When I got started in AdWords management back in 2005 there weren't that many of us third-party managers around.
Now there's plenty to choose from. Which is the best one?
In my opinion a lot of the same things are still being said about management services and how to choose between them after several years, and they are mostly "features" not "benefits", e.g
- split testing ads
- small groups of well-related keywords with themed ads
- keywords in the ads
- negative keywords
- and other best working practices …
Yes, of course…
But if you're paying someone to do this right, you should care a lot less about *how* they do it, and a lot *more* about the results they deliver.
Management by Outcome, not by Procedure.
So how do you define "results"?
Impressions? Clicks? CTR? CPC? Conversions? Conversion Rate? Cost per Conversion? Profit? Phone calls? Emails?
What is "the best adwords management service"? And what result would it give you?
I believe it to be whatever is best for YOU.
If I provided you "the perfect AdWords campaign"
- What would it look like? (feature)
- What do you want it to do? (feature)
- What would its value be – to you? (benefit)
So for any AdWords management service to be the best one for you – be certain you know what you want to get from it and can measure the result.
I think the answer is "Follow the Money" – what do you spend, and what do you get in return?
As has been said by others, there's no "one size fits all" AdWords management solution for every business.
An AdWords campaign goes through a life-cycle, which we call Discover/Optimize/Expand.
What it looks like and what its doing is different at each phase. It's only working properly when it's fully mature, which we've found can take up to 3 months.
But the investment in time and money is worth it because it can then behave very consistently and controllably – to your economic requirements.
You see, economics (hat tip Perry Marshall) is often the truly missing piece of the equation …
If I created the "perfect" AdWords campaign and gave it to you and other business owners, it's very possible it could behave totally differently in terms of economics.
For you it could be making some money. For another it could be losing money. For yet another, it could be wildly profitable.
How come?
Because, I don't control your business – you do.
And every business has different factors and costs, outside of my control, like
- website conversion performance
- quality control
- cost price
- margins
- supply chain
- fulfillment
- staff costs
- premises
- returns
- development
- utilities
- infrastructure
- and many others …
So (although I'm biased) I think the best AdWords Management service will "Follow the Money" - YOUR money.
And give you back more than you spend.
It really is that simple.
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