The Challenge
Starting From Absolute Zero
Viking Aluminum manufactures high-end prefabricated aluminum balcony, railing, and sunshade systems for commercial and multi-family developments. Their product is premium, their craftsmanship is exceptional — but when they came to Internal Profits, they had no website, no Google presence, and zero digital brand recognition.
In a market dominated by established players selling to architects and general contractors with 6–18 month project cycles, breaking through quickly required a precisely targeted strategy — not a slow-burn approach.
- Zero organic search visibility — completely invisible to architects and contractors searching for prefab systems
- No Google Business Profile, no ad history, no domain authority to build on
- Highly competitive B2B niche with established national competitors
- Commercial buyers (architects, GCs) have long sales cycles — leads needed to be high quality, not just high volume
- Target market: large multi-family and commercial projects, not residential
The Strategy
A Two-Phase Hybrid: Paid Velocity + Organic Foundation
Rather than waiting 6–12 months for organic SEO to build momentum, we deployed a hybrid Google Ads + structural SEO strategy simultaneously — using paid search to generate immediate lead flow while the organic foundation compounded in the background.
Critically, after the first month of testing, we identified the single highest-margin product line — prefabricated balcony systems — and pivoted 100% of ad budget toward it. Rail ads were scaled back entirely. This focus multiplied the return on every dollar spent.
Month 1 — Launch Foundation
Website build + initial campaign architecture
Built the full website targeting architects and contractors as the primary audience. Launched Google Ads across both prefab balconies and railing systems to test which product line had the strongest commercial intent signal.
Month 2 — Pivot to High-Margin Focus
Budget concentrated entirely on prefabricated balcony systems
Data from month one confirmed: prefab balcony searches had significantly higher buyer intent and commercial project value. Railing ads were paused. All budget redirected to the high-ticket product, dropping cost-per-click and improving lead quality immediately.
Months 2–4 — SEO Compound Growth
Service page dominance + organic search acceleration
Service pages targeting "Prefabricated Aluminum Balconies," "Aluminum Deck Railing Systems," and "Aluminum Shade Structures" began ranking organically. Organic search traffic grew 736% over the period — nearly a third of all sessions by month 5 came from organic search alone.
Months 4–6 — National Pipeline Building
Lead nurture + geographic expansion beyond Minnesota
Minneapolis and the Midwest were established as the primary stronghold. New leads began appearing nationally — Chicago, Des Moines, Los Angeles, Atlanta. The "Get a Quote" page converted at a 2.6% rate, significantly above the industry average of 0.5–2%.
The Execution
What We Actually Built and Deployed
Every deliverable was built around one goal: get the right people — architects, general contractors, and commercial developers — to request an estimate.
- Full website designed and launched — architecture focused on commercial buyer intent with dedicated service pages per product line
- Google Ads campaign structure — high-intent keyword targeting, A/B ad copy testing, bid strategy optimization
- Service page SEO — pages structured for both commercial buyer intent and Google crawlability from day one
- Google Business Profile — set up and optimized for local and national commercial search
- Elementor form tracking — every "Request for Estimate" submission captured and logged
- Strategic budget pivot — month 2 reallocation to prefab balconies only, eliminating spend on lower-value rail searches
- Hiring recruitment page — career page drove 3 applications and 1 successful hire, eliminating third-party recruiting cost
90-Day Google Ads Performance (Nov 2025 – Feb 2026)
18,100
Brand impressions nationwide
1,320
Website clicks (~450/mo · 15/day)
7.31%
Click-through rate
2× industry avg
$2.90
Cost per click (avg)
$3,830
Total ad spend (90 days)
19
Form leads in first 90 days
Phase 1 only
Traffic by Channel — Full 6-Month Period
| Channel |
Sessions |
Growth |
What it means |
| Paid Search |
2,000+ |
+3,554% |
Google Ads driving high-intent commercial buyers immediately |
| Organic Search |
887 |
+737% |
SEO foundation compounding — nearly ⅓ of all traffic by month 5 |
| Direct |
564 |
+408% |
Brand recognition building — people returning directly |
| Referral |
51 |
+182% |
External links and industry references driving qualified traffic |
| Unassigned / Other |
35 |
+1,650% |
Various sources including cross-network and early social |
Service Page Dominance
All top-performing pages are commercial service pages — not blog posts, not the homepage. This proves the site architecture was built correctly: buyers land directly on the page for the product they're searching for.
Prefab Balconies (Architects)
1,756
Viking Aluminum Homepage
1,364
The Lead Funnel — Top to Bottom
Every number in this funnel represents a real commercial interaction — from first impression to a project estimate request from an architect or general contractor.
📡
Brand Impressions
National exposure to architects and contractors
🖥️
Website Visits (Active Users)
2,843 unique visitors · 5,674 total views
📄
Quote Page Views
Visitors who reached the estimate request page
📋
Form Submissions (Estimates Requested)
Qualified commercial estimate requests via Elementor
📞
Direct Phone Consultations
High-intent inbound calls from commercial buyers
🏗️
Active Commercial Clients in Pipeline
Multi-family & commercial projects in active negotiation
💰
$220 avg. cost per lead
Based on $13,830 total investment ÷ 53 qualified leads (41 forms + 12 calls). The B2B construction industry average is $500+ per lead. A single prefab balcony contract for a mid-size multi-family development can exceed $150,000 — making the cost-per-lead essentially negligible relative to deal value.
Geographic Reach
The strategy was designed to establish Midwest dominance first, then expand nationally. By month 5, leads were coming in from across the country — validating that the product and messaging resonated well beyond the local market.
2,700+
U.S. active users
(95%+ of total traffic)
Top Markets
Minneapolis (primary) · Alexandria · Des Moines
Chicago · Moses Lake · Los Angeles · Atlanta
The "Hidden" ROI — Recruitment
Most marketing reports ignore what else a website does for a business. In Viking Aluminum's case, the careers page acted as a recruitment engine, delivering a benefit that had nothing to do with Google Ads budgets.
- 3 job applications received through the website careers page
- 1 successful hire made directly through the site — without a third-party recruiter
- Typical recruiter fee for a skilled manufacturing hire: 15–20% of annual salary — easily $8,000–$15,000+ saved
The Pipeline — What 6 Active Clients Actually Means
Viking Aluminum's product serves large-scale commercial and multi-family developments. A single prefabricated balcony contract for a mid-size apartment complex — covering materials, custom extrusion, and specialized installation across dozens of units — carries a project value that can easily reach six figures or more.
With 6 active commercial clients currently in negotiation, the marketing-generated sales pipeline represents a multi-million dollar revenue opportunity from a total investment of under $14,000.
🏢
Multi-Million Dollar Pipeline
6 active commercial accounts in negotiation. Every lead was generated from a $13,830 total marketing investment. For every $1 spent on Google Ads, Viking Aluminum is actively bidding on an estimated $100–$200+ in potential commercial contract value.
