Of the hundreds of PPC agencies available, only a select few will be a perfect fit for your business. You may be wondering what the best way to narrow down the field is. Should you choose an agency that’s local to you? Should you automatically ignore all agencies that come way under budget? At iLeads, we work with a plethora of clients to provide successful PPC marketing. As such, we know exactly what businesses should be looking for when they are hunting for a good, reputable. There are few essential criteria that you may not even have considered!
Here are our top 7 tips to help you find the right for your business.
The last thing you want is an agency that claims to be the experts at everything. The phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none” is certainly applicable to the industry. There are many types of advertising with niche requirements, and it is near impossible to master them all and provide good results. Most agencies will specialise in a particular type of advertising. If you see just one specialty listed, then this is an excellent sign. Rather than spreading themselves too thin, the agency has honed their skills in one area. All you need to do is work out which type of advertising matches your objectives and goals, then find a that specialises in it. For example, at iLeads, we specialise in Search advertising - these are the ads you see at the top and bottom of page when searching for something on Google and Bing. Learn more about the different types of PPC advertising in our article What Are Google Ads? The Beginners Guide.
Keywords are, well, key. You should ensure that the you choose is skilled in keyword research, not just spending your budget on ads. It goes beyond just reading your website and targeting the keywords you are already focusing on for SEO. A good will understand which keyword types are the most suitable for your business, and not be afraid to dive into keyword research for you.
By budget, we are referring to your budget for ads and not your budget for the itself. Find an agency that can work with your budget size, so it’s a good idea to work out your budget before approaching any companies. If your budget is much smaller than average for the agency, you might not receive the attention you need as the agency focuses on their bigger fish. On the other hand, if your budget is too big for the agency, they may struggle to manage your account.
The fees of the itself is very important to consider. To make matters a little more complex, the types of fees that agencies charge can be vastly different. In general, PPC agencies charge fees one of two ways: • Fixed fee – the price is fixed and agreed up front. Usually this is based on the number of days per month you require account management, or another fixed figure e.g. hours spent working on your account. • Percentage fee – this fee is a percentage of your total ad spend. At iLeads, we prefer to use a fixed fee. Agencies that work on a percentage inadvertently incentivise you to reduce your advertising spend, which could be detrimental to your campaign and put you off using PPC altogether.
When you’re creating a shortlist of PPC agencies to work with, make sure you contact them and ask plenty of questions. You need to understand whether you can work with the agency, not just because they fit your budget, but because they are reputable, easy to contact, and responsive. Asking questions is also a good way to determine if they can genuinely deliver on your goals, or whether they’re just repeating a script and making empty promises. After all, you will be trusting the company with your entire PPC budget. Even if you don’t have any questions, throw one at the agency anyway to see how they react. At iLeads we’re happy to answer any questions you may have.
Responsiveness to questions is always good, but the best PPC agencies take it one step further and allow you real-time access to your ad performance. Even on a bank holiday or outside of office hours, you should still be able to see exactly how your ads are performing. The last thing you want to do is spend hours on the phone just to get an update. At iLeads we have an online portal which clients can log into at any time, 24/7, to view their current lead performance in real-time.
Although you want to have instant access to your data, ads and performance, you still need the expertise of the. A bad agency will just throw the data at you, while a good agency will provide reports to help you analyse the data and interpret the results. Regular reports from your agency to understand how your ads are performing is essential. At iLeads, we send monthly reports to our clients, giving a clear picture on how their paid search advertising is performing. With our fixed fee structure and 24/7 online portal, we are proud to offer our clients a higher level of control over their ads. Combined with our detailed reports, we can ensure that you know exactly what’s happening with your PPC campaign and follow us as we take the steps to success.
Learn more about our services via our website, check the blog for helpful guides, and don’t hesitate to get in touch!
