Andrew Collins

Breakdowns on local services leadgen and advertising. AMS attribution, call tracking, intake scripts, LSA stacking, GBP, speed-to-lead.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

The cheapest warm click in local services is the aggregator's own brand name in your keyword list.

You catch the high-intent searches they paid to create - and the people already regretting it.

"HomeAdvisor reviews." "EverQuote alternative." "LendingTree vs." People search those names the moment they regret handing their info to a lead reseller. That's a homeowner or borrower already in market, already skeptical of the middleman. The cheapest warm click in your account.

But the landing page makes or breaks it. Here's the structure I use.

Section 1: Head-to-head hero

- Headline: "[Aggregator] vs Working With [Your Firm] Directly."
- Two-column visual: the resold-lead path vs the direct path.
- CTA: "See the difference."
- Instantly tells the searcher they're in the right place.

Section 2: The "why" block

- Right under the hero, say why the comparison exists.
- Key line: "We built this because we got tired of competing for leads you already paid for."
- Lowers skepticism, answers the unspoken question: why should I trust this page?

Section 3: Problem awareness

Name the pain before the table. "Most homeowners don't realize a HomeAdvisor lead is sold to 4 other contractors at the same time." "Most people don't know an EverQuote quote request hits 8 agents in 60 seconds." Connect the comparison to the outcome they actually care about: getting handled by one accountable provider.

Section 4: The comparison table

The core. Compare on what matters in your vertical:

- Response time (one provider vs 4-8 racing you)
- Who actually shows up / who actually advises
- Licensing, bonding, local presence
- Pricing transparency, financing, warranty
- Real local reviews vs platform reviews

Keep it factual. Let the rows do the selling. Highlight your strengths, never trash the competitor by name. Credibility dies the second it reads petty.

Section 5: The honesty filter

Add "Is working with us right for everyone?" Be upfront about who you're not for (price-only shoppers, out-of-area, etc.). Counterintuitive, but it builds real trust and it pre-qualifies the lead before the call.

Section 6: Social proof

Star rating + review count. Testimonials that reinforce the switch: "Called three HomeAdvisor contractors, got bounced around for two days. Called these guys, tech was out the same afternoon."

Section 7: Offer + FAQs

The compliant offer (free estimate, no trip fee, second-opinion, no-credit-pull first step). Objections in an FAQ accordion. Clean closing CTA to call or book.

Two routes:

- Independent / educational page: pros and cons, doesn't lead with brand ownership. More persuasive, more scrutiny.

- Branded page: clear ownership, informative tone, no attacks. Safer when you're up against a large platform with lawyers.

The compliance line that keeps you out of trouble:

In PI law, insurance, and mortgage, do NOT build "[your firm] vs [named regulated competitor]" pages making outcome or rate claims. Compare yourself to the *model* (the aggregator, the referral mill, the resold-lead path), not to a named carrier, lender, or firm, and never claim a guaranteed rate, approval, or settlement. Bar rules, DOI rules, and UDAAP all live in that gap. For HVAC and dental you have far more room, but the same "factual, not petty" rule still wins.

The key: you're not attacking anyone. You're positioning yourself as the accountable alternative to a system the searcher already distrusts. They feel like they're making an informed call, not getting sold.

Feed this wireframe into AI, drop in your vertical and your real proof, and you've got a first draft by this afternoon. Almost nobody in local services runs this page well right now.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

"Ugly" presell pages are beating polished homepages on Google Ads, and it isn't close.

I've tested this across 40+ local service and lead-gen accounts. A plain presell page between the ad and the form cuts cost-per-lead 40-80% versus sending the click straight to a homepage or a bare contact form.

Not prettier pages. Not fancier design. Often the opposite.

(I know. It sounds backwards. Stick with me.)

Here's why it works.

A cold searcher doesn't trust you yet. Dropping them on your homepage, or worse, a "Request a Quote" form, is asking for the lead before earning the attention. It's handing someone a receipt before they've seen the menu.

