Getting a professional to manage your PPC or Google Adwords campaigns is a great way of getting better results for less money spent - but there are dangers.

I’m going to show you 7 things you must ask before signing up with anyone.

There are many companies and individuals out there jumping on the “Pay Per Click Management” bandwagon.

Some of these people are making some great promises … on the surface … but when you look a little deeper, they seem to have more in common with snake oil salesmen.

I don’t want this post to be a big selling session for my services (which are great, by the way) but I have been alarmed at some of the unethical practices followed by some companies out there, so I’m going to give you 7 tips/questions that you can ask these people, which will weed out the charlatans from the genuine PPC managers who really know what they’re doing.

But first, here’s one company owner’s experience with almost being ‘taken in’:

I had this owner come to me via a colleague and ask my opinion on a group who were pestering him about doing his Google advertising (Google Adwords are a great idea, don’t get me wrong).

This group were promising that his advert would be on the first page of Google if they managed his account. First page on Google sounds great, right?

This isn’t hard to do … really! It’s no harder that getting an advert on the first page of your biggest city’s newspaper: you just pay a lot of money, and then you get your advert shown. Simple.

When I read through their 6 page terms and conditions document, I discovered that he’d only be on the first page when the money in his budget allowed (so he could be there for maybe just one day a month). Not only that, but this particular company has a clause explicitly stating that they didn’t guarantee to get any extra traffic to his website.

Listen up: The whole purpose of advertising online is to get more web traffic to your website. Why spend the time and money on it otherwise?

Anyway, advising this company (and having them decide to use my services in the end) prompted me to write these:

7 tips for choosing the best PPC or Adwords manager for your online advertising

1. They should run their own personal online advertising campaigns.

It’s one thing to play around with a client’s money, but nothing motivates an expert to stay at the top of their game like putting their own money on the line. (I’m constantly advertising for my own products and services online.)

2. They must run your campaigns with lots of keywords.

They should include as may keywords and phrases as your budget allows.  Any internet marketer worth their salt will know this. Using 3 keywords is just … dumb. (I might use 3 keywords as just a starting point and build from there.)

3. They should monitor your campaign results and progress regularly.Online advertising isn’t a ‘set and forget’ system. A professional should be constantly testing and tweaking the adverts and keyword selections. (I monitor keywords, adverts and the performance of pages of the website the adverts link to.)
4. They must have a performance guarantee.

If they don’t guarantee to improve your website traffic or lower your costs, you should get a refund. Simple. But make sure they don’t weasel out of it in their terms and conditions. (I have a 30 day ‘happiness’ guarantee. If you’re not happy with the increase in web visitors or a reduction of your costs, I’ll refund your money.)

5. They should be constantly learning new tricks for marketing.

The internet is changing all the time and what work well 6 months ago might not work so well now. A professional should be actively learning new tricks. (I personally spend hundreds of US dollars a month in training – just don’t tell my wife.)

6. They must research the best keywords for your particular business type.

Not all search keywords are created equal. They must also choose, or help choose the buying keywords for your products or services. Generally, using your company name or broad business type as keywords isn’t useful. (I’d rather have 10 buyers over 1,000 tyre-kickers any day.)

7. They must track everything.

They must be able to regularly tell your what the best performing adverts, keywords, phrases and website pages are. Everything needs to be tracked from the point where a potential customer clicks on your advert to when they buy or contact you for a quote. (I do this so I know what the buying keywords are, not just the ones that get lots of traffic.)

And here’s a bonus tip for you:

8. They should offer a service to increase your organic website rankings.

Adwords is a quick way to get more web traffic fast – within 24 hours. The great thing about online advertising this was is it lets you discover the buying keywords for your product. You can then do Search Engine Optimisation on your site to rank ‘organically’ for these keywords. (I’m not interested in wasting your money and effort optimising for keywords that don’t sell.)

So there you have it. Next time you’re contacted by a company offering to manage your PPC or Google Adwords advertising, ask them if they do these 8 things and you’ll have a much better idea if you’re dealing with a genuine and professional company.

If you don’t know why using online advertising is a good idea, stay tuned for another post on that topic soon.

But You can Learn how to Turn Your Website into a Place People are Happy to Stay (and Buy Your Services)

Now I haven’t actually seen your website, so how do I know this haemorrhaging is happening to you?

No, I’m not some kind of magician.

