01The four ways, side by side
| Way | Money each month | Your time | Works best when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yourself | Nothing besides the clicks | Several hours a week at first | You enjoy it and have time to learn |
| Yourself, with a tool | Adzooma free to US$179; Opteo from US$129; Optmyzr by spend | Less, but you still decide every change | You know Google Ads and want it faster |
| A freelancer | A fee you agree with the person | Calls and reports | You find somebody good and local |
| An AI agent that runs it | Adducta: US$39 to US$999 by spend (CA$49 to CA$1,390 in Canada), never more than a fifth of it | Approve the plan, call the good leads | You want customers, not another job |
02Doing it yourself, done well
If you run it yourself, these few things decide most of the result:
- Search campaigns, not everything at once. Start with the searches people type when they want what you sell, in the area you serve.
- Block the wrong searches from day one. Searches with "jobs", "salary", "free", "how to" or "DIY" in them cost money and rarely bring a customer.
- Track the enquiry, not the click. Set up conversion tracking on the form or the call, or every bidding setting learns from the wrong thing.
- Read Google's recommendations before accepting them. Many of them raise spend.
- Give it time and enough budget. Under about $1,000 a month there is too little data for anybody, person or AI, to learn from.
03If you do talk to an agency or a freelancer
- Who owns the Google Ads account? It should be you, with its history.
- How is the fee set? A flat fee, a share of spend, or both, and is there a minimum or a contract?
- What will you see each month? Enquiries and what they cost, not just clicks and impressions.
The same three questions are worth asking any tool, including us.
04An AI agent instead of an agency
Adducta is an advertising department run by an AI agent, for businesses in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. From six questions it writes the plan: where the money goes, what the ads say, which searches to buy and block, what a lead should cost. Once you approve it, the agent runs the Google search campaigns, moves money toward what brings enquiries every day, checks spending every 5 minutes and grades every enquiry hot, warm or cold.
- Fee: from US$39 a month (CA$49 in Canada), by level of ad spend, and never more than a fifth of what was spent that month. No contract.
- Ad money: separate, and all of it goes to Google.
- Your account: yours; moved onto your own billing within five working days on request, at no charge.
- Not for: businesses outside the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, ads in languages other than English and Spanish, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns.
Write my plan is free, needs no account and no card, and shows what the agent would do for your business before anything is spent. Comparing tools? See AI tools to run Google Ads for a small business.