Pay per click marketing (or PPC) is a way of running ads where you only pay when someone clicks. At first pass, this may sound like a total freebie, but it is hugely complex. There are a lot of important numbers to know, and measuring success may not be as easy as it seems. Of course, you can always hire a PPC professional, which is your surest bet at getting a solid return on ad spend (ROAS). Even if you do hire someone, you still want to understand what you’re paying for, and how much you should be paying.

Curious what expert limo internet marketing PPC oversight looks like? Our managed ad services can be the difference between coming up zeroes or coming up a winner in the world of PPC. Check out our paid ad services here or request a free consultation today.

PPC for Transportation Companies

First, if you Google, “what should I be paying for PPC?”, you’re going to get a bunch of numbers that apply broadly to every industry. This isn’t going to be the right number for you. When it comes to PPC for transportation companies, it’s a different animal. The article you’re about to read (or video of this above) delineates the following:

• PPC for black car
• PPC for stretch limos
• PPC for party buses
• PPC for charter buses

If you run a transportation business, your ad strategies are unique. So let’s dive into what to consider and what your bottom line numbers should look like.

Seasonal Considerations for PPC

Finding a hard target dollar amount for PPC needs to account for one caveat: your numbers for this, just like your numbers for business, fluctuate throughout the year. You already know that prom and graduation season, wedding season, and other event or holiday-related cycles exist in this industry. During busier months, your cost per click (CPC) may go down, while during slower months, it may go up.

These will impact your PPC numbers just like they impact your operational budget. You can even this out to an average if you want a month over month budget number to inform your fiscal year.

The other fluctuations can be identified based on your specific business model and operations, so let’s have the rest of this discussion through that lens.

Black Car PPC

PPC ads for black car are typically going to surface from searches like this:

• “Car service”
• “Car service near me”
• “Airport car service”
• “Luxury car service”

In this industry, I’ve seen from $2-$5 per click for these types of PPC ads. On the high end, you’ll see tier 1 markets and on the lower end will be smaller markets. In very small markets, you may even pay less.

Limo Service PPC

PPC ads for limo services are going to be served up in response to inquiries like this:

• “Limo service”
• “Hire a limo”
• “Limo for hire”
• “Limo services”

In this industry, I typically see PPC numbers a little lower than black car. You should expect to see between $1.50-$4 per click. 

Tips to Write a Better Limo Service Ad

It’s tricky here, because “limo” is a tricky search query or keyword. The keyword is loaded into your Google Ads account, by the way, but the reason I say it’s “tricky” is because it can mean so many different things.

I was just talking to someone about this the other day. He said, “no one is looking for limos in my market.” I said, “okay, but you do a lot of airport transportation. People search ‘airport limo service.’” 

In the airport, you’ll see signs that say “limos this way.” They’re not talking about stretch limos, they’re probably talking about a black car service.

The problem is, a lot of people who are searching for stretch limos will search for “limo service.” So, how do you know if the limo is black car or not? It’s pretty easy. You need to have “airport” or an airport code in your keyword, or “limo from point A to point B.” These qualifiers will clear up all of the confusion of the search, which will keep you from serving your ad to people who are looking for something you don’t offer.

Charter Bus PPC

PPC ads for charter buses should show up when someone searches for things like this:

• “Hire a charter bus”
• “Bus charter”
• “Charter bus rental”
• “Charter bus service near me”
• “Charter bus [town name]”
• “Charter bus for hire”
• “Executive coach”
• “Motorcoach”

While those last two are valid, to the general public, it’s a “charter bus,” so that’s probably what they’ll search for.

For these, there’s a wide variety. In small markets, I’ve seen it as low as $2.50 and up to $14 a click. Most will fall in between this at $5-$8.

How Do You Measure PPC Success?

Here’s where you need to be careful when just measuring success by clicks — many of your clicks could be irrelevant. Anytime someone clicks on your ad, you pay. 

You don’t just want clicks, you want conversions.

A conversion is a lead. It’s someone who clicks on your ad who will actually hire you. 

You don’t want just any leads, you want relevant leads.

To reiterate: you don’t just want clicks and you also don’t just want leads: you want relevant leads. You can see how what you are really looking for isn’t just high click numbers, it’s real dollars and cents results.

On most Google Ads accounts, you’ll see 50-70% relevance with clicks, meaning every other click could be wasted. If you’re buying 100 a day (which would be a lot) and you only get 50 relevant ones, those are your potential buyers.

What Matters Most for PPC: How You Close

When setting your PPC budget, keeping these averages in mind is important. You don’t want to pay a crazy amount. But what’s most important is how you close the deal. You don’t just want tons of clicks, you want clicks that count towards a real-world conversion. Interested in learning how the right pay per click ad campaign could make your car, transportation, or limo company money? Contact Limo Marketer for expert guidance.