Managed pay per click (PPC) services
This page summarises some of the issues to consider when either managing a pay per click (PPC) campaign yourself or getting a pay per click (PPC) campaign managed by an Internet Marketing company. It also gives an indication of the prices that Cornish WebServices charge for managing pay per click (PPC) campaigns and related search engine optimisation work.
Cornish WebServices was one of the first UK Internet Marketing companies to obtain Google Advertising Professional Status early in 2005. We have been providing managed pay per click services in the UK and elsewhere since 2004.
Pay per click principles | Pay per click management prices | Pay per click clients
Principles of pay per click (PPC) management
The most successful internet advertising is pay per click advertising. You pay a fixed amount every time someone clicks through to your website based upon keywords they have selected. Provided you choose a good set of specific keywords, this means you are only paying for visitors who are interested in whatever your website has to offer.
The following are some of the key issues to consider when managing a pay per click advertising budget.
- Pay per click keyword selection
- Pay per click maximum cost per click (CPC)
- Pay per click advertising copy
- Pay per click tracking
Keyword selection
Selecting the best set of keywords is one of the most important aspects of managing any pay per click advertising. Cornish Webservices spend considerable time during campaign setup researching the best keywords for any managed pay per click we provide. But it is not just during the setup phase that keyword research is important, as markets evolve and some have huge seasonal fluctuations. Our managed pay per click services include ongoing keyword research.
There are several aspects of keyword selection to consider:
Actual keywords chosen
It is usually a good idea to choose more specific keywords or keyword phrases rather than general ones. There are at least two reasons for this. Firstly specific keywords will attract a more relevant set of visitors to your website. Secondly specific keywords are likely to be cheaper.
Keyword matching options
Having chosen your keyword phrases, the type of keyword matching option (in Google) has a major impact on your click through rate. Keyword matching options such as 'broad', 'exact', 'phrase' or 'negative keyword' produce very different results. The best option for managing any particular campaign depends upon the market you are in and your target potential visitors.
Unwanted keywords
It is possible to target pay per click campaigns to exclude certain keywords that bring unproductive visitors to your website. This reduces your advertising spend. The number of visitors to your website may go down, but the conversion rate (and hence return on advertising spend) should go up. This is an important part of any managed pay per click campaign.
Target Position and maximum cost per click (CPC)
The target positions vary between Google and Yahoo. This can influence the maximum cost per click that is selected for each keyword during ongoing campaign management.
Pay per click (PPC) Advertising Copy
When your ad is shown, the words displayed beside your link are very important in determining how attractive your website appears to be, and will determine whether or not potential visitors click through. This can also be used to make your website look less attractive to unproductive visitors. By reducing unproductive visitors to a website, the return on advertising investment increases. This is another important aspect of managing a pay per click campaign.
Pay per click (PPC) Tracking
The major pay per click providers (Google and Yahoo) now provide tracking systems to allow you to monitor the effectiveness of your advertising spend and help manage the pay per click campaign.. Google's system does require either a small logo (Google Site Stats) or a text link to appear on your final destination page. Cornish WebServices can implement and monitors these tracking systems.
It is also possible to use other 3rd party tracking systems - although most of these work best only on Overture and other non-Google pay per click systems.
Tracking systems work best when used in conjunction with other data such as web statistics or page tracking systems. Cornish WebServices can provide analysis from these various systems and produce a concise monthly management report on your website activity.
Prices for managed pay per click services
This page gives indications of the prices for a managed pay per click (PPC) services offered by other Internet Marketing companies and also by Cornish WebServices Ltd.
Contact us for a realistic quotation as there are many different factors that influence the cost of a managed pay per click service. We offer significant discounts for charities and non-profit making organisations.
Prices for Pay per Click (PPC) management
Internet Marketing companies offer a surprising variety of different pricing structures for managed pay per click services over a variety of advertising budgets. These include:
- A fixed management fee broadly based on the number of hits your website receives per month.
- A fixed management fee broadly based on the pay per click (PPC) advertising spend each month.
- A monthly management fee based as a percentage of the pay per click (PPC) advertising spend
- A monthly management fee plus a percentage of the pay per click (PPC) advertising spend
- A monthly management fee based upon the broad number of keywords.
- A monthly management fee based upon the target market segment and the clients' existing website.
Which is the best method of charging for a managed pay per click service?
A fixed fee broadly based on the number of hits your website receives per month.
For 5,000+ hits per month, fees of £2,500 are not uncommon. Cornish WebServices are willing to charge for managed pay per click services on this basis if the client prefers, but prefer not to. Increasing the number of hits per month is not usually the aim of a client, but rather increasing the number of relevant visitors that turn into potential sales or repeat visitors. One of the first steps to improving the return on investment (ROI) of a pay per click campaign is often to stop paying money for less relevant visitors to a website. There are better pricing models for managed pay per click services.
A fixed fee broadly based on the managed pay per click (PPC) advertising spend each month.
Prices charged for pay per click (PPC) marketing services on this basis are typically in the region of £300/month for up to £1,000/month advertising spend and £1,200/month for £5,000/month advertising spend. Cornish WebServices are willing to charge for PPC management services on this basis if the client prefers.
