What are the charges related to hiring an SEM company?

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a strong tool by which a business can increase its visibility and inflow of traffic to its website. Inviting an SEM company to engage with would be one of the strategic investments that can be made, so the main costs provided by the company should be clear to you. This article will help you understand the various primary costs to work with an SEM company.

1. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising Costs

PPC advertising: One of the most common methods of SEM is PPC. Every time a user clicks on an ad, he makes the advertiser pay for it. Campaigning costs via PPC can vary considerably based on many different variables.

• Bid Amount: The amount you can bid for clicking on your ad may determine the ranking order and visibility of your ad. Higher bids secure a better place on SERPs.
• Competition: Very competitive keywords will definitely give a high CPC. For example, almost all finance and insurance-industry keywords normally reflect a high CPC due to competitiveness.
• Quality Score: Google or any search engine makes use of a quality score to measure your advertisement and keyword relevance and quality. A higher quality score can help lower your CPC.
• Geographical Targeting: The costs may get affected due to the targeting of ads about particular localities. More competitive localities for advertisement will raise the cost.

In general, for a Small-Medium-Enterprise (SME) operating in Singapore, the monthly media fee is approximately SGD$500-$8,000 per month. The exact amount will be dependent on the number of keywords, the quality of the website, the scope of work and the number of campaigns.

2. Management Fees

A management fee is a charge that is common to virtually all SEM companies or individual operators for managing the account. Typically, this may vary from real development of PPC campaigns to managing them and optimising them over time. In any case, the management fees might vary in relation to:

• Service Package: Basic packages might include essential services like keyword research and campaign setup, while premium packages could offer advanced features such as detailed analytics, conversion tracking, and ongoing optimization.
• Experience and Expertise: Agencies with a proven track record and specialised expertise may charge higher fees. Their experience can lead to more effective campaigns and better ROI.
• Scope of Services: Comprehensive SEM services, including extensive keyword research, ad copy creation, landing page optimization, and A/B testing, can increase management fees.

The management fees for campaigns done in Singapore is typical between $500-$3,000 per month. It varies based on the scope of work, the intensity of the work requirement, the number of campaigns and AdGroups, as well as the campaign objectives. 

3. Keyword Research and Optimization

Good keyword research and optimization practices lie at the heart of any kind of SEM campaign, for it is really just about finding those important terms most likely to be used by your target demographic in order to convey the meaning ‘I want to buy something.’ Associated costs in this are:

• Initial Research: Research to find out all the relevant and high-performance keywords in your business.
• Ongoing Optimization: Continuously refining and updating keywords to adapt to changing market trends and improve campaign performance.

Keyword research fees are usually part of the setup and management fees. There are instances where customers request for a stand-alone keyword research, without the commitment to go into the campaign. 

4. Ad Creation and Testing

Of course, one of the biggest parts of any SEM is the ad creation portion: the actual generation of ads intended to drive clicks and conversions. Development and testing costs can be directly attributed to :

• Ad Copywriting: Professional copywriters craft engaging ad copy that resonates with your audience and encourages clicks.
• A/B Testing: Running multiple versions of ads to determine which performs best. This process requires time and resources to test and optimise ad variations.

The Advertising visuals fees are dependent on the number of graphic design ad required, the media type of the ads (single image graphic, video, carousel ads, etc). The typical fees associated with this is about $500-$1,500 per month on the media creation.

5. Conversion Tracking and Optimization

Conversion tracking is something that all of the SEM companies include in order to benchmark the success of your campaigns. A process of putting up in place performance and conversion optimization tracking mechanisms is critical. This may include costs like:

• Implementation: Setting up tools for tracking conversions and associating them with your campaigns.
• Analysis and Optimization: Regularly analysing data to identify areas for improvement and making necessary adjustments to enhance conversion rates.

For some of our customers, we used tools such as HotJar, NovoCall, Marin Software and many others to do conversion tracking and optimisation. The cost depends on the exact requirements needed by the client or by the campaign, the number of user licences and many other factors. The cost for these are usually between SGD$1,000-$3,000 per month.

6. Additional Tools and Software

Noticeably, SEM companies, in most cases, apply very distinct tools and software in management and optimization. Some of these tools include keyword research tools, bid management platforms, and analytics software. The cost of tools can either be added to the management fee when pricing or charged based on pricing models. Over at iClick Media, we’ve utilised software to track phone calls, heatmap and many others!

Key Benefits of Investing in SEM Services

Investing in SEM services offers several key benefits:

• Targeted Advertising: Reach precise audiences based on their search behaviour and interests.
• Immediate Results: Your advertisements can be included on SERPs within days, with instant traffic generation.
• Budget Control: Get control over day-to-day budgets, demographics, and ad durations so you are only paying for real clicks.
• Measurable Success: Be able to track metrics, for example, the average cost per click, views, and click-through rates of your campaign.

Why Choose iClick Media?

Full-service SEM: By iClick Media, drive your online presence completely in the direction of achieving your business goals. We are Google AdWords Certified professionals, strong in manual bidding and campaign optimization for achieving quality scores and relevance. We are also a Google Partner-certified company, so you can be sure of the best practices and access to cutting-edge tools that help us get great results.

All in all, SEM company costs are not fixed, and knowing how to make wise decisions will have good return on investment. Get your digital presence enhanced and meaningful results for your business by engaging in a good SEM company like iClick Media.