons why local SEO is so important for HVAC companies. Once you’ve updated your website to include some location keywords and claimed your Google My Business listing, you may be surprised at how many new customers you get.

If you need help growing your HVAC company, check out our HVAC Growth Service.

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Search Pros is a digital marketing growth team, specializing in SEO & PPC campaigns. Our team has nearly 70 years of combined experience, with a record of over 100 successful projects, and over 70 happy clients. Being the best marketing agency in Dallas requires consistent results, and our team is the power house behind getting those results for you. We achieve those results through a range of techniques, including growth-driven optimizations, keyword-driven content, and flexible project management. The three most impactful marketing strategies we use are organic search optimization (SEO), local search optimizations, and paid search marketing (PPC). 

We use SEO to focus searches and drive sales to small and medium sized businesses. We implement this by using a series of marketing tactics including social media, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. We believe that your company’s return on investment is the big picture here, and we focus our approaches to best fit your brand, as well as ensure that you get sufficient sales from your promotions. Sometimes, it’s not enough to market using the social media through the internet, so as part of our SEO work, we also give you support in the form of competitive analyses, copywriting, press releases, mobile and video SEOs, Google analytics, and monthly reporting on performances. We believe that this additional support is what sets us apart from the other marketing groups. As your marketing agency in Dallas, we are committed to providing you with every possible opportunity to grow your business, and we want to ensure that your business grows with your needs, as we have done since 2010. 

Search Pros is also your best option when it comes to a Dallas marketing agency that implements and understands paid search (PPC) advertising and digital growth. We recognize that paid advertising is important, and when you consider the amount of ads Google Ads runs, or Facebook runs, you can begin to get a feel for the amount of traffic they must be directing. We take advantage of that traffic flow and divert relevant and interested people towards your business, and thus your sales. We also implement a cohesive and comprehensive digital strategy which results in your bottom line being much more lucrative than our competitors. We use tried and tested strategies like custom display targeting, page optimizations, and retargeting to bulk those return searches, and this in turn boosts your revenue. We also use remarketing campaigns, group construction, landing page consulting, and month-to-month arrangements to assist in getting return clients. 

Since 2010 our mission has been to help your small and medium sized businesses succeed. We’ve gained a handful of experts that understand digital marketing and know how to market your business. This has resulted in setting us apart from the other marketing groups, because we know how to plan digital growth. Sometimes social media posts aren’t enough to drive interested people to your doors, and when that becomes an issue, you can count on us to lead you and your business to more lucrative pastures. 

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Plus, with the internet growing all the time, it’s become more and more pertinent to consider the digital approach to your marketing. While physical print and other paper-based media haven’t taken a full back seat position in the marketing world, the online medium has certainly taken the focal point; And if you don’t understand the world of the web or expect to use the same tactics as you would through paper media, you could lose out on prospective clients. This is where Search Pros comes in!

What Sets Us Apart?

We are the top marketing agency in Dallas, and our team is proud to have helped several companies improve their visibility across the web! Our specialty is technical search engine optimization (SEO), content, and paid advertising – with this arsenal of abilities, we can easily assist with your company’s website, blogs, or campaigns to be launched across a variety of online means. This tactic further enables us to drive more qualified leads and sales for your business!

The entire process starts with the initial call to Search Pros to discuss designs and get a better understanding of your business. As we work with you to understand your needs, we’ll fully define designs and strategies to utilize for your social media, application, and general online presence. From there, we delegate work throughout our team to give any site you need a boost to the next level in the online search market. Being easily found through SEO will make the entire exposure of your business a breeze!

Continuous tracking and analytics provided from the site will give intel to you and your marketing agency in Dallas the information needed to further emphasize your company image. This will enable a strategic, driven execution of multiple campaigns across all digital formats. More important than all of that, however, is the continuous communication and structured reporting you’ll receive. We offer monthly analytics reports, mid-month updates, alignment calls, and regular communication with you based off of your schedule. This will push your business forward and keep positive results streaming on a month-to-month basis.

Call Us for More Information

Our experienced digital marketing growth team is driven to make your business as successful online as it is in person. We’re happy to serve everyone in and around the Dallas area, so if you’re looking for a marketing agency near Dallas check out the Search Pro site! We’ll answer any questions you have and go over a digital growth plan for free. Contact us today and become one of over 70+ satisfied clients utilizing our services.

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Local SEO Defined

SEO takes the concept of keywords and keyword phrases and narrows it down to your geographic location. As an example, let’s look at how a local clothing boutique in Dallas might use local SEO. They may use the keyword phrase “women’s clothing” to rank in searches, but that doesn’t help them if a customer in Los Angeles looks at their website, especially if they do not offer online ordering and shipping. Reaching customers anywhere outside of the Dallas area may not be useful to this company.

This is where local SEO comes in. Instead of “women’s clothing,” the business wants to rank for “women’s clothing in Dallas.” They update their SEO keywords and tags to include variations of “Dallas,” “Texas,” “Dallas, Texas,” “Dallas TX,” and other geographic locations.

How Important is Local SEO to You?

Unlike standard SEO, local SEO’s importance does vary from business to business. For example, if your company offers online shipping, you may want to attract customers from around the country or even the world. On the other hand, if you don’t or if you’re a restaurant or other business that would only appeal to in-person customers, you may want to heavily focus on local SEO.

