Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your situation. First off, congrats on building a website that ranks in the top 3 on Google, that's no small feat and you've already done the hardest part that most businesses struggle with for years. You're in a brilliant position, and monetising this asset is absolutly the right move.
You've basically built a lead generation machine without realising it, and now you have a few really solid options. It's a great problem to have!
We'll need to look at what you've actually built...
The core of what you have is trust and visibility. When someone searches "moving company in [your location]" and your site pops up in the top 3 and in the map pack, you've instantly got credibility. People trust Google's top results. This means the leads your site generates are likely to be high-quality and have high intent – they're not just browsing, they need to move, and they need to move soon. This is a massive advantage over someone just starting out with paid ads and a brand new website.
The fact you coded it yourself and optimised it so well shows you have a good head for this stuff. Now it's just about turning that digital asset into a real income stream. Your main options are, as you said, selling the leads or running the business yourself. Since the van is a blocker, let's put that idea on the back burner and focus on the lead selling model, which has zero upfront cost other than your time.
I'd say your most direct route is selling the leads...
This is the simplest and most logical first step. It lets you monetise the site immediately with no financial risk. The real question is, how much is a lead worth? This can vary massively, but for service-based businesses, a good lead is worth a lot.
To give you some perspective, I remember running a Google Ads campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive area, and a single lead cost around $60 to acquire. I also recall running campaigns for home cleaning services where the cost was much lower, around £5 per lead. A moving job is a high-ticket sale, often worth hundreds or even thousands of pounds. A local moving company would probably be delighted to pay a fair price for a qualified lead that comes directly from a top-ranking local site.
I'd imagine a lead for a moving company would fall somewhere in the middle, maybe in the £25 - £70 range, depending on the potential value of the job. You wouldn't charge the same for a "man with a van" single-room move as you would for a full 4-bedroom house move. You'd need to figure out a pricing structure. You could start by offering them on a pay-per-lead basis. This is attractive to other companies because it's low risk for them. They only pay for what they get.
Your first step should be to identify 5-10 local moving companies in your area. Look for the ones who are already advertising (they're clearly willing to pay for customers) or those with a poor online presence who could realy use the help. Give them a call, explain the situation – you have a top-ranking website generating exclusive leads for moving jobs in their service area and ask if they'd be interested in a trial period. Don't sound like a typical salesperson. Be direct and honest, just like you were in your post. The fact that you're an individual, not a massive corporation, could actualy be a selling point.
You'll need a solid plan if you want to scale with paid ads...
This is your other option, and it's a way to turbo-charge what you're already doing. Your site already has organic authority, which is fantastic. Running Google Ads on top of that means you can completly dominate the search results page. You could have the #1 organic result, the #1 map pack result, AND the #1 paid ad. A user searching for a mover would see your brand everywhere and assume you're the biggest and best player in town.
You'd want to focus on Google Search Ads. People needing a mover are actively searching for a solution right now. Social media ads are less effective for this kind of immediate need. Your goal would be to capture all the high-intent search traffic you might be missing.
Here’s a rough idea of how that would look:
Keyword Strategy
You'd target keywords that signal strong commercial intent. You're not looking for people researching "how to pack boxes," you want people searching for someone to hire.
| Keyword Theme | Example Keywords |
|---|---|
| Urgent / "Near Me" | "moving company near me", "local movers", "movers in [Your Town]", "same day movers" |
| Service Specific | "house removal company", "office moving services", "furniture movers", "man and van hire" |
| Competitor Bidding | "[Competitor Name] movers", "reviews for [Competitor Name]" (This is more advanced) |
Example Ad Copy
Your ads need to be direct and build on the trust your site already has. Highlight your local presence and provide a clear call to action.
|
Local Moving Company [Your Town] | Get A Free Quote https://www.yourwebsite.com/free-quote Top-rated & reliable movers for your home or office. Fully insured. Call us today for a no-obligation quote in minutes. We handle everything from packing to transport. |
Cost vs. Reward
Now, the important bit. Running ads costs money. The key is whether you can acquire a lead for less than you can sell it for. The market for moving keywords can be competitive. You might see a Cost Per Click (CPC) of £3 - £8. But because you're site is already well-optimised, you might get a higher-than-average conversion rate, say 15%.
Let's do some rough maths:
- Average CPC: £5.00
- Website Conversion Rate: 15% (15 out of 100 visitors become a lead)
- Cost Per Lead (CPL) = CPC / Conversion Rate = £5.00 / 0.15 = £33.33
If you can generate a lead for £33 and sell it to a moving company for £50, you're making a profit of £17 on every single lead from your ads. Your organic leads are pure profit. This is a very viable business model.
You probably should structure this as a proper lead gen business...
My advice would be to combine these two approaches. Start with phase one: selling your existing organic leads. This gets cash flowing and proves the concept. It also builds relationships with local movers who become your first clients.
Once you have one or two companies paying you regularly, you move to phase two: scaling with paid ads. You can go back to your clients and say, "I'm generating 10 leads a month organically right now. For an extra budget of £X, I can use Google Ads to bring that up to 30 leads per month. Are you interested?" By this point, they already trust the quality of your leads and are more likely to say yes.
You essentialy become their outsourced marketing department, but you own the asset (the website). This is a much stronger position to be in than being a typical marketing agency. You're not just providing a service; you're selling a product (the lead).
This all goes to say: this is a real business opportunity. It'll take some work to setup the partnerships and manage the ad campaigns, but the foundation you've built is incredibly valuable.
This is the main advice I have for you:
| Recommendation | Why it's important | Actionable First Step |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prove The Concept | Sell your current, organic leads first. This validates your idea with zero financial risk and starts generating immediate revenue. | Identify 5 local moving companies and call them with a simple offer to buy leads on a trial basis. |
| 2. Establish Your Pricing | You need to know what a lead is worth to ensure you're profitable and offering a fair deal. This avoids you undervaluing you're asset. | Start with a fixed price per lead (e.g., £40). Ask your first clients for feedback on the quality and value. |
| 3. Plan a Paid Ad Pilot | Once you have a paying client, use paid ads to scale the number of leads you can provide them. This is how you grow the business. | Set up a small Google Ads campaign with a budget of £500. Track your Cost Per Lead meticulously. |
| 4. Optimise for Contact | Make it as easy as possible for a user to become a lead. Phone calls are often the highest quality leads for local services. | Ensure your phone number is prominent on the website and consider adding a "click-to-call" button for mobile users. |
I know this seems like a lot, but you've done the hard part. The next steps are about sales and operations. Setting up and managing paid ad campaigns to be profitable, especially in a competitive niche, can be tricky and there is a lot to get wrong. It's not just about turning them on; it's about constant testing of keywords, ad copy, and bidding strategies to make sure your cost per lead stays low enough to be profitable.
If you get to a point where you've got paying clients and want to explore scaling with paid advertising seriously, you might want to consider getting some expert help to make sure your ad spend is being used effectively. We often help businesses in your exact situation bridge that gap from having a great asset to running a fully optimised, scalable lead generation system.
We offer a free initial consultation to walk through strategy and see how we might be able to help. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to book one in.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
