What will an ad click cost you?How much should I spend on ads?
Pick your niche and area size. In 30 seconds you get the price of a click, the monthly budget you need, and whether the math puts money in your pocket.
This is one of the most important questions in your business. Get it right and ads turn budget into customers month after month. Get it wrong and you burn cash on clicks that never pay you back, or you quit right before it would have worked.
Most owners guess. They pick a budget that feels right, then judge the ads after two weeks. The math below tells you what to spend, what to expect and whether the numbers work before you spend a cent.
- 1Pick your niche and area sizeThis sets what a click costs in your market.
- 2Check the starting numbersWe fill in typical ones for your niche. Swap in yours if you know them.
- 3Read your answerYour click cost, monthly budget and whether the math makes you money.
Major metro: New York, Los Angeles, London. Mid-size city: Dallas, Leeds, Perth. Small town: under about 100,000 people.
Not sure of these? Leave them as they are. They are typical for your niche and the answers already use them. Tap "How do I work this out?" under any box for a simple way to find yours.
How do I work this out?
Add up what a typical new customer pays you. Include repeat work in their first year if that is normal for you.
Example: one roof replacement is $9,000, so enter 9000. For an online store, use your average order value.
Not sure? Look at your last 10 jobs or orders and take the average.
How do I work this out?
Take the price, subtract what it costs you to deliver (materials, crew, subcontractors, fuel), then divide what is left by the price.
Example: a $10,000 job costs you $7,000 to do. You keep $3,000, so your margin is 30%.
Do not subtract ad spend here. The page does that for you.
How do I work this out?
Divide the customers you won by the enquiries you received. This is your close rate.
Example: 30 enquiries came in and 9 became paid jobs. 9 divided by 30 is 30%.
Check your inbox, call log or CRM for the last 3 months. Phone calls usually close better than web forms.
How do I work this out?
Divide the enquiries (calls, forms, messages) by the clicks that sent people to your site. Marketers call this the click to lead rate, or conversion rate.
Example: 200 clicks brought 20 calls and form fills. 20 divided by 200 is 10%. In Google Ads, look at the Conversion rate column.
No ads data yet? Keep the typical number. Rough averages: local services 8% to 15%, healthcare and legal 4% to 8%, online stores 1% to 4%.
How do I work this out?
Pick a number your team can serve without hiring. Start with the jobs you could take on next month.
Try 5, 10 and 20 and watch the budget change.
Fill in the steps on the left, then press See my answer.
- What an ad click costs in your niche and area
- How much to spend each month for the customers you want
- The profit math, so you know if ads pay for you
Want these numbers checked against live data for your area?
Book a free callWant cheaper clicks? Here is where they are.
Search clicks cost the most because the buyer is ready now. Other channels sell clicks for a fraction of that. Use them to warm people up and win back the ones who left.
| Channel | Typical click | Buyer intent | Best use |
|---|
A 40 cent display click that never calls costs more than a search click that books the job. Judge every channel by cost per lead, then cost per customer.
Seven ways to lower your search CPC
- Bid on specific phrases"Emergency roof repair near me" costs less and converts better than "roofing".
- Block the wrong clicksAdd negative keywords every week for jobs, free, DIY, cheap and salary.
- Raise your Quality ScoreMatch the ad and landing page to the search. Google charges less for relevant ads.
- Advertise only where you workLimit locations to your service area and run ads when you can answer the phone.
- Start with exact and phrase matchUse broad match only after conversion tracking is clean.
- Retarget your visitorsShow Display, YouTube and Meta ads to past visitors for cents, not search prices.
- Track calls and formsBidding gets cheaper when Google learns which clicks actually buy.
You will be talking to me, Hanzala. I will go through your numbers with you and tell you straight whether ads make sense.
Want these numbers checked against live data?
Book a 30 minute call. We look at live keyword data for your niche and area, build the budget with you, and tell you straight whether ads make sense for your business.
Adverra. We scale businesses to $1M MRR.The click prices here are estimates built from published search advertising benchmarks and adjusted for country and area size. They are not live auction data. Real CPC moves with keywords, match types, season, Quality Score and competitors. Starting business numbers are typical for each niche. The profit math is only as good as the numbers you enter.