A presell page builds the bridge. It educates first, asks second.

Here's the structure that actually converts:

1. Headline that names the problem, not your business. "AC short-cycling in this heat?" beats "[Company] Heating & Air."

2. Agitate. What it costs to wait. A failing compressor in July. A toothache that becomes a root canal. A refi window that closes when rates move.

3. Education. Teach one genuinely useful thing. This is where trust is earned. (Yes, give away real value. I know it feels wrong.)

4. Introduce your service as the answer to what you just taught.

5. Social proof. Real reviews, real photos, license numbers, years in the trade.

6. Comparison (optional). Position against the aggregator or the do-nothing option without trashing anyone by name.

7. One clear CTA. Call or book. One action, no confusion.

This isn't revolutionary. Most operators skip it because it feels like extra work, and because their web guy built one site for the whole business years ago.

The key insight: presell pages work because they match the temperature of the traffic. Cold searchers need warming. Your homepage assumes they're already sold. That mismatch is what's quietly draining the budget.

And here's the part that compounds. Google rewards relevance. A presell page built tight around the exact search intent earns a higher Quality Score. Higher Quality Score, lower CPC, more clicks from the same budget. On one HVAC account I took cost-per-booked-call from $9 to $5 with nothing but a presell page in front of the form. On a PI account where clicks run $80-$200, even a 30% Quality Score lift is real money back into the pipeline every single day.

One compliance line, because half my verticals are regulated: the social-proof and comparison sections are where PI law, insurance, and mortgage operators get themselves in trouble. Use real, attributable reviews, not invented testimonials. No "guaranteed settlement," no "lowest rate," no "guaranteed approval." Trust is built with the mechanism and real proof, not a promise a bar or DOI examiner can read.

A presell page is trust architecture, built before the form. The operators doing it right are quietly outbidding competitors on the exact same keywords for less.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

@axionads YT shorts are so undervalued

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Before: "Natural Skincare For Women - Shop Our Collection Today"

After: "Smooth Skin. Zero Redness. Luxury Women's Skincare. 4,000+ Sold."

Same product. The "After" hit 45% higher CTR and 25% lower CPA across 90 days.

Pain point. Fear eliminated. Proof added.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Best Google Ads copy research takes 3 minutes.

Search "[product] reviews Reddit." Extract who's buying, what they hate, what they actually want.

Pain points become "without" statements. Desires become lead benefits. Better ads in 20 minutes than most agencies write in a week.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

@axionads Display performs really well in PMax campaigns. Agree. Not that much in separate Display, until it's display dynamic remarketing

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

2026 and onwards is a time of systems built on top of AI agents

[Ruslan Galba @iamgalba]

$200K/year vs $8M/year on YouTube ads. Same platform. Different architecture.

The $200K brands launch 3-5 videos. Run them until they die. Scramble for new creative when performance tanks. Repeat this cycle forever.

The $8M brands run a 4-layer system where each layer has a different job, a different budget, and a different ROAS target.

Here's the exact architecture:

Layer 1: Prospecting (60-70% of budget)

This is your growth engine. Broad targeting - in-market, affinity, custom audiences. Video Action Campaigns optimized for conversions. You're reaching cold audiences at scale.

Target ROAS: 1.0-1.5x. That might sound low. It's not. This layer feeds everything else. You're buying awareness that converts through branded search, retargeting, and direct traffic.

Daily spend: $1,200-1,800 at maturity. 5-8 active videos rotating. 2 new videos per week. Retire the bottom 2 each week.

Layer 2: Search Capture (20-25% of budget)

This is your profit center. Keywords only - branded searches, competitor comparisons, product-specific intent. Someone searching "best supplement for focus" sees your ad. That's not interruption. That's answering their question.

Target ROAS: 2.0-2.5x. These audiences are warm and looking. Your creative here should be more direct response - acknowledge their search intent, position your product, drive the click.