Well, studies indicate that when someone arrives at your website, you have less than 7 seconds to grab their attention and keep them there. You may even have as little as 3 seconds. That’s about the time it took you to read these last 2 sentences!

If you’re not telling those potential customers very quickly why they should stick around, they probably won’t. It is long known that a website’s homepage should answer the Who, What & Why Questions, yet very few sites actually address those questions immediately, directly and simply. They fluff around, mention ‘mission statements’ and use the word “we” a lot. And lose potential customers.

Does your website make this kind of mistake? Go and check it now … I’ll wait here

In my 16 years of web experience I’ve seen many, many website and very, very few do this right. Now the structure of a good homepage – and how to write one – would take too long to mention here but do make sure yours addresses those Who, What & Why questions.

Your customers will love you for it. Well, they will like you enough to stick around on your site longer, at least.

OK, here’s another question for you: What is the primary purpose of your website?

If you can’t answer that, how is a potential customer going to know? If you just want to have a ‘web presence’ (or brochureware site, as they’re known in the web design industry) because everyone else is on the web, that’s fine. But like those brochures that sit ignored on your receptionist’s desk, don’t expect your website to be viewed much either.

People have short attention spans and those are even shorter when on the web, so your website must be laser-beam focused on what you want to achieve with those potential customers. If the primary purpose of your website is to get potential customers to pick up the phone and give you a call, tell them to do it and give your phone number right there.

I am astounded by the number of sites which make it hard to find their contact details. Sure, this is often on the “Contact Us” page (and you’d better have one of these) but your phone number should really be on every page, in the header or in the footer, or both.

You could do worse than keeping the mantra “Don’t make my customers think” in your head when reviewing or creating your own site.

How easy is it to find your phone number on your website? Go and check it now … actually, finish reading this, then go and check.

As I mentioned in my previous post on How To Attract Local Customers via Google for Free, Google now shows local business listings for searches including a location. In that post I used the example search phrase “plumber auckland”. Google reports that there were over 6,000 searches per month in New Zealand for keywords related to “plumber” and almost 700 of those were people looking for plumber specifically in Auckland.

The numbers vary from industry to industry but does your website specifically target any of those groups of searching people relevant to you? If not, you should be. These are people who are searching the web for the answers and help you can give them.

What are you and your website doing to effectively capture a portion of those potential customers?

Have you thought about actively advertising with Google to capture those people and bring them to your website to sell your services to them? The Yellow Pages and traditional advertising is dying a slow death, by the way.

So if you know What the primary purpose of your website is, and everything on your site is geared towards achieving that goal and is customer friendly and focused, then  you’re already well ahead of the pack and ready for business in the 21st century.

P.S. If you’ve been thinking it’s time to update your website but aren’t sure where to start, here my blatant sales pitch: Take a look at my Website Warrant Of Fitness. It checks over 110 points on your website and gives you a full report on what issues need to be addressed.

It will save you time and money. Just recently an accountant had me check her ‘brand new’ website and I gave her my comments on what was required to bring it in line with what customers really want. The cost her web designer gave for ‘fixing’ her new site was almost the same as getting it built in the first place. Measure twice – cut once!

Had you noticed? Google has changed the way it shows search results for local areas. This is great news for local businesses – particularly those who are smart enough to take advantage of this new feature now.

In this article, you can learn how to make sure you’re included in your area’s free listing and also how to get a better placement.

Google Local Business Search Provides High Visibility in the Search Results

If you search for a business related term and include a location (ie “plumbers auckland”), the results will look a bit different from what you got in the past. Instead of jumping straight into ‘organic’ search results after the paid adverts, it now shows a map of the local area and up to 10 business in that area.

It also immediately displays the company names, website addresses, phone numbers and an indication of any customer reviews. This is great exposure!

A customer can also get direction stright to you by clicking on the map to jump intoGoogle Maps mode.

As you can see, if your business gets listed prominently on Google local search results, you will usually appear before businesses competing to be number 1 in the organic search results. This can bring you many new clients every month.

How to Get Listed in Google Local Business Center

Adding your listing to Google Local Business search results is very easy. Just follow these step by step instructions and your listing could be online within 48 hours.

Step 1: Log in

• Navigate to http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
• Log into your Google account (or create one if you need to)
• Click “Add new business” button

Step 2: Create Your Listing

• Enter your Country, Company/Organization name, Street Address, City, etc.
• Add your Phone, Email address, Website address and Description.
• On the right a preview window will display your listing and location.
• After you have entered your information click the “Next” button.

