How a Google Search Can Become a Customer.

Step one: the search

Someone has a problem and types it into their phone. You don't control this moment. What you control is whether your ad is eligible to appear — the right words, the right area, the right hours, and a budget that hasn't already run out for the day.

A budget that empties by mid-morning is a common and invisible problem. Your ad simply stops existing for the rest of the day, including during the hours people actually call.

Step two: the click

Your ad appears alongside several others. Whether it gets chosen comes down to whether it looks relevant and trustworthy in about two seconds of reading.

What earns the click is specific: the neighborhood named, the service named, availability stated, a review count if you have one. Vague, general ads lose to specific ones nearly every time, even when the vague business is the better business.

Step three: the contact

This is where most local advertising quietly fails. The click happened, the money was spent, and then the person landed somewhere that asked too much of them.

The page has to answer three questions immediately — do you do this, do you come here, how do I reach you. A phone number that dials on tap. A short form, not a long one. No hunting.

It's worth pointing out that this step often fails offline. A call that rings out, a voicemail box that's full, a form submission nobody reads until Monday. You paid for that click and then let go of it.

Step four: the job

A contact isn't a customer yet. How quickly you respond, whether you can do the work, and whether your price fits all decide the last step.

Speed dominates here. Someone with a leak is calling three businesses. The one who picks up usually wins, regardless of who was cheapest.

Finding your own leak

Each step has a symptom, which makes diagnosis straightforward:

• Few impressions — your targeting is too narrow, your budget is exhausted, or your terms are too rare.
• Impressions but few clicks — your ad copy isn't specific enough to beat the others.
• Clicks but no calls — the landing page is the problem, or contact is too hard.
• Calls but no jobs — the leads are the wrong fit, or nobody is answering fast enough.