Daily spend: $400-600. 3-5 direct response videos.

Layer 3: Retargeting (10-15% of budget)

Your conversion closer. Remarketing lists only - YouTube engagers who watched 25%+, website visitors, cart abandoners, product page viewers.

Different messaging here. Don't repeat your prospecting pitch. Handle objections. Show social proof. Create urgency. These people already know you. Close them.

Target ROAS: 3.0-5.0x. Daily spend: $200-400.

Layer 4: Testing Lab (5-10% of budget)

Your innovation pipeline. New creative formats, new audience segments, new landing page variants. Run each test 7-14 days with minimum $1,000 spend.

Hit 1.8x+ ROAS? Graduate it to prospecting. Under 1.5x? Kill it. No emotion. Just data.

Daily spend: $100-200. Breakeven is fine here.

Most accounts we audit have one campaign doing everything. Prospecting, retargeting, and testing all in one. No wonder they plateau at $1K/day.

Each layer compounds the others. Prospecting fills the top. Search captures high intent. Retargeting closes warm leads. Testing feeds fresh creative into the machine.

The total system runs at ~$2,000-3,000/day at maturity. But you don't start there. You start with Layer 1 and Layer 4, validate for 3 months, then build up.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

For some brands AOV is stuck because of selling products, not offers.

After building offer pages for 40+ e-commerce brands, here's the system that turns single-product pages into AOV machines.

Most brands think bundling means "put three products together and offer 15% off."

That's a discount. Not a strategy.

Customer lands on a product page. Buys one item or bounces. AOV sits at $55-75. Everyone blames the product or the ads.

The product isn't the problem. The page is. A standard product page creates a binary decision: buy or don't buy. An offer page with three tiers creates a selection decision: which option fits me?

That single shift - from buy/don't-buy to which-one - changes everything downstream.

Five cognitive mechanisms make bundles work. None of them are about saving money.

A skincare "routine" is worth more than three random products. Brands that named bundles as systems or protocols instead of product counts saw 25% higher conversion on the same items at the same price.

Three options replace the overwhelm of choosing from 200 products. Tiered pages convert 2.3x better than standard product pages because you're making buying easier, not selling harder.

And the decoy effect - the premium tier's job isn't to sell. It's to make the mid-tier feel smart. 60-65% of customers choose the middle option when pricing is structured correctly.

Three tiers. Always three. Two creates cheap vs expensive. Four reintroduces decision fatigue.

Here is a structure that works for us:

- Starter (20-25% of sales) - hero product plus one essential complement. Entry point into the bundle ecosystem. Discount: 10-15%.

- Complete (55-65% of sales) - hero plus essential plus enhancement. This is your target tier. Where the margin lives. Discount: 20-25%.

- Pro (15-20% of sales) - everything plus premium additions. Anchors Complete as reasonable. Your highest-LTV buyers self-select here. Discount: 25-35%.

The gap between tiers matters more than the prices themselves. Complete should cost 60-80% more than Starter while delivering 100-150% more perceived value.

Most brands list bundle contents like a grocery receipt. Three items and a price. The customer's internal calculation: "Is this reasonable?" And they go check Amazon.

A value stack reframes the same bundle:

Show individual retail prices. Show the total. Show the bundle price. Show the savings as a dollar amount.

The customer processes the individual total before seeing the bundle price. That anchoring gap is where the conversion happens.

Loss framing amplifies it. "Buying individually costs you $26 more" outperforms "Save $26 with the bundle" by 10-20% in split tests. Same math, different psychology. The pain of overpaying is roughly 2x stronger than the pleasure of saving.

Dedicated offer pages convert paid traffic 2-4x better than standard product pages. Every element serves one job: move the visitor toward a tier selection.

Hero section with the outcome, not your brand name. Problem section using actual customer language from reviews and Reddit. Tier comparison table with the Complete tier pre-selected and visually emphasized.

