How many hours does it take to manage a PPC campaign?

[SEORealTime]

My organic SEO client has asked me to run minimal, exploratory PPC campaigns in Yahoo Search Marketing and in MSN. If they perform well, he'll increase the campaigns. This will be my first foray into this high-demand area. I'll be learning on the job and spending much more time than I can charge, and glad of the opportunity. I've created my own accounts to play with, but I need to come up with a competitive proposal for my client.

* How many monthly (billable) hours can I expect to spend managing the campaign?

* What is the recommended billing model for these services?

I appreciate any and all words of wisdom.

[shaneekirk]

It really depends on the "success" of the campaigns. Some seem to be easier (less competitive markets) and don't take much time at all. Others seem to eat up all of my time!! But, in general, one client probably takes about an hour/day on average.

I charge based on the monthly PPC advertising budget. Roughly, my fee is 20% of the advertising budget. Consider that the bigger the budget, the more time you are spending to optimize the bids.

[Lauren]

In general you will spend more time getting it setup and doing early tests than you will 6 months down the line unless you are doing multivariate testing.
Depending on how competitive the area is, for a smaller campaign I would say budget 10-15 of research to get it started. This could be over 2 weeks or a month depending on the client. This will incude KW research, ad copy writing, actual account set ups, research on geo targeting etc.
Depending on the length of the contract, have more billable hours in the beginning and wind them down.
If its a 6 month contract. Keep the 10-15 hours the first 3 months. Cut back to 7-10 hours the next 3 months. Have an option to extend it for 5-7 hours per month
Realistically if the campaign is set up well and you arent doing massive testing you can mantain a well performing campaign and make slight improvements in that time.
If its a higher volume, high revenue campaign, you will want to increase hours.
Also, have performance bonuses built in if possible.

[SEORealTime]

Thanks, Lauren and shaneekirk. This is very helpful!

[Lauren]

Anytime, good luck with your campaign