What do you pay, and to whom?
You pay for two separate things. The first is ad spend: the money used each time someone clicks your ad, charged by Google. The second is a fee for the work of setting up and running the campaign. Until you can see those two amounts apart, you do not know what you are buying.
| Cost | Paid to | What it depends on |
|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | Google, through clicks on your ads | You set a daily budget. Real spend depends on the number of clicks and the price of each one. |
| Management fee | Whoever sets up and runs the campaign | Scope of work, number of campaigns and offers, how the fee is charged. It should be written in the quote. |
| The page the ad leads to | Whoever builds or fixes it | Whether the current page explains the service clearly and makes contact easy. |
| Enquiry tracking | Agreed case by case | Whether calls, messages and forms are measured at all. |
| VAT | Ask before you sign | Whether a quoted amount includes VAT or not. |
What decides the price of one click?
An auction decides it, not a price list. Every time someone searches, Google decides which ads appear and in what order. For search ads you pay when someone clicks, not each time your ad is shown.
The outcome depends on a few things: the most you are willing to pay per click (the price actually charged is often lower), the quality of the ad and the page it leads to, the context of the search such as location, device and time, and how hard other advertisers compete for the same space. A well-prepared ad can therefore appear ahead of one with a higher bid.
The practical result is that there is no single click price you can borrow from another business. Midaz does not quote an average cost per click for Bosnia and Herzegovina. We have no measured average we could stand behind, and an invented figure would send your calculation in the wrong direction. The real price for your service in your city only shows once a campaign is running.
How is the work on a campaign charged?
You may come across three models: a one-off setup fee, a monthly fee, or a percentage of ad spend. Know which one you are offered.
The difference shows when you double the budget. A fixed fee stays the same. A percentage grows with the budget, although the work may not. Ask what the fee covers and whether it changes with your budget.
At Midaz the management fee and the ad budget are always shown separately, and the scope of work is agreed in writing before we start. A detailed audit and implementation are scoped separately.
How do you work out what pays off?
Ads pay off according to what one enquiry or one sale is worth to you, not according to how cheap a click is. So do the arithmetic before the first ad, not after the first invoice.
Assume 1,000 KM of ad spend, 20 enquiries and five sales. The cost per enquiry is 50 KM, and ad spend per sale is 200 KM. This is not an average or an estimate for your business.
Those 200 KM are not yet the cost of a sale. For the real cost per sale, take the ad spend, add the management fee, add the cost of building or fixing the page, add any other costs in the same period, and divide the total by the number of sales in that period.
The second question is how much you can pay per enquiry. The highest acceptable cost per enquiry is the profit from one sale, times the share of enquiries that become sales, times the share of that profit you are willing to spend on ads. Profit is what is left after the cost of doing the job.
If you do not know how many enquiries become sales, the first test shows you. See our guide to a smaller budget.
How small is too small a budget?
There is no figure that fits every business. A budget is too small when it produces so few clicks and enquiries that you cannot conclude anything. A test with three enquiries proves neither that the channel works nor that it fails.
You can change the budget at any time. Google works with an average daily budget: on one day spend can reach twice that amount, but a month is capped at the daily budget times 30.4. Agree before you start how long you will test.
If a campaign is already spending and no enquiries arrive, first find where the money goes. An account review and enquiry tracking are built for that.
Which costs do people forget?
The ones that do not appear on the ad bill.
- The page. If the ad leads to a page that does not explain the service, you pay for clicks that never become enquiries. Fixing it is a separate cost.
- Tracking. Without measuring calls, messages and forms, you cannot tell what each ad brought.
- Answering enquiries. Someone has to answer calls and WhatsApp messages quickly. That is your time or paid time.
- Tools and VAT. Ask who pays for any subscription the work needs, and whether the quote includes VAT.
What should you not believe?
Any offer that guarantees an outcome in advance. Results depend on demand, competition, your offer, your budget and your sales process.
- A guaranteed number of customers, enquiries or a position on Google.
- A click price fixed in advance. Clicks are priced in an auction.
- A promise that enquiries will arrive within a set number of days.
- A contract that ties you in and does not say how the work ends.
Information for owners outside Bosnia
If you own a business here from abroad, or run campaigns for Bosnian customers from another country, a few extra questions save trouble.
- Currency. The convertible mark (KM) is fixed to the euro at 1.95583 KM for 1 EUR, so a quote in either currency converts without exchange-rate movement. Still ask in which currency you are invoiced and in which currency the ad budget is set.
- Language. Decide whether your customers search in Bosnian or English. The ads and the page must match.
- Reporting and signing. Ask in which language you will get reports, when you can talk, and which legal entity issues the quote and invoice.
Midaz works online in Bosnian or English.
How does Midaz build a quote?
For campaign launch and monthly management Midaz has published prices. Everything else, for example an account review, is quoted in writing by scope, once we hear what you do, in which market, and what you want to achieve.
| Offer | Price |
|---|---|
| Google Ads campaign launch: one campaign with conversion tracking | 230 KM |
| Google Ads campaign launch: two campaigns with conversion tracking | 370 KM |
| Monthly campaign management | 690 KM per month |
Prices exclude VAT. VAT, where it applies, is shown in the quote. The ad budget is paid to Google and is not included in the price. Prices are valid from 15 November 2026.
- The management fee and the ad budget are shown separately.
- Scope, price and next steps are confirmed in writing before work starts.
- The first conversation is free. A detailed audit and implementation are scoped separately.
- Your account and business data stay yours.
- We do not promise a number of customers or revenue in advance.
More on working together, and a guide to comparing agencies and freelancers.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Google Ads cost for a small business?
There is no fixed price. You pay ad spend to Google and, separately, a fee to whoever runs the campaign. First work out what one enquiry is worth to you.
Do I pay Google or the agency?
Both, for different things. You pay Google for clicks on your ads, and you pay the agency or freelancer for the work.
Can I set the daily budget myself?
Yes. A budget can be changed at any time. Agree in advance who may change it or stop the ads.
What is the minimum budget?
No figure fits every business. It depends on click prices in your field and on what an enquiry is worth.
What if I spend the budget and get no enquiries?
That does not automatically mean Google Ads does not work. Check which searches spent the money, the page, and the tracking. An account review covers this.
Do I need a long contract?
Ask in writing about the length, the notice period and renewal before you sign. If it is not clear how the work ends, treat that as a warning sign.
Is VAT included in the price?
Ask. A quote should say whether amounts include VAT or not, for the fee and for any other items.
Is the website or tracking paid separately?
Often they are separate items, so ask for each one in the quote. At Midaz, the scope of every service is agreed in writing before work starts.
Sources
Pages we opened and checked before writing this guide. They open in a new tab.
Before you ask anyone for a price, write down three numbers: what one sale is worth to you, how many of ten enquiries become a sale, and how much you are willing to spend to win one. With those three numbers every quote becomes comparable.
