Investing in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is one of the best ways to quickly boost online visibility, leads, and sales. But how much does PPC cost? PPC pricing can vary depending on various factors, such as industry and ad network.
While ad budgets can vary dramatically, the average spend for small to mid-size companies on PPC campaigns is around $15,000-$20,000 per month. According to Statista, in May 2023, the average monthly cost-per-click (CPC) in Google Ads search advertising for the online education industry in the United States reached $9.95 and was the highest among the presented industries. At the same time the lowest result was for the electronics sector, with CPC valued at $0.68 cents.
Keep reading to learn what to expect to pay for PPC management and the factors that go into the price. And if you’re ready to consider alternatives to PPC pricing plans right away, Find Me Directory provides transparent flat rate pricing so you know exactly what you’ll pay and what you’ll receive with our plans. Visit our business plans page to learn how we can help drive sales and revenue.
What Is PPC?
PPC is a type of advertising where companies pay a fee to place their ads on a search engine result page (SERP) when it appears someone searches for a particular term or keyword. The SERP displays PPC ads, and you pay when someone clicks on your ad and goes to your website.
How Much Does PPC Cost?
Depending on how your PPC strategy is structured, you could have many line items tallying up your total PPC cost. Some key factors include who manages your PPC campaigns (in-house vs. agency vs. consultant), the average CPC for your industry, and how often you update your campaigns, among others. Check out the table for a full breakdown of average PPC management fees:
Cost
- Ad Spend: Varies
- PPC tools and software: $15-$800 per month
- PPC management cost (agency): 12%-30% of ad spend per month
- PPC management cost (in-house): Varies
What Determines the Cost of PPC Management?
So what determines the cost of PPC management? Many factors influence how much you can expect to pay for a campaign, such as:
- Your budget
- Your goals
- Your industry
- Your chosen ad networks
PPC works by bidding on keywords your target audience searches for online. Your industry and the products or services you sell will determine which keywords you bid on. If you’re in a competitive industry like financial services, you’ll need competitive bid strategies to ensure your PPC ads drive sales and revenue.
There is also a variety of ad networks to choose from, like Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising. Each one requires a unique strategy and has different costs for bid optimization strategies.
Comparing the Cost of PPC Management by Ad Network
Just like with traditional advertising, placing PPC ads on different platforms can generate different costs. Compare what to expect to pay for PPC management based on popular ad networks you might use.
What Is the Cost of PPC Management on Google Ads?
Google Ads is one of the most popular PPC ad networks. If you want your ads to display on the Google search engine results page, you’ll want to use Google Ads.
Google Ads has two networks—Google Search Network and Google Display Network. The Google Search Network focuses on ads that display in search results, while the Google Display Network features ads that appear on Google properties like YouTube and Gmail.
With Google Ads, you’ll bid on keywords you want to trigger your ads. You set a maximum bid for how much you want to spend each time someone clicks your ad.
While the Google Search Network is typically more expensive on a CPC basis, the actual cost per ad on the Google Display Network can vary widely depending on your industry and bidding strategy. For example, a law firm might see an average CPC of $6.50 on Google Ads, while a salon might have a lower value, say $1.50, due to the difference in competition and the cost of services.
What Is the Cost of PPC Management on Microsoft Advertising?
With Microsoft Advertising, you can create PPC ads that display on Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo search engines.
You can usually expect to pay an average of $1.54 per click for Microsoft Advertising PPC ads.
Microsoft Advertising works similarly to Google Ads; ads appear at the top or bottom of search results. However, Microsoft's ad platform is slightly less competitive than Google Ads since 80% of companies focus solely on their PPC efforts with Google Ads.
Smaller businesses competing with big brands in a competitive industry like SaaS software could find success with Microsoft Advertising’s less competitive ad network.
What Are the Options for PPC Management?
There are three options for managing PPC advertising: running PPC campaigns using an in-house marketing team, working with a freelance marketer, or going with a marketing agency. Each method has its pros and cons; considering the differences can help you make the best decision for your business.