Step 3: Add or Claim Your Listing

The next step is to “Add” or “Claim” your listing. If Google already has a listing for your business, you will have the option claiming the current listing or adding the listing you just entered.

In this example, this is a new company, so I’d click the “Add Listing” option.

To claim the listing, click “Claim” and follow the instructions. Google will verify your listing by calling the phone number you entered. Answer the phone and type in the pin number listed on the screen.

You can also verify your listing by having Google send a postcard with your pin number to your address. Follow the verification instructions on the postcard. It’s not junk mail, so don’t throw it away!

Step 4: Add Some “Flair” to Your Listing

Once your listing has been verified, you will be able to provide additional information. Be sure to add the Category of your business, your Hours of Operation, Payment options, additional Details (such as parking instructions, etc.)

Add some flair to your listing too! Google Maps will allow you to add up to 10 photos and 5 videos.

Note: Once you connect your listing to your Google account, you can log into the Google Business Center any time to edit your listing and add photos or videos.

Success!

The result of a well-optimized Google Local business listing is top positioning on Google and the Google Maps system with a personalised listing including your business name, address and contact information.

Step 5: Optimize Your Listing to Get to the Top of the List

Google gathers business information from numerous websites (online Yellow Pages directories, and other sources) to populate Google search results. Yes, you can easily enter your business information into the Google Local Business Center for free, but to be listed at the top of the list you’ll need to optimise it. This is similar to Search Engine Optimization in that you’ll need to get your website listed on other local websites and databases to rank highly.

Tips for Optimising Your Google Local business Listing

Think Locally – Having a business location in the CENTER of town helps you get to the top of the list. The closer your office is to the center of your city, the higher your listing is usually positioned on the Google Maps list.

A search for “plumbers auckland” is more likely to show results in central Auckland, rather than an outlying subburb. Google’s result “pins” on the map start at the centre and radiate outwards.

Get listed in other local directories. Local Search Engines like Google compile and display their Local/Maps results by gathering details about local businesses by crawling and parsing data from other online websites, directories and databases.

Having listings with the local online “Yellow Pages” can (and usually does) cause your listing to be placed higher on the list giving you more exposure and website traffic. So, get your website listed in the local “Yellow Pages” and local directories like these below.

If you’re in New Zealand:

• Yellow Pages – http://www.yellowpages.co.nz
• Findaa – http://www.finda.co.nz
• New Sealand Search – http://www.nzs.com
• UBD – http://www.ubd.co.nz

Or for the US:

• SuperPages.com – http://www.superpages.com
• YellowPages.com (AT&T) – http://www.yellowpages.com
• Local.com – http://www.local.com
• CitySearch.com – http://www.citysearch.com
• 10Best.com – http://www.10best.com
• Allmenus.com – http://www.allmenus.com
• ChefMoz.com – http://www.chefmoz.com
• DiningGuide.com – http://www.diningguide.com

Research Your competition

Competitive research can help you find out which local databases are helping your competitors get higher listings than you. To view a list of your competitor’s in-bound links:

• Go to www.google.com
• Type “link:www.YourCompetitor.com” (without the quotes) into the search box.
• Click Search and you’ll be presented with a list of websites and directories that link to your competitor’s website. Look for local-oriented directories and Yellow Page directories and consider getting listed in them as well.

Warning – Don’t SPAM Google!

Google will delete listings of businesses that “SPAM” their system by submitting inaccurate information. Google now has Local Business Center Guidelines to let you know what is and what is NOT allowed in your Google listing. Google’s new guidelines include the following:

• Represent your business exactly as it appears in real life.
• List information that provides as direct a path to your business as you can.
• Only include listings for businesses that you represent.
• Don’t participate in any behavior with the intention (or result) of listing your business more times than it exists. Service area businesses, for example, should not create a listing for every town they service.
• Use the description and custom attribute fields to include additional information about your listing. This type of content should never appear in your business’s title or address fields.

Summary

Google Local Business Search is a great way to make it easy for your customers to find you so you can build your business. If you have a business that caters to local customers in your city or town, add your free listing on Google and optimise it.

Need help with your Google listing?

If you’d just like someone to do your listing for you, or would like to get serious and start using Google Adwords to reel in those new customers, give me (chris) a call on +64 9 8455-105 or or send me a message.