can you run ads for a site you didn't build?
yes. we'll need enough access to fix what the campaigns depend on: the tracking, the landing pages, the forms. that means the CMS, the repository, or a developer who can ship what we send. if none of those exist, fixing that is usually step one.
most paid retainers stall in the same place. the agency notices the pixel fires twice or the landing page takes six seconds on a phone, writes a ticket, and the ticket sits for weeks in someone else's queue while the budget keeps spending against numbers nobody trusts. we avoid that by fixing the technical side ourselves, which only works if we can reach it.
what "enough access" means
best first:
- the repository and a way to deploy. we fix the tracking, rebuild the landing page and ship it the same week.
- the CMS, if the site runs on one. enough for pages, forms and tag installation, though slow pages usually need the code.
- your developer or agency, if they're staying on. we send them exactly what to change and agree in writing who owns what, so nothing falls in the gap between us.
when none of those exist
sometimes there's a site nobody can change: the agency left, the login went with a former employee, or the platform can't take a pixel. then step one is recovering or replacing it, because paid traffic to a page you can't measure or fix is wasted budget. often that means a standalone campaign landing page we build, which is faster than rescuing the whole site, and the audit in week one tells you which. reviewing a site we didn't build is ordinary work for us, and the ownership rules are the same: it's yours.