Managing PPC In-House
One option for managing PPC advertising is using an in-house marketing team. This strategy can give you more control over your PPC ads and overall marketing strategy. It can also help keep your marketing budget lower. However, there are several disadvantages to managing PPC in-house. Your marketing team may already be juggling duties like social media, email campaigns, and website updates, among others. Your current staff may not have the expertise to effectively run PPC campaigns and it could be far more costly to hire additional team members than to outsource PPC management.
Going with a Freelancer
You could also use the PPC management services of a freelance marketer. These freelancers don’t work for a marketing agency and are solely responsible for your PPC campaigns. This option could be cheaper than going with a marketing agency.
But working with a freelancer brings its own pitfalls. Successful PPC advertising requires skill, resources, and experience. Freelancers typically don’t have access to nearly as many resources as a PPC agency. As with managing PPC in-house, using a freelancer runs the risk of wasting your advertising budget on ineffective campaigns.
Using a PPC Agency
If you need help maximizing your PPC results and don’t have enough time or resources to manage the campaign, you might opt to work with an experienced PPC agency. A PPC agency uses its expertise and technology to help craft and manage your PPC campaign to achieve your goals.
Working with a PPC agency will typically cost you more than either of the two other options. You can usually expect to pay anywhere from 12% to 30% of your total ad spend per month if you opt to partner with a PPC agency. However, an agency’s staff brings experience in creating and managing PPC campaigns that produce high-value results for your business. You can also scale up your advertising as needed to maximize value.
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What Do PPC Pricing Plans Include?
PPC pricing plans from a freelance marketer versus a marketing agency may be fairly similar. Both could charge a flat monthly fee, an hourly fee, or a percentage of ad spend for services like strategy planning, keyword research, and reporting. The difference lies in the experience and resources each has access to.
Trying to decide whether it’s worth partnering with a PPC agency? When you partner with a PPC agency like INTELLIPLANS, you’ll gain a team of experts who can help save you time and earn a higher ROI. PPC management packages from INTELLIPLANS include:
PPC strategy creation
- Campaign planning
- Competitor analysis
- Keyword research and analysis
- Bid management
- Ad copy and landing page design
- PPC tools and software
- Ongoing reporting
They offer personalized PPC management services tailored specifically to your unique business. Visit their PPC services page to learn about our custom PPC packages or request a proposal.
How Much Should I Pay for PPC Management?
PPC is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies because it works with almost any budget. You can choose how much you want to bid on keywords and never spend more than you want. Plus, you can see results almost immediately.
So while companies spend an average of $9,000 to $10,000 on PPC management, that doesn’t mean you need to. How much you spend depends on your company’s unique needs and goals.
Maybe you already have a decent amount of web traffic and leads coming in from your search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and want to maximize visibility even more with PPC ads. In that case, you might want to spend less on PPC than other marketing strategies.
On the other hand, if you don’t have a well-developed content program sending organic traffic on a regular basis, you’ll likely want to spend more on PPC campaigns.
So what’s the bottom line? Think about your company’s needs and goals to determine the PPC budget that makes sense for you.
Maximize Your Flat Rate Costs with Find Me Directory
When you invest in a PPC campaign, your number one goal is to earn the highest ROI for your efforts. That’s where Find Me Directory can help.
At Find Me Directory, our digital marketing experts have over 25 years of experience helping companies like yours maximize their budget and drive sales and revenue. From helping you create a winning bidding strategy for high-value keywords to continuously improving your campaign for optimal results, our team does the heavy lifting so you can sit back, relax, and watch your revenue soar.
Our digital marketing experts for our premium members will help optimize your business objectives and to ensure your budget earns the highest return on investment (ROI). You’ll also gain access to our dashboard, which unlocks advanced profile statistics, leads and business reviews that allow you to track your campaign’s success.
Plus, we’re a full-service digital marketing agency. That means our team can help you channel your marketing spend into campaigns and strategies like social media and search engine optimization (SEO) to drive incredible results for your business.
Contact us today to chat directly with one of our friendly strategists about the needs and goals of your business. We can’t wait to hear from you.
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