Adwords services: Is this the new normal?

Hi Rick,

That is not the normal services for AdWords agencies. Your client has not hired an expert, just a worker, and from the sound of it, not a very skilled worker either.

The fact is that you do not need to hire anyone for what this so called "AdWords expert" does. Adwords offers a free setup service for new accounts that includes keyword research. However, I would not recommend use of that free service as it does not get you anywhere close to an optimized campaign.

With each passing month AdWords becomes a more competitive marketplace for advertisers. You need to hire, or become a true marketing expert to compete in most market niches. The market for goods purchased from this channel is huge and growing.

The biggest advantage to advertising in a platform like AdWords is the ability to track results down to the individual keyword/ad text combination. The ability to constantly test, improve, and micromanage at this level makes this very attractive for astute advertisers. You will have difficulty competing if you try the set-and-forget route. The key to success in this marketing channel is constant testing to gain insights and adapting your marketing strategy based on those insights.

Since the introduction of Quality Scores into the AdWords platform, you must constantly monitor and adapt your ads, keywords, and landing pages to keep up with the latest trends in your market. If you try to divorce campaign setup from keyword research, or ad text from landing page optimization, you are not getting full use of the AdWords platform, nor are you executing a marketing plan based on a solid marketing strategy.

I think before someone bills himself as an "AdWords Expert", he must own the results generated from any ad campaign, and the only metric that truly matters in this area is profit per month. How can call yourself an "expert", if you don't take responsibility for the results?

Sure, from time-to-time you may run into a client that insist that you only work on the campaigns for existing landing pages (no landing page optimization). That can be done, as long as someone else is handling the landing page optimization. As an ad campaign manager you can optimize the ad campaigns for whatever the currently landing pages are, but your competitors may take advantage of any weakness in your marketing plan, so it is best to coordinate ad campaign management with landing page optimization.

There are other areas as well, such as market experimentation, sales funnel optimization, which goes beyond just landing page optimization. Chances are that the so called "expert" your client hired is in over his head and really should call himself a "worker" that is need of a marketing manager to assign the proper tasks for him to complete, and to monitor the proper implementation.

To compare what your client's "expert" offers to what a full service agency like ours offers, the following services are included in our service:

• Day-to-day management of PPC campaigns
• Keyword Research
• Campaign Ad Group Setup
• Ad Copy and Creatives
• Landing Page Optimization
• Bid Monitoring and Management
• A/B Split Testing
• Marketing Experiments and Analysis
• Monthly Performance Reports

We also employ proprietary technologies, tools and algorithms for:

• Account Structure Optimization
• Advanced Bidding Strategies
• Sales Funnel Optimization
• Maximum Profit Per Month Optimization

You better hope your client isn't competing with one of my clients, because we will crush them.