Ads or visibility
One buys enquiries, the other builds them.
Every trade business asks this once: should I advertise or invest in being found. The honest answer is that it is not a choice between two things but a question of order, and the order depends on how full your diary is right now.
Advertising
Enquiries tomorrow, and it stops the moment you stop paying.
What it gets you
- You have traffic within days and enquiries within weeks.
- You can turn the tap up or down as your diary fills or empties.
- You measure immediately what an enquiry costs, so you quickly know whether your offer works.
- You can pick exactly your area and service without waiting months.
What it costs you
- The moment you stop, the flow stops. You have built nothing.
- Cost per click rises as more competitors join, and that is not up to you.
- Advertising to a site that does not convert is the most expensive way to find out your site does not convert.
- It costs money every month, including the months you are busy.
Building visibility
Months of patience, then enquiries without click costs.
What it gets you
- What you build stays, including in the months you never look at it.
- No cost per enquiry, so your margin stays yours.
- Trust: people would rather click an ordinary result than an ad.
- It carries into your Google profile and your reviews, so everything reinforces everything.
What it costs you
- It takes months before it carries you. That is not a sales line, that is how it works.
- You cannot adjust when you have a gap in next week's schedule.
- It needs maintenance: pages, copy and reviews that stay accurate.
The order that is almost always right
First make sure your site converts enquiries, then build visibility, and only advertise once those two are in place. Advertising to a site that does not convert is money into a leak, and you only notice after a few hundred. If you have a gap in your schedule to fill this month, you reverse the order and advertise while building visibility. That is the one good reason to start by paying.
When you should do neither
If your diary is full three months out, getting more enquiries is not your problem. You will earn more from better margins or faster quoting than from extra work you have to turn down. We would rather say that now than after you have paid six months for enquiries you could not take.
Questions
Questions about this choice
Still not sure which way to go?
Put your situation to us in a twenty minute demo. We will do the maths with you, and say so when the answer is that you do not need us.
Book a free demo