Social media · 5 min read
Meta ad costs keep rising — how UK small businesses should respond
Rising cost per click matters far less than what happens after the click. Most small business ads point at a homepage or an Instagram profile, so half the spend is wasted before anyone reads anything. Send paid traffic to a single-purpose landing page, track enquiries rather than likes, and move part of the budget into search visibility that keeps working after you stop paying.
By Raja Wahab, Co-founder, Fixby Studios · Updated
Fix the destination before the ad
- One landing page per offer, with the offer repeated in the headline of the page.
- A form short enough to finish at a bus stop.
- Proof on the page: reviews, photos, guarantees.
- Speed — every second of load time on mobile costs you conversions you already paid for.
Measure what pays the bills
Track enquiries, calls and booked jobs, not impressions. If you cannot say what a lead costs you, you cannot say whether the platform got more expensive or your funnel got worse.
Rebalance the budget
Ads stop the moment you stop paying. Service pages, reviews and a well-kept Google Business Profile compound. A sensible split for most local businesses is to keep ads for launches and seasonal pushes, and fund organic visibility the rest of the year.
Raja Wahab is co-founder of Fixby Studios, a Huddersfield studio building websites, SEO, social media and business software for small, owner-managed businesses across West Yorkshire.
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