Running a campaign for a client

How are you paid?

[colinf]

Hi,
a couple of clients whose websites i have built and keep up and running are interested in trying out Adwords.
Do any of you webmasters offer your clients Adwords to promote their site, meaning you run the actual campaign for them?
How do you charge your client for the campaign, per month - per results - or a standard fee?

Your client can clearly see the invoice from Google when payment is due, so do you simply add your fees to it?

colinf

[Chicago]

Do any of you webmasters offer your clients Adwords to promote their site, meaning you run the actual campaign for them?

colinf, a near majority of us engage is such activity. in terms of the best way to charge, you will probably get 100 different answers from a 100 different people- so it goes with new industries such as ours.

what you are looking at is a combination of soft + hard costs. your hard cost (or out of pocket costs (click charges/registration fees)) must in all cases be passed on to your client unless you plan on being compensated on the basis of a conversion (cpa-sale/lead etc) while absorbing the cost. additionally, you always have the option of simply marking up your PPC, either by using a fixed fee (60 cents for B2C CPC or PPC + 25% mgt fee etc.)otherwise, your soft costs should be your focus. soft costs are a combination of time, materials, and a measure of over-all return on investment for your client. you will find that we all do things a little different. some will charge a flat fee of 1000$ per month, some 300$, some will charge 50$/hr, some 150$/hr. The key colinf, is to choose a model that is right for you given who you are, you expectations for yourself, your experience and competencies, what the market will bare, and what you can live on, or fund your company with. With any business, the key is positive net margins and this is something that you will either work out over time, or have to solve immediately based upon your unique needs.

For your reference, I use a combination of pass-thrus, set-up (t/m - time and materials) as well as fixed fee for monitoring and maintenance. I seperate these out to protect my firm more than anything else. I also find it helpful to show a client a fixed number over a 3-6 month period. Month 1= $4,000. Month 2-6 = 1,200 a month etc.

I hope you catch my drift.

Best of luck.
justin

[colinf]

Thanks,

can't get a better answer than that!

colinf

[Shak]

A number of people who I know have shown that this is a very good route for the client.

especially as in many cases, even after paying your % , the client will be saving money.

Your ultimate goal is to make them spend as much money as possible, whilst achieving the least CPC rate in my opinion.

This way all parties are happy.

Over here in the UK, 10 > 15% is the standard rate on campaign for over $500 per month.

Shak