fbpx

Category: Uncategorized

Boosting Your House Painting Business Revenue: Four Proven Ways to Improve Google Ads Results

Are you a house painting business owner who wants to save money on Google Ads and get more customers? 

We’ve got four simple tips to help you do just that. 

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to make Google Ads work better for your painting business, and it’s not as hard as you might think.

Tip 1 - Make a Special Page For Your Google Ads (Your Landing Page)

To get better results with Google Ads, you need a special page on your website, called a landing page, just for the people who click on your ads. This page should make it easy for them to contact you. 

Be sure that you include your phone number in the upper-right hand side and have a form that they can fill out.  You may also want to consider having a way to directly schedule the appointment, like a calendar or a chat function for the people that cannot wait to get started.

Don’t worry about making it show up on Google.  It doesn’t have to be optimized for SEO (search engine optimization) because you are sending paid traffic to it. 

Instead, make it all about getting people to contact you or leave the page. 

This simple change can make a big difference.

Tip 2 – Make Sure That Your Ads and Page Match (Ad Congruity)

If your ad talks about a specific service or benefit, make sure the page it leads to talks about the same thing. If your ad is about painting a room, the page should be too. If it’s about fixing a ceiling, the page should be all about that. This way, people won’t get confused, and more of them will contact you.

You will also want to use similar fonts, colors and images.

This technique is called “ad congruity” and it helps potential clients make the connection from your ad to your landing page in their mind.  The more they can look alike, the better. 

If your website hasn’t been updated in a while, this article will help!

Tip 3 - Focus on What People Want (Focus on the Client’s What’s In It For Me?)

Instead of talking about what you do, focus on what people want. 

People who need painting services want their homes to look great. So, tell them how your painting services will make their homes look amazing. Talk about the results and benefits they’ll get. This will get more people interested in what you offer.

People always want to know, “What’s in it for me?”

So, answer them in a way that will elevate their status, but will highlight what you can do.  It’s a win-win for everyone.

Tip 4 - Show You're Trustworthy

People like to see that others have been happy with your services. In fact, 46% of consumers feel that online business reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendations from friends or family according to BrightLocal.

Add reviews from past customers to your landing page. These can be written reviews and even short videos where your happy customers talk about their experience. You can even use widgets to embed the latest reviews from Google into your Website if you are using WordPress.

By making it easy to see what people are saying, it helps people trust you and decide to contact you.

Sometimes, people don’t leave reviews because they don’t know what to write.  To make it easy to leave a review, send your client some variation of the following email:

“Mrs. Smith – 

We hope that you found our service to be extraordinary.  If that is the case, we would love for you to leave us a review.

To help you get started (and avoid writer’s block), we have found that the most impactful reviews answer these questions:

  • What work did we do for you and where are you located?
  • Was it done well?
  • Why did you pick our company?
  • What was the best thing about working with our company?
  • Would you recommend us to family and friends?

Please click here and it will take you directly to our Google Review Page: [Link]

Thank you for choosing us and we really appreciate you taking the time to leave a review.” 

We recommend asking for a review after your final walkthrough, which is when your client should be the happiest.

By asking these questions, you help guide them to use the words and phrases that will make your reviews relevant to most searchers looking for companies like yours. In addition, they will leave reviews that look non-spammy and well thought out.

Where To Go From Here

Improving your Google Ads results is doable, even if you’re running a house painting business by yourself. 

By following these simple steps, you can save money on advertising and get more customers. Just make a special landing page, match your ads to it, focus on what people want, and show that you’re trustworthy. These changes can help your business grow. 

If you need more help, feel free to reach out to IFTS. Good luck with your house painting business!

A Comprehensive Guide to Migrating Your Google Analytics Property by July 1, 2023

Did you know that Google Analytics is switching over to all GA-4 properties on July 1, 2023?

This means that if you do not have a GA-4 property set up by that date, you could possibly miss out on important data.  Google will auto-create one for you, but it might not migrate over all the settings that you want.

In today’s digital landscape, data-driven decision making is beyond crucial for the success of any business. Google Analytics has been a go-to measurement platform for understanding user behavior on websites, ads and more. 

In this blog post, we will explore the migration process, its significance, and the steps you need to take to ensure a seamless transition for your business.

