In case it is getting a bit difficult for you to manage your PPC campaigns and you are also considering hiring an agency for this work, then most probably you may find it a bit daunting and overwhelming. Hence, before you move to an agency, or in that case browse through hundreds of probable ones, you must definitely read through the list below as it will help you to finally narrow down your search standard and head towards the right agency.
The chief points that you soul dry to find out in a potential PPC agency:
1. Is the company’s Google AdWords certified?
You surely wish to work with the best in the business this is why at least try to find out that the company you are considering to hire are AdWords certified, at least! This ensures that the company took out time to understand PPC advertising and they are more than willing to prove it to you by passing through Google’s AdWords program. Google’s AdWords program requires answering tons of queries and question on display and search advertising, the AdWords stand and approaches that lead towards a triumphant campaign management. Well, these certifications would eventually not bless you with cent percent competence, however, they sure do reveal that the company is professional and specialized enough to start with your PPC work.
Well the key point here is that certifications may not prove or promise competence, yet they do illustrate a sense of professionalism.
2. Long Term Contracts: NO WAY
This is definitely a crucial point to remember. There are so many agencies that will work towards locking you up in a 6 month to 1 year contract. Thus, you will feel trapped and clueless as you will not be able to wither or move ahead after around 2 to three months, as results from your campaigns will eventually drop and you are left confined to a contract. Many of them work this way and they well, have a plan behind working out this way. The resources and cost to start with a new account is generally huge and there are several agencies that do not make a good amount of money unless they bind a company for several months. In fact, clients will get to visualize a better return initially and agencies will notice it at a later stage.
This is why you need to consistently, month after month ask companies to prove you with results and if they are not successful, you must have the right to fire them as and when you wish to.
3. Everything should be kept close to you:
When you have to deal with landing pages, creative assets and AdWords accounts, it will wholly and entirely be YOURS! Or rather it should be that way. Quite often when companies hire any PPC agency for their campaigns they will notice that the results gradually start to decline, no sooner within 3 months since they join and consequently clients start hunting for new agencies. When they finally decide to move over to a new agency, assuming that all this while the AdWords account was entirely their own, they get jolted that they do not own either any account nor all the creative work from their PPC campaign! Tough, right as the company will have to again start fresh work, right from the scratch!
This is why always remember that when you start working with ay PPC agency, not only should you receive the best of PPC management, buy you must also try building creative assets the entire time, you are involved with the company. Secondly, when you give up AdWords account ownership to the hired agency, then they also gain the access to sell across your crucial details and information to any contender. Plus all your historical data gets scrapped off and you are probably left with nothing! Through all the campaigns and hard work, you probably by now know how vital and imperative is all your historical data and starting right from the start is entirely frustrating. This also means that you will again have to spend the same amount of money as well as your time to create all new data one again!
Thus key note here is, to never work with any agency that does not provide you with absolute administrative ownership over your AdWords account.
4. Transparency is much needed, in fact, a ‘Must’:
You definitely deserve absolute, unchanged transparency with regards to every little details related to your campaigns. It is instructed from Google’s end to share every performance metrics and cost data that is linked to Google ad campaigns. One of the most appropriate ways to have access to all your information is to maintain, right from the beginning, an all inclusive ownership over your account. If you do not have this ownership right, then the numbers that cross your eye from the third-party agency may either not be appropriate, precise or intentional. This is why keep note that the agency that you select for your PPC campaigns and work, must be ready to provide you with transparency regarding every ad account, all the expenses, landing pages and every detail of the performance indicator as a result of your PPC campaigns.
5. Your work is to hunt for efficient Strategists and not merely Account Managers:
With Pay-Per-Click management these days turning more into a commodity, there are several agencies that only work towards hiring account managers and they are not much working towards forming effective strategies which will eventually help the company to win a PPC campaign fruitfully.
Remember this will make a huge difference because it is equally necessary for an agency to keep coming across with strong strategies to carry forth with continual performance and development within the campaign. This is why you need to make sure that you check through properly so that the company you hire comes across with a continuous systematic approach and personnel in place so that you can gather prolific fruits from the delivered campaign.