Google Ranks Local SEO Results Higher

Google also tends to rank businesses that make use of local SEO higher in searches. For example, if you search for a marketing agency near me, you’ll find local SEO results right away. However, this is also true if you search for a more general query that doesn’t include a location. For example, searching for “soup” does return results for recipes and the like, but the first several results are nearby restaurants that serve soup. If you’re not making use of local SEO, you may miss out on appearing in this section of results.

Are You Ready to Add Local SEO?

Adding local SEO keywords and tags to your website is no different from adding new SEO keywords. However, you do want to take some time to determine what local SEO terms are right for you. For example, if you’re in Dallas, you may want to also rank for results connected to Fort Worth, Irving, Carrollton, and other surrounding areas. You could even go more specific and rank for Dallas neighborhoods such as Lakewood, Fair Park, and Old East Dallas. This is where working with an expert in SEO marketing Dallas can greatly help. Once you have these local keywords ready, you’ll need to test and adjust them just as you would with any keywords. However, you may be very surprised at how quickly they bring in more customers.

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Organic Traffic

While online advertising can be a great way to get your company’s name out there, most of the traffic coming to your website is going to be coming from organic searches. You can target your advertising to as many demographics as you want, but none are going to be as fruitful a customer pool as people who are actively searching for you. Google is the most visited website on the entire internet, and the average person uses the search engine at least once a day. Being a trusted website and coming up early on the right Google searches is absolutely vital for funneling customers to your business and away from your competitors. Plus, organic search results are much more trusted by the average consumer than ads are, and people are more likely to listen. Finding the right marketing agency Dallas is going to be a huge part of the future success of your business.

SEO Best Practices

At this point, you might be thinking about trying to figure out how to take care of your business’ SEO on your own. That’s a perfectly valid approach if you’re looking to save some money, and there’s certainly a lot of information out there already. But you’re just not going to get the same results on your own. Search engines like Google are constantly shifting their algorithms, and what works for SEO one month might suddenly change. Firms that specialize in online marketing Dallas will always be up to date on the best practices for SEO tactics. It’s all too easy for your website to fall off the first page of Google’s results, so it’s important that you stay on top of all the changes in the world of search engine optimization.

Affordability

One of the best things about SEO is how much cheaper it can be than regular internet advertising. Running ads on Google or Facebook can be pretty pricey, especially if you need to keep the campaign going for a long time. SEO, meanwhile, is relatively inexpensive and can be far more effective, giving you the best bang for your buck. Not only that, but it also sets you up well for the future, as it becomes more and more important in the internet sphere. Good SEO is an investment that will pay back handsomely for your business, and you’ll see positive results for years to come.

As the internet continues to be a greater and greater part of people’s lives, SEO is only going to get more important for marketing your business. It’s effective, relatively inexpensive, and will set you up for success in the future. These days, having good SEO is basically a requirement for any business, and finding the right SEO marketing firm is the best way to make sure that you’re always getting the results you need.

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Here we are at the end of 2020 and heading into 2021 and keeping your business’ presence strong is now more important than ever, but how much stock should you put into your Yelp rating? Our answer is: Don’t put more energy into your Yelp rating than you put into your Google My Business profile.

Google My Business has been around for a while now and is a useful tool for businesses of all sizes to get information out to customers while they are either looking for you or potentially even looking up your competitors.  

The main objectives for your Google My Business strategy should be:

• To make the “three-pack” for a search query related to your business

• To keep your local listing updated with the most recent information about your business:

• To put your business “on the map” – on Google Maps.

Although as a business owner, you should not completely ignore any website that lists or reviews your business, it is always going to be in your best interest to invest more energy into your Google My Business listing that it would be to put hours into responding to every Yelp review and here’s why:

1. Yelp isn’t as popular as it once was. There. We said it. Although there once was a time when businesses would slap a “5-stars on Yelp” decal on their front door, that era has (thankfully) passed. That being said, Yelp does still have a few collections of faithful fans and if your business is within these industries: 

• Restaurants
• Home and local services
• Shopping
• Other businesses
• Beauty and fitness

You should check in periodically and see if your business is collecting reviews and what they are saying. Yelp has an average monthly traffic of around 270 million unique users, which is still pretty large but pales in comparison to Google’s nearly 4 billion active users.

1. A properly updated Google My Business listing directly impacts your search traffic and improves your SEO ranking. That, by itself, is a huge reason to invest time in keeping your Google My Business information up to date.
2. Your Google My Business profile shows up directly on a Google Search. When a customer searches for your business or for a string of related keywords, your business listing will pop up right on top, whether you have filled it out or not. And for every hour you aren’t spending writing a weekly post or sending out a new offer for services, you’d better believe your competitors are.  That may not seem like a big deal until you realize that almost 80% of internet users search using a Google profile. 
3. Google My Business provides free Google advertising. Far from being another directory, your Google My Business listing is essentially free advertising on Google, and for anyone who had paid for advertising on Google, you know how expensive that can be. Not only will customers be able to see your pertinent business information, but you can specifically tailor offers directly to incoming search traffic and bolster your Google presence at the same time. While Yelp also offers paid advertising and does provide a place for your business to be listed, if your potential customer base is not using Yelp, that traffic doesn’t matter at all. 

While this list is by no means exhaustive, the team at Search Pros would be happy to take a personalized look at your local search traffic and make a plan for how they can help you improve your KPIs through properly optimized local search traffic and Google My Business.

Contact us for a free digital growth plan today.

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