An Introductory Guide to PPC for Dog Trainers

If someone is looking for a dog training company, there are several places they might go. They might do a Google search, look around on social media, or check out some dog-related websites. Wherever they begin their search, though, you want your business to be the one they find.

That’s where pay-per-click (PPC) advertising comes into play. By running paid ads in various locations across the Internet, you can put your business right in front of dog owners looking for trainers and services. The goal is for those people to see your ads, follow the link to your site, and become clients.

PPC is also cost-effective since you only pay when people click on your ads. The question is, what’s the best way to optimize PPC for dog trainers? What can you do to elevate your PPC strategy?

On this page, we’ll be going over six different K9 training PPC tips, including:

1. Try out different ad formats
2. Use A/B testing
3. Target long-tail keywords
4. Hone your audience targeting
5. Experiment with ad extensions
6. Build CTA-central landing pages

Keep reading to find out more about each tactic. Then, be sure to subscribe to Revenue Weekly — our email newsletter — to get more helpful digital marketing tips in your inbox!

1. Try out different ad formats

The first tip we have on PPC for K9 trainers is to try out a variety of ad formats. There are lots of different types of PPC ads you can run. For starters, you can launch paid ads in search engine results, on third-party websites, and on social media platforms. That’s not even mentioning things like YouTube ads and Gmail ads.

But there are even different types of ads within each of those categories. For example, here are some of the PPC ad types Google offers in search results:

• Traditional text search ads
• Google shopping ads
• Local service ads

Of course, not all of these will be useful for your business. Google shopping ads are used for products, so they probably won’t be valuable for a dog training business like yours. On the other hand, local service ads would be a perfect choice.

That said, you can’t always know which of these ad types will be the most effective for your business until you’ve tried them out. So, consider experimenting with some different options to see what works best for your business.

2. Use A/B testing

Speaking of experimentation, another great way to optimize PPC for dog trainers is to use A/B testing. This process involves creating two different versions of the same ad (an “A” version and a “B” version) and testing each of them separately to see which one is more effective.

So, for example, you might run two ads for your services, both of which lead to the same landing page, and both of which target the keyword “dog trainers in [your city]” — but each one has slightly different ad copy. By running both of those ads, you can watch the results to see which one earns more clicks. 

Once you have your results, you can determine which version of the copy was more successful, and you can then use that copy going forward. Repeatedly A/B testing your ads allows you to continuously refine them over time to make them more and more effective.

3. Target long-tail keywords

As we’ve already mentioned once or twice on this page, K9 training PPC — or at least paid search ads — involves targeting specific keywords. That helps you make sure your ads are only showing up in relevant searches — which, in your case, means searches related to dogs (or dog training).

But targeting relevant keywords is just step one. You also want to make sure you’re targeting long-tail keywords, which are keywords that are several words long. The benefit of targeting those longer terms is that they’re more specific, meaning they reach a more precise audience (and come with less competition!).

As an example, you might target a keyword like “dog training near me” or “how to train my dog.” That’s a lot more effective than targeting short-tail keywords like “trainer.”

4. Hone your audience targeting

Keywords aren’t the only things you can target in your dog trainer PPC campaigns. You can also target specific groups of people, whether based on their location or on demographics like age and gender. That’s a huge benefit when it comes to reaching the right people.

Maybe your dog training business gets a ton of clients who are women between the ages of 30 and 50. Since that’s a huge chunk of your customer base, it’s probably a good idea to create some ad campaigns targeted specifically at those groups. Ad networks like Google Ads make it easy to select those demographics for your ad targeting.

You can also hone your ad targeting to focus on your local area, preventing you from inadvertently targeting people who live too far away to be customers.

5. Experiment with ad extensions

Most text ads feature a few elements — a title, a description, and a URL. Those work fine a lot of the time, but sometimes adding something extra can help your ad stand out better. That’s the idea behind ad extensions.

Ad extensions are a feature of paid search ads that allows you to add some additional info underneath the regular ad copy. That info can include things like a phone number, reviews, or links to other pages on your website. Those are just a few examples of what you can add.

Which ad extensions you use are up to you — you’ll want to look at your options and decide which extensions are the most useful for your business. A lot of dog trainers benefit from adding a call button, though, so that’s one that you should consider for your K9 trainer PPC.

6. Build CTA-central landing pages

Finally, it’s important to remember that no matter what your approach to PPC for K9 trainers may be, every ad you run will ultimately lead back to a landing page — that is, a webpage specifically created for that ad. When building these landing pages, you should make sure that each one is focused around a particular call to action (CTA).

So, let’s say you run an ad encouraging people to start your latest puppy training program. Your landing page should be built around that goal, with all the text on the page pointing toward a specific button, link, or form where users can sign up for the program. You don’t want to include multiple CTAs across the page, because that will confuse users and lead to fewer conversions.

WebFX knows PPC for dog trainers inside and out

PPC for K9 trainers can be a lot of work. You have to create ads, build landing pages, set bids, target keywords, and much more. It can quickly become exhausting if you don’t have a dedicated team to manage it. That’s why a lot of dog trainers turn to professional PPC agencies like WebFX.

If you’re looking for someone to handle all the work of running your ad campaigns — while still giving you full control over the process — WebFX is the perfect partner. With our dog trainer PPC services, you’ll be able to drive far more clicks and conversions than you would otherwise earn.

Interested in partnering with us for our PPC services? Just give us a call at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!

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