SEO compounds, but it takes months. Ads work Tuesday. I run Google search campaigns and Local Services Ads for Charlotte service businesses for $850 a month, flat — the ad spend stays on your card, the account stays in your name, and the monthly report tells you the cost per lead in plain English.
Most Google Ads management in Charlotte is priced as a percentage of what you spend. Think about what that rewards. Mine is a flat $850 a month, so the only way I do better is if your ads do.
Service businesses that need leads now: plumbers, HVAC, electricians, roofers, cleaners, landscapers, detailers, movers, medical and mobility retail, anyone whose customer searches with a problem and calls the first good option. Especially businesses that have been living on referrals or builder work and suddenly need the public to find them — the phone's been quiet and the season isn't waiting.
It's not for ecommerce stores selling nationally (that's a different game — Shopping campaigns, feeds, margins — ask me on the Shopify page), and it's not for anyone who wants to spend $300 a month on ads in a $40-a-click trade and hope. I'll tell you if the math doesn't work before you spend a dollar.
There are two kinds of Google ads that matter for a local service business, and most agencies only sell you one. Search ads are the ones under the "Sponsored" label — you pay per click, you write the ad, you send them to a page on your site. Local Services Ads are the "Google Verified" units at the very top for trades like plumbing and HVAC — you pay per lead, Google verifies your license and insurance, and your rank depends heavily on your review score and how fast you pick up the phone.
That last part is why I manage ads and reviews as one job. A plumber with 3.7 stars and a plumber with 4.8 stars pay very different prices for the same lead, and the second one gets shown first. Google is also folding Local Services into the main Google Ads platform right now, which is confusing a lot of businesses that had it set up years ago — if that's you, getting the history exported and the campaign migrated properly is job one.
Every item below is something you'll see in the monthly report. The ad spend itself is separate and paid to Google on your card.
Keyword research for your actual services and service areas, campaign structure that keeps emergency searches separate from "how much does it cost" searches, ad copy written for the trade, location targeting that matches where your trucks go.
Verification, job types, service areas, budget, and the migration into Google Ads if you've had it a while. Historical performance exported before the old dashboard closes — it doesn't move on its own.
Set up so the account knows which clicks became phone calls and form fills — the only way to optimize for leads instead of for clicks. Without this, every "optimization" is a guess.
Ads pointed at a slow homepage waste a third of the budget. If your page needs work I'll fix it; if the campaign needs its own page — one service, one phone number, one form — I'll build it. I build websites; this isn't a referral.
Negative keywords so you stop paying for "plumber salary" and "DIY," bids adjusted by time of day and area, ads that lose replaced, budget shifted to what's converting. Every week, not "when we get to it."
Review requests automated after each job and responses handled, because your rating sets your Local Services rank and your cost per lead. Included here; also in Get Found, never charged twice.
You set the ceiling. I tell you what the keywords really cost after the first two weeks, we agree a number, and it doesn't drift upward because a percentage fee wanted it to.
Spend, leads, cost per lead, calls vs. forms, what changed and why. Ten minutes to read. If the numbers are bad, it says so, and it says what happens next.
A short call about what a job is worth to you and what your keywords cost in Charlotte. If the cost per lead can't work at your margins, I say so here and we talk about Get Found instead. No campaign gets built on hope.
Free · 20 minutesGoogle Ads account created in your name or linked from your existing one, Local Services if you qualify, Google Business Profile with you as Owner. My manager account gets access you can remove in two clicks.
Campaigns, ad copy, landing page, call and form tracking, negative keyword lists from day one. You approve the ads before they run.
Two weeks at a modest spend to see real click costs and real lead quality. Then we set the monthly number together, in writing.
The optimization above, every week. The report on the 1st. Calls should be coming in within 30 days, and the campaign keeps getting cheaper per lead from there as the data builds — you're never signed for any of it.
Two costs, kept separate on purpose: my fee, which is flat, and the ad spend, which goes to Google on your card and never through me.
Google Ads management
$850/month, flat
One business, all its campaigns — search and Local Services. The fee is the same whether you spend $1,500 or $5,000 a month on ads, so I have no incentive to push your budget up.
Billed on the 1st. Ad spend is billed by Google to your card — I don't mark it up and I never hold your budget.
$1,500–3,000/month, typical
Paid to Google, on your card, set by you. That range is a typical starting point for a Charlotte service business; emergency trades cost more per click than most, and you'll know your real numbers two weeks in.
Ads carry you now; Get Found makes the free leads compound. Run both and the review work is shared — you're never billed for it twice.
Not sure which you need? The $450 audit looks at the site, the Google profile and the reviews first — the three things ads depend on — and comes off the first month of either plan.
Charge a percentage of your ad spend. Hold your budget on my card. Keep the account in my name. Report impressions as if they were leads. Promise a cost per lead before I've seen your keywords. Run ads to a page I know won't convert and call it your problem.
What you get instead is one person who builds the campaign, watches it every week, writes the report, and can be fired with an email — and who also builds the website the ads land on and manages the reviews that set the price of every lead. That's the whole pitch.
Trade-specific? The HVAC and home services, landscaping and detailing pages show how the ads, the site and the Google profile fit together for each.
From me, $850 a month flat for one business, whatever you spend on ads. Agencies commonly charge 15–20% of ad spend or $1,500–2,500 a month for the same work. The flat fee means I have no reason to push your budget up.
Separate from my fee, and paid to Google on your card — I never touch it or mark it up. For a Charlotte service business, $1,500–3,000 a month is a typical starting range; emergency trades (plumbing, HVAC) run higher per click than salons or landscapers. We set the number together after I see what your keywords actually cost, and it's yours to change any month.
The "Google Verified" units at the very top of a search for local trades, where you pay per lead instead of per click. For plumbers, HVAC, electricians, cleaners and similar, they're often the best-performing thing on the page. They rank heavily on your review score and how fast you answer the phone — which is why ads and reviews get managed together here.
Yes. The account is created in your name (or stays in your name if it exists), and I manage it through my manager account with access you can revoke in two clicks. Your campaign history, your data, your billing. If you leave, nothing leaves with me — the same rule as your website and your Google profile.
Month to month, 30 days' notice, no exit fee. You should have calls coming in within the first 30 days — if you don't, something is wrong with the campaign, the page or the math, and I'll tell you which. No contract needed to find out.
If you need the phone to ring this month, ads. If you can wait 90 days for it to start and want it to keep working after you stop paying, Get Found. The right answer for most businesses with a budget for both is both: ads carry you while the organic work compounds, then you dial the ads down as the free leads come in. The two plans stack, and the reviews work is shared.
Once a month, in plain English: what you spent, what it cost per lead, how many calls and forms came in, what I changed and why. Not impressions and click-through rates dressed up as results. If the numbers are bad, the report says so, and so does the plan for the next month.
Then the ads waste money, and I'll tell you before we start. Sometimes the fix is a single landing page built for the campaign; sometimes it's the $450 audit's list; sometimes the site is fine. I build websites too, so this is a diagnosis, not a sales pitch for a rebuild.
Twenty minutes: what a job is worth to you, what your keywords cost, whether ads make sense. If they don't, I'll say so and point you at the thing that does.
Lucas