How to charge for AdWord management?

[jtnt]

First, forgive any ignorance below, as I am an AdWords noob, in every sense of the word. Be kind.

A client has been using AdWords for awhile now, but now wants to outsource the brokering of her AdWords program to us. Basically, she wants us to manage her ads for her.

How would one charge for this? Hourly? Flat monthly fee?

In addition, what services could one offer related to this?

[GoLinks]

Hello jtnt,

I think it really depends on the Client's general/daily AdWord budget.
Potential possibilities I'm familiar with and/or can think of:

1. % of budget (10%-20%)
2. Monthly retainer
3. Monthly retainer (lower or none...) + agreed commission for conversion / clicks / performance
4. Agreed fee for performance increment in proportion to $ savings
(professional activities may benefit well over self unskilled operation)
5. ... :rolleyes:

If you're a bit into profoundness you may check out becoming a Google advertising professional (https://adwords.google.com/select/ProfessionalWelcome)

[jtnt]

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah, part of the problem right now is that I don't know exactly what they want us to do for them. Track CTR? Modify content to increase performance? Just monitor things and alert them? We also don't know their budget - either for AdWords or our services. All sorts of questions that will be answered soon by the client, hopefully, once we have a sit-down with them. (And these answers may prompt another follow-up post, but we'll see.)

Still, your reply gives me good info and new ideas. Thanks again.

[jtnt]

- Nevermind. -

[GoLinks]

We also don't know their budget - either for AdWords or our services.
a good seo charge thread at HR - http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11224

[AdWordsRep]

First, forgive any ignorance below, as I am an AdWords noob, in every sense of the word. Be kind.

A client has been using AdWords for awhile now, but now wants to outsource the brokering of her AdWords program to us. Basically, she wants us to manage her ads for her.
jtnt, I am not really qualified to answer your questions about what (or how) to charge, but I do have a more general comment that is sort of calling out to be made:

I think that you'll find that AdWords, while not inherently difficult, is a very nuanced program. So while you are waiting for details to be forthcoming from your client, I'd like to suggest that you jump in as soon as possible with an account advertising your own business.

My $0.02: make it small, give it a very limited budget, but do get started soon.

If you're going to manage AdWords for others, it will very much be to your benefit to have some first hand experience first.

Honestly, very few advertisers start out with brilliant campaigns right out of the gate. And I think it would be better to come up-to-speed in a small account in which, if you were to make a mistake, it would effect only you.

Also, are you aware of the 'Learning Center' which is a part of the Google Advertising Professional program mentioned by GoLinks?

This is a pretty good (and entirely free) resource. Give it a look-see:

http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/

I wish you the best of success!

AWR

[jtnt]

Point taken, and already in progress.

My question to you is, what is a good amount to start with. Or rather, what is too small?

The good news, I guess, is that they already have campaigns in full swing, so hopefully we'll be able to glean some knowledge there as well.

And I did find the Learning Center, once I signed up for the Professionals program.

And BTW, the real name is Nicholas - to make it easier and a bit more personal around here.

Thanks.

[AussieWebmaster]

Hello jtnt,

I think it really depends on the Client's general/daily AdWord budget.
Potential possibilities I'm familiar with and/or can think of:

1. % of budget (10%-20%)
2. Monthly retainer
3. Monthly retainer (lower or none...) + agreed commission for conversion / clicks / performance
4. Agreed fee for performance increment in proportion to $ savings
(professional activities may benefit well over self unskilled operation)
5. ... :rolleyes:

If you're a bit into profoundness you may check out becoming a Google advertising professional (https://adwords.google.com/select/ProfessionalWelcome)


This is a great starting point. You should also get a metrics program - KeywordMax offers a decent lengthed trial to give you an idea of the elements and varied pricing for levels and offers good support.
IProspects has some great white papers on PPC, as does Did-It.

[Kal]

Hi Nicholas and welcome :)

I don't manage any AdWords campaigns anymore as I'm busy with other ventures, but the way I use to charge was:

1) Once off campaign set-up fees inc:
- account creation
- keyword research
- ad creation (based on # ads)

2) Monthly campaign reporting, monitoring and tweaking fees inc:
- excel report to client
- ad tweaking based on CTRs
- keyword replacement

3) Monthly click-thru budget based on client requirements and AdWords recommendations

The first couple of months you will work very hard for your money, but once you get it right, the CTRs should be excellent and it should require a lot less work (at least until the competitors try to outbid you!)

[jtnt]

This is a great starting point. You should also get a metrics program - KeywordMax offers a decent lengthed trial to give you an idea of the elements and varied pricing for levels and offers good support.
IProspects has some great white papers on PPC, as does Did-It. This brings up a good follow-up question... can anyone offer any other recommendations for good, useful third-party apps that would help in this venture?

Thanks to everyone for their responses. Great info. And will be very helpful for my internal meeting on this today.

[AussieWebmaster]

If you are going to go with Google and Overture they have free tracking/conversion packages... though it is a little like the fox minding the henhouse.

[Kal]

There are lots of apps you can use to help with the management of PPC campaigns, but it really depends how much time you have and how much control you need over things. As mentioned, the PPC's themselves have excellent in-depth reporting tools now, but you can also use things like bid management software (names that come to mind include BidRank, GoToast, PositionGuardian). Log file analysis/metrics software will be your greatest help - there are plenty of those to choose from such as WebTrendsLive, ClickTracks, Analog etc. Regarding conversion tracking, any good metrics package should do that for you, or you can use specialist apps like Conversion Ruler to track them.

[Jeff Martin]

I prefer the flat fee approach. You need to figure out what your time is worth to you and then estimate how long it will take you to do the work your client wants you to do.

You both know how much your fee is month-to-month and you know what goals you have to accomplish. If you dont accomplish them you'll need to lower your fee.


Why I dont like other methods:

1. % of budget (10%-20%)

This has an inherit conflict-of-interest. The more money a client spends the more I make. Obviously it would be in my best interest to get the client to spend as much as possible. You can always have the numbers say anything you want, no matter what the results.

On the flip-side the client can adjust the budget month-to-month or week-to-week and totally mess your budgeting up. You could also run into hundreds or more of keywords with low costs, that could be alot of hard work and you might not get payed well for your time.

2. Monthly retainer

My preferred method.

3. Monthly retainer (lower or none...) + agreed commission for conversion / clicks / performance

I dont like this appraoch unless the client lets ME run the campaign and doesnt backseat drive me. If you cant implement you ad text, positioning, and landing page copy your going to have a frustrating time making money.

I once read:
FEE
$10/hour
$15/hour if you want to watch
$20/If you tell me how to do my job


4. Agreed fee for performance increment in proportion to $ savings
(professional activities may benefit well over self unskilled operation)

Ditto from #3 above.

[GoLinks]

Clarification regarding #3 + #4:
Full control and clear understanding of the campaign objectives are a must ("agreed").

As for #1:
I'm aware of the problematic issues this might produce, but still,
many traditional advertisors just became accustomed to pay a % of the budget
to the advertising agencies in most other medias (TV, Radio, Papers, Billboards).
In some cases it's just easier than any other resolution.