However, this brings up another interesting topic that may help others here (and me) and I haven't seen much mention of it. Can we start another string on how to gain more Adwords clients?
Specifically, in our case, I'd love to move toward larger budget clients. Right now we're bottom feeding on innovative smaller customers who "get it" when it comes to the power of Adwords. But larger companies seem to not be so willing to test the waters.
Any input on how the rest of you are approaching and snagging big budget clients?
C.
Is 50% of the monthly budget too much of a percentage for your services?
depends what the spend is.
for $100 a mth, NO
for $10,000 a mth, YES
;)
Shak
We have quite a few customers and those that have the best bottom line on their campaign are spending less on Adwords now than they did when they started out as optimization typically brings cost down. So in your model you would be penalized for doing a good job for your customer.
We simply charge flat subscription rates based on the size and activity level of the account (3 levels). This works for both our smaller and large accounts.
[webmasterworld.com...]
There are advantages and disadvantes to every pricing model.
After much trial and error, I've found that using two pricing models is the best way togo (at least for me).
First, offer 'packages', which are predetermined by you (and can contain contingencies based off of page views, budgets, etc.).
Secondly, offer a $$/hour. This will also let you set a price when you're inevitably asked todo something that is not actually PPC management - or to go above what you were ready to preform for normal account management.
If someone really wants to read about pricing models, they can sticky me for an old URL of mine that disucsses the various models and pros/cons. Won't post it here b/c of TOS.
Can you explain what those 3 levels are and what you charge for each? How do you determine how much to charge for the flat-rate subscription fee? What if all of sudden the client says "hey, let's start another campaign..." or "let's re-do all our campigns..."?
Bottom line on any pricing model, is, does it add value?
The better your credentials, i.e. the more you can quantify the value add, with tangible, verifiable client references, the more likely it is you won't be questioned on charging model.
If you are good, don't get sucked into a price war. The guy whose son is good on a computer will always be cheaper than you, and everyone has that competitor.
We've done that a few times, and lived to regret it, we might have won the client, but lost the battle overall.
i knew that was coming.
no, the statement is a reflection of competitive pressure and what the market is willing to bear.
as any industry matures (all else equal), downward pressure is applied to relative gross margins.
getting away with it... yes, as it is still a nacient marketplace. as the marketplace matures, and as competition is able to provide similar value, we will no longer be able to "get away with" (justify) a margin structure that at this time is comfortable to our business.
yet as the marketplace matures, so can a business, who learns to operate profitably on margins that may not be sustainable by other businesses due to their lack of operational efficiencies.
bad...nay, wrong guy, WD.
We are in the European market where longer term commitments are more common than in the US. We make a required activity accessment before we start and communicate the various levels to our customers before hand.
If they need more during the course of the sbscription (additional campaigns) they simply move up to a higher subscription level. The amounts of the subscription depend on how much money the customer makes with its campaign as well.
But, I was wondering if someone would like to share their thoughts on the business development side of things. Pricing is great, but only if you have clients.
We want to move to the next level of larger, bigger budget clients. Can anyone share some common knowledge on how they approach large clients, or how you are positioning yourself to be a service they must have. As always, don't need any proprietary, competitive info here, just thought it might help several of us who are aggressively trying to grow this segment of our businesses.
Very interested to hear everyone's thoughts!
Thanks, C.
On Corp. accounts we charge $100.00 for every 20 keywords that the client wants to use, and $200.00 a month if using both Google and Overture.
Of course there is a set up fee of 1 hour for every 20 keywords used for each account at $50.00 an hour.
Did I mention the research charge into what keywords to go after. I love pay per clicks. :)
We are in the European market where longer term commitments are more common than in the US.
Slightly off topic, but what are you basing that off of?
Unfortunately that is not as easy as charging 500 dollars to set a new account up, so I guess not many SEMs would be interested.
On the other hand though, the savings should continue month after month, so the commission would be recurring.
I see a few issues with your proposal.
First, what happens if your clicks are the same, your price the same, but your coversion rate goes up? You make more money and the mangement company makes 0 - even though they're doing a good job.
What happens if they raise your CTR so much, it costs you more to advertise, but the ROI is there?
If they find new profitable keywords, what would they charge in this instance?
There are times that increased competition, or other factors, can increase your bids to stay in the same position (assuming the ROI is worth it), in this case, they'd again be doing it for free while you still maintained profits.
Using management companies isn't always about shaving money off the ad budget, its about promoting profitable keywords, finding new keyword combinations, trying out various ads to see which ones are bringing in more qualified buyers, etc.
>>First, what happens if your clicks are the same, your price the same, but your coversion rate goes up? You make more money and the mangement company makes 0 - even though they're doing a good job.
I would consider that to be outside the scope of the contract. If the SEM found a way of increasing my conversion rate he/she could drop the CPC to deliver me the same conversions at a lower price
>>What happens if they raise your CTR so much, it costs you more to advertise, but the ROI is there?
Same as above. Drop the CPC and you achieve your aim. Same conversions, lower price.
>>If they find new profitable keywords, what would they charge in this instance?
This would not matter. Again they can drop the CPC on another campaign to save me money. So long as ROI is unchanged the goal is achieved.
>>There are times that increased competition, or other factors, can increase your bids to stay in the same position (assuming the ROI is worth it), in this case, they'd again be doing it for free while you still maintained profits.
heaven forbid. We all need to eat :)
>>Using management companies isn't always about shaving money off the ad budget, its about promoting profitable keywords, finding new keyword combinations, trying out various ads to see which ones are bringing in more qualified buyers, etc.
I agree, but on the other hand here is a measurable yardstick. Ideally I would like my ROI and my budget to increase but that would make tracking SEM performance too tricky.
