Maintaining a highly ranked website or blog may seem like a full time job. It is in fact quite demanding. This is why hiring professionals to take care of it while you take care of the core business makes sense.
Google AdWords in particular can be very time consuming if you’re not familiar with the platform. Or even worse, if you set up an AdWords campaign and then ignore it, you’d potentially be throwing money away by not having your campaign properly optimized and maintained.
A certified Google professional will handle everything from planning and organization to on-going optimization and maintenance to make sure your money get put to good use.
The challenge may be in finding the right professional to handle everything. Asking the following questions to before hiring a Google AdWords professional will help you choose the best person or company.
6 Questions to ask Google AdWords professionals
1) Are you Google AdWords certified?
Google certification is only given only after an individual has passed their exams. Only scores of 70% and above warrant certification. Members of Google Partners also undergo quarterly training Google to ensure that their skills and knowledge are refreshed. The Google exams have evolved to cover not only the technical side of AdWords but also how to realize profits and growth from a website or blog.
2) How often will I get reports?
Most AdWords professionals will provide reports on a monthly basis. The main point of this question is to make sure the consultant you hire will keep you in the loop throughout the lifetime of your advertising campaign.
You’ll want to know data points like total ad spend, number of clicks, click through rate and number of conversions. You may also ask your consultant to calculate the cost per acquisition (total ad spend divided by conversions) for your campaign. This will ultimately help you determine the ROI of your AdWords campaigns.
3) How will updates to my website by handled?
A well-optimized campaign is only half the battle with AdWords. You also need a website that is optimized for converting AdWords traffic into leads. This means making adjustments throughout the site and building landing pages that correspond to specific ads in your campaign.
Before deciding on an AdWords professional, you need to be clear on how these website updates will be handled. Will the consultant make the updates themselves or will they work directly with your web developer or will you be required to handle them on your own?
4) Do you have a portfolio of clients with whom you have done the same work?
Experience is important. You want to be able to see and not just hear about what they can do. Take the time to call up or email the clients in the portfolio and ask about their experience with the person or company you are considering hiring. Most of them will give you candid answers.
You’ll also want to ask about whether the consultant has previous experience in your industry and what size budget they typically work with. Making sure they’re familiar with your industry means they’ll have a good idea of what keywords to start targeting. And knowing if they’ve worked with budgets similar to yours lets you know that they can effectively manage your money throughout each month.
5) What does your service cost and why?
Don’t just go for the lowest bidder. You expect professional services and good results, and you should be willing to pay for them. The quote you should be given should be broken down with a full list of features so you are clear about exactly what you’ll get in return for their management fee. The quote should also be based on experience and past performance in similar projects.
6) Do I need to sign a contract?
Some AdWords consultants require your campaigns to remain under their management for a minimum number of months. The primary reason behind this is because building a successful AdWords campaign is a process and can take a couple months before your campaigns become better optimized and really start driving results.
So if you come across a consultant who requires a 3 or 6 month minimum commitment, don’t be scared away by this, but do make sure you’re ready to pay their management fee and the agreed upon ad budget for the entire duration of this commitment.
