PPC CASE STUDIES

PPC (and SEO) CASE STUDY

Company:  Halo Doors
www.houstonoverheaddoor.com

Houston Overhead Garage Doors is a full service garage door company in Houston. They specialize in installing and servicing garage doors of all makes and models for both commercial and residential locations.

Challenge and SEO Strategy
In February 2010, Houston Overhead Garage Doors (HOD) came to Server Side Design (SSD) seeking ways to boost their web traffic by increasing their presence on the web as well as reducing the cost per conversions on their pay per click ads. Since there are many similar businesses in the Houston area, HOD faced the difficulty in standing out in a huge metropolitan area. In order to set them apart from the rest, SSD devised a strategy that would gain them a larger presence on the web and establish them as a knowledgeable and skilled leader in the garage door industry.  

SSD instituted a 30-keyword SEO campaign using phrases that were designed to draw interest from potential customers and, at the same time, highlighted their business offerings. Using proven SEO techniques, SSD optimized the HOD website by adding static content through the 30-keyword campaign and updating the site constantly with fresh content using weekly news articles, which were placed on the site’s home page. This content gave HOD credibility as a leader within their industry and was able to net them No. 1 page rankings organically on many of the top search engines with several of the keyword phrases. In addition, continuous blogs and onsite articles attributed to the rise of HOD on search engine pages.

Pay Per Click Campaign Overview & Results
SSD also implemented a pay-per-click campaign that drove web traffic to the HOD website while at the same time lowering the cost-per-lead from $58 to $42.90. Placing ads on search engines like Google and Yahoo! using select keyword phrases related to the garage door business, SSD was able to deliver positive ROI to HOD. 

SSD executed a call tracking system for HOD, which tracks the number of business calls that they were receiving. HOD previously had no way of knowing how many calls were coming from their online marketing efforts.

HOD received 58 calls as of April 2010 and by February 2011, HOD had received 75 (including six online conversions) for a total of 81 conversions

• The cost per lead in April 2010 was $58.  The cost per lead in February 2011 was $42.90, 26% reduction in costs per leads
  
  
  
  
• HOD experienced a 39.6% increase in lead volume as a result of SSD’s PPC campaign over the same period of time.

SEO Results
HOD’s web presence increased significantly with Page One rankings:

• 13.63% increase in Page One rankings since February 2010. 
• 200% increase in web site traffic from that time thanks to the implementation of SSD’s SEO and PPC campaign.
  
  

HOD’s natural web traffic has increased by almost 150% and more web surfers in search of garbage door-related subjects in the Houston and surrounding areas were driven to HOD’s website due to the efforts resulting from SSD’s 30-keyword campaign.  
Writing fresh and static content for each keyword phrase, SSD was able to net high rankings on search engines for HOD. The more web surfers saw how high HOD was ranking on the search engines, the greater the chance for these visitors to click on the links. The results showed that certain keyword phrases that were optimized by SSD were driving visitors to HOD. Specifically for “Houston overhead door”:

• 271 visits to the HOD site since December 2010 for the phrase ‘houston overhead door”
• 53.87% of these visits representing new people.
• 12,000 visitors have come to the HOD site since SSD began their SEO campaign in the past 12 months

Some examples of HOD keywords ranking on Page One on Google as a result of SEO campaign:

• Houston Overhead Door
• Garage Door Houston
• Overhead Door Houston
• Overhead Doors Houston
• Garage Door Houston

The total web traffic to HOD has increased by 200% since the implementation of SSD’s SEO and PPC campaigns.

PPC Case Study:

DefensiveDriving.com
http://www.defensivedriving.com/

DefensiveDriving.com® is an online driver safety education site with Texas state-approved defensive driving courses for drivers who are seeking to lower their insurance rates, have tickets dismissed and improve their driving safety. They offer an original Internet course, streaming video online, a DVD video course with online interaction as well as a DVD course with automated telephone voice system interaction.

While DefensiveDriving.com had netted some success on the Internet through Pay Per Click Advertising, they sought a better way of improving their online presence and increasing their sales. However, they needed a way of reducing the cost of conversions to their site while at the same time increasing their Web traffic. The conversion cost is where a visitor to the site will click their ad, visit the site and purchase a product, in this case, the defensive driving online courses.

Enter Server Side Design. The team at Server Side Design identified keywords pertinent to the click rate on DefensiveDriving.com’s ads. These keywords brought more attention to their site and increased their Web traffic. In addition, their conversion rate dropped.

