We answer some of the most commonly asked questions about using Google Ads for interior design and architecture businesses.
No matter how young or old your interior design or architect studio is, you need sales. It’s the lifeblood of your business.
While referrals and word of mouth are great, they have their limitations. They’re limited to your network and they aren’t predictable.
Marketing makes sales easier. Marketing means you can choose to target a specific type of clientele, it means creating channels to encourage them to come to you, and digital marketing means you can demonstrate your value on your website before they jump on a sales call.
As a digital marketing agency, we help design studios do exactly that. We use Google – both ads and search engine optimization (SEO) – to help our clients get traffic to and new business from their website.
In this article, we’re going to answer all your questions about using Google Ads to grow your interior design business.
Jump Ahead
- What’s the difference between SEO and Google Ads?
- Do people actually hire interior designers and architects from Google Ads?
- Should interior designers and architects do SEO or Google Ads?
- How much should we spend on Google Ads?
- How long should we do Google Ads?
- Should interior designers and architects do Google Ads themselves or hire a professional?
- Should we do ads on Bing, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook?
What’s the difference between SEO and Google Ads?
What you see from Google is never random. Businesses either pay to appear on top or they invest in search engine optimization (SEO) to get their website to rank organically.
Let’s break down the differences between Google Ads and SEO a little more.
Google Ads for Interior Designers and Architects
Google Ads, formerly known as AdWords, is an online advertising platform. Businesses directly pay Google and use search or display ads to promote their website on Google’s platforms.
With display ads, businesses can pay for banners to appear on Youtube or any website that is a part of Google’s program, Adsense.
With search ads, businesses bid for keywords. In other words, they tell Google which keywords they want their website to appear for and they pay for every click.
Below is an example of search ads. We know these are ads because they are on the very top of the search engine results page and they have a little “Ad” icon on the top right-hand corner of every listing. These businesses are bidding for the keywords “retail interior designer” and pay for every time users click their website.
When keywords are highly competitive, Google Ads can be a great solution to “supercharge” results.
SEO for Interior Designers and Architects
Scroll down, past the Google Ads, and you’ll find something called “organic listings”. These websites didn’t pay Google to appear. Instead, they took the time to understand Google’s algorithm and they invested in making their website fall in with the algorithm. In other words, they optimized their website for the search engine. That is search engine optimization (SEO).
In theory, organic listings are free, however, understanding Google’s increasingly complex algorithm and making the necessary changes to your website takes time and money. It’s quite common for interior designers and architects to hire a digital marketing agency or employee to manage this.
Below is an example of organic listings. These businesses understood SEO practices to appear on the first page for the keyword “retail interior designer”.
It can take anywhere between 2 weeks to 6 months to see the results of your SEO efforts. This depends on the current state of your website and the competitiveness of the keywords you want to rank for.
Do people actually hire interior designers and architects from Google Ads?
Yes, people go to Google looking to hire interior designers and architects. Especially if their personal network doesn’t have any recommendations.
Think about the last few purchases you’ve made. Probably about half of them started with a Google search. Whether you are looking for a café near you or the best accountants in your city, we are increasingly relying on the internet to help us make buying decisions.
There is research to back this up. According to a survey by Google, 59% of consumers say they use Google to research a purchase they plan on making online or in-person. The work we do confirms that. Take a look at our case studies and you’ll see that we help design studios make sales from Google traffic.
Should interior designers and architects do SEO or Google Ads?
SEO and Google Ads often complement each other well, and we like to combine the two for our clients.
While SEO can take several months to see results, Google Ads can help fill in the gap and “supercharge” until your SEO efforts kick in.
SEO also helps decrease the cost-per-click (CPC) on Google Ads. Imagine you want a mortgage on a house. The bank will give you more of a mortgage and better-than-average terms if you go into the matter with a high credit score. Google Ads are the same. Go into it with a strong SEO foundation, and you’ll have better-than-average impressions and CPC.
Should you invest equal resources into SEO and Google Ads? That question is a little more difficult to answer because it depends on your competitors and the market.
For interior designer studios in big cities like Toronto, New York or San Francisco, we always recommend a campaign that blends Google Ads, SEO and even PR to compete. For smaller and less competitive cities, however, many interior designers can drive traffic and inquiries from just SEO alone.
The more competitive the market, the more marketing you’ll have to do to stand out.
How much should we spend on Google Ads?
Your budget should depend on your sales goals, the cost-per-click and how much traffic you’ll need to reach your sales goals. Start with identifying your goals and work backwards to determining how much you should spend on Google Ads. Answer these questions:
- How much in sales would we like to make from Google Ads?
- How many clients do we need to sign a month to reach said sales goal?
- How many inquiries do we need to sign said amount of clients?
- How much traffic do we need to get said amount of inquiries?
- Which keywords are we bidding for? What’s their search volume and CPC?
There’s a dilemma, however. If you’ve never used your website as a marketing tool, you probably don’t have the data to answer some of these questions. In that case, start small.
If you’re an interior design and architecture studio that has never done digital marketing and you’re skeptical about its effectiveness, experiment with a few hundred dollars and choose a very specific service or market. You may not close any sales but if you receive some quality inquiries, you have a proof of concept and some data to work with before investing more money.
How long should we do Google Ads?
Run Google Ads for as long as you are seeing a clear return on your investment. The moment your Google Ads spend is costing you more than the value of a sale is when we recommend looking at more cost-efficient marketing strategies.
Among interior designers and architects, however, this is rarely the case because the cost-per-click is dramatically lower than the average value of a sale.
For instance, the keyword “interior designer Vancouver” costs about $2.00 per click however the average value of a client could be $7,500 for an interior designer. You’d have to spend $7,500 a month (an extreme amount in relation to the CPC) on Google Ads and not make a single sale for the campaign to be a dump.
With that said, it’s important to note that it takes the first 3 to 6 months to “mature” a campaign. Maturing a campaign means giving the algorithm time to gather data and learn when, how and to whom is the best way to display the ads. While the campaign is maturing, it’s normal for it to underperform.
Working with a professional will help you make sure your campaign matures as quickly as possible in the beginning. A professional will also help you pull out before the campaign becomes an expense instead of an investment.
Should interior designers and architects do Google Ads themselves or hire a professional?
Ask yourself this: do I have more time or money?
If you have the time, watch a tutorial on Youtube and learn how to run a Google Ads campaign on your own. You’ll make mistakes along the way but with time, you’ll figure it out.
If you have the money, save yourself the headache and outsource it to someone that will get it right and done well from the get-go.
Admittedly, there’s an advantage to doing Google Ads on your own before outsourcing to a professional – that’s proof of concept.
Personally, I’m more eager to take on clients that have experimented with Google Ads or SEO and have got some traction from it. If you, a non-professional, can get some inquiries doing it on your own, imagine how much more success we, marketing professionals, can get for you with a strategy in place. With such data, I’m also more comfortable with negotiating a fee based on performance with clients.
What’s more, is that you’ll go into the partnership with confidence. You’ll have the terminology to understand what is going on and to ask good questions along the way.
Doing Google Ads yourself first can make you a better client later on.
Should we do ads on Bing, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook?
Where you advertise your services all depends on where your target customers are spending their time online. We recommend starting with simple market research to learn which social media platforms and search engines your customers are using.
Do you have any other questions about Google Ads for interior designers and architects? Send us an email or book a call with us.