However there is no difference in the management time or the complexity in handling pay per click (PPC) campaigns for larger budgets than smaller budgets. An overall Internet Marketing strategy may be able to significantly decrease the monthly pay per click (PPC) spend, yet this type of pricing structure offers little incentive to do so!
A monthly fee based as a percentage of the managed pay per click (PPC) advertising spend.
Typical prices charged for pay per click (PPC) marketing services on this basis vary from about 10 - 15% of the monthly pay per click (PPC) advertising for high monthly spends and up to 20-35% (or even more) for lower monthly budgets. Cornish WebServices are willing to charge for managing pay per click advertising on this basis if the client prefers, but we prefer not to.
One aim of a pay per click (PPC) advertising campaign is to increase sales for minimum cost. By charging on a percentage basis, there is very little incentive to provide solutions that actually involve decreasing the advertising spend. Although in some markets, pay per click (PPC) advertising may be required, there are often times when better results can be obtained through other channels (such as natural search engine optimisation) and the pay per click advertising spend can be reduced.
A monthly fee plus a percentage of the managed pay per click (PPC) advertising spend.
Typical fees based upon this type of fee structure are £60/month for Google or Overture (or £100/month for both) plus a 10-15% percentage of the monthly pay per click budget for high spend and more for lower spend. This may work well for smaller pay per click budgets, and this pricing structure at least acknowledges that there is a cost involved that is independent of the advertising spend.
A monthly fee based upon the broad number of keywords.
Some Internet Marketing companies are charging fees based upon the number of keywords managed. Initially this looks sensible, as this price structure acknowledges that the advertising spend and amount of management effort are not directly related. However there are problems with this type of charging. A good pay per click management service will actively monitor the keywords chosen, and alter them throughout the campaign to maximize the return on investment from click through rates.
Cornish WebServices predict that as Internet users become more sophisticated in their searching behaviour, the optimum number of target keywords in pay per click campaigns will increase. It is likely that a good campaign will have a large number of more specific keywords, rather than a few very general keywords.
A monthly fee based upon the target market segment and the clients' existing website.
Cornish WebServices think that this is the best option for pricing a managed pay per click service. This allows the Internet Marketing company the scope of reducing pay per click advertising spend and of increasing significantly the number of target keywords.
The exact price that Cornish WebServices charge for managed pay per click services depend upon:
- Target market - some markets are more straightforward, less competitive or more static than others. Rapidly evolving markets offer excellent opportunities to exploit new niche markets (at relatively low cost with a high return on investment) before competitors follow suit. Competitive markets offer the advantage of being able to analyse the competitors' tactics - very easy in the Internet marketplace.
- Existing website design - some websites are more search engine friendly than others. Pay per click works better on websites that are accessible, search engine friendly and actually contain some interesting readable content.
- Other website related services offered - many of the tasks that should be performed by a professional pay per click management service are identical or have significant overlap with website design, website redesign, website maintenance, search engine optimisation and natural search engine optimisation services. Significant reductions (over 50%) in cost of pay per click management services can be offered if Cornish WebServices provide other services as well.
- Numbers of reports required - producing client reports takes more time (and hence costs more) than simply monitoring and analysing the pay per click, tracking and/or web statistics. Cornish WebServices normally produce a monthly summary management report, with some supporting data, highlighting the pay per click performance and any significant actions taken.
More frequent or more detailed pay per click performance reports cost more. For some not-for-profit organisations and for low advertising budgets we can provide a pay per click management service with quarterly reports.
Contact Cornish WebServices for a realistic quotation for a managed pay per click service. We are also able to offer very competitive quotations for managing a broader range of Internet Marketing activities such as pay per click advertising, natural search engine optimisation, reciprocal link management, and submission to relevant Internet directories.
Pay per click management clients
Cornish WebServices have managed pay per click campaigns for the following clients:
- Business to business (B2B)
- Business to consumer (B2C)
- Businesses focused on the UK market
- Business targeting an International market
We run marketing campaigns using several different pay per click service providers. In our experience (based on existing clients), the best ROI for UK markets is usually from Google AdWords. But even within the UK, the relative benefits of Google AdWords, and Yahoo vary from one market sector to another.
We have experience in managing a very broad range of budgets from a few hundred pounds up to tens of thousand per month. We do not publish details of these clients on the Internet as it is not our policy to publicize valuable client marketing information.
Contact us for more detail on our managed pay per click marketing services.
Pay per click software to help manage your campaigns
When managing your own PPC campaigns there are products around that can help achieve good results. Below are selection of products and tools that we often use to help achieve good results.
One of the most important aspects of PPC management is keyword selection. We use a variety of tools for this, including Wordtracker. This is a very keyword analysis tool for determining relevant keywords in the global market and can be used with other information for UK markets.
Atlas OnePoint is a bid management tool that automates the bidding process. This is a very useful took for larger PPC campaigns
and when setup properly can optimise your bidding against competitors. Sign
up for a no risk FREE 14 day trial of Atlas OnePoint. Cornish WebServices sometimes use this tool to manage larger accounts.
VisitorVille is arguably the most entertaining visitor tracking software available. The skill required to create the graphics is matched by the impressive statistical analysis and variety of information that can be gleaned. If you join, use the coupon code "Cornish" and you'll make a saving of 10% on lifetime membership costs.