At Verdure, we live and breathe paid media. From managing multi-channel ecommerce campaigns to fine-tuning local service ad budgets, we work with clients who want to grow, scale, and feel confident in their ad performance.
But we also know what it’s like before you get there.
If you’re a founder or small business owner juggling everything – and you’re not quite ready to bring on an agency (yet!) – it doesn’t mean your PPC should sit idle or burn through budget with no direction.
That’s why we’ve pulled together a simple 60-minute weekly PPC routine to help you stay on top of your account with limited time and no team. It’s not everything we’d do as your paid media partner, but it’s a solid foundation until you’re ready to bring in the experts ( that’s us).
The 60-Minute Weekly PPC Routine
Break it into 4 x 15-minute blocks – easy to schedule, repeat weekly, and actually stick to.
15 Minutes – Skim Your KPIs
Start with your numbers:
- CTR (Click-Through Rate)
- Conversion Rate
- CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
You’re not looking for daily fluctuations – you’re watching for week-over-week trends. This tells you what’s improving, where to dig deeper, and what’s clearly underperforming.
Tip: Focus on outcome metrics (CPA, ROAS), not vanity ones (impressions, reach) unless your campaign is brand awareness.
15 Minutes – Search Terms & Negatives
If you’re running Google Search or Performance Max, go into your search terms report:
- Remove irrelevant terms (add as negatives)
- Spot opportunities for new ad groups or keywords
- Check for low-intent or misleading traffic
Pro move: Save broad match for campaigns you can actively monitor – otherwise, stick to phrase and exact match if time is limited.
15 Minutes – Budget Pacing & Query Match
Check how your budget is tracking:
- Are campaigns spending evenly?
- Is budget being wasted on non-converting terms?
- Are search queries aligning with where the user is in the funnel?
Shift budget : toward top-performing campaigns or high-intent searches. Pause or limit spend on low-volume or consistently underperforming activity.
15 Minutes – Quick Wins
This is your maintenance window:
- Swap or test RSA headlines/descriptions (Responsive Search Ads)
- Adjust bid strategies or audience layers
- Remove underperforming creatives
- Tidy up ad copy that’s running stale
You won’t overhaul a campaign in 15 minutes, but small tweaks make a big difference when done consistently.
What You Shouldn’t Do
A quick warning – the biggest mistake solo advertisers make is overcorrecting too quickly.
Don’t:
- Panic over a single week of bad performance
- Pause campaigns based on emotion
- Chase every low CTR
Consistency beats chaos every time.
Who We Are
At Verdure, we’re a paid media agency built for founders, marketers and teams who want performance without the faff. We manage PPC, social ads and performance strategy across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and TikTok – with a healthy obsession for results (and a pretty tidy dashboard, too).
Whether you’re ready to scale or just starting out, we’re here to help you spend smarter.
Get in touch with us if you’re ready to move beyond DIY – or just want a second opinion on your ad performance.