Pay-per-click (PPC) is a marketing method whereby advertisers only pay a fee once someone clicks on the advertisement. It’s a great way of inviting potential customers to your sight as you only pay for those that are truly interested and have clicked on your ad.

There are many different forms of PPC. One of the most popular is search engine advertising. The way this method works is by advertisers bidding against one another for a higher place in the search engine’s sponsored ads. For example, if you were to bid highest for the keyword “PPC advertising”, whenever someone searched for those keywords your ad would come up first in front of all others. It’s quite a well-known fact that most people don’t search past the third page usually when it comes to browsing through search engine results. So, if your ad isn’t appearing on one of those top positions there’s less chance of it being seen.

One of the best things about PPC advertising is that you only pay per click. What that means is that people can still read your ad without clicking and it won’t cost you a penny. Also, the ones that do click are the ones that are most likely to buy. So, yes, you may have to pay a nominal fee for the click, but if it results in a sale that’s worth hundreds or more, it’s certainly worth it. However, running a successful PPC management campaign isn’t as easy as it sounds. There’s a lot that’s involved in the process. Firstly, the right keywords have to be determined. Then, those keywords have to be sorted and organised into ad groups and campaigns. PPC landing pages will also need to be set up that are optimised for such conversions.

Search engine operators give discounts to advertisers who can come up with intelligently targeted PPC campaigns. So, by making sure your ad is enticing, useful, and satisfying to users, not only will you potentially gain more solid leads, but you’ll get them at a reduced price too. Now, the only challenge is to create the campaign. And while that is possible for companies to do themselves, many feel much more comfortable hiring a PPC agency to do it for them.

What does a PPC agency do?

A PPC agency will take over the whole PPC campaign for you from start to finish. They are experts in their field and know how to get results fast. A good PPC management agency will involve you in every step of the campaign so that you know exactly what’s going on and when. When hiring a PPC management agency for the first time, the agency will want to get to know the business just as much as the business wants to know about the agency. The first initial meeting will usually do this.

As soon as the agency is satisfied it has enough information to do the task at hand, and the business is happy with the PPC agency it’s chosen, the campaign planning will begin. Once the plans have been laid out and agreed by all, the build will commence. This could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. As soon as the build is complete, it will be looked over by the business owner to make sure that they’re happy with everything, the campaign will be launched.

However, as mentioned earlier, launching a PPC campaign is something you can yourself if you’re willing and able. And, sometimes, it will largely depend on the individual circumstances of the business as to whether hiring a PPC agency is the best move for them. To help you decide what’s right for your business below are some of the advantages and disadvantages of hiring a PPC agency:

Advantages:

• Expertise: PPC agencies run these types of campaign day in day out, so essentially you are paying for this expert knowledge. There is a lot to learn when running a PPC campaign including keyword matching and bid adjustments and unless you have the time to learn all of these aspects you may be better off leaving it to the experts.
• Accessibility: The agencies also tend to have access to other SEO and PPC tools that individuals wouldn’t normally get access to. Using these as part of your PPC campaign will help enhance your business even further.
• Availability: It's not just the building of a PPC campaign that takes time; maintaining it is also an ongoing task. Keeping up with the latest changes and evolving your campaign is essential to it running effectively.
• Measurability: PPC agencies are au fait with measuring the success of a campaign and they do this through the extensive use of analytical tools. They’ll be able to tell you exactly which parts of your campaign are doing well and which to consider changing.

Disadvantages:

• Cost: PPC agencies don’t come cheap as typically there’s more than one person involved in managing your campaign. Most agencies employ teams consisting of everything from finance to HR to directors, and it’s the clients who end up paying for this.
• Communication: It will take time to communicate to someone else your exact ideas and what it is you want to gain from your PPC campaign.
• Inconsistent quality: With PPC agencies, they often employ a large number of staff members and you cannot be sure that you’ll always have the same person working on your campaign. People differ in their expertise and what the person before may have excelled in, their replacement may not be quite so good.
• Location: PPC agencies are growing in number, but still, the chances of one being located near you are very slim. And while you can still, of course, talk via the telephone, Skype or email it’s not quite the same as getting together and working things through.