Value stack showing itemized savings. Social proof from bundle buyers specifically. Legitimate urgency only. Guarantee that removes the final barrier. Second CTA to close.

Pre-selected options get chosen 2-3x more often. That's the default effect. The Complete tier should be highlighted, enlarged slightly, and badged "Most Popular" from day one.

The data across 50+ accounts:

AOV up 30-45%. Bundle buyers have 40% higher lifetime value. Return rates drop 25%. CPA falls 35% because the conversion rate lift means your ad spend stretches further.

Same products. Different architecture. AOV isn't a fixed number. It's a design choice.

Start with your best seller. Find the products customers already buy alongside it. Build three tiers. Calculate your decoy score. If the value gap grows 2x faster than the price gap from Starter to Complete, you've got a winner.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Most brands brainstorm ad copy in a meeting room. Pick their favorites. Launch. Wonder why CTR is 2%.

The fix: let your customers write your copy for you.

Mine 1-star reviews for objections. Mine 5-star reviews for benefits that actually matter.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

4 landing page formats beyond product pages that are killing it right now:

Advertorials - for problem-aware searches
Listicles - for early/mid funnel research
Us vs Them - for competitor searches
Reviews/Rankings - for "best of" queries

Match the format to the search intent = keyword cluster.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Still, most get PMax wrong. Great write up

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Quality Score 7+ accounts pay 30-50% less per click than accounts scoring 5 or below.

Same keywords. Same auction. Dramatically different costs.

We tracked this across 25 e-commerce accounts. Here's what actually matters - and the order to fix things.

Quality Score has three components:
1. Landing page experience
2. Expected click-through rate
3. Ad relevance

Most agencies spend months tweaking ad copy to improve scores. That's the wrong starting point.

Fix the landing page first.

Landing page optimization (fastest impact):

- Add 500+ words of relevant, useful content. Thin pages score "below average" almost every time.
- Page speed under 2 seconds. We took one client from 4.2s to 1.8s load time. Quality Score went from 4 to 7 in 6 weeks. CPC dropped from $3.80 to $2.10.
- Mobile-first design. Not "responsive." Mobile-first.
- Reviews and trust signals above the fold. Not at the bottom where nobody scrolls.
- Transparent pricing. No hidden fees.

We've seen accounts go from Quality Score 4 to 7 just by fixing the landing page. No ad changes at all.

Ad relevance (second priority):

- Build tight ad groups with 10-15 keywords maximum. Not 50 keywords in one group.
- Ad copy must match search intent, not just include the keyword.
- Use every available extension - sitelinks, callouts, structured snippets, promotions.
- Google emphasizes extensions heavily in their scoring. Most accounts barely use them.

Expected CTR (third priority):

- Negative keyword hygiene every 72 hours. This is the single most neglected optimization.
- Run manual split tests alongside your RSAs. Low-budget accounts can't get enough impressions for RSA optimization to work. Monthly manual tests solve this.
- Bid adequately for competitive positioning. Being too conservative tanks CTR because you're showing in position 4 instead of position 1.

The funnel-based approach:

- Match your ad messaging and landing page to the customer journey stage.

Top of funnel: educate about the problem.
Middle of funnel: compare your solution.
Bottom of funnel: urgency + guarantee + clear CTA.

One generic ad and one generic landing page for all stages guarantees mediocre Quality Scores across the board.

Target: Quality Score 7+ on every keyword. Below that, you're overpaying for every single click.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Recent numbers, because theory is cheap.

$800K to $2.1M revenue in 90 days. CPA down 40%. ROAS from 1.6 to 3.8. Shopping CTR up 60%. MER improved 30%.

Not cherry-picked from a 2021 case study. Current results from accounts we manage right now.

They happened because both founders sit inside every account daily, deploying through the API at a volume manual work can't touch. Hundreds of creatives per week. Dozens of campaign variants. Weekly test-and-promote cycles that keep the algorithm fed instead of running the same four ads until they die.

