Paid ads, run by somebody who’ll talk you out of them.
Ads are the fastest way to make the phone ring. They’re also the easiest way to set fire to a few thousand dollars. Which one you get is decided almost entirely before the first dollar goes out.
Three different jobs.
You almost certainly don’t need all three. Most businesses need one, done properly.
Google Search ads
Somebody types emergency dentist near me at nine at night and there you are. Nothing else in local advertising has intent like that. They already have the problem and they’re already looking for whoever fixes it.
Best for: urgent services, high-value jobs, anything people search by name of problem.Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram
Nobody on Facebook is looking for you, which changes the job entirely. You’re creating demand instead of catching it, using photos and offers good enough to stop a thumb mid-scroll.
Best for: restaurants, events, new locations, promotions, visual trades like tint and detail.Local Services & map ads
The ads sitting above everything else on a local search. For some trades these convert better than anything and cost less per click than ordinary search.
Best for: home services, trades, anything where Google runs a screened-provider program.Four things most agencies won’t say out loud.
Ads are rented. SEO is owned.
Stop paying and the calls stop that afternoon. Rankings keep working. For most small businesses the sensible order is website first, local search second, then ads to fill specific gaps. Leading with ads because they’re quicker is how budgets disappear.
Don’t run ads to a website that doesn’t convert
The single most common way small businesses waste money. Paying for clicks to a page that was never going to convert just buys you the privilege of disappointing people faster. Fix where they land first.
Below a certain budget this simply doesn’t work
Below a certain monthly spend there isn’t enough data to improve anything and you’re just donating to Google. If your budget sits under that line you’ll hear it from me, along with a better use for the money.
The account stays in your name
The ad account is yours, in your name, and it stays yours if we part ways. I’ve watched too many businesses discover their agency owned the account and every year of history in it.
Plenty of people who call me about ads shouldn’t be running them.
If your website doesn’t convert the visitors you already get for free, paid traffic won’t fix that. It just costs you more to learn the same lesson. Already booked solid? Ads are an expensive way to build a waiting list. And on a small budget the money almost always goes further on the site and local search.
Having that conversation honestly and keeping you for five years beats taking an ad budget I know won’t work and losing you by March.
Ask me if it’s worth itNot sure if ads are your next move?
Send me your website and tell me what you’re trying to grow. You’ll get a straight answer about whether ads are the right lever right now, or whether the money does more somewhere else first.
Questions about ads
Three things set it: how much hands-on work your account needs month to month, what you’re spending, and how many campaigns are running. One local search campaign for a single shop is a very different job from a multi-location account with creative testing behind it. Tell me what you do and roughly what you’re thinking of spending and you’ll get a real figure on the call, plus a straight answer on whether ads make sense for you yet.
No. What you pay Google or Meta goes straight to Google or Meta. Management is separate and stays separate on your invoice, because blending them into one number hides where your money actually went.
For most small businesses, fix the website, get local search right, then add ads for the specific work you want more of. Ads are the fastest lever and the first to stop when you stop paying. Anybody who tells you to lead with ads without looking at your site first is selling ads.
Live in days, calls the same week. Speed is genuinely the main thing ads have going for them. Getting them efficient rather than merely running takes about a month of data and adjustment.
Yes, and fast. Telling you in month two that this isn’t paying off beats billing you through month six while quietly hoping it turns around. Keeping the client list small is what lets me afford that.