Bought a Google Ads package for $500 and got zero leads back

I signed up for this ads management service offered by a local marketing agency in Austin. They promised to set up and run my Google Ads for three months at a flat fee of $500. After the first month, I saw a ton of clicks but not a single real inquiry or client from it. I asked for a breakdown and found out they were targeting broad keywords like "freelance help" instead of my niche. Has anyone else had a bad experience with ad services that just waste your ad spend?

3 comments

3 Comments

viola_garcia5610d ago

You got charged $500 just for them to run broad keywords? That's rough, I'm sorry. Had a similar thing happen with a service that was supposed to optimize my campaigns and they just threw money at "general services" searches. Ended up with a bunch of random clicks from people looking for lawn care or something. Really frustrating when you're paying for results and just get clicks instead of actual people who need what you sell. You should ask for a refund since they clearly didn't follow your niche.

jackson.max9d ago

Can't help but laugh at myself for paying someone to waste my money on clicks from people looking for dog grooming when I sell web design. @viola_garcia56 you're spot on about the refund though, feels like paying a chef to burn your dinner. Maybe next time I'll just set the cash on fire myself, at least I'd get a warm glow out of it.

joseph_green139d ago

Ended up in the exact same boat with a local agency that promised me the moon for $400. They ran my cleaning business ads against keywords like "house help" and I got 50 clicks from people looking for nannies and dog walkers. What finally worked for me was switching to a pay-per-performance model where I only paid for actual leads that converted into booked jobs. Had to learn how to build tight keyword lists myself using a free tool from Google called Keyword Planner. It took a weekend to figure out but now I only target stuff like "deep clean Austin TX" and actually get people who want what I sell.