Well, if you ask someone from a PPC management company if you should hire them to manage your AdWords campaign for you, they’ll surely reply with something along the lines of “Hellz yes!”.
But should you?
Do you really need to hire an AdWords agency instead of trying to manage your PPC campaigns yourself?
That’s exactly what we dig into in this article where we answer the questions:
Should you hire an AdWords company?
Should you manage your AdWords account yourself?
And we’ll also give you some tips that’ll help you improve your chances of success with AdWords no matter which way you go.
Why hire an AdWords agency?
Let’s first look at the reasons why you would want to hire a PPC agency.
1. AdWords Ain’t As Easy As It Looks
Maybe 15+ years ago, you could set up an AdWords campaign without really knowing what you were doing and do okay. Not anymore!
Google AdWords has gotten more complex and competitive. Which makes it very dangerous for newbies, who don’t know much about its inner workings, to go it on their own.
You can blow through a ton of money (dubbed the “AdWords Stupidity Tax”) VERY quickly if you don’t know how to properly set up an AdWords campaign. That Stupidity Tax can end up costing you WAY more than if you just hired an AdWords agency (who knows what they’re doing) in the first place.
2. AdWords Management is Time Consuming
In an AdWords campaign, you have to keep track of campaigns, ad groups, keywords, match types, ad copy, split testing results, click costs, bid prices, conversion rates, landing pages, search queries and much more.
In a decent size account, it can be a full-time job staying on top of all those things. And, if you’re running the business, you may not have enough hours in the day to properly manage AdWords and get to all your other daily tasks.
Better off turning things over to PPC experts to handle the heavy lifting for you.
3. AdWords Experience and Expertise
The knowledge a PPC management agency brings to the table from managing campaigns day in and day out can be a huge benefit. They should know the tricks of the trade, shortcuts (ie. AdWords scripts) and stay up on the latest PPC industry developments, etc. to help optimize your AdWords account in ways you might not be able to.
Why Manage PPC Campaigns Yourself/In-House?
Okay, not convinced? Okay, then here are some reasons to take on managing PPC yourself…
1. PPC Agency Fees Cut Into Your Margins
A good PPC management company ain’t cheap (nor should they be). And those fees will cut into your margins and may make an otherwise profitable AdWords campaign, well, not so profitable. A PPC agency needs to demonstrate that they are bringing enough value to justify their fees.
2. You Have a Small Budget
If you’ve got a small budget for a small campaign, it’s going to be hard to find a PPC agency or freelancer to manage things for you at a cost that makes sense. In a case like this, better to go it on your own (so long as you do your homework first and learn how do it right!).
3. If You’re a PPC Expert Yourself
If you’ve put in the time to learn how to do AdWords the right way and have the experience and expertise, you’re probably never gonna be happy with any PPC management company you hire.
So, if you’re a PPC rockstar, outsource other parts of your job and focus on managing your AdWords campaigns the way you want them managed.
4. Hiring the Wrong PPC Agency Can Be Disastrous
There are a lot of great PPC agencies out there. And there are some really horrible ones too. If you end up hiring a bad (or even mediocre) one, they can do more harm than good.
Tips For a Good AdWords Experience Whether You Outsource Management or Not
Whether or not to outsource PPC management to an agency ultimately comes down to a few factors:
- The size of your campaign
- Your budget
- Your level of expertise
- How much time you have to devote to it
If you do decide to hire an AdWords agency, I HIGHLY recommend you still take some time to learn the ins and outs of AdWords. This way you can work closely with the agency and keep tabs on what they’re up to.
I’ve generally found that when a business and a PPC agency can work closely together, the end results are way better than if you just leave the agency up to its own devices.
And, finally, no matter which way you go… make sure that your AdWords account is under a Google account that you own and control. You want to be able to see exactly what’s going on in there whenever you want!
