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I typically get asked about once a week what pay per click management entails as more businesses are getting weary of where their management fee’s are going towards. This isn’t too surprising given the shear amount of companies entering the online PPC arena and want a piece of the action. However, sometimes I’m just dumbfounded by some of the crazy offers i hear such as “We’ll manage your PPC for only $200 a month…no minimum spend required!” If i was was a business owner working with an online marketing company, I guess I would wonder if these claims are true too as well as have some doubt as to how difficult PPC management actually was.

But the straw that broke the camels back for me, just happened a couple of weeks ago when i spoke to a rather large “phone company” that was offering to do PPC management for a guaranteed fixed price per click…which was of course was lower than what one of my clients was paying. What made it extremely difficult to stomach was the fact that the offer wasn’t based on performance, but rather clicks with no gauge to measure the quality of legitimacy of the traffic. But even worse, they proceeded to tell me that they were able to buy it cheaper because of their company’s size and that they had “special arrangements” with the search engines to get better rates.

In case you are new to pay per click advertising, let me start by saying that the above statement is completely false. If you don’t believe me, call major search engines and them yourself. Additionally, pay per click bid rates are not just a function of how much you bid, which also shouldn’t be the cornerstone of your management strategy in the first place.

To put it simply, PPC Management encompasses one goal and that is achieving the highest ROI output given a fixed input. Unfortunately for those that guarantee clicks or just manage bids, this is a difficult goal to achieve. Namely, PPC management entails the following additional important variables:

1. Campaign and account structure- a significant element in how relevancy scores are determined for ad groups and keywords (these are core drivers that reduce your cost per click under a fixed bid)
2. Website content- the next part of the equation and even more important in my opinion is your websites landing pages. Not only do they directly influence your PPC cost per click, but they have direct impact to how well your website converts. If your proposing PPC company is unable to create effective content for your PPC traffic to land to, that should be an immediate sign to steer clear and go with a company that really understands web marketing.
3. Web Analytics- web analytics are absolutely crucial in determining your PPC advertising strategy is effective. Not only will it allow you to precisely measure your action rates, but it will also allow you to identify poor performing traffic that the engines cannot provide.

I’ll argue with any search engine marketer that managing PPC is still one of the most difficult mediums online. Be very weary of firms that offer the inexpensive rates just to get your business without making any claims to fame in regards to results. Lastly, when it comes to PPC management, there is a significant amount of knowledge and skill at work. If you are planning to do it yourself or hire a firm, be sure to familiarize yourself with the above key components and gauge capability accordingly.