A new Google Ads account, built with the switches set right.
For businesses that don\'t have an account yet, or have one that was never really set up. Created in your name, on your billing, with conversion tracking installed and tested before the first dollar is spent, Google\'s spending defaults switched off, and a written switches list handed over so you can run it yourself. $695 incl. GST, delivered within a week of access.
Three ways people arrive here. One way we build it.
"I've never run ads."
Trades, clinics and local services with a phone that needs to ring. You want it done once, done properly, and you want to understand what was done. The handover note is written for you, not for us.
"I inherited this."
Someone built it years ago, or an agency left. Fourteen campaigns, no negatives, a conversion that fires on page load. Sometimes it's cheaper to rebuild than to untangle. A the $595 Audit tells you which, and the fee comes off the build.
"I can't even log in."
An agency manages the account and you've never had admin access to it yourself. We'll try to get it back first. If that fails, we build fresh in your name and you decide who gets access from then on.
Six decisions Google makes for you unless someone makes them first
Google's defaults are designed to spend. Every one of these is a setting a person chooses, writes down, and can explain to you. None of them is clever. All of them are usually skipped.
One campaign per intent
"Burst pipe at 2am" and "thinking about a new hot water cylinder" are different people with different urgency. They get separate campaigns, so they get separate budgets, separate schedules and a report that says which one is paying.
Default we change. Everything in one campaign, sharing one budget, with the urgent searches starving the slow ones or the other way round.
Match types chosen on purpose
Exact match and phrase match, each written out with the reason. Broad match only once there's conversion data to feed it, and never on day one.
Default we change. Google suggests broad match. Left alone, a plumber's ad shows for "plumbing apprenticeship" and "how to fix a tap yourself."
Negatives from day one
A shared negative keyword list goes in before the first click: jobs, course, salary, apprentice, diy, free, how to. Then it grows every week from the search terms report. The list is yours and stays with the account.
Default we change. No negatives at all. Most accounts we audit have never had one.
Location and schedule, set
Ads show where you work and when someone answers the phone. Suburbs you don't serve, excluded. Location option set to "Presence", not "Presence or interest". Search Partners and Display expansion switched off.
Default we change. Ads to anyone "interested in" Auckland, at all hours, on partner sites you've never heard of.
Conversion tracking wired before the first dollar
Phone calls, form submissions and bookings, each its own conversion action, each tested by us on your site with a real call and a real form. If it hasn't been tested, the account doesn't go live. How we wire it.
Default we change. Tracking added later, if ever, or a tag that counts page loads so the report looks good.
Manual bids until there's data
Smart bidding needs a steady stream of real conversions to learn from. A new account has none. We set bids by hand, watch what the clicks cost, and write down the point at which we'd hand over to Google's bidding. Auto-apply recommendations: off.
Default we change. "Maximise conversions" from day one, guessing at your cost.
Built so the next person can read it.
This is the shape of every account we build. Each layer does one job and is named for it. Nothing hides in a shared budget or a broad-match keyword you didn't choose. Open it in a year and it still makes sense.
- Account. Yours. Your email is admin, your card is on billing. We're a user you can remove in one click.
- Conversion actions and negatives. Set once at the account level, so every campaign counts the same things and avoids the same searches.
- Campaigns. One per intent. Each has its own budget, schedule and location, so the report can say which one is paying.
- Ad groups. One per way of asking. The ads in each say the thing that was searched.
- Keywords. Exact in [brackets], phrase in "quotes", every one chosen and written down.
Access to live in about two weeks
The only thing that changes the timeline is how quickly we can get into the account and onto your website to install tracking. We send the exact clicks for both.
Access, then a quote in writing
You create the account (we send the steps) or we create it in your name. Either way your email is admin and your card is on billing. We look at what you sell and where, and send a fixed quote. Nothing starts until you've said yes to a number.
Keywords, negatives, structure
We read what people in your area actually search for, group it by intent, choose match types and write the first negative list. You see the plan as a one-page document before anything is built.
Ads written, tracking wired
Two or three ads per ad group, written by a person, with your phone number in them. Call, form and booking tracking installed on your site and tested with a real call and a real form. Screenshots go in the handover.
Live on a small budget, then handover
Ads go live at the daily budget you agreed. After a week we send the handover note: what's where, which settings we changed from default and why, and how to pause it all. Then you choose: run it yourself, or hand it to us.
Two ways to build an account. Only one you can leave.
The difference isn't skill. It's whether the account is built to be understood by you, or only by the people who built it.
A range on the page. A number in writing.
Typically $695 to $695, depending on how many campaigns your business needs. One or two intents in one city sits at the bottom of the range. Several services across several locations sits at the top. We quote in writing before we start, and the quote is the price.
Get a written quote →- Account in your name, or a rebuild inside your existing one
- Keyword and negative research, written up
- One campaign per intent, settings chosen and listed
- Ads written by a person, two or three per ad group
- Conversion tracking: calls, forms, bookings, tested
- Handover note explaining every setting we changed
Ad spend is separate. You pay it directly to Google, on your own card, in your own account. If you go on to Google Ads management, setup is the only one-off cost and management is $600 a month, month to month. If we think search ads won't work for your business, we'll say so before you pay for a build.
Before you ask for a quote
Who owns the account?+
You do, from the first minute. It's created under your Google login, your email is the admin, and your card is on billing. We're added as a user with Standard access. Google Ads → Admin → Access and security shows you exactly who can see the account, and lets you remove anyone, including us, in one click.
I already have an account. Fix it or rebuild it?+
It depends on how much history is worth keeping. An account with real conversion data and a mostly sensible structure is worth fixing. An account with no negatives, no working tracking and campaigns overlapping on the same searches is usually faster to rebuild. A the $595 Audit answers this with evidence, and if you go on to a rebuild the $595 comes off the setup price.
Why not smart bidding or Performance Max from the start?+
Because they learn from conversions, and a new account has none. Give Google's bidding nothing to learn from and it experiments with your money. We start with manual bids, watch what a click actually costs, and write down the conversion volume at which we'd switch. When the account gets there, the switch goes in the change log with the reason.
Performance Max is a separate question. For most local service businesses it spends money on Display and YouTube placements that don't ring the phone. We'll tell you if we think it's worth testing, and we'll say why.
How much of this is automated?+
Keyword tools pull search volumes and suggest terms. That part is software. Deciding which terms to use, how to group them, what to exclude, what the ads say and what every setting should be is done by a person, and the handover says so.
Google's own automation is the bigger point. Auto-apply recommendations, automatically created assets and broad-match defaults are all switched off, and the handover lists each one so you can check it stayed off.
How long does it take?+
About two weeks from access to live, most of it waiting on tracking to be installed and tested on your website. If your website is looked after by someone who won't give you access, that's the delay, and it's worth fixing on its own. We can help with that too.
What happens after it's live?+
It's yours. Run it yourself with the handover note, give it to your existing agency, or ask us to manage it month to month. The build is the same in all three cases, because the structure is built for whoever reads it next.
Request the $695 setup
We reply within one working day with a fit check. If it suits you, the reply has the invoice, the access steps and a delivery date. If it doesn't, it says so.
Don't put passwords, customer or patient details in this form. Access, where needed, is granted inside the platform after the fit check. How we handle your information.
$695 · incl. GSTRequest it →