Google and Meta ads work. They also make a bad website expensive very quickly, because every click is a stranger who has never heard of you, on a phone, deciding in three seconds whether to stay.
Before you spend a dollar, walk through this list. Most of it takes an afternoon.
1. The ad and the page say the same thing
If the ad says "ceramic coating from $499," the page the click lands on says "ceramic coating from $499" at the top. Not the homepage. Not a services menu. A page that matches the ad, with the offer above the fold.
2. One thing to do
One button. Book, call, or get a quote. A landing page with a navigation bar, three buttons, and a link to your Instagram gives the stranger four ways to leave. Take them away.
3. It loads in under three seconds on a phone
Run your page through pagespeed.web.dev on mobile. Under 90, fix it before you run ads. A slow page is money you paid Google to show someone a blank screen.
4. The form actually works
Fill out your own form from your phone. Did you get the email? Did you get it in under a minute? Did it go to spam? Test it every month. We have seen businesses run ads for weeks into a form that sent to a dead inbox.
5. You get a text, not just an email
Speed to lead is everything. Someone who fills out a form at 8 pm and hears back at 8:05 pm books. Someone who hears back tomorrow morning already called the next shop. Every site we build texts the owner the moment a lead lands.
6. Prices, or at least starting prices
"Call for pricing" is a bounce. Starting-at prices, with the exact quote confirmed by you, keeps the customer on the page and the control in your hands.
7. Proof within one scroll
Real photos of your work, your rating, a couple of review quotes. Before the pitch, not after.
8. Tracking is installed and tested
The Google tag or Meta pixel is on the page, and the form submission fires a conversion event. Without this, the ad platform cannot learn which clicks turn into leads, and you are paying for traffic instead of customers. Test it with a real submission before the campaign starts.
9. The phone number is tappable
On a phone, the number should be a link that dials. Obvious, and missing on half the sites we audit.
10. A privacy policy exists
Google and Meta both require one for ads that collect leads. It also has to be linked near the form. If you do not have one, you are one review away from a paused account.
The honest version
If your current site fails three or more of these, do not run ads into it. Fix the page first, or build a dedicated landing page, which is a one-to-two-week job with a fixed price. Then run the ads. The same budget will produce two to three times the leads.
We build ad landing pages for Twin Ports service businesses and we run them through this exact list before launch. Book a 15-minute call and bring your ad copy.