Date Published: 3-Sep-2013 | Author: Kerry K Robinson
There are many PPC (pay-per-click) agencies, consultants, firms and Internet marketing companies in the market, but the primary task here is identifying one that best suits your PPC marketing needs and objectives.
Here is a list of things to consider when making this important decision, so that it helps you in maintaining a healthy working relationship.
Customization of PPC
Firstly, the PPC consultant should understand and identify your niche market and their needs. When they do this, they will be better able to research properly to give the most relevant keywords for your business that will draw potential customers to your website. You need to make sure that the services you get from the consultant are relevant to your business.
Ability to understand your business goals
Goals of your business are an important factor to consider when hiring a PPC consultant. The consultant should have a good understanding of your business goals. They should have complete knowledge about the current market condition, potential competitors, identifying market opportunities, etc., to best fit you PPC campaign.
Should have all the expertise to handle your PPC requirements
Also, assess if the consultant has the expertise in keyword research, content writing, bidding and programming the campaign. These are critical factors in making your PPC campaign a success.
Whether you hire an individual, a specialized PPC management company or a marketing firm doing PPC, you need to check out if the team that is working on your PPC has all the expertise needed to do the job well.
Verify the credentials of the expert or agency before awarding the project
Before you hire a PPC consultant for your business website, you should verify the credentials. Visit the site of the expert (agency), it will allow you to compare the impression created by the site vis-a-vis personal interactions and see if they are matching or there is a variance. If there is a variance, you can drill down and assess which is the correct impression.
When going through the website, you can easily figure out whether it is a professional one or not with the content (blog, articles, and press releases) provided in the website.
Also ask the consultant to show the track record of existing clients, this will help you in assessing their work. Look for client reviews, profile of past clients and testimonials in the consultant’s website. You can judge the PPC consultant based on what clients have to say about the services provided by the consultant. If you think you should know the performance of the consultant, contact previous clients. Also check the websites of clients – it will help you in determining the quality of service they got from the consultant.
Ability to monitor and communicate properly
In order to build PPC campaigns in a timely and effective manner, the PPC consultant should have the ability to monitor the results of your PPC campaigns, and should communicate to you about the process of the campaigns in a timely manner.
Experience and expertise
PPC keeps on changing as it is a dynamic area. So make sure the PPC consultant you hire is up-to-date about the changes made and has the knowledge, experience and expertise to deliver in today’s environment. It is preferable if the PPC consultant also has good awareness of other Internet marketing methods, like SEO, content marketing, web designing, social media marketing, etc.
Commitment to deliver results
A commitment to deliver better results is critical. This comes from having the attitude of being effective. While some may talk about it in sales pitch or in coordination call. To do the work from start to finish with this idea is what is most important. You can judge the quality of commitment of the consultant by seeing their behavior over a period of time rather than their talking. As said earlier, you need to take a look at the past track record with existing clients to know if the consultant is really committed to deliver results.
Ability to spend the budget wisely
Being a small business owner, each dollar you spend for promoting your business counts. Therefore, the PPC consultant should value the small budget you allocate to PPC and should have the ability to spend your money wisely on your PPC campaigns, instead of focusing only on increasing your spend or make you feel bad since you cannot spend more.
Comprehensively assess the PPC expert using the framework above. We know this can involve a fair amount of commitment of your time and energy. The intention of the assessment should be to find a long term partner. This time should be seen as an investment and if you do a proper assessment you will recover the return on the investment manifold once you have a successful PPC campaign is managed by your new PPC expert.
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