Write Good Code markets industrial ventilation distributors from $1,500 a month for SEO and AI search. A website starts at $2,450, and Google Ads management is $750 a month plus ad spend paid to Google.
Your buyers are engineers, contractors and plant managers. They send the same request for quote (RFQ) to 3 or 4 distributors at once. If they can’t find you on Google or in ChatGPT, you’re not one of the 3 or 4, and the order goes to a distributor who showed up.
RWA Ventilation, a Chicago industrial ventilation distributor, came to us after 9 months with a nationwide agency and zero sales. Within 6 months, their organic traffic was up 239%, and they went on to the most sales the company has ever done.
For how buyers find distributors in the first place, read SEO for ventilation equipment distributors.
At a glance
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What industrial marketing agencies charge
Industrial marketing agencies charge $2,500 to over $5,000 a month in retainer fees. Their websites cost $20,000 to $30,000 and up, based on their client reviews on Clutch. One well-known firm charges $12,000 for a plan before any work starts, and many ask for a 12-month contract.
The agencies that specialize in industrial marketing are good, and they charge like it. A distributor with a short list of product lines rarely needs that much agency.
| What you pay for | Industrial marketing agencies | Write Good Code |
|---|---|---|
| Website | $20,000 to $30,000+ | $2,450 to past $12,500 |
| SEO and AI search | $2,500 to over $5,000 a month | From $1,500 a month |
| Contract | Often 12 months | Month to month |
What Write Good Code charges an industrial ventilation distributor
Write Good Code charges from $2,450 for a website and from $1,500 a month for SEO and AI search. Most clients start with those 2. Google Ads is the third piece. Every package and price is on our pricing page.
1. Website from $2,450
A website costs $2,450 to past $12,500, one time. The price depends on how many of your products go online. A small distributor that wants to look established is at the low end.
A distributor with 100 products is at the high end. Each product page needs research into the specs, the applications and the manufacturer, plus custom images. Google and AI tools can then read the page and recommend you for that product.
2. SEO and AI search from $1,500 a month
SEO and AI search start at $1,500 a month, sold together as one service. Most of the work is research. We find what your buyers search for, write articles that answer those questions, and point readers to the products you sell.
The same work gets you named in ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode. It also means getting respected industry sites to mention you and link to your website. Engineers check those sites too. 86% of engineers check outside sources when they research a product, according to TREW Marketing and GlobalSpec’s research on how engineers buy.
3. Google Ads at $750 a month, plus ad spend
Google Ads management is $750 a month. Ad spend is separate, at least $1,000 a month, paid directly to Google. Setup is $199, waived when we build your site. Ads bring in calls while SEO builds, so we recommend them for almost every distributor.
What a full first year of marketing costs
A full first year of website, SEO and Google Ads costs an industrial ventilation distributor about $41,450. That covers a starter site and 12 months of each monthly service.
| Item | First year |
|---|---|
| Starter website, 3 to 5 pages | $2,450 |
| SEO and AI search, 12 months at $1,500 | $18,000 |
| Google Ads management, 12 months at $750 | $9,000 |
| Ad spend paid to Google, 12 months at $1,000 | $12,000 |
| Total | $41,450 |
For a $3 million distributor, $41,450 is about 1.4% of revenue. Companies that sell products to other businesses spend about 6.4% of revenue on marketing, according to Duke University’s CMO Survey of U.S. marketing leaders. At 6.4%, the same distributor would spend about $192,000 a year.
Now put 1 extra order a month against the cost. If you close 10 orders a month today, you’d close 11. At a $5,000 average order, that’s 12 more orders and $60,000 more in sales a year.
Try it with your own numbers. Multiply your average order by 12, and hold that number up against the $41,450.
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Get My Free ChecklistHow long before marketing brings in leads
Google Ads brings an industrial ventilation distributor its first calls in 1 to 2 weeks. SEO brings the first RFQs in 2 to 3 months.
| When | What happened for our clients |
|---|---|
| Week 1 to 2 | Google Ads calls start |
| Week 5 | ChatGPT named Hillco Distributing, a Chicago heating distributor, first |
| Month 2 to 3 | First RFQs from SEO |
| Month 4 | Knape Associates went from 2 leads a month to 17 |
| Month 6 | RWA Ventilation’s organic traffic was up 239% |
SEO timing depends on how long your site has been up, how many pages it has, and how many manufacturers you carry. A crowded market takes longer. If Home Depot sells a lot of what you sell, expect the longer end.
What the money bought for 3 distributors
RWA Ventilation now gets more than 30 leads a month. Google Ads alone brings in about 15 a month, and some months close to 20. The calculator behind RWA’s backlinks is part of that site.
“Last year was our best year. The results have been fast and dramatic. It’s the most sales our company has ever done.”
Scott Williamson, President, RWA Ventilation Solutions, review on Clutch
Knape Associates, a Houston industrial ventilation distributor, went from 2 leads a month to 17. That took 4 months after we rebuilt the site and started SEO.
Heinlein Supply was spending $3,555 a month on Google Ads. We cut that to $343 a month, and they now get more qualified leads than they did with 10 times the budget. Revenue grew 33% in our first year together. 6 years in, they were up 6% last year and just had the best year in the company’s history.
Who this works for
| A good fit | Not a fit |
|---|---|
| Distributors that want more RFQs for the lines they carry, including equipment they don’t stock | Companies that need leads from SEO in 30 days. Start with Google Ads instead |
| Owners, VPs and marketing heads who want to see leads, not reports full of jargon | Businesses that sell mostly to homeowners |
| Teams that answer a quote request within a day | Anyone shopping for the lowest price |
To price industrial ventilation marketing for your company, see if we’re a good fit. We’ll look at your site and your market, then tell you what we’d do first and what it costs.
Client results
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Knape Associates
in 4 months
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RWA Ventilation
in 6 months
-
Heinlein Supply
in ad spend, and a record revenue year
Questions we get
Should a distributor run Google Ads and SEO at the same time?
We recommend running Google Ads and SEO at the same time for industrial distributors. Google Ads brings calls while SEO gains traction. Once a product ranks on its own, cut its ad spend and keep ads on the products that are hard to rank for.
Do I have to sign a 12-month marketing contract?
Write Good Code works month to month, with no 12-month contract. We sign a short agreement with no set term. You can stop at any time, with no cancellation fee.
Will you work with a competitor who sells the same brands?
Write Good Code never works with two companies selling the same manufacturer's products in the same territory. If we already work with a distributor of your lines in your territory, we'll tell you on the first call.