RESULTS:
One month after hiring Server Side Design for Pay Per Click Management, the average cost per conversion dropped by 18%. One year later, SSD has managed to decrease the average cost per conversion by 412%!

In addition, their overal PPC costs (cost per clicks) were cut in half savingDefensiveDriving.com® over $15,000 per month!

TESTIMONIAL:
"DefensiveDriving.com was looking for a way to decrease the amount of time and expense we were incurring related to Pay Per Click and Search Engine Marketing. We were looking for increased return on investment in a highly competitive market space where we had clearly maxed out our abilities internally."

"After an extensive search, we retained Server Side Design to manage our Search Engine Marketing efforts. Roger and team have been successful at reducing our cost per acquisition and our total marketing dollars including their fees, so we have been very happy, so much so we turned to Server Side to help us with Search Engine Optimization. The expertise and integrity have made DefensiveDriving.com pleased to be business partners with Server Side Design!"

Kent Bissell
President
DefensiveDriving.com

PPC Case Study:

Safelink Wireless
http://www.safelinkwireless.com/

Safelink Wireless is a Web-based, government supported program that provides free cell phone service as well as air time every month to those that are eligible based on their income. Through the Lifeline Assistance program, they can provide discounted or free telephone services to eligible customers. Customers can receive free cellular service, a free cell phone and free minutes every month. There are no contracts, fees or monthly charges for this service.

Safelink had been successful in getting Web surfers to visit their site and take advantage of their free cell phone service through traditional advertising. However, they were seeking a way to increase their number of subscribers while lowering their cost per aquisition by moving away from traditional advertising and into Internet advertising. Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) was their answer. Through PPC, a visitor will clicks on a paid ad, land on the Safelink website, and subscribe for free cell phone service. This action of subscribing is called a conversion.

To help with this, Safelink hired Server Side Design. The team at Server Side Design was able to setup a Pay Per Click Campaign that would increase subscribers (conversions) while lowering their cost per aquisition. Thanks to the experts at SSD micromanaging Safelink’s PPC ads daily and adjusting settings when necessary, Safelink was able to increase their advertising budget while watching their profits go up. SSD kept Safelink informed of their progress through daily reports.

RESULTS:
When Safelink first hired SSD, their cost per conversion was at $7.67. Within one year, that figure went down to $4.79, a decrease of more than 37 percent! SSD was able to drive the costs of conversion so low that Safelink was able to increase their overall monthly budget by 825 percent while seeing their client acquisitions and profits increase. SSD’s PPC Management continues to bring incredible value to Safelink.

PPC Case Study:

Fine Art Investments
http://www.fineartinvestments.org/
http://www.antiquetiffanylamps.com/

Fine Art Investments (originally "Antiques For Interiors"), is a professional brokerage service specializing in the sale of authentic old Tiffany Studio lamps, antique Tiffany art glass, and American and European paintings by well known artists. Competence, honesty, integrity and ethical practices are the core principles upon which the firm was founded. Established in 1972, we cater to an established and select list of private buyers and avid collectors.

"I was given Server Side Design’s name from a huge PPC company, who required a large minimum monthly PPC  budget which I could not afford. They said Roger (the owner) had a very good business, was more flexible with budgets and they felt he would be a good fit for my company.

I called Roger, and from the first call I could tell he was not only knowledgeable, but really cared about helping my business get results. It was obvious to me they were not in the business just for money. Server Side Design has continued to consult with me and make many helpful suggestions on everything from ads to key phrases and other web design things, which are so vital to a PPC campaign really working well. My account manager is very quick to respond to emails and phone calls, and they are the friendliest and most patient people I have ever worked with in the seven years my main web site has been online. They are smart, personable, and willing to work within my budget to get me the results I need. I am already seeing results in just two weeks of starting with them, and I am sure things will only get better!

I would not hesitate at all to recommend Server Side Design to anyone, no matter what type of size their business was. Server Side Design’s staff has a very high level of knowledge about how search engines "work," how to make the most of a budget, and other things vital to a successful PPC advertising campaign. Aside from that, my account manager works long hours, and is an all around warm and friendly person to work with, which is somewhat rare in my many years of working with various service providers on the Internet. I feel certain that whatever my companies needs are, they can and will handle what I need, and do it in a financially prudent and expedient manner. I am so very grateful to have been directed to them. I really consider myself blessed to have found Roger and his company after using other people who were very disappointing in so many ways."

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