Hiring the best pay per click advertising company is relevant for any business, no matter its size or niche, because 64% of people who use Google to search for an item to buy, click on Google Ads. Bear in mind that Google gets about 100 billion searches a month. It’s safe to assume that someone will look up your product/service eventually. Having a PPC ad running on GoogleAds will go a long way towards converting this prospective customer.
Whether you choose to run your ads on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, or all those networks and more should depend on your target audience. Surveys show that businesses make about $2 for every $1 they spend on AdWords and 65% of B2B companies made at least one client from LinkedIn ads.
However, you must understand that launching and managing a PPC campaign isn’t easy. If you want to succeed, you’ll need the assistance of the best pay per click advertising company. To find one you must understand what defines excellence in this field and know how to assess a business for those qualities. Hiring this type of agency is similar to how you hire a search engine marketing firm, but with a few special questions in the mix.
How to Choose the Best Pay Per Click Advertising Company: 20 Helpful Tips
1. Talk in person to see how you get along
Some might say that keeping business and personal matters separate is best. And they are definitely right in regards to most matters. However, this doesn’t mean that you don’t need to get along with the people you do business with.
You’ll be working with them for a while, as the best pay per click advertising company must be with you long-term. The quality of your personal relationship will definitely reflect on the overall efficiency of your collaboration. Remember that dealing with a marketing company of any kind means partnership, not a one-sided deal.
You must be comfortable enough with the company’s representatives to discuss your wishes and needs with them. You will also need to go to them for help and explanations at some point, so personal comfort is a must. Even if you interact through digital means only, ask for a video conference or at least a chat. Then, you’ll be able to discuss your advertising objectives and get a feel for the people you’re thinking of working with.
2. Take a look at their portfolio
The best pay per click advertising company will definitely have a portfolio on their website. Like the Portfolio Grid from Algocentric, it must feature all their most prominent work. The portfolio not only gives you a better idea of the firm’s ability, but also builds up trust. It serves as direct proof, that the company has done this before and succeeded.
3. Ask about the agency’s qualifications
A portfolio is good proof of experience, but certifications are the evidence of professionalism and skill. Check if the company is on the list of Google Certified Partner agencies or ask about any other certifications they have. This field is vastly unregulated, so there isn’t any certificate vastly superior to others. So, you can just inquire about this paperwork and research the information you get in the company’s reply.
4. Talk ownership and access to accounts
Ask two essential questions:
- Who will own your Google AdWords account?
- Who will have access to your Google AdWords Account?
You must be the owner of the account and in charge of all billing. The agency can either guide you through the steps of setting up an account or create an account for you using their My Client Center (MCC). In the latter case, be sure to check if you are the official owner and save the login and password information. This way, you’ll be able to access the account anytime you want to check the account history.
Google accommodates agencies with MCC and other solutions and the best pay per click advertising company will definitely use them. Reviewing the account information and history on occasion will allow you to make sure, that there are no hidden fees or extra charges.
The agency will most likely ask you not to make any changes to the account to make sure that your PPC campaign is well-tuned. However, they must never deny you access to it or any of the information in the history.
5. Ask about what happens after the click
The difference between a good and the best pay per click advertising company is that the latter will look beyond the click. This means that the company should do its best to help you with conversions, not only with launching ads.
If the agency specializes in PPC only, they might not have the knowledge or tools to help you optimize the landing page. However, they might be able to offer advice or at least refer you to a reliable service that can help.
You can get some inspiration from the landing pages of successful businesses, like Unbounce, iMPACT, and Bills.com. Discuss these or your other ideas with the agency and see how they can help incorporate them into your advertising campaign. All these questions will help you evaluate the company’s skill and decide if you want to trust them with your business’s promotion.
6. Discuss reports and transparency
The best pay per click advertising company must be 100% transparent and honest with you. They must provide you access to all information about how they manage the money you invest in ads. They also must provide you with regular reports so that you can assess their efficiency.
Choose KPIs you want to track with Google Analytics in order to assess the efficiency of PPC campaigns.
7. Outline your goals and ask their opinion
You might set the campaign goals yourself, but the best pay per click advertising company should offer advice nonetheless. Discuss this matter and ask for explanations if the agency claims your goals are unachievable. Remember that these experts have more experience and might be more realistic.
If you don’t have defined goals yet, the company should help you set them by asking questions like:
- Where do you want your business to go?
- What do you think you need to get to that point?
- What is your competition?
- What are your expectations from PPC?
8. Consider your long-term goals and growth
Thinking long-term is a mark of not only the best pay per click advertising company, but any marketing agency. Even if you only hire a PPC firm to manage one campaign, they must design it in a way that will pave the way for future campaigns.
