What You Need to Know Before Hiring a PPC Expert: A Comprehensive Guide
Should you hire a PPC expert or do it yourself? This is one of the biggest dilemmas that digital marketers face when considering leveraging the potential of pay-per-click advertising.
There is no denying that PPC advertising is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing today. And why not! 1/3rd of online users (33%) click on a paid search ad because it answers their search query directly. By targeting the right audience at the right time and with the right message, Pay-Per-Click advertising helps increase brand visibility and drive qualified leads.
Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing between DIY PPC campaigns and hiring a specialist, the former delivers proven results because they have vast industry knowledge and skills. However, with hundreds of new PPC professionals mushrooming every day, it might be difficult to know who is right for your business.
Hiring a PPC expert requires good homework. And this comprehensive guide will help you choose right. So, let’s dive in.
Why Hire a PPC Expert?
Are you already using PPC, but not getting exceptional results? Do you lack the time, skill, and resources to drive your per-per-click campaigns?
Hiring a professional PPC specialist can render a wide range of benefits as discussed herewith:
- A PPC Specialist is an Industry Expert: It isn’t just their industry knowledge and experience that make them an expert. They also have access to effective tools and resources that make them an ideal choice for specialized PPC campaigns.
- Effective Keyword Research: In-depth keyword research is essential for PPC success…something that specialists have mastered over their years of experience. Unlike when you do it yourself, PPC experts spend significant time in keyword research, identifying and bidding on the right keywords that can help improve the visibility of your ad and drive higher clicks. They use advanced keyword research tools that would otherwise cost significantly when you do it yourself.
- PPC Account Setup and Campaign Settings: Setting up a PPC campaign can be complex, especially because search engine algorithms continue to evolve rapidly. Only an experienced PPC specialist has the skill to target your campaigns efficiently, improve ad visibility during major timeframes, and reduce costs.
- Effective Campaign Tracking: PPC campaign tracking and analysis is crucial to derive actionable insights and improve performance to generate better results. It requires analytical and technical skills, in addition to in-depth knowledge of PPC advertising. Hiring a PPC expert will enable you to focus on your core business, while they will take care of delivering PPC results.
- Stay on Top of the Latest Changes: Another reason why you should hire a PPC specialist is they continuously upgrade their knowledge and skills to keep pace with the fast-changing world of digital marketing. There is always something to try and test. Staying on top of these PPC trends and leveraging it for your business can help optimize the campaign better.
So, unless you have prior experience in doing PPC yourself or got ample time in hand, you should consider hiring an expert who can efficiently handle all aspects of pay-per-click advertising and deliver quality results.
Key Responsibilities of a PPC Expert
So, how a PPC specialist can help optimize your pay-per-click campaign and improve ad performance? What are their primary roles in PPC advertising?
Typically, a PPC account manager is responsible for strategy making, designing, implementing, and analyzing ad performance. It is a complex task and requires unique skillset to achieve success in a PPC campaign and drive increased ROI. Some of the key functions of a PPC expert include:
- Keyword discovery: For a PPC specialist, it is crucial to understand how online users search for a product or service. They will keep up with the latest trends, perform keyword research, and test different combinations to identify what works out for the best.
- Competitor research: For a successful PPC campaign, it is important to know what your competitors are doing. And that’s where a PPC expert comes into the picture, identifying the keywords your competitors are getting ranked for, their ad positioning, creatives, etc.
- Landing page optimization: Landing pages play an integral role in engaging your traffic and inspiring them to buy. A specialist in PPC advertising will optimize your landing pages using the right keywords, SEO metrics, and content that ensure improved conversions.
- Managing ad spend and bidding: They have expertise in bidding on high-potential keywords that will deliver a higher click-through rate, but without breaking the bank.
- Campaign optimization: A PPC expert will continuously tweak the ad campaign and make necessary changes to attract more traffic.
- Tracking, reporting, and analysis: PPC professionals track key performance indicators like traffic, click-through rate, cost per click, return on ad spend, etc. They will analyze this critical data and convert it into meaningful insights to optimize campaign performance.
Overall, they are responsible for the entire PPC ad campaign, right from the start to the end.
5 Questions to Ask Your PPC Expert
Before you hire, here are five important questions to ask that will help you choose the right PPC partner:
#1: Are you a certified PPC expert?
Being certified in Google AdWords or Bing Ads indicates the person’s proficiency and skillfulness in PPC advertising.
#2: How would you help improve my Google Quality Score?
You should investigate the person’s expertise in handling various aspects of Google AdWords, including Quality Score, Ad Rank, or bidding. They should guide you through definitive steps they will take to improve your overall PPC performance.
#3: How do you perform keyword performance?
Since high-potential keywords are a powerful element to attract qualified leads, it is crucial that the PPC expert uses advanced keyword research tools and proven methodologies.
#4: How do you create an ad copy?
Make sure a PPC ad copy includes the following elements:
- Targeted keywords
- An attractive and thought-evoking headline
- High-quality, engaging, and relevant messaging
- A powerful call-to-action
#5: What are the strategies you adopt to optimize a PPC campaign?
A good PPC specialist will practice a combination of methods to improve overall campaign performance – competitor research, landing page optimization, keyword optimization, testing new ad copies, continuous monitoring or key metrics, reporting, and analysis.
Conclusion
A good PPC expert will run efficient PPC campaigns on search engines, social media, and other platforms to drive increased conversions and higher revenue for your business. Make sure you keep the above factors in mind to choose the right PPC agency that can deliver quality results.