HVAC is a competitive field. There are 140,024 Heating & Air-Conditioning Contractors businesses in the US as of 2023, an increase of 4.5% from 2022, according to one study.
The competition will likely only get more stiff as climate change affects the world. Periods of intense heat and extreme cold will test people’s heating and air conditioning units. That means they’ll need more skilled HVAC specialists to help them in emergencies, or install new systems.
But they’ll call around to make sure they’re getting the best deal. People usually get an average of three bids before settling on a contractor.
You’ll need to set yourself apart from the competition by making sure you have a stellar online reputation on review sites, have a top notch website that’s search engine friendly, and invest in Google Ads. Why? Because Google is the first place people go to when they’re looking for HVAC companies. You want to make sure your ads are appearing under the “sponsored” section of Google Ads, especially for people who are in your service area.
Google Ads work. Studies show that for every dollar spent on Google ads, most companies get a $2 return on the investment. But you want to make sure you’re not spending too much money on ads, and that your ads are top quality.
According to one study, HVAC companies should spend between 6% and 12% of gross revenue on marketing, which includes advertising. If you are in a growth phase in your HVAC business, you may look to spend between 12% to 15% of gross revenue on HVAC marketing.
You can also run ads on social media, and in places like NextDoor, where people often go for recommendations on local HVAC specialists.
The goal should be to find customers near you. If you have to travel too far, that cuts into your profit. You can accomplish this goal through digital ads and search engine optimization (SEO).
So many companies hire HVAC advertising companies, like us at SEO Design Chicago, to handle their advertising needs.
Check out our reviews. We think we know what a good HVAC advertising firm is because we have plenty of customers who have attested to that.
How to Find Advertising Specialists
When someone needs an HVAC company, the first thing they do is go to Google.
If you need an HVAC advertising firm, you should do the same thing.
Another idea is to look for “digital marketing agency.” We are a full service digital marketing agency. Advertising is one of our core specialties. And we have tons of experience working with HVAC companies specifically.
What Are the Best Kinds of Ads for HVAC Companies?
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are the most cost-effective advertising strategy for HVAC companies. PPC ads drive more high quality traffic to your website because the ads are only shown to people who are located near you, and happen to be searching for HVAC services. You also only pay for the ads if a person clicks on your site. That’s way better than other kinds of ads, like billboards or radio ads, which people may see or hear, but aren’t necessarily interested in actually contacting you.
How Much Do Google Ads for HVAC Companies Cost?
This is perhaps the most important question of all, and it’s why you need an experienced HVAC advertising firm like us at SEO Design Chicago to help you.
Google ads work like this: the first step is to start a Google Ads campaign. Next, you tell Google what your goals are. Obviously, you want to make more money, but Google will ask you if you want to do this by getting more phone calls, having people fill out a contact form, visit your site and more. You then create your ad. This is a combination of words, photos and videos. Ad specialists like us know exactly what makes a Google Ad appealing and encourages someone to take action.
We know what words to include in ads because we’re masters of keyword research.
Sometimes, keywords are single words, but more often than not, they are phrases. In the HVAC field, those phrases are often “contractors near me” or “HVAC company.” We use advanced tools like SEMrush to find out what keywords people use to find HVAC companies.
You then tell Google who you’d like to target and how much you want to spend to reach them. This is where you really need digital experts to step in and help. You “bid” on keywords. So you want to make sure you’re not offering to pay too much, or too little. During periods of extreme weather, HVAC ads will cost more. But you may not need leads during those times. You may want to pay less and advertise during slower periods.
Some HVAC companies spend $6000 per month on Google Ads. Some spend way more. Whatever your budget is, we’ll work with you, and figure out how to get Google to work with your budget too. You then finalize your choices, set up payment in Google and go live. At this point, it’s critical to have an HVAC advertising firm monitor if your Google Ads are paying off. We can explain how to read analytics reports to you, or monitor the reports for you. If an ad isn’t paying off, you want to change your strategy. There’s no reason to throw money away.
What Else do HVAC Companies Need to Do to Make Their Digital Advertising Strategy Work?
You can pay for ads, as we just explained. But a good HVAC advertising firm will know how you can build brand awareness, get leads and generate sales through free methods.
This free way is to use search engine optimization (SEO). This means doing nearly 200 things – ranging from including certain keywords about HVAC are all over your website to making sure the website loads fast – to every web page that’s published. When a page is optimized for search engines, it ranks higher in the free, organic section of search engine results pages (SERP). These are the websites and snippets that appear under the “sponsored” and “People also ask” sections of SERP.
We’ll make sure that your website has the right keywords in the exact places on a web page that Google likes to see them. These places include page titles (i.e. the words that appear in the tabs of web browsers), the top of every page, within the body of text on every page, and embedded into images (yes, you can embed words into images).
We’ll revise existing pages on your site, and create new content for you on a regular basis. In fact, the more new content that appears on your site, the more likely it is that Google will rank your site higher and higher in their free organic search results.
SEO Design Chicago will also make sure your company is listed in all relevant online directories, like Yelp, NextDoor and Reddit. We also edit all your listings to ensure they include the right information, like your business name, address, website and phone number. We will also discover new local citation opportunities, like chambers of commerce directories.
We’ll also make sure you have enough hyperlinks in your website. Link building for HVAC companies is an important part of the SEO process. We’ll fix any broken links on your website, and also add new quality links to companies that compliment, but don’t compete, with your business. For example, you can link to a store that sells bathroom decor, and they can link to you. This will help improve your search ranking.
We can also handle email newsletter marketing. Research shows that e-mail marketing produces an ROI (return on investment) of $42 to every $1 spent.
We recommend opt-in email marketing. This means you ask website visitors to fill out a simple form with their contact information on your landing pages. Here you can ask for basic information like name, e-mail, and phone number.
A great way to encourage users to sign up for your email newsletter is to offer them something in return, like a 5% discount on services, a free prize or entry into a contest. Once you build up a subscriber list, you’ll be able to send out a lead-generating newsletter.
What Do You Charge?
Just like you want to provide reasonable estimates to your clients, we want to be clear about our pricing too. We can’t really name our specific price until we talk to you, but we’ll be clear about our fees.
The first step is to reach out to us.
We offer on page SEO audits of your current website for free, as any good HVAC advertising firm does. Reach out to us to chat soon. We can make sure you make the best use of your time, energy, and dollars.
Contact Us today!