Questions to ask PPC consulting company

[muejl1]

I'm in the process of searching for a reputable PPC consulting company. If anyone has experience in what to look for, what to avoid........how the payment structure is typically setup......any shady companies to stay away from....etc? This info would be greatly appreciated......thanks!

[kbarrett]

I would think that one of the first things that you might like to ask is for evidence of their previous work. It's easy for any company to make claims about their performance (and seemingly low costs), but you'll obviously want everything substantiated. So you might ask for 3 or 4 references from them - that way, you can check out their previous performance.

Bear in mind that they (probably) won't put you in touch with disenchanted customers. So you might look for online reviews, although you need to be wary - are such reviews genuine? Could they have been created by competitors?

[daza1987]

I'm in the process of searching for a reputable PPC consulting company. If anyone has experience in what to look for, what to avoid........how the payment structure is typically setup......any shady companies to stay away from....etc? This info would be greatly appreciated......thanks!

Payment structures can be set up in different ways, some companies ask for up front fees but I would suggest you look for companies that offer payment on account performance.

[alanf]

For Google Adwords, look for a company with a Google AdWords qulaified individual, at least, and ideally a company that is a Google AdWords Certified Partner.

To become a qualified individual is a fairly easy task, in that it is an online exam for about $50, so there is no excuse for anyone selling PPC service not to be qualified.

Charging varies dependent on the clients needs, it can be a percentage of spend management fee, or sometimes a fixed fee, or it can be a results based fee, (CPA) the detail s of the fees depends on the specific circumstances, for instance it would be difficult to get a CPA deal unless you have a recognised brand of good quality track record of conversion analytics.

Management fees (percentage or fixed) will vary on the type of campaign and client, obviously there is a world of difference managing a campaign for a single product and say for the whole of Amazon.com.

Valid question to ask are
1. What reporting do you give to the client, and how often?
2. What process do you use to track Return on Investment (ROI)?
3. References (as previously mentioned)?
4. Ask the salesperson if you can talk directly with your PPC analyst that will be handling your account?

[sunil.PPC]

Here are five questions to ask prospective consultants are as:
1. Are you "Google Certified"?
2. Do you offer free assessments?
3. Who owns the account?
4. Are you simply doing an account setup or will you provide ongoing management of the account?
5. What are the deliverable, how do you measure success, and how familiar are you with Google Analytic?
Hope you found this list a good starting point. Write to me if you have any doubts.