What's the going rate for someone to set up and run a Google Ad campaign to include website landing pages to improve SEO. I've never done marketing like this before and don't really need it for my own book of business, but I have 3 other public adjusters working with my firm now, so trying to find ways to generate more leads for the company to pass on to them. I spoke to one company this week and they want $750 to set up the campaign, landing pages and then 20% of monthly ad spend to manage it month to month to optimize it going forward. I'm planning on ad spend of $1500/month, so his monthly would be $300. Is that reasonable? The business side of me says to hit him up for 15%, but my business is also contingent and I know what value I bring to my clients, so it can be frustrating when potential clients are looking for a discount. I just don't know what is even normal for this type of work.
This is an exploratory campaign for the time being. He said the spend seems to be in line with others in my industry based on what he can see from Google. That said, what would you expect?
Honestly, there's really no reason you shouldn't spend a bit of time and be able to manage your own account. There's going to be a bit of a learning curve, but understanding the different bidding strategies and also knowing what landing pages are going to speak to your customers is time well spent, IMO.
Asked my friend chatGPT and s/he somewhat agreeed. For a public adjuster in Florida looking to grow their business with Google Ads and spending ~$1,500/month, here’s a straight breakdown: Learning It Yourself: Pros & Cons ✅ Pros: Full control: You know your business better than anyone. Cost-effective: No agency fees, so more budget for actual ads. Valuable skill: Once learned, can be applied long-term across other channels too. ❌ Cons: Steep learning curve: Google Ads is deceptively complex—keyword strategy, ad copy, bidding, negative keywords, location targeting, etc. Mistakes are costly: Even $50/day can disappear fast on bad keywords or poor targeting. Time sink: Expect 10–20+ hours just to get up to speed and build a campaign that’s not wasting money. Hiring a Consultant or Agency ✅ Pros: Immediate expertise: Skip the learning curve and get professional help. Better performance: A pro will likely get better ROI—especially in a competitive niche like public adjusting. Time savings: You focus on running your business instead of tweaking ad groups. ❌ Cons: Extra cost: Expect to pay $500–$1,000/month on top of your $1,500 ad spend. Variable quality: Lots of mediocre “agencies”—vet carefully. Recommended Approach for Him Since $1,500/month is real but not huge, here's what I’d recommend: Outsource to a freelancer or micro-agency with local service lead-gen experience, especially someone who understands homeowner claims, water damage, hurricane-related keywords, etc. Negotiate performance-based or flat-fee pricing (not % of spend). Start with a 2-3 month trial and ask for: Weekly performance reports (cost per lead, conversion rates) Call tracking and lead form tracking Geographic filtering (targeting Florida zip codes he covers) Meanwhile, have him learn the basics of Google Ads through: Skillshop by Google – Free and solid YouTube channels like Surfside PPC or Santrel Media That way, he’ll understand enough to not get ripped off, but won’t burn $1,500/month trying to learn through trial and error. If you want, I can help vet a freelancer or set up a starter Google Ads framework for him to pass to someone else.
You can do this project yourself with most any AI. Claude is pretty decent as this kind of thing. It's just SEO, not anything difficult.
Thank you. Many of my concerns are outlined here. I just don't have the time, or desire, to learn and manage this myself. I figure it's money well spent to have it managed, but also don't want to be getting ripped off for lack of knowledge on the industry.
I can help with this. This is what I do. Going with an agency will be the equivalent of throwing my money out the car window on the Howard Franklin
Exploratory is a waste of time. It's like showing up for a track day every time with completely worn out tires and expecting to learn something. You're better off taking whatever you think you'd spend for the next 6 months and spend it all in 2 months so you can get real world data of how your campaign competes. Otherwise, you're just a bit player with zero results and no measurable data on the outcome
Maybe exploratory wasn't the right word. It seems as though $1500 is in line with a reasonable amount to spend in my industry based on what Google and some of these "management " companies are recommending. That said, if we can make our $2k back after their fees, etc (this would only take converting 1 lead) and get to a point where that $2k is converting 5,6,7 leads per month, then I would happily increase the budget if the returns increased as well.
