One of the most common questions I get is "should we outsource PPC or do it ourselves?"
It's a good question, and my answer is that it depends. There are many factors to consider before determing whether or not to manage your PPC campaigns internally. Typically, I recommend considering the following:
- Do you have the time to manage the campaigns? Managing campaigns takes time. An agency will have people dedicating to managing campaigns and they'll be monitored throughout the day. PPC is not something you want on "auto pilot", so consider whether or not you have the time to effectively give to monitor the PPC campaign(s).
- Do you have the expertise to manage the campaigns day-to-day? Do you have the experience to determine ways to change the campaign to increase its performance? If certain words don't perform well, can you identify when new copy may make an impact? Can you identify if day-parting can help and how to do it effectively? Would you know how to respond to regional trends and manage it within the PPC tools?
- Do you have experience with the tools, strategies, etc.? Missing opportunities due to lack of knowledge and experience means you're leaving money on the table. Unless you're a VERY quick study or are willing to take a hit for the learning curve, you probably want to think wisely before deciding to do PPC in-house.
- What else is on your plate? Is this going to keep you from doing other things, such as selling search marketing internally, creating evangelists, coordinating the strategy, getting optimization changes through IT.
Based on the answers to these questions, you'll probably have a very good idea of what you should do. If not, feel free to drop me a line.
Have any other factors that should be on the list?