Understanding Google Analytics and Properties

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that enables you to gain insights into user activity on your company’s website. Every Google Analytics account can have one or more properties. A property represents your website, and within each property, you can organize data and set up reports. In the past, there were two types of properties: the old version and the new version (GA4).

The Importance of Google Analytics Migration

Starting July 1, 2023, Google will stop processing information sent to the old type of property. This means that to continue measuring user activity on your website, it is very important to migrate to the new version of Google Analytics (GA4). 

Although GA360 customers have an extra year to migrate, it is highly recommended to initiate the migration process as soon as possible to retain historical data.

Automatic vs. Manual Migration

If you don’t migrate your property manually, Google will automatically create a new GA4 property for you and migrate as many settings and configurations as they possibly can. 

However, it’s important to note that not everything can be automatically migrated, resulting in a better experience if you take charge of the migration process yourself. 

By migrating manually, you ensure that you have all of the data and settings that you want in your new property before the cutoff date in July.

The Migration Process

Step 1: Identify your Universal Analytics (UA) Property

Log into your Google Analytics account.  Look for any property whose identifier begins with “UA.” This is an indicator that the property is a Universal Analytics property and will need to be converted to GA4 ASAP.

Step 2: Open the GA4 Setup Assistant[h4]

Depending on whether you see the migration banner at the top of your account, click on “Manage GA4 migration” or navigate to the Admin section and select “GA4 Setup Assistant.”

Step 3: Choose Migration Options

In the GA4 Setup Assistant, you’ll be presented with options based on your existing GA4 property association. If you already have a GA4 property associated with your Universal Analytics property, select it. 

Alternatively, create a new GA4 property by clicking “Get started.” Confirm your selection.

Step 4: Install the Google Tag

The Google tag is a snippet of code that measures user activity and sends it to Google Analytics for processing. If you already have an existing tag, select the option to use it. Otherwise, you’ll need to install the new tag on your website. Consult your developer or utilize a content management system (CMS) plugin to accomplish this step.

Step 5: Completion and Verification

Once you’ve installed the tag, you’ll be brought back to the assistant. Clicking the button will take you to your brand new GA4 property. Both your Universal Analytics and GA4 properties will be open in separate tabs. The Setup Assistant acts as a checklist for migrating each item. Go through the list, marking items as complete and inching closer to a fully migrated property.

Now That You’re Done With The Migration…

Migrating your Google Analytics property from the old version to GA4 is essential for maintaining accurate website analytics and leveraging the power of data-driven decision making. By following the outlined steps, you can ensure a smooth transition and retain crucial historical data.

A Few More Tips For Google Analytics

Tip 1 – Make sure that you connect Google Analytics to Google Ads.  Also, make sure that you connect Google Ads to Google Analytics.  The connection goes 2 ways.

This way, you have access to conversion data and audiences from both platforms.

Tip 2 – The Google Analytics Setup Assistant shows you all of the steps that you need to have a useful profile

The setup assistant will walk you through all of the settings that you need to change in order to collect the best data in GA.

Tip 3 – Set up your audiences so you can retarget them.

Show your ads to people that have been on your website again and again by creating a retargeting campaign.  The best way to do this is by creating an audience that has been on your website, but has not performed a conversion action.

Need help with the migration or anything in Google Analytics?

Contact IFTS today at 412-715-6266 or send an email to si@iftsdesign.com 

Top 5 Tips for Turning Your YouTube Podcast Video into Two Weeks of Social Media Posts

It can be a struggle to come up with fresh ideas for your social media campaigns, but if you have a great podcast that you’re passionate about, why not use your discussions and turn them into social media content?

With a little bit of work, you can easily turn your podcast into two weeks of social media posts that will help you grow your audience and build your brand.

In this blog, we’ll give you tips on how to turn your audio into text and graphic posts, and even short video clips for sites like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We’ll also tell you how to promote your videos so that more people watch them.

So if you’re ready to learn how to turn your podcast into social media gold, read on!

#1-Make a daily plan for the next two weeks for your social media.

Having an outline of the types of posts you want to share each day and the format you want to use, such as text, image, video, or a combination of the three, is helpful.

For example,

Monday: Upload your podcast video to YouTube (we talked about how to do this in our last blog) and share the link on your other social media sites.

