PERSPECTIVE

Back to Perspectives

What Does a PPC Management Service Do?

A few years ago, pay-per-click (PPC) marketing was easy. Few people or companies participated. Plus, gaining exposure for your ads was a matter of bidding higher than your competitors. Paid search marketing is a completely different field today. Competitors can be found in every market, even many of the smaller, tighter niches. The top 3 PPC platforms (Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter) now employ stringent quality scores. Many paid search marketers have hired a PPC management service to build and manage their campaigns. Below, we'll describe what the best of these services offer to business owners.

Identify Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of an effective paid search effort. The right keywords can attract targeted buyers. The wrong keywords can quickly become a money pit, attracting high-priced clicks but resulting in few, if any, sales. Keyword research is an integral part of PPC marketing. A balanced blend of short and long-tail keywords should target your customers and encourage sales. Identifying these powerhouse keywords is one of the most important contributions of a PPC management company.

Organize Campaign Structure

The days of tossing hundreds, even thousands, of keywords into a single ad group are long gone. Today, your paid search campaigns must be structured in a way that makes sense. They should be organized intuitively. Each campaign should target a subset of a larger market with the accompanying ad groups drilling further into that subset. Many business owners lack the knowledge, ability, and patience to structure their PPC campaigns properly. A PPC management service will work closely with clients to identify markets and smaller niches within those markets. Then, they'll carefully assemble the pieces, organizing campaigns into an intuitive structure.

Create Compelling Ads

A keen eye and an understanding of marketing psychology is required to design effective paid search ads. The ads need to attract search engine users' attention and compel them to click. Most ads are designed poorly. An experienced PPC management service will write persuasive ad copy that grips your customers' attention and convinces them to click through to your website.

Build Landing Pages

Creating landing pages that convert visitors into customers is part art and part science. Creative eye-catching graphics, powerful headlines, and benefits-laden copywriting are each essential components. A PPC management service will customize landing pages based upon the paid search marketer's target audience. Plus, landing pages must be crafted with attention to the PPC platforms' respective quality scores.

Test, Track, Adjust

Each of the factors above requires an analytical approach. A problem in any one factor can sabotage the others. For example, compelling ads using the wrong keywords is a recipe for failure. Similarly, properly structured campaigns that use the right keywords and persuasive ad copy can still fail to generate sales if landing pages are designed poorly.

A PPC management service will track the effectiveness of each factor continuously. Benchmarks will be established and measured against. Bid prices, ad click-through rates, and landing page conversions will be tracked and analyzed. Many business owners choose to hire a PPC management service so they can outsource these tasks. They have the tools and knowledge to make quick adjustments in response to changing market conditions.

Can a PPC Management Service Help?

Paid search marketing will continue to become more competitive over time. The need for careful campaign analysis and management has never been greater. For those who lack the time, skills and patience required, a PPC management company may prove invaluable.



top