PPC advice

[Barryl@rd]

I have setup a 3D visualisation company that creates 3d computer graphics mainly aiming at architecture related services. Example being able to show realistic images of how a building or development will look before it has been built.

My question is regarding PPC advertising. I know my competition uses PPC so it is relevant to my indstry. However I was approached by yell.com who offered to manage a PPC campaign does anyone know if they are trusted? Some bad reviews online however they date from 2010-2013 are they good now?

They claimed to be able to to track clicks from keywords and be able to optimise the campaign they did go through keywords and show me the number of searches for each and the estimates of clicks per budget. Roughly 100 monthly clicks however just one conversion from that would more than pay for the campaign budget. Just worried the campaign will be poor, not generate sales and be a money pit. Anyone any advice on this?

Cheers

 

[Erno Horvath]

Yell is a large premium partner of Google and I don't want to comment this fact.
Once I've taken over an account that was managed by Yell.. and basically I needed to start a new account (not because bad of structure etc), but because I was given nothing from the previous campaign. What keywords & settings they are used etc. Maybe it wasn't the fault of Yell, but as I've seen yell uses their system to report the campaign.

So you won't have full access to your account and if you want to improve it (with someone else because you are not satisfied with the results) you need to start a new account again. In PPC, account history is very important this is how you can tweak & improve your campaign week-by-week. So I would pick someone who provide full access & the account & account history will be yours. ()

 

[Barryl@rd]

Thanks for the reply I'm put off by the fact that I would be tied to a contract with them for 12 months. I have not signed anywhere but have given details wonder if it's too late to back out?

 

[Tony Kelly]

If you haven't signed up, then it shouldn't be too late to back out. I've never had direct dealings with Yell so can't comment on that front - would do no harm to investigate further and perhaps speak with a specialist PPC firm for at least a second opinion.

I would agree strongly with Erno that you should have full access to your campaign (during and after any work they carry out), so you have full visibility on the history of your account.

If you have the option of managing it internally (if you are targeting an average of 100 clicks per month, you would probably end up spending more on consultancy fees than actually paid traffic!), some basic training may be a better investment (or looking at something like Wordstream further down the line, for example) as once the campaigns are setup and on budget, an hour or two per week should be enough to make the necessary tweaks and make continuous improvement. Not an option for all businesses, I know...

 

[Michael Wright]

I am only a small business and the figures quoted to me by Yell and other online campaign managers just wasn't going to happen so I went about researching doing it myself. What put me off Yell is that it was obvious that due to my small budget, my account was going to be passed over to some newbie, wrong of me to think so I know but I just imagined some fresh out of college/uni lad who had no connection to my product or industry or the real world of business. I may have touched lucky and got a megastar but it was just too risky. I researched online and found that Google had loads and loads of Youtube videos, blogs, the lot, bought about 3 books for my Kindle and got to grips with it, learnt a lot and the web page I setup gives me a full time living, everything I get, comes through google adwords. IMHO Yell is dying on its ar5e and they are grabbing on to "oh we know google like no else does, we;re well in with them", I disagree, I won't pay for another sales rep's mercedes or a big over the top flashy sit down for 4 hours presentations where they base their price on your turnover!

 

[SamLH]

they did go through keywords and show me the number of searches for each and the estimates of clicks per budget. Roughly 100 monthly clicks however just one conversion from that would more than pay for the campaign budget.

Its easy enough to say I just need 1 of those clicks but realistically how many clicks are you going to need to get a sale?

In my industry, we get about 120 visitors before we get an enquiry, then we have about 8 enquiries before we get to present the product, then we do about 3 presentations before a sale.

 

[garyk]

They claimed to be able to to track clicks from keywords and be able to optimise the campaign they did go through keywords and show me the number of searches for each and the estimates of clicks per budget. Roughly 100 monthly clicks however just one conversion from that would more than pay for the campaign budget. Just worried the campaign will be poor, not generate sales and be a money pit. Anyone any advice on this?

Cheers

So can you with google analytics and switching on search console. Not saying you know how or have the time but the bottom line is they are offering nothing special, just what is available to everyone.

My advice go with someone whose core business is PPC, not a defunct business directory desperate to latch on to other opportunities. My advice is get in touch with Steve (long time member on here but not around much these days) http://www.bothsidesoftheclick.co.uk/ who will do a much better job.

