Solar PPC Advertising Strategies

Tips To Getting Solar Leads

Looking for Solar PPC Advertising Strategies?  If you’re reading this article, it’s probably because you’re wanting to get serious about driving leads online, and you’ve heard that PPC (Pay-Per-Click) is the fastest or best way of doing that.  Indeed, PPC is one of the major keys to any solar advertising strategy. 

Especially with the onset of the Corona Virus, more and more solar companies are looking for ways to generate high quality solar leads online since door knocking is not necessarily much of a viable option anymore.

Well, if this is the case, then you’ve come to the right place.

Let’s talk about some tips to driving high quality solar leads via PPC.

Experience Matters

Having managed over $10,000,000 in ads, we’ve learned a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t.

So, prior to engaging with a solar advertising agency, make sure you understand what industries they focus on.  Have they ever done solar PPC before, or will you be their first customer?  What kind of experience do they have with home service lead generation in general?  And, can they send you some examples of their solar landing pages?

Start With Google & Facebook/Instagram First

Our recommendation is to start with Google Ads and Facebook Ads, at least initially. With time, you can look at expanding into the Bing/Yahoo Network, LinkedIn, YouTube, AdRoll, Twitter, and other networks. But, start with Google and Facebook.  That’s where most of the traffic is, and doing both concurrently will give you a good mix of people searching with intent (Google) versus home owners that might be interested in solar panels (Facebook/Instagram).

Keep in mind that Google tends to have a slightly more expensive Cost Per Lead than say, Facebook. But, the lead quality in general is better than the other networks, as people tend to have a higher intent and further along in the purchasing process.

However, with both Google and Facebook, landing pages are extremely important. If you just send your leads to your existing solar SEO-driven website, your Cost Per Lead (CPL) is going to be way higher than it need to be.  So, you’ll need to use some type of a service such as Unbounce, Leadpages, or Instapage and design a landing page that is focused solely on converting PPC traffic into leads.  This means no navigation and a strong call-to-action to fill out a form or call you.  If your click-to-lead conversion rate is less than 10% you’re doing it wrong.  If it’s over 30%, then congratulations, you’re rocking it!

Google Match Types

On Google, be really careful with your keyword syntax. One of the big mistakes we see is people using general broad match for their match types. Don’t do that. It’s a huge mistake that will cause most of your budget to get eaten up by things that are hardly relevant.

This is another area that can really drive up your Cost Per Lead. Take the time to use proper syntax within Google so that you don’t overpay for the wrong types of clicks.

Don’t Use Broad Match

Instead, focus on broad match modifier and exact match terms. For, example, your keywords should look something like this:

+solar +company

+solar +companies +near +me

[solar service provider] [las vegas solar companies]

Your keywords should NOT look like this:

solar companies

las vegas solar companies

Keyword Bids

From there, you want to make sure that your bids are correct on Google. We usually recommend between $4- $12 for your bids. If you bid lower than about $3.00, you probably won’t get many clicks. If you bid over $12, your cost per lead will probably be too high.

With Facebook, it is more important that you have really good pictures and ad copy than it is to set manual bids.  If you write good ads and choose the right audiences, Facebook will take care of the rest. 

Landing Page Conversion Rates

Next comes landing page conversion rates. You’re going to want your landing pages to convert at between about 10-30%. So, 1 out of every 5 to 10 clicks should turn into a lead on Google.  With Facebook, your conversion rates may be lower, but your Cost Per Lead should be less than Google.

Cost Per Lead

We recommend shooting for a target Cost Per Lead on Google and Facebook of between $20 – $60. Sometimes you can go a bit higher than that, but if you’re over $100, it’s going to be expensive to bring on new solar customers.  

Branded Terms

In addition to industry terms, you may want to advertise on your brand name on Google. Avoid Display Campaigns on Google until you get Facebook ads working for you.

Facebook Lead Ads Vs. Landing Pages

Facebook tends to have cheaper leads. If you can avoid it, don’t use Lead Ads. Instead just use mobile friendly landing pages with a web form above the fold of the web page and no links on the page. Almost all of your clicks are going to come from mobile devices on Facebook and Instagram.

Audience Selection

Audience targeting is key for success. Try to target home owners that have money and are interested in solar.

Recommended Initial Budgets

You don’t need huge budgets to start advertising your solar company via PPC. We have a lot of groups that spend between $750 – $2,000 / mo. on their ad budgets and perform just fine, even with brand new emerging solar companies.

Need Help?

Have a question or want someone to just do it for you? Feel free to reach out and we can help!