Tag: ppc management

ppc-management

What is PPC management?

Posted on | by Agency Partner
Expert Tips For What is PPC management?

PPC management is no easy task. Deep knowledge of advertisement strategies, their relevant platforms, and how to make ad bids only scratches the surface of role complexity. For those who need the highlights, we’ve got a handy guide to get you started understanding this important role of modern marketing campaigns!

So, What Is PPC?

PPC, or pay-per-click, is a part of online marketing where advertisers agree to pay a fee every time an ad is clicked. Pretty straightforward, right? It’s like buying visits to your site, which is important as organic reach is getting harder and harder to achieve in the ever-growing digital market. One of the most common types of PPC these days is SEM, or Search Engine Marketing, used to describe any advertising meant to help make searching for a certain website even easier. (This is an umbrella term that includes SEO under it.) PPC helps build brand awareness, highlight brand specs, and get quicker results from specific audience types. PPC services are a cost-effective tool as money is only spent by advertisers once the ad is clicked through rather than simply displaying the ad.

PPC ads go way beyond just a search engine results page or SERPs; you’ll see them on YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and even LinkedIn. Wherever a product or service has a target market, PPC ads are likely already there. This makes understanding and adjusting your business’ target audience data all the more critical. It also encompasses affiliate marketing, retargeting campaigns, paid search marketing, and price comparison advertising.

The PPC Manager

PPC management services like that of Agency Partner typically oversee the development & execution of ad spend on effective PPC campaigns to meet goals and ROI, both short and long term. They’ve got to be skilled at managing those budgets while also strategizing to build and bolster accounts & critical relationships. PPC services track metrics like view impressions, conversions, total sales value, and click-through rates to help strategize campaigns, optimize bid management, craft ad copy, and even more. With these metrics, they can also calculate the profit by subtracting total cost from total sales value.

Who uses PPC?

The two most popular PPC platforms are Google and Microsoft Advertising. Generally, industries like retail and travel spend the most on PPC, while consumables and home improvement spend the least. Text ads, mobile, and remarketing tend to be the most effective forms of PPC.

These platforms can help professional PPC management services do things like configure website traffic to support your ultimate business goals, whatever they are. PPC can benefit smaller businesses looking to scale up efficiently by offering granular targeting, access to immediate site traffic, comprehensive customizing, and quick results, all with a low entry barrier. Keep in mind that PPC campaigns do not boost your SEO rankings, though regardless, they can still connect your business to a much wider digital audience. PPC and SEO can work synergistically to create a cohesive marketing campaign.

What Does A PPC Manager Do?

  • Keyword Research

It’s almost impossible for a site to succeed without knowing what keywords users are searching for! Research is needed to know what to target and utilize when crafting ad copy for campaigns. For a smaller company’s campaign, targeting mid-tier rankings can be a wise option to gain an initial authoritative ranking before scaling as they grow, and it takes an intelligent PPC manager to know how to do that! SEMRush and Moz are excellent resources for analyzing keyword performance.

The biggest responsibility, though?

  • Campaign Creation, Monitoring, and Strategizing

Someone’s got to build out the ads, strategize bidding, set targets, AND optimize and monitor the campaigns! First off, a bid is the max amount of money an advertiser is willing to spend for each click on an ad, and the budget is the total amount to spend on this campaign. The bidding process works pretty much like a classic auction – Advertisers make a bid on an ad impression as long as the set budget won’t be maxed out, and the impression goes to the highest bidder. So that particular ad wins that spot on the page.

These auction bids are made autonomously, and PPC managers oversee their optimization. They’ll need to track campaign analytics daily and update bids as needed per those reports. If some targeted keywords in the ad copy are performing better than others, their bids should be increased ASAP. Conversely, the bids for keywords underperforming may need to be lowered, so the budget is fully optimized!

So How Do I Become A PPC Manager?

Being a PPC Manager is perfect for someone with analytical and creative skills, excellent communication, and especially time management – you may be leading multiple accounts at once between search ads, display ads, social media ads, and even e-commerce ads!

