As we discussed in Part 1 of this article, the challenges of running a search engine marketing campaign are tremendous. Pay-Per-Click advertising has become extremely competitive and the costs are ever increasing.

In Part 1 we discussed several of the essentials in running a pay-per-click campaign: search marketing expertise, keyword selection, tracking systems and optimization algorithms. In Part 2, we’re going to cover four additional important factors: development costs, ROI analysis, time requirements and learning curve.

5. Development Costs

If you think that you can build your own search platform, we applaud you. It can be done, but it may cost you fifty thousand dollars or more and take many years to” get it right”. Rather than reinventing the wheel, for a fraction of the cost, you can use a search engine marketing agency to assist you with your optimization. (You would want them to be|They should be able to both track and optimize on your behalf.

6. ROI analysis

Gone are the dot.com days when they believe traffic was king. Traffic is nice, but what really matters? Revenue, right? Wrong. Okay, profit margin, right? Wrong again. The real question is… revenue and profits at what cost. If you do $10,000 in sales and net $3000 profit, did you do well? That depends. How much did you come out of pocket on advertising? If you spent $200, excellent, you did exceptionally well. If you spent $10,000, you failed miserably.

In this economy, you cannot afford to drive losing sales. Optimization is key not only to your success but you’re very survival.

7. Time Requirements

How many hours can you allocate to run a search campaign? For a typical company dabbling in search, it may be 8 to 10 hours per week, 30 to 40 hours per month. For a company driving the bulk of its revenue from online, that could easily be 100 to 200 hours per month. Many businesses have to hire entire teams to manage their pay per click campaigns.

Are you looking to develop and enhance your campaign? Are you managing yourself? If you are, how much time can you allow to pay per click that is not being spent on your core business. What is your time worth? You must know this before you undertake the monumental task of running a pay-per-click campaign.

8. Learning Curve

The one place where most “amateurs” go wrong is underestimating the learning curve involved in developing a successful search campaign. Even for experienced agencies, a successful search engine campaign is a tremendous amount of work that draws on their experience with hundreds of clients. The days of simply putting up a search engine marketing campaign and trying to manage it yourself ended in 2004.

Are you managing a campaign and having some success, chances are you are missing significant revenