Elite Contracting Case Study

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From Wasted 5k/month Spend to Quality Roofing Leads.

Client

Elite Contracting
Roofing Company — Upstate New York

Industry

Residential Roofing

Services Provided

  • Google Ads Management

  • Local Service Ads Optimization

  • Website Rebuild (Conversion-Focused)

  • Landing Page Strategy

  • Offer & Promotion Strategy

  • Local SEO Strategy

Client Background

Elite Contracting is a well-established roofing company serving Upstate New York. Like many contractors, they leaned heavily on paid advertising during the COVID-era surge, when demand for roofing services was unusually high.

At the time, even inefficient advertising produced some results simply because homeowners were actively searching. However, by 2024, that surge had faded. Demand normalized, competition increased, and Elite Contracting’s existing ad strategy stopped working entirely.

They were spending approximately $5,000 per month, split evenly between:

  • Google Local Service Ads (LSAs)

  • Google Search Ads

Despite the spend, they were not even breaking even. Leads were inconsistent, low quality, and unpredictable. As volume dropped across the market, the weaknesses in their marketing system became impossible to ignore.

That’s when they reached out to us.

The Core Problem

This was not a “need more traffic” issue. It was a system failure.

After a full audit, we identified several compounding problems:

1. Traffic Was Being Sent to the Homepage

All paid traffic was directed to a general homepage with no clear offer, no focused messaging, and no structured conversion path.

This forced visitors to:

  • Self-navigate

  • Self-educate

  • Self-decide

Most didn’t.

2. The Website Actively Repelled Visitors

The existing site was outdated and opened with a large, aggressive pop-up attempting to capture information immediately.

Modern users have strong resistance to this behavior. Instead of converting, it caused:

  • Immediate bounce

  • Distrust

  • Friction before value was communicated

3. Overly Broad Geographic Targeting

Ads were targeting the entire Capital Region, including areas where Elite Contracting did little business.

The budget simply wasn’t large enough to “own” that territory. This diluted:

  • Impression share

  • Relevance

  • Conversion efficiency

4. Search Partners Were Burning Budget

Search Partner traffic produced:

  • Low-quality clicks

  • Irrelevant form submissions

  • No measurable ROI

This traffic was noise, not opportunity.

5. Poor Keyword Discipline

The account was bloated with:

  • High-cost keywords

  • High click volume

  • Low conversion intent

Money was being spent on attention, not buyers.

6. No Meaningful Differentiation

Like most roofing ads, the messaging focused on:

  • “Best roofing company”

  • “Quality work”

  • “Free estimates”

This put Elite Contracting in the same pool as every competitor, competing on claims instead of incentives.

The Strategy

We approached the problem from multiple angles at once, because fixing one issue in isolation would not be enough.

1. Conversion-First Website Rebuild

We replaced the old site entirely.

The new website was built around answering three fundamental homeowner questions immediately:

  1. Who are you?

  2. What do you do?

  3. How do I know you’ll do a good job for me?

Key changes:

  • Removed intrusive pop-ups

  • Clean, modern layout

  • Trust signals placed above the fold

  • Clear calls-to-action

  • Messaging written for homeowners, not contractors

 

The site was designed to guide decisions, not just display information.

Checkout the Elite Contracting Website

2. Dedicated Landing Pages for Ads

All paid traffic was redirected away from the homepage and sent to single-purpose landing pages designed to do one thing:

👉 Capture qualified leads.

Each landing page included:

  • One clear offer

  • One clear action

  • No distractions

  • No unnecessary navigation

This alone dramatically improved conversion rates.

3. Geographic Budget Consolidation

Instead of trying to blanket the entire Capital Region, we narrowed focus to the areas where Elite Contracting actually does business:

  • Albany

  • Schenectady

  • Troy

  • Southern Capital Region

We intentionally reduced exposure in northern markets like Saratoga and Lake George.

Result:

  • Higher relevance

  • Better impression share

  • Stronger lead quality

  • Lower wasted spend

4. Eliminated Search Partners

Search Partners were fully disabled.

We focused exclusively on Google Search, where:

  • Intent is clearer

  • Behavior is predictable

  • Conversion quality is higher

This immediately reduced junk leads.

5. Keyword Pruning & Refinement

We audited every keyword and categorized them into:

  • Proven converters

  • Budget drains

  • Irrelevant intent

Actions taken:

  • Paused high-cost, low-return keywords

  • Removed broad, ambiguous searches

  • Concentrated spend on high-intent roofing terms

This reduced click volume—but increased lead quality.

6. Offer-Based Differentiation

Instead of trying to “convince” homeowners that Elite Contracting was the best, we changed the equation.

We introduced a clear, compelling offer:

  • $500–$1,000 off a new roof when booked

This did three things:

  1. Gave homeowners a tangible reason to choose Elite Contracting

  2. Increased form submissions

  3. Improved close rates when compared against competitors

When homeowners compared multiple roofers, Elite Contracting now stood out immediately.

7. Low-Competition SEO Strategy

On the organic side, we avoided head-on battles with dominant competitors.

Instead, we targeted:

  • Lower-volume keywords

  • Lower competition

  • Higher buyer intent

This allowed Elite Contracting to:

  • Rank faster

  • Generate steady organic leads

  • Build authority gradually without excessive backlink spend

SEO became a long-term stabilizer, not a gamble.

The Results

By combining:

  • Conversion-focused design

  • Smarter ad targeting

  • Budget discipline

  • Clear differentiation

  • Strategic SEO

Elite Contracting transitioned from burning $5,000/month to running a marketing system that produced consistent, higher-quality leads.

Key outcomes:

  • Significantly improved ROI on ad spend

  • Higher lead quality

  • Better close rates

  • Predictable inbound flow

  • Reduced wasted budget

Most importantly, marketing stopped feeling like a gamble and started functioning like a system.

Final Takeaway

Elite Contracting didn’t need more ads.

They needed:

  • Better structure

  • Clear intent

  • Real differentiation

  • A system built for how homeowners actually make decisions

Once those pieces were aligned, performance followed.

This case study is a reminder that spend does not equal strategy—and that fixing fundamentals often outperforms increasing budget.