Clueless about PPC costs & providers

[Joanne89]

Hi

I'm totally clueless about what a good amount is to spend for PPC advertising campaign.
I'm also not sure how to gauge whether a company is giving a decent offer as there are a lot of scams going on. I'm a new business having recently set up an online business for my shop selling designer clothing for kids.

Can anyone tell me whether or not this offer sounds reasonable offered by a company:

Option one:
PPC Campaign one month campaign run with set up = £350 +vat then a monthly management fee of £150 each month if under a £2,000 click spend. Your click spend can be as little as a pound a day.

Option two:
PPC Campaign three months + set up this is the bit I have arranged for you. I will waive the set-up fee completely. Therefore this will only be £150 per month + Vat. This isn’t something we do usually. It’s a massive saving to yourself. I love this campaign as it has proven results. We can literally see what’s happening every day. You can control your budget and get reports of what is happening every week and our team monitor and maintain every aspect of the campaign

 

[Chelios]

Hi @Joanne89

Both of these pitches sound a little amateur, but out of the two I would suggest the first sounds the most plausible (I simply don't like people saying they are waiving the setup fee when they likely do this for all new customers).

Being in the position of running a PPC management agency, I'll run through the types of billing packages we offer:

• Percentage of spend with minimum fee, with the percentage based on the level of spend. Spend of over £3000, the fee is 9% of spend +VAT. Less than £3000, there is a fixed fee of £299 +VAT. To be brutally honest, this minimum fee is needed to make any managing any account worth the time (for our agency - can't comment on others).
• Fixed fee - if a client wants to remove the percent of spend aspect, perhaps because they have had bad experiences in the past, we will work with them to agree a fixed cost per month that we are both happy with.
• Fees based on results - less common, but we're happy to implement this sort of fee structure with clients too. This usually revolves around key KPIs the client wants to be improved but is agreed on a case-by-case basis.

Our biggest concern is always making the client comfortable, and keeping them happy! I hope this helps, and if you would like any more information from a PPC management agency perspective don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Dan

 

[greyheart]

1st one doesn't sound too ridiculous. I'd say the 2nd one sounds a little amateurish. Mostly agreeing with Chelios there.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Can anyone tell me whether or not this offer sounds reasonable offered by a company:

The first question, if you're going to hire someone, is what sort of ROI are they going to have to produce in order for it to be worthwhile for you.

Without knowing how much you expect to spend, it's impossible to say whether these prices could allow you to be profitable. It's really a case of how the fee compares to your click spend.

Finally, a while back I wrote an article called, "5 Questions You Should Ask Before You Hire A PPC Manager". You might help you ask these companies the questions that'll allow you to make a good buying decision.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[Joanne89]

Thanks Steve.

Do you know of any good company who over PPC advertising?

Jo

 

[Alan]

Yes, but they don't charge £150/month, unfortunately.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Thanks Steve.

Do you know of any good company who over PPC advertising?

Jo

I offer this service, so I'm not really in a position to give impartial endorsements.

Steve

 

[greyheart]

Hi Jo,

I sent you over a recommendation. Someone I've worked with in the past. Very small operation, but I know he's good when it comes to PPC. (But, kind of has to be a small operation when you're looking at the low end sort of budget).

Hope that's helpful

 

[Dan Angell-Collins]

Just playing devils advocate here - do you need to pay a ppc agency? I set up a online lead generation company (for mortgages to start with) and I only had some basic knowledge of Google Adwords and it worked from the word go. There is plenty of free information out there and Google walks you through the initial stages and gives you tips on words and search terms. If you are just starting out the £150 per month could be used as additional budget for the marketing and bringing in business rather than paying someone. Also you've got to look at the long term, if you've paid someone to handle the PPC account you aren't going to be able to handle it yourself in the future which means as a business you'll have to budget their fee every month.

It's just my thoughts but I do appreciate that doing it yourself can be a risk.

Best of luck with the new venture!