If you are running keyword campaigns, pay per click or search engine marketing campaigns through an agency or some other provider, then you are paying a management fee. Essentially you are paying to have that company set up, monitor, optimize and manage your campaign. Makes sense, we should get paid for the work we do and the expertise we have acquired to be able to run these campaigns effectively.
However, it has recently come to our attention that another SEM provider in the area (a large media conglomerate that is buying up local newspapers) is charging a 50% account management fee!
What does this mean? Well if you are paying $1,000 per month for a search engine marketing campaign, then only $500 is actually going to the search engines to pay for your ads.
While we do not begrudge companies for making money, after all that is our job is to help companies make money, this is a tremendous waste of the clients resources. By comparison we charge around 15% for the same services, some might say even better. The industry standard is between 15-20% which is a normal agency fee.
If you or someone you know is paying for SEM then they really should have a professional review. We have a Search Engine Marketing Specialist on staff to manage all of our campaigns. So when you use us for your search engine marketing services there are no wasted costs. More money to your campaign means more impressions and click thrus and more business for you, and less money to these huge marketing conglomerates.