Bottom line is that the biggest factor is you and what your skills and talents are - I am just going to tell you what to be aware of in PPC management. In the process, hopefully I can save you some money and money too!
If you're considering managing your own PPC campaigns, here are a several things you should to take into consideration:
Time --> Do you have enough free time in your business schedule? Managing a PPC campaign can be very time-consuming, depending upon your industry.
Experience --> How much do you already know about PPC marketing? Most of the bigger companies have someone with at least several years of PPC experience. If you do not have much experience, there are a few ways to get it.
One way is to spend lots of time reading the PPC marketing forums (this way is free). Secondly, just go ahead and open your own PPC accounts and get started, and get your hands dirty (this is what I did, and it was very expensive). Nevertheless, both are good ways to gain experience and both can put you on track to make a profit.
Competitiveness --> How many other advertisers are there? How much are the bids going for in the top 3 to 8 positions of the ads shown on the first page of results for a specific keyword?
Keywords --> How many keywords will you are managing? Keep in mind that if you are in a competitive industry, you will probably be going up against other advertisers who are using expensive bid management software.
Ad Copy --> Do you know if you can write good PPC ads? I'm not talking about normal ad descriptions, but relevant PPC descriptions. The difference can be the deciding factor between your site making a profit or a loss - a lesson I learned first-hand.
Budget --> How much do you have to spend on clicks? If you are new to PPC and plan on spending more then $500 per month, I recommend you start off hiring someone to manage your PPC ads or to act as a consultant, at the very least! It will be well worth the money if you shop around for the right person or company to help.
Learning new tips and tricks - The PPC market is constantly changing. You have to stay up-to-date with everything, because you can be certain your competition is.
If you decide to hire someone to manage your PPC efforts, here are several things you should take into consideration:
1) Knowledge & Experience:
What type of experience do they have? How long have they been in business? Do their current clients recommend them unconditionally?
2) Cost:
Watch out for the ones that are TOO good. Remember the saying that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Talk to at least three or four different companies and compare them carefully before making your choice.
3) Bid monitoring:
How many times per week do they check your bid positioning?
4) Service:
You are going to be communicating (via email or phone) a lot with the person running your PPC ads. You should like talking with them and find them easy to talk to.
5) Response time:
How soon will your calls or emails are returned?
6) Support:
Do they offer phone support or just email support?
7) ROI tracking:
Is it offered? It is not necessary to have ROI tracking, but in today's market, it drastically increases your chances of having a profitable PPC ad.
All in all, for most people, hiring a professional and knowledgeable person to manage your ppc accounts is the way to go! Unless you have the time, patience and money to burn on getting past the learning curve can be pretty painful. Hire someone to help you get going today, and you won't ever regret it!