  • Start developing a deep understanding of what PPC is and how it works – you read this article, so you’re already off to a good start!  
  • Build strong copywriting skills – these will be important for creating effective ad copy.  
  • Take an online course or two to earn certification – we suggest the Googe Ads and Facebook Blueprint Certification.
  • Familiarize yourself with PPC tools – knowledge of Analysis, Google Ads Editor, SEMRush, etc. will be a big bonus when getting started.
  • Study industry trends and current best practices – we recommend the Agency Partner blog, not that we’re biased or anything…
  • Look for freelance and contract work to build your resume – everyone has a start from somewhere!

Feel a little overwhelmed? The role of PPC management is undoubtedly a big task, and the Agency Partner PPC Management team can take care of all of it for you. Head over to our Contact Us page to get started today!

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How Much Should You Pay A PPC Agency?

Posted on | by devops
Expert Tips For How Much Should You Pay A PPC Agency?

Let’s be real, search engine optimization (SEO) is a crucial component of modern marketing. But while rising up the ranks and getting to the top of the search results list may be vital to your success, it takes time. Sometimes six months or more before you start to see a return on your investment.

Thankfully, there is a more immediate option that can work on its own alongside strategic SEO. It’s called Pay-Per-Click marketing (PPC).

What is PPC Marketing?

Pay-Per-Click marketing is exactly what it sounds like. It is a form of Digital Marketing in which you pay a given PPC Agency per click you receive.

The way it works is straightforward and simple. Your listing comes up through chosen keywords before the organic search results on a search engine’s results page or appears on that engine’s vast network. When a user clicks on your listing, you pay your PPC Agency.

How Much Should You Pay a PPC Agency?

Before we answer the “how much” question, it’s important to be familiar with the different pricing models that PPC management agencies use for billing.

Here’s a brief overview of the three most common PPC pricing models:

  1. Percentage of Ad Budget Pricing

If you’re shopping for help with PPC, you’ll probably see a lot of agencies using a “percentage of spend” pricing model. Under this model, clients pay agencies a predetermined percentage of their spend on the ads that the agency is tasked with managing.

Good for: Companies with a larger or growing ad spend, given the percentage reduction that comes with a total budget increase. Many agencies that use this model will require minimum spending.

Not great for Smaller companies with tiny budgets. Minimum spends are often associated with this model, so if your budget isn’t big enough, you’ll likely be stuck with some hefty fees to make it worthwhile for the agency to work with you.

  1. Management Fee + Percentage of Ad Budget Pricing

Many marketing agencies will charge a management fee to cover overheads related to the PPC ad campaigns they’re managing for clients. 

Like the first example, this pricing model also uses the percentage of ad spend as its baseline, just with an additional fee.

Good for: Customers who want transparency and ultimate ownership of their accounts. 

Not great for Very low-cost accounts. Very small businesses are best served with automated platforms for which a pure percentage of spend makes sense.

  1. Flat Fee Pricing

Some agencies will charge a flat, pre-determined fee after settling on a scope of work and calculating the static costs related to managing the client’s PPC campaigns. Some businesses prefer the straightforward nature of this model, so long as the activities and services included in the scope are clearly defined.

Good for: Relatively static campaigns and clients who want fixed expenses each month.

Not great for Dynamic campaigns. Many businesses are seasonal and/or use specials to drive business. In these cases, both the management burden and the ad-spend will need to be more flexible.

Now that you know the different types of PPC models answering the question of how much you should spend on a PPC agency is simple, how involved do you want to be?

Are you a small-to-mid-sized business decision-maker who simply wants to see a lift in inbound leads from activities like PPC? 

For decision-makers on this scale, the minute details can be tiresome and pull you away from more pressing concerns.

If this is the case, a pricing model based on a percentage of your ad budget probably makes the most sense. 

But, if you’re looking to tinker and get hands-on with your PPC ad budget and campaign, you’ll want to look for agencies that itemize their services so you can carefully manage your budget.

Examine your business model, think about your personal preferences, and how aggressive and hands-on or conservative you want to be.

The choice is solely up to you.

As the old poet and philosopher Titus Maccius Plautus once said, “you have to spend money to make money.”
Most important, as with most things in life is communication. it is crucial that you as the decision-maker and the PPC Agency.

You choose are on the same page.

Ensure that your goals and overall marketing objective is clear and understood by everyone involved. Without proper communication PPC and any other marketing will be ineffective.

Marketing is challenging, it takes specialized knowledge and expertise to build a campaign properly targeted to your audience. Let Agency Partner help you now and get the arrow pointing up on your website traffic, clicks, and conversion rates. 

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