We are very frequently asked what is a reasonable monthly budget for a pay per click campaign. The answer is not simple.
For example, the competition for keywords differs greatly between markets. The CPC (cost per click) for the keyword “make a website” is much higher in the United States than in Australia. So for a $100 a month budget in Mexico can be the equivalent of a $1,000 in the United States, as the average cost per click of the keywords in Mexico is much lower than in the US.
With that said, in the United States, we recommend a minimum of $250 per month for campaigns. We find that at $250/month, the campaigns have enough traction to provide consistent sales and leads. Additionally, it allows the campaigns to have enough volume to gather insightful data and see what works and what doesn’t.
This doesn’t mean that campaigns with budgets of $100 per month wont work. It just means that the budget is constrained between many keywords, so it will be difficult for all the keywords in the campaign to get clicks.
In such cases, when the monthly budget is $150 or less, we recommend to have a small set of keywords that clearly represent your products and services so each keyword gets enough clicks for you to evaluate them.
So what is a good mix?
- $250 per campaign
- 20-40 relevant keywords
- 3-5 ads with different messaging
- 1-3 months to clearly see what is working and what is not, and optimize accordingly.
- Realistic Expectations: One of the biggest misconceptions in paid search advertising is that results are instantly visible and measurable. Search engine results do not happen overnight. There is delay factor. Each account and industry is different, but a general guideline that we follow is that it typically takes 5 to 10 weeks to see results. The first two months are heavily involved with testing to see what works and then building off of the success we have seen to get results for our clients.
If you are hesitating on which package is best suited for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will help you evaluate the appropriate budgeting for you.