Most agencies show you their best result from their best client from their best quarter. We'd rather show you the baseline of what happens when both founders execute personally and creative velocity runs at 12x what typical agencies produce.

If you want to see what we'd do on your accounts: free audit, no slide deck, just your account on screen and an honest conversation: https://t.co/XRoK5JFcpq

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Most Google Ads copy is written by people who've never studied copywriting.

And it shows. Here's the e-commerce copywriting system that actually moves CTR and conversion rate.

First principle: benefits over features. Always.

"Leak-proof insulated water bottle" = what it IS.
"Keep your coffee hot for 12 hours on any commute" = what it DOES for you.

Your customer doesn't care about the product. They care about the outcome. Every headline and description should answer: "What changes for me?"

The anatomy of a high-converting Google Ad:

Headline 1 (30 chars): Core benefit or offer. This is your hook. "50% Off Premium Skincare" or "Ships Free Tomorrow."

Headline 2 (30 chars): Social proof or differentiator. "Trusted by 10,000+ Customers" or "5-Star Rated on Google."

Headline 3 (30 chars): Urgency or CTA. "Sale Ends Sunday" or "Shop the Collection Now."

Description 1 (90 chars): Expand on the main benefit. Address a specific pain point.

Description 2 (90 chars): Overcome an objection. Free returns, guarantee, or unique value prop.

Six psychological triggers that work in ad copy:

1. Reciprocity: Give something free to create obligation. "Free guide with every order."
2. Scarcity: Limited availability drives action. "Only 12 left in stock."
3. Authority: Expert endorsements build trust. "Recommended by 500+ dermatologists."
4. Social proof: Numbers don't lie. "Join 25,000+ happy customers."
5. Anchoring: Show the original price first. "Was $89. Now $47."
6. Framing: Emphasize the gain, not the feature. "Say goodbye to dry skin" beats "Contains hyaluronic acid."

Copy by category matters:

Fashion: Lead with aspiration and exclusivity. "New arrival" and "limited edition" drive clicks.
Electronics: Lead with compatibility and performance specs. Specific numbers win.
Health: Lead with results and ingredients. Clinical language builds trust.
Home: Lead with lifestyle imagery in the description. Help them picture it.

The test cycle: A/B test one element at a time. Run for 2-4 weeks or until you have 30-50 conversions per variation. The winning version becomes your new control. Then test the next element. Rinse and repeat.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Presell pages vs product pages for cold traffic.

Tested across 40+ accounts:

- 40-80% cheaper CPCs
- 30-40% higher conversion rates
- 2.5-3.2x ROAS on top-of-funnel

Same products. Same offers. Different landing page.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Most landing pages we audit fall into one of two traps.

Too "brand" - pretty, polished, says nothing that sells.

Too "direct response" - converts but feels cheap and kills trust.

The sweet spot is persuasion architecture wrapped in authentic voice.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Most brands point PMax at product pages only. Adding advertorials opens 10-100x more audience.

Presell warms the click. PMax handles targeting. Together they capture top-funnel traffic that never converts on product pages.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Intent Bridge pages earn 7-9 Quality Scores - matching informational intent.

Product pages on those queries: 4-6.

Higher QS = lower CPCs over time. Lower CPCs = wider moat.

Competitors won't build these pages. The upfront work scares them. That reluctance is your advantage.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

Quiz pages convert because of micro-commitments.

Each question is a small "yes." By question 5, the visitor is invested in the outcome.

Then you serve a personalized recommendation based on their answers.

With quizzes, they don't feel sold to - they feel understood.

[Andrew Collins @andrewleadgen]

The skill stack that matters right now:

1. Technical depth (can build systems)
2. Marketing instinct (knows what converts)
3. AI fluency (can multiply both)

Most people have one. Few have two. Almost nobody has all three.

That's the unfair advantage window. And it's closing fast.