Building Paid Search Campaigns Is Easy, Doing It Well Takes Skill
Paid search can be a hard revenue stream to build and maintain for a few reasons:
Finding the right people is hard. Building campaigns is the easy part. Understanding what campaign to build, when to use each campaign type, allocating budget for performance, and talking to clients about the account is challenging. The type of person who can do all this strategy work and talk to clients is beyond what most small agencies can afford. Hiring people that simply aren't qualified leads to unhappy clients. Adding a client manager to buffer the fact that the subject matter expert can't talk to clients creates unhappiness all around. I have worked at agencies where clients have been through 5 or 6 account managers in two years. Clients leave because of this.
High competition and stress. Paid search is a very competitive space, with advertisers bidding on the same keywords. This can drive up the cost per click (CPC) and make it difficult to generate a profit. This makes clients very unhappy and this leads to questions that can be hard to answer. Clients see advertising as a revenue-generating activity versus an expense. When your agency offers paid search for clients, they expect results. How do you keep your client happy when the performance is not optimal? How do you set expectations and performance goals? This is an important consideration when your agency decides to take on the responsibility of managing campaigns.
Complex platform. Paid search platforms, such as Google Ads, can be complex and difficult to master. There are many different settings and options, and it can take time and experience to figure out what works best. Clients don't want to wait for your team to figure this out.
Time-consuming. Paid search campaigns require ongoing management and optimization. You need to track your performance, adjust your bids, and add or remove keywords on a regular basis.
In addition to these challenges, there are a few other factors that can make paid search a hard revenue stream to build:
Rising costs. The cost of paid search advertising has been rising in recent years. This is due to a number of factors, including increased competition and Google wanting to make a profit.
Changing algorithms. Search engine algorithms are constantly changing, which can impact the performance of your paid search campaigns. You need to stay up-to-date on the latest changes and adjust your campaigns accordingly. More importantly, you need to be able to walk your client through these changes.
Fraud. Paid search fraud is a growing problem, and it can be difficult to detect. This can waste your budget and make it difficult to achieve your client's desired results. Inexperienced agencies simply don't know how to mitigate this risk.
Despite these challenges, paid search can be a very effective way to drive traffic and generate leads and sales for your client.
However, it is important to be realistic about the challenges involved and to be prepared to invest the time and resources necessary to be successful.
Here are a few tips for building a successful paid search service your clients will love:
Hire an experienced paid search consultant like me! I have been doing this for 15 years. There really isn't a paid search situation that I haven't seen. And if for some reason I am caught with a situation I have not seen, I have an extremely large network of paid search experts I can work with to solve the issue.
I can teach your team to grow to become subject matter experts capable of guiding clients. I do this by walking through scenarios with them, teaching them to look at data wholistically, teaching them to own the data versus defend the data, and empowering clients to make decisions based on the data.
I can help be the resource when clients and campaign management becomes stressful. Having worked with clients where paid search was the last solution prior to going out of business, I have experienced this stress and understand how to navigate solutions.
I can offer processes and solutions to make campaign management and reporting less intimidating for your team. I can recommend vendors, experts, and reporting solutions that are vetted and proven.
If you are willing to put in the time and effort, paid search can be a very rewarding revenue stream for your agency or business. Reach out today for a chat and I am here to help.
