When you first read this headline, you might be thinking click fraud, right? But what I am referring to is the Google AdWords Jumpstart or Yahoo! Search Marketing Fast Start programs that essentially allow both PPC providers to set up your campaign for you.
Is the company that provides exposure for your ads the best solution to set up your account? In my own professional opinion, I would have to answer a resounding “no!”
Aaron Wall was asked the same question at his SEO Book.com blog where he provides some great info. A few excerpts:
“In competitive markets many people end up losing money. It benefits the engines if most advertisers bid up some of the most common terms (and thus fully value or overvalue the terms that are frequently searched for).”
So essentially the search engines benefit greater financially when there is a bidding war. Would this not be an incentive for them in setting up your own campaign?
“The people who make money off pay per click often avoid or underbid the most common terms, and spend more time thinking laterally and bidding on terms that competitors have not yet found. So the goals of the engines may not be well aligned with your own goals (ie: efficient profitable accounts do not mean the same thing when you look at the perspectives of buyers vs sellers).”
So again, what are the goals of the search engines? To make money. It is unlikely then that they are going to dig deep and find those nuggets that can bring about a good ROI for your business.
“Even if they know exactly what different keywords and ad positions will cost they still do not know your business well enough to know what is best for you.”
So true. So my advice is to either hire a professional search engine marketer experienced in PPC campaign set up and management or learn the basics yourself. A couple of good books on the subject are Andrew Goodman’s AdWords Handbook and Mona Elesseily’s Yahoo! Search Marketing Handbook.
