At Iconic Creative Agency, a professional website for an SME in Bruges or Knokke-Heist starts from €99 per month (excl. VAT). Depending on scope and functionality, we offer packages of €99, €399, and €1,199 per month, with full ownership after 24 months.
Many business owners in Bruges and Knokke-Heist open their Google Ads dashboard at the end of the month, see thousands of impressions and hundreds of clicks, and then ask the most important question: is this actually making money? The answer is often missing because too many people stare at click-through rates and cost per click instead of actual net profit in the bank account.
ROAS versus ROI: What Is the Real Difference?
In practice, the terms ROAS and ROI are often used interchangeably, but they measure completely different things. ROAS stands for Return on Ad Spend and looks exclusively at the ratio between generated revenue and advertising budget. If you spend €1,000 and realize €4,000 in revenue, the ROAS is 400 percent or 4 to 1.
ROI or Return on Investment goes much further. This metric takes your entire cost structure into account, including the purchasing value of products or services, overhead costs, and any management fees from an external agency. A high ROAS can still result in a disappointing ROI if your gross margin is too low or if shipping and administration costs have not been factored in.
The Formula for True Google Ads Profitability
To calculate whether your campaigns are genuinely profitable for your SME, use a simple yet complete formula. First subtract total costs from revenue, and divide that amount by total costs.
The formula is as follows: total revenue from ads minus product costs, ad spend, and agency costs, divided by total costs, multiplied by 100. As FPS Finance prescribes for B2B invoicing from abroad, Google Ads in Flanders is billed with a reverse charge mechanism or 0 percent VAT, but when calculating your operational margins, always use amounts excluding VAT.
Why Your Google Ads Dashboard Sometimes Fools You
Reports in Google Ads often show a positive return while the business manager notices that profit margins are not increasing. This is usually due to missing or incorrectly configured conversion trackers in Google Analytics 4. When only form submissions are measured and phone calls or WhatsApp messages are ignored, the system misses valuable conversions.
Especially for local service providers in the West Flanders region, such as real estate agencies, accountants, or contractors, a large portion of lead generation happens over the phone. If those calls are not linked to the correct campaign, the Google algorithm optimizes for the wrong signals.
What Is a Realistic ROAS or ROI for SMEs in Flanders?
There is no universally good percentage because this heavily depends on your industry and profit margin. A webshop with physical products and a tight margin needs a higher ROAS to break even than a service provider with a high hourly rate or long term service contracts.
Additionally, seasonality plays a major role. Businesses in coastal municipalities such as Knokke-Heist often see very different search behavior and conversion patterns in spring and summer compared to winter months. A healthy ROI accounts for these fluctuations and looks at the lifetime value of a customer rather than just the first transaction.
What to Do If Your Google Ads Campaigns Are Not Performing
When numbers disappoint, it is tempting to immediately halve the budget or stop campaigns altogether. However, the cause often lies in the landing page, a website that is too slow, or an unoptimized bidding strategy. If visitors drop off on mobile within seconds, no advertising budget will help.
At Iconic Creative Agency, we regularly see that a thorough technical audit of both the website and conversion tracking immediately brings clarity to actual acquisition costs. Whether it concerns restructuring campaigns or improving the mobile conversion funnel, structure brings returns.
What Does a Website Cost for Different Businesses in Bruges and Knokke-Heist?
For a local restaurant in Bruges, a website requires seamless mobile menus and reservation integration, fitting our Professional package at €399 per month (€9,576 total over 24 months, excl. VAT). A B2B accountant needs secure client portals and lead generation forms, fitting the Starter package at €99 per month (€2,376 total over 24 months, excl. VAT). A luxury hotel in Knokke-Heist requires advanced booking engine integrations and multilingual support, matching our Enterprise package at €1,199 per month (€28,776 total over 24 months, excl. VAT).
How to Compare Website Quotes: A Checklist
When comparing quotes for your SME website, always verify whether you retain full ownership after 24 months, what the exact terms are for early buyout by paying the remaining monthly balance without penalty, and whether separate infrastructure costs like domain names at roughly €15 to €30 per year and hosting and maintenance at roughly €20 to €50 per month are clearly itemized.