Tuesday: Take a fun fact or quote and turn it into text with a picture that goes with it.

Wednesday: Post a short clip from the whole video.

Thursday: Find an inspirational quote and make a graphic related to your topic.

Friday: Create a blog link post.

Saturday: Post a fun fact or a funny clip.

Sunday: Reminder to check out the Youtube video.

Week 2

Monday: Combine text and a visual image using another useful fact or statistic from your podcast.

Tuesday: Make another inspirational quote post.

Wednesday: Create a list post or promote free consultations, subscriptions, newsletters, or other lead magnets.

Thursday: Provide another guest quote or topic quote, either in the form of a short video clip or an image and text post.

Friday: Post a reminder to check out your podcast with a link included.

Saturday: Share interesting facts or comparisons as an infographic.

Sunday: Show a screenshot of the podcast video or image with a teaser that says “keep tuned for our upcoming episode.” 

#2-Pull out the most interesting parts of your podcast to create your social media posts.

You can do this the old fashioned way by listening to your audio and writing down at least 8 to 10 points you’d like to highlight, or you can easily transcribe your entire podcast with apps like otter.ai, which saves the entire text from your audio, making it easy to read over and copy all of the quotes and information you’ll use when making your daily posts.

#3-Create your text and graphic posts.

Let’s dive in!

Feel free to be as creative as you’d like, but we like to follow these simple rules.

  • Get the reader’s attention with a topic line that stands out.
  • Explain why this content is important to them.
  • Tell them what they will learn.
  • Tell them how to listen to the episode.

Remember to add colors, your logo, and a font style consistent with your brand’s personality and the topic you’re covering.

Using photos, art, and other graphics can give your social posts a unique touch and help you get the attention of your audience.

It may take a little longer in the beginning to create posts from scratch, but once you have a theme, it will take less time in the future.

There are many design apps out there with free-to-use features, and one of the easiest and most intuitive to work with is Canva. With pre-made graphic templates you can change for your specific needs and a way to save all of your creations, you don’t have to worry about starting with a completely blank slate the next time.

#4-Create your video posts.

Creating video clips and posts of your podcast episodes is a great way to repurpose your content and get more bang for your buck.

You can share two types of video: an actual video clip, if your podcast story or interview is videotaped, or an audio clip transformed into video format (mp3 to mp4), which is a lot easier than it sounds.

Read on to learn how to convert audio files to YouTube-friendly videos:

  • Go to Headliner.app or Canva.com and register for free.
  • Click “create audiograms” or choose one of the many video templates on Canva.
  • Upload your podcast audio, or you can upload a video file of your episode if using Canva.
  • Choose the length of video you will create, or for more advanced options, Canva allows you to cut your video and save it as a new project where you can add custom graphics and elements, including page animations, transitions, and background music!
  • Headliner allows you to Include transcription, but only up to 10 minutes in length. In Canva, you can add text to each frame of your video, which is time consuming for an hour long podcast, so save that for shorter clips. As we covered in our last blog, Youtube allows you to add subtitles automatically and is by far the easiest way to add captions to an entire podcast video.
  • Follow these steps to design, and your video clips will be ready to share on social media.

If you’re posting just audio, try to keep it under one minute, and remember, sites like Instagram only allow video posts that are one minute or less.

And make sure you include a great opening line, so that listeners will want to hear more!

#5-Plan and schedule your posts.

The last step is to publish your content. You can do this manually, but if you use lots of different social media platforms, use an automatic scheduling program like socialpilot.co, which will allow you to plan multiple posts in advance.

These sites often provide analytics which tell you how your posts are performing on each platform. Be sure to try it out and don’t worry about being perfect!

Finally, be sure to include links to subscribe to your podcast on iTunes or other sites and add relevant hashtags so that people can easily find and follow you. And remember to promote your videos by sharing with your friends and followers and encouraging everyone to share them, too.

You can also use paid advertising on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to boost your videos. When creating your ads, be sure to target people who are likely to be interested in your content. For example, if your podcast is about business, target people who work in businesses or are interested in entrepreneurship.

By following these steps, you can easily turn your podcast into two weeks of social media content. 

So what are you waiting for? 

Start creating and promoting your videos today!

Need some help in this area? Call our social media experts at IFTS and learn more about our services at 412-715-6266.