5 Reasons to Pass the PPC
Written by: Eric Modracek, SEM/PPC Marketing Strategist
Pay-Per-Click Advertising Is Intimidating, to say the Least.
For years, business owners have been struggling to create and maintain their digital footprint with no real training or expertise, and they’ve done a pretty okay job at it. But, are you satisfied with pretty okay?
Did you know that more than 81% of shoppers perform online research before they make a purchase? And, more than 60% begin by using a search engine to identify the product they’re searching for and where to find it.
In the competitive landscape that is search engine marketing, it is not worth the risk of losing your potential customers because you tried to DIY it. Not convinced? Read on for the top 5 reasons to pass off your PPC to a full-time professional.
#1: Time
Time is the greatest commodity to a business owner. Some search engines make it easy to set up a PPC account on your own, and even make the maintenance of a campaign seem manageable. But while things may appear simple enough in the beginning, PPC is actually quite complex.
In life, we often pinch pennies by mowing our own lawns and vacuuming our own home instead of hiring landscapers and cleaning services. PPC simply is not a scenario where you should tackle it yourself in an effort to save money.
With pay-per-click, you get what you put in. That is to say, the more time you spend analyzing data, finessing the strategy, modifying, and re-testing – the more effective your campaign becomes. In short, it remains a full-time job all by itself, and odds are good that your competition may already have someone dedicated to managing their campaign full-time (possibly even agency experts).
#2: Competition
You perform a Google or Bing search and can’t find yourself anywhere. To make matters worse, you spot your competition at the top of the results list. PPC is not only an effective branding technique, it’s also a reliable tool to drive leads to your website.
It’s more important than ever to show up in the top three spots on the results page. With 80% of shoppers performing searches on mobile devices, being in one of the top 3 spots is imperative. Picture it on your cell phone: after performing a search you are only physically able to see the top few results (the paid ones). So, if you’re not there, it’s likely people won’t even find you.
It’s valuable real estate. Can you afford not to be there?
#3: Trendspotting
Things are constantly changing online. Even if you took the time to set up a PPC campaign, and even if you had enough spare time to manage it, will you be able to constantly keep up with the ever-changing trends? A PPC expert lives in the online community and spends their days monitoring trends. So you don’t have to.
#4: You’ve got results, now what?
Knowing what to do with the results as they pour in is an art form in and of itself. An expert takes those results and applies best practices (and all the trends they’ve identified) to make informed, strategic decisions to improve your next campaign.
Getting a PPC campaign up and running is just the tip of the iceberg. How it’s optimized is the much bigger – and absolutely vital ‑ chunk floating under the surface.
#5: Know your industry
Sometimes this is the strategic piece that gets left behind. Each industry should handle their PPC accounts differently. There’s not one solution or rule that fits every vertical.
If you’re a dentist looking for new patients, that should be handled differently than if you’re an e-commerce company selling an ever-changing line of products. Are you a retailer looking to increase sales? Maybe you’re an auto repair shop competing against 50 other businesses all promising the same things?
Having a strategy to differentiate yourself from the competitors in your space is critical. An expert can help you focus on the best services or products you provide, generate leads from the optimal locations, come up with a winning bid strategy, then test your ads and weed out the wasted clicks that may come in.
For a dedicated PPC professional that lives and breathes in paid search, identifying trends and opportunities is like a sixth sense. They drive efficiencies on your behalf, send traffic to your website over your competitors, and then tweak and improve on a fine-tuned cycle. Sound overwhelming? Don’t worry, I know a guy.