The Power of Effective Pay per Click Management.

There has been a lot of reporting lately surrounding two of the web’s biggest SEO marketers – Yodle and Reachlocal. Both are companies that have successfully positioned themselves as small business search marketing leaders.  But according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, many of their customers are expressing frustration on their inability to deliver on expectations.

The key issue for many of their complaints lies in how they manage Google AdWords.  Despite promises of personally overseeing accounts to better control advertising budgets, the firms actually utilize automation software to make changes to thousands of accounts simultaneously.  Thus making it difficult to monitor for problems related to optimization results. Furthermore, many of the sales team were not trained to troubleshoot account problems as they arose.

Considering that AdWords is an essential lifeline to many busy entrepreneurs, the temptation to go with an advertising management firm can certainly be great.  However, the selection of the firm should go beyond promises to proven results. Therefore, it’s up to the small biz owner to ask questions to ensure they are getting what they pay for.

Questions like, “how would you handle problems with my PPC account?” What steps will the company take to ensure we don’t waste our budget on ineffective keyword searches? How nimble are you to make account changes – even if it’s more than once daily?  As a micro-startup, will I be a priority?  If your PPC management team can’t answer those questions, then it’s definitely time to consider another approach.

Effective PPC advertising may be heavily dependent on statistics.  But the best PPC management firms are ones that recognizes that every client has unique needs.  Make sure you choose one that sees you as more than just a number.