If the company only discusses short-term goals and actions, they lack professionalism.
9. Discuss your routes of communication
Sending email reports and using a messenger app for any quick discussions should be best. The frequency of reports is for you to set, but a monthly meeting for a detailed discussion and bi-weekly email reports will work well.
Talk about which apps you’ll use and the best times for communicating. The best pay per click advertising company must be willing to accommodate your schedule.
10. Outline the terms of your working relationship
Discuss all the details relevant to your partnership; from responsibilities and rights to the person who will be your contact. You must agree on every detail. Otherwise, you’ll just develop problems in the future.
If the company is being shifty on some formalities, like obligations, search for a better firm.
11. Ask for a detailed breakdown of their service
This has to do with the transparency that the best pay per click advertising company must show. They must provide you with a detailed outline of the campaign and explain how it benefits the long-term strategy.
This information must include a full breakdown of all costs.
12. Set your goals and have them documented
It’s not enough to discuss your goals. Once you are set on them, you must include them in the contract. Be as direct as possible, for example, documenting the number of leads you want to generate throughout the campaign.
The best pay per click advertising company is trustworthy. Therefore, it will not only agree to your goals orally, but sign a paper with them outlined as well.
13. See if they think critically
Critical thinking means analyzing the matter from all angles to find the most efficient solution. You can assess the PPC agency’s critical thinking skills by asking them specific questions.
For example, ask to work out a problem of how to achieve a set number of clicks for an ad to a specific product. Or, you can look at an existing popular ad and ask for an analysis.
Example:
This FreshBooks ad is good because it has a compelling message for a clearly defined target audience. It also has a catchy visual and overall pleasant design.
14. Gauge how proactive the agency is
Does the agency offer suggestions and ideas on how to improve your campaign? Does the company take initiative in explaining the pros and cons of various methods?
Assess the level of the company’s activity during your interview as this is the best idea you can get at this point. You can also ask for references and discuss this matter with their other clients.
15. Evaluate the company’s passion for PPC
Passion for their job is what differentiates a worker from an ace in the field. The agency you hire must know and love what they do as this means they’ll provide better results for your business.
Psychology tells us that people love to talk about things they are passionate about. Evaluate this during your initial interview when discussing PPC.
16. Talk about innovation in Pay Per Click advertising
Ask the company what solutions they use and how they introduce innovation into their work. The best pay per click advertising company will follow the trends not only in PPC but in marketing as a whole.
They must be able to explain how they improve their practices, using examples from the recent changes in Google trends and policies. Talk about things like Accelerated Mobile Pages, animated ads, and other innovations that boost advertising.
17. Discuss PPC trends and their implementation in your campaign
The leading trends of 2017 are Expanded Text Ads and Click-to-Message Google Ads. Using Facebook advertising services is also imperative for business promotion today. There might be more niche-specific tricks that the best pay per click advertising company must know.
Do your research beforehand so that you can assess how well the agency fares in this discussion.
18. Ask how the agency stays up to date
Be sure to discuss whether the company complies with the Google Ads advertising policies and other regulations. These rules change all the time and other PPC-relevant changes are introduced regularly.
Find out how the company follows this news and check up on the latest info yourself. Bring it up during your interview to assess the proficiency of the agency’s representative on this topic.
19. Study the contract
After everything has been discussed, take a close look at the contract. Be sure to have your trusted legal expert go over it as well. You must make sure it has no hidden fees or loopholes.
Never rush this step and if the company doesn’t allow you the time to go over the fine print in detail, you should get suspicious.
20. Discuss the terms of contract termination
Things happen and contracts get broken. No matter what happens, you must be sure your interests are protected in this case. The contract must outline the exact situations that call for breaking the agreement. It also must outline compensations in case one of the parties breaks the rules or wants to terminate early.
Discuss with your lawyer what a reasonable compensation should be in this case.
Choosing the Best Pay Per Click Advertising Company: The Bottom Line
Hiring the best pay per click advertising company can really make a difference for the success of your campaign. You just need to hire a trustworthy firm with a solid reputation. Reliability in this field is defined by transparency, professionalism, passion, and willingness to embrace innovation. Have a long and detailed interview with the agency to assess their skills, knowledge, and love for the job.
Contact us if you want to hire the best pay per click advertising company you can trust. At Algocentric Digital Consultancy, we guarantee a fast reply and top-quality service. Whatever your goal is, we will work with you to create a strategy that will help you achieve it. We’ll help your business grow using the most efficient PPC advertisement practices.
