When you hire me to manage your PPC accounts I’ll start by optimising your performance in 4 ways …

#1: Optimise your account structure – an inefficient account structure hurts you in many ways. You end up paying more per click than you should. Your ads get shown less often. You get lower ad positions and lower click rates.

So my first step is making sure your account is organised optimally.

#2: Optimise your bids – most accounts overbid for lower value visitors and underbid for the best visitors.

If we move some of your spend away from the least valuable prospects and put it towards your best prospects, you’ll inevitably get more sales without spending more money.

We can do that by analysing conversion rates – and sales values – per keyword. But we can also adjust bids by device (e.g. mobile v desktop) and whether the prospect has visited your site before.

(Previous visitors are often 3 or 4 times more likely to buy.)

#3: Optimise your ads – increasing your click rate increases your traffic in two ways.

First, a higher click rate means more clicks. That’s pretty obvious. But it also means higher quality scores, which means Google will show your ads higher on the page. And higher ad positions get higher click rates.

So you’re doubly rewarded.

 #4: Improve your website conversion – if you can get a higher percentage of your visitors to buy, then a visitor is worth more to your business.

And, if a visitor is worth more to you, you can bid more to get that visitor.

And bidding more means you get higher ad positions, more clicks and more sales.

There are many ways to do this. Sometimes it’s more compelling sales copy. Other times it’s improving design elements or page layout. Or, if you have a high drop-out rate in your checkout funnel, we can plug those leaks, too.

Then what?

Once this optimisation is complete – and the account is operating at a more profitable level – what next?

  • Well, some of these tasks – ad testing and landing page optimisation – are never finished. There’s always more room for improvement.
  • And, because markets are constantly evolving – with new competitors appearing and old advertisers disappearing – you need to stay on top of your bid levels.
  • Keyword need ongoing refinement. Not just finding new keywords, but using negative keywords to exclude unwanted clicks.
  • And, because Google is always introducing new formats and new tools, it’s important to stay up to date. Otherwise, your competitors will be using these new features to get an advantage, and you’ll be left behind. (Just keeping up with Google’s latest developments and the latest PPC optimisation techniques can take an hour or two a week.)

And all of that will save you time – time you can spend running, managing and growing your business.

So what will all this cost?

Most PPC companies charge 10%-20% of your spend.

I tend to stick to the lower end of that. For two reasons…

First, I don’t have the overheads big agencies have. They have to pass those costs onto their clients. I don’t.

Second, I find 10-15% is the sweet spot that allows me to spend enough time on the account to find those 1-3% improvements that make a difference to your ROI over time.

But, having said that, if your account needs a lot of initial work, I may suggest a higher fee for the first month or two.

And, for lower-spending accounts, I may have to charge more just so I can give the account the attention it needs.

Note: I use 10-15% when setting my initial fee. But, if spend increases – as clickrate and quality scores increase – I don’t increase my fee.

Companies that do that create a conflict of interest where they’re rewarded for increasing your costs, but punished for cutting your costs. I don’t think that’s healthy?

Want to know more?

I’d be happy to chat to you about your account – including giving you a free account audit.

If you’re interested, you can contact me here.

All the best,

Steve Gibson