Merchant Services Marketing That Closes More Accounts

It depends on your model (direct ISO, agent network, or software-driven), your market and your goals. Most providers run an SEO campaign as the long-term foundation, paired with paid search to drive immediate applications.

We'll right-size a plan to your company, your competitive market and your growth goals. There's no one-size-fits-all answer, and we'll tell you exactly where each dollar goes.

Very. At the typical B2B company in the calls we've listened to, 65% of calls went to voicemail or were never picked up: 55% during business hours and 88% after hours. And most of those callers do not try again: 74% of callers who reached voicemail did not call that business again within a week.

That is why we track every call from your campaigns, flag missed calls, and help you set up call routing, after-hours coverage and fast call-backs, so the leads you pay for are not lost at the front desk.

Based on calls to 10 B2B companies we market, Apr to Sep 2026.

Mostly business hours: 20% of calls came outside Monday to Friday 9 to 5 (2% on weekends), and the busiest day is Monday. Of the calls that were answered, 42% were new-customer inquiries, 40% were existing customers, and 20% were sales pitches or wrong numbers.

That mix is why we report on qualified calls, not raw call counts.

Based on 6,300 calls to 21 B2B companies we market, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 (timing) and Apr to Sep 2026 (call types).

Across the Google Ads accounts of the 31 B2B companies we manage, the median cost per lead over the last 12 months was $130, with a median cost per click of $3.80 and a median conversion rate of 2%.

Your number depends on your market, services and how well the landing page and phones convert. We use these medians as a starting benchmark, then work to beat them.

Source: Google Ads accounts managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026; a lead is a tracked call or form conversion as set up in each account.

For the 23 B2B companies whose Google Business Profiles we manage, the median profile got about 190 views, 2 calls and 47 direction requests a month over the last year.

Reviews, photos, accurate hours and categories move those numbers, which is why local SEO is part of every plan we build for a merchant services provider.

Source: Google Business Profile performance data for profiles managed by SmartSites, Oct 2025 to Sep 2026.

You don't have to choose. The best results come from doing both, with experts who know how to use AI responsibly:

• AI-assisted audits: our initial and routine audits combine years of human expertise with AI to spot opportunities a person alone would miss.
• Enterprise-grade data: professional SEO and ads tools give us visibility into organic, AI and paid search. You get the insights without the bill.
• Always human-in-the-loop: every output is reviewed by a strategist before it ships, and you own all work product.

A good in-house marketer is only one person. With SmartSites you get a whole team (strategist, SEO specialist, paid media lead, web designer, email specialist and social manager) for less than the cost of a single hire, with no recruiting, no PTO and no learning curve.

No, and we'll always be straight with you about that. Effective B2B lead generation takes time, and companies that expect instant ROI from SEO are usually disappointed. We don't do risky shortcuts. Here's what to realistically expect:

• SEO can be a roller-coaster, but the long-term curve bends up and compounds.
• Paid search typically generates applications within the first 30 days.
• Web rebuilds pay for themselves through higher conversion rates.

AVPS Solutions saw leads up 1500%, and Card and Beyond Merchant Services saw leads up 208%.

Yes. We optimize for generative engines (GEO) as well as traditional search, so merchant services providers show up in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity and the AI assistants business owners increasingly use to compare processors. Our tracking includes AI mentions and citations, not just rankings.

We target the searches business owners run when they're actively shopping for a new processor, and pair that with retargeting and email nurture to keep leads warm through a longer B2B sales cycle. Card and Beyond Merchant Services saw conversion rate up 53% once that funnel was in place.

Yes. We know merchant services runs under stricter advertising and underwriting constraints than most industries. We build campaigns and landing pages that reflect your actual approval criteria and network rules, so the leads we generate are ones your underwriting team can actually approve.