Google Adwords Guide

PPC Management: In-House vs. Outsource

Noble Webworks is a full service digital marketing firm, and one of our flagship solutions is PPC management. As such, you might assume that when it comes to advising you on whether to manage your business’s PPC program in-house vs. outsource, that we’ll obviously say the latter. Except we don’t!

More important than our bottom-line is being honest and transparent, and that means it may indeed be beneficial for you to bring your PPC management in-house. To help you make this determination, here are five critical questions to answer:

1. Do you have experience creating a marketing strategy that defines how your products and services align with your marketplace, and each of your buyer persona types?
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2. Do you have experience with all three PPC platforms, namely Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Yahoo Search Marketing?
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3. Do you have an in-house digital marketing team that has the capacity, budget and technology to build, monitor and optimize multiple PPC campaigns, which includes (but is not limited to) ongoing keyword research, ad split testing, landing page optimization, and marketplace competition analysis?
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4. Do you have the latest analytics and reporting tools to get the actionable intelligence you need to make rapid and accurate data-driven decisions on everything from ad copy to demographic micro-targeting?
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5. Do you have the accountability framework in place to ensure that you can regularly monitor performance, confirm strategic direction, and verify ROI?

If you answered “yes” to all five questions, then there is a good chance that you can effectively run your PPC management in-house. However, if you answered “no” to any question, then outsourcing your PPC management is in your best interest. You’ll save money and time, and get far superior short and long-term results.

Adwords Advertising - PPC Guide

It’s a highly profitable business goal: you want to get on page one of the search engine rankings for your most important keywords (a.k.a. search terms). Unfortunately, this worthy objective is shared by many of your competitors, which could include large enterprises with multi-million dollar search engine marketing (SEM) budgets. Fortunately, you don’t have to throw in the towel or fly the white flag of surrender!  

That’s because there is a practical, proven and affordable way to stand out and get noticed on the search engine landscape: invest in pay per click advertising. Let’s start by looking at the key benefits of this winning strategy.

PPC Advertising Benefits

1. Zoom to Page One

The most important advantage of PPC advertising is that it allows any business — including new and small firms — to zoom straight to page one of the main search engines, which are Google, Bing and Yahoo.

It doesn’t matter if your competitors have spent thousands or millions of dollars on search engine marketing, or have been in the game for years or even decades. With PPC advertising, as long as you’re willing to pay the going rate for various keywords — which can range from under $1 to over $20 — then you’re virtually guaranteed to show up on page one.

2. Total Budget Control

As you may have experienced, a big problem with conventional offline marketing is that budgets can easily run out of control. Often, when the dust settles on a campaign, promotion or event, the final bill is significantly — and shockingly — higher than expected.

With PPC advertising, this financial nightmare doesn’t exist. That’s because you can tell the search engines exactly how much you want to spend per day, week, month, and so on. You can also choose whether to pay when web searchers click your ad, or based on how many times your ad appears (i.e. pay per ad impression). Either way, there is no risk of going over budget.

3. Smaller Budgets are OK

Speaking of staying within budget: unlike conventional offline marketing where campaigns typically start in the 5-figures and often exceed 6-figures, you can certainly reap the rewards of PPC advertising with a budget of less than $2,000 a month. Of course, higher spend levels are even better, but you aren’t excluded from the PPC party simply because you aren’t one of the major players in your marketplace.  

Plus, if you have a small budget and want to dive right in to the PPC world with minimal time involvement on your end, then the Noble Webworks PPC Starter Package might be exactly what you need. Contact us for more details on whether this option is right for your business at this time.

4. Customized Campaigns

When it comes to acquiring new and profitable customers, generic one-size-fits-all marketing campaigns are out, and customized micro-campaigns that target specific niches and buyer personas are in.

PPC advertising fits perfectly into this strategy, because you can control virtually every aspect of your ads: what it says, who sees it, when they see it, how they see it (i.e. desktop, mobile or both), and so on. You can also run your ads in various sequences and rotations depending on the time of day, day of the week, etc. For example, you can have a different ad run on weekdays vs. weekends, and gear ads to seasons or special events.

5. Connect with Motivated Customers

So-called “interrupt marketing” like billboards, TV commercials, radio spots and bus advertising target your potential customers at times when they may not be interested and motivated to learn more about your solutions.  

However, PPC ads are triggered by potential customers who are actively searching for what you have to offer. As such, the overwhelming volume of traffic that your ads pull to your website, social media pages, landing pages, or any other digital properties is comprised of qualified leads. Your sales team will be thrilled!

A Word About Google

Google is by far the dominant search engine, and commands about 70-80 percent of all search traffic. Naturally, it goes without saying that Google is a very big part of our Pay Per Click Advertising focus. However, as you’ve noticed above, we also include Bing and Yahoo in the mix. Why is this?

The reason is simple: although they represent about 20-30 percent of search traffic, Bing and Yahoo are legitimate search engines and, in some markets and industries, they are increasing their footprint. That means they should ideally be part of your PPC advertising surface area, since your goal is to maximize your brand visibility and reach as many profitable new customers as possible.  

At the same time, we also know that keywords and campaigns that work well in Google don’t always translate over to Bing or Yahoo. They have their own nuances, dynamics, best practices and rules. We know what works for each platform, and just as importantly, we know what doesn’t!

Next Steps

To learn more about our pay per click advertising and PPC management solutions, contact us today for your free consultation. Discover how we can help your business reap the rewards of PPC advertising!