Hi there,
Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on the Google Ads challenges you're seeing. It's a common situation, especially with B2B SaaS, so you're definitely not alone in feeling overwhelmed by the costs.
Right, let's dig into this. $8-$12 a click for keywords like "project management for agencies" or "creative agency software"... yeah, that's brutal. And on a $2,000 a month budget? You're absolutely right, that gets eaten up in no time at all. With those CPCs, you're looking at maybe 150-250 clicks a month if everything goes perfectly, which it rarely does when you're starting out. That low volume of traffic makes it incredibly difficult to get any meaningful data, let alone optimise anything effectively. You can't really tell what's working or why it's not when you're only getting a handful of clicks a day, or even less. It's frustrating as hell, I know.
We'll need to look at traffic quality and your website...
Honestly, before you spend too much time tearing your hair out over keyword bids and strategy, you need to take a long, hard look at what happens *after* someone clicks your ad. With such a tiny budget and such expensive clicks, every single visitor is precious. If they hit your website and don't convert (whatever that conversion is for you - a signup, a trial, a demo request), that's $8-$12 wasted instantly. And if you're wasting a high percentage of those expensive clicks because the website isn't doing its job, no amount of keyword wizardry is going to fix that. It's like pouring water into a leaky bucket, you just lose it all. It's not about getting cheap traffic, it's about getting traffic that converts profitably. With your budget, the conversion rate on your landing page and your offer is arguably *more* important than the CPCs themselves in the very beginning. If you can double your conversion rate, you effectively halve your cost per lead, even if the clicks are expensive.
Think about the B2B SaaS space. I've run quite a few campaigns for B2B SaaS clients, and one of the biggest factors determining success, especially initially, is the offer. Are you offering a completely free trial? Or is it just a demo? Based on experience, a proper free trial that lets someone actually get in and play with teh software usually works far better for getting people in the door than just a demo. Changing an accounting system, for example, is a massive undertaking for a business, they need to be damn sure the new one works for them before committing. Project management software might not be *quite* as tied into their core operations as accounting, but it's still a significant tool they rely on daily. Asking them to commit to something or even just book a demo without being able to properly test it first is a big ask. Your competition, especially the big players, often offers extended free trials specifically to overcome this inertia. You might need to match that or offer something similarly compelling to make those expensive clicks count. What's your current call to action on the landing page?
Beyond the offer itself, how persuasive is the landing page? Is it generic, or is it really tailored to creative agencies? Does it speak directly to their specific pain points with existing project management solutions? Does it highlight the features that are *most* relevant to how a design firm or marketing agency works? A landing page needs to be a dedicated sales page, not just a homepage. It needs strong, benefit-driven copy that convinces someone who just paid $10 to click on your ad that this is *exactly* the solution they were looking for and that taking the next step (signing up for a trial, booking a demo) is worth their time. We sometimes use a copywriter who specialises in SaaS because getting that messaging right is so crucial. If your website isn't immediately trustworthy and clearly communicating unique value *for them*, visitors will bounce, and that's your budget gone.
Getting enough data is your first hurdle...
Now, back to the keywords and bidding. Given the high CPCs and low budget, those broad, high-volume terms are probably going to remain out of reach, at least initially. You're right, competing with established players with deep pockets on those terms is incredibly difficult. They can afford to pay more per click because they have optimised their entire funnel, likely have a higher customer lifetime value, and can handle a longer payback period. You can't play that game yet.
Instead of trying to win bids on those expensive, head terms, you need to think about finding pockets of cheaper, but still highly relevant, intent. This is where long-tail keywords come in. These are longer, more specific phrases that people search for. For example, instead of just "project management software", maybe think about what specific problems creative agencies face that your software solves, and how they might search for solutions to those problems. "managing client feedback design projects", "software for tracking billable hours agency", "collaboration tool marketing team", "workflow approval software design agency" - things like that. These terms typically have much lower search volume individually, but they are often less competitive and signal higher intent because the person is searching for a very specific solution to a specific problem you might solve.
