What digital marketing really costs a Melbourne small business

Most agencies make you book a call before they will say a number. We publish ours, and below we have put them next to every Melbourne agency price we could find published online in November 2026, with a link to each.

The short answer

Service	WEDEE (ex GST)	What others publish
SEO	$1,450 to $1,950 a month	$625 to $1,250 + GST a month at the budget end
Google Ads management	$1,450 to $1,950 a month	$697 to $2,500 a month
SEO and Google Ads together	from $2,950 a month	rarely published
Facebook and Meta ads	$2,000 to $2,500 a month	from $1,995 + GST a month
Website	from $2,900	$500 templates to $10,000+ custom builds

Ad spend is on top of any ads management fee, and is paid straight to Google or Meta.

Published prices from other Melbourne agencies

Every figure here is from the agency's own website, checked on 1 November 2026. Prices change, so follow the link for the current figure.

• SEO: Digital Assassin lists packages at $625, $935 and $1,250 + GST a month.
• Google Ads management: Studio Slate publishes $697 a month with no setup fee. Loudachris publishes $800 + GST flat, month to month. Webapex lists $1,250, $1,500, $2,000 and $2,500 a month, with 30 days' notice and a possible setup fee.
• Meta ads: Spicy Web in Frankston publishes Meta ads management from $1,995 + GST a month.
• Not published: several of the best known local agencies, including Supple Digital, quote only after a proposal.

What each price level actually buys

SEO is mostly people's time. The monthly fee decides how many hours of specialist work your site gets.

• Under about $700 a month: usually a Google Business Profile tidy-up, directory listings and a monthly report. Useful, but not enough to move a competitive search.
• About $1,000 to $2,000 a month: a real local campaign: fixing the website, service and suburb pages written properly, reviews, content and tracking. This is where we sit, and our fee includes the web development a site needs in order to rank.
• $3,000 a month and up: competitive industries such as law, finance and cosmetic, multiple locations, or large online stores.

The ad spend on top

For Google Ads and Meta, the management fee is only half the cost. You also pay the platform for the ads. We recommend at least $50 a day, about $1,500 a month, on either platform. Below that there is not enough data to learn what works.

So a realistic all-in monthly budget looks like this:

Plan	Our fee	Ad spend	All in, a month
SEO only	$1,450 to $1,950	none	$1,450 to $1,950
Google Ads only	$1,450 to $1,950	from about $1,500	from about $2,950
SEO and Google Ads	from $2,950	from about $1,500	from about $4,450
Meta ads	$2,000 to $2,500	from about $1,500	from about $3,500

All figures exclude GST. If that is more than you can spend right now, SEO alone is the place to start: it is our fee only, and it keeps working without fuel.

What cheap SEO really costs

Many of the businesses that come to us after a cheap SEO package have the same two problems. The first is a broken website: slow pages, missing titles, pages Google cannot index. Those are quick, easy wins to fix. The second is far worse: cheap bought backlinks and spam links. Those can drag a site down for months, and cleaning them up costs more than doing it properly would have.

Other things we see after a low-cost agency: websites butchered by quick changes, and suburb pages copied with the town name swapped, which never rank.

The hidden costs to check before you sign

• Lock-in contracts. Twelve month terms with exit fees. Our SEO and Google Ads are month to month; Meta ads run on a 3 or 6 month term because the first months are testing.
• Who owns the accounts. If the agency owns your Google Ads account, website or analytics, leaving means starting again. At WEDEE every account is yours from day one, and stays yours if you leave.
• Ad spend paid through the agency. Some agencies bill your ad spend and add a margin. Your spend should go straight to Google or Meta on your own card.
• Setup fees. Ask what the setup actually involves.
• Content and development as extras. Check whether page writing and website fixes are included or billed by the hour.

Website costs

Melbourne website prices run from template packages at $500 to $1,900 to custom builds at $3,000 to $10,000 and more. Ours start at $2,900 + GST: AI-powered websites built with SEO foundations in place, because our web developer works alongside our SEO specialist. Larger builds are quoted on scope.

Tradies: until 31 December 2026, the website is free when you start a 6 month SEO package, and existing sites are replaced without losing rankings.

Want this applied to your business? Ask for a free SEO and AI search audit. Our SEO specialist reviews your site and shows you the results on a call, with no obligation.

Common questions

How much does SEO cost per month in Melbourne?

Published Melbourne SEO packages start from about $625 to $1,250 + GST a month at the budget end. A real local campaign usually costs $1,000 to $2,000 a month. WEDEE charges $1,450 to $1,950 + GST a month, month to month, including the web development the site needs.

How much does Google Ads management cost in Melbourne?

Published management fees range from $697 to $2,500 a month. WEDEE charges $1,450 to $1,950 + GST. Ad spend is extra and paid directly to Google: we recommend at least $50 a day.

What is the minimum budget for Google Ads or Facebook ads?

We recommend at least $50 a day in ad spend, about $1,500 a month, on Google Ads or Meta. Less than that does not give the platform enough data to find what works.

Why is cheap SEO risky?

The biggest risk is cheap bought backlinks and spam links, which can hold a website back for months and cost more to clean up than doing the work properly. Cheap packages also tend to leave website problems unfixed.

Sources. Competitor prices from each agency's own website, linked above, checked 1 November 2026. WEDEE prices exclude GST.