 

[lesliedocherty]

there's loads of PPC guys who will do a much better job than Yell, i can't imagine why anyone would want to go with them

 

[StevePoster]

PPC guys with proven experience to give real conversion for your business but first check the history of their achievements and success for your peace of mind.

 

[Tin]

As Gary mentioned above, get hold of Steve here - http://www.bothsidesoftheclick.co.uk/ - he'll not let you down.

 

[christian_d]

I'm amazed that no-one has asked about you PPC budget. So before you go running off to all these ppc providers, could I ask that you share this with us first please?

 

[Tin]

I'm amazed that no-one has asked about you PPC budget. So before you go running off to all these ppc providers, could I ask that you share this with us first please?

I didn't ask about his budget because...
1: His budget is his business not mine and...
2: I know Steve is flexible enough to work with pretty much any budget

 

[lesliedocherty]

I'm amazed that no-one has asked about you PPC budget. So before you go running off to all these ppc providers, could I ask that you share this with us first please?

He's already talking to a PPC provider, all we are doing is giving him some other options, i wouldn't share my PPC budget with a forum full of randoms or competitors, don't see why he would either.

 

[webgeek]

I've never based my budget on that of a competitor - interesting concept though.

FYI, the approach that's always worked has been to figure out your pain point, like a return of 2 GBP for every 1 GBP spent, then crank up the bids until you've maxed out the traffic and the law of diminishing returns kicks in and you hit that pain point.

If a client is spending 10% of the competitor or 10,000% - it all boils down to their return on investment.

As far as the OP goes, find someone who runs profitable campaigns not someone who touts the fact they're certified for x, y or z. All too many people know campaign mechanics but have jack experience when it comes to running profitable PPC programmes.

Will they segment based on proximity to major cities, income, interests, placements on tech sites, use remarketing, run ads only outside of 9-5, etc, etc. Ask some questions about their strategy and tactics, before you give them the go ahead. Segmentation and negative keywords can turn an absolute loser of a campaign into a cash cow.

 

[Website Design Ltd]

In my opinion, based on experience I have had with numerous clients, as a general rule the larger companies who offer PPC management tend to do quite a poor job, and as has been mentioned, allow you to only really see "results", not their "workings out".

We have taken over accounts from Yell, BT, and various other large organisations, and have found really poor results and sometimes a lack of conversion tracking and as Erno says, for anyone else to take over it is a case of starting again. So if you decide to move away from the provider, anything they have learnt about what works, and what doesn't, gets lost.

My advice would be:

a. If you feel confident, give it a go yourself. Especially if you are working with a small budget. But there is a lot to learn, and to do it right it can be a lot more that just picking some keywords and writing some ads.

b. Find a professional to talk to, using a company where you will get to talk to the professional, not a salesman, and get some advice, talk business, talk budget, talk strategy and try to work out what the best approach to take is for your business.

 

[lesliedocherty]

My advice would be:

a. If you feel confident, give it a go yourself. Especially if you are working with a small budget. But there is a lot to learn, and to do it right it can be a lot more that just picking some keywords and writing some ads.

b. Find a professional to talk to, using a company where you will get to talk to the professional, not a salesman, and get some advice, talk business, talk budget, talk strategy and try to work out what the best approach to take is for your business.

I felt confident, I kinda knew what i was doing, I was getting 'ok' results, then we gave it to a PPC guy to manage (small company that appreciated our business) and they transformed our results and subsequently transformed our business.
I can now concentrate on running my business, my guy emails me weekly, we chat monthly or sooner if need arises, and he does what i could never come close to doing.

 

[Website Design Ltd]

I would agree that 'b.' is certainly the recommended route, however I think what I was trying to get across was that if you do decide to give it a go, you need to really do your research.

When you pay a smaller company, where you get to speak directly with the person who has the expertise and will be doing the work, you are getting far more than a recent graduate tinkering with your keywords for half an hour, when they have just finished tinkering with someone else's. (Please excuse anything that could be misconstrued as an innuendo)

 

[Diamond Bookkeepers]

Does anyone have any good basic guides to SEO and PPC.

I have just set up my bookkeeping website and looking for help with what I can do to gain traffic to my site.