Finding these requires solid keyword research, but it also requires thinking like your ideal customer – the creative agency owner, project manager, or team lead. What language do they use? What phrases describe their day-to-day struggles? You can use Google's Keyword Planner, look at related searches when you type in your main terms, explore forums or communities where creative agencies hang out, and see what terms come up. The goal is to find those niche terms that the big players might not even be targeting heavily, or where the competition isn't as fierce, allowing you to get clicks at a lower cost.
Once you have a list of these more specific keywords, you need to group them very tightly in your ad campaigns. Don't put dozens of different keywords into one ad group. Create ad groups with very similar keywords so you can write highly specific ad copy for each group. The ad copy should mirror the user's search term as closely as possible and speak directly to the solution for that specific problem. This improves your Quality Score (which can lower your CPCs slightly) and, more importantly, increases the likelihood that someone clicking that ad is a good fit for your software. This is part of the 'targeting' in search campaigns – getting the right message in front of someone searching for the right thing.
As for bidding strategy with a small budget and high CPCs... it's tricky. Automated strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS won't work initially because you won't have enough conversion data. Manual bidding gives you control, but if you set bids too high you'll blow the budget instantly, and too low you won't get any impressions. A strategy like "Maximize Clicks" with a carefully set maximum CPC cap might be a starting point just to get *some* traffic flowing and start collecting data, even if those clicks aren't all perfect. The key is to apply this only to your very tightly grouped, most relevant long-tail keywords. The absolute priority in the first month or two isn't necessarily profitability, it's getting enough clicks and conversion data to learn what works and what doesn't. You need to crawl before you can walk, and for you, crawling means getting data.
So, putting it all together, here's a possible action plan:
| Action | Details | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Refine Keyword Strategy | Focus intensely on identifying long-tail, highly specific keywords that creative agencies would use when searching for solutions to their project management problems. Look beyond obvious terms. | These keywords are generally less competitive, cheaper, and indicate higher intent for your specific niche, allowing you to get more clicks within your limited budget. |
| Optimise Landing Page & Offer | Critically review your website's landing page(s). Ensure they are highly tailored to creative agencies, clearly state your value proposition for them, and feature a compelling offer like a proper free trial (if possible). Strong, persuasive copy is key. | Even the most relevant clicks are useless if they don't convert. With high CPCs, maximising your conversion rate is paramount to making your budget go further and lowering your effective cost per lead. This is perhaps teh most important step. |
| Review Bidding Strategy | Start with a strategy focused on getting data, perhaps 'Maximize Clicks' with a cautious max CPC cap applied to your tightly-grouped long-tail keywords. Avoid trying to compete on expensive head terms initially. | You need clicks and conversion data to learn what works. Don't try to win the most expensive auctions early on; focus on getting traffic you can learn from. |
| Prioritise Data Collection & Tracking | Ensure Google Ads conversion tracking is set up perfectly for key actions (trial signups, demo requests, etc.). Your initial budget is primarily an investment in learning what resonates with your target audience and converts on your site. | You cannot optimise without accurate data. Understanding which keywords, ads, and landing page elements lead to conversions is the foundation for future improvement and potential scaling. |
Trying to implement all this perfectly from scratch with a small budget and facing such high CPCs is challenging, it really is. There are a lot of nuances in keyword match types, negative keywords (crucial to avoid wasting clicks on irrelevant searches), ad copy testing, and refining landing pages based on performance data that can make a huge difference. It takes experience to know what levers to pull and when, especially when data is scarce.
Getting expert help can certainly accelerate this process. Someone who has navigated these specific B2B SaaS challenges before can help you identify the right long-tail opportunities faster, build out a campaign structure that maximises your limited budget's potential, and ensure your tracking and conversion points are solid from day one. It means you're not just burning through your budget on expensive clicks that go nowhere while you try to figure everything out by trial and error. We're happy to jump on a free consultation call to give you some more tailored initial thoughts based on seeing your website and understanding your specific offer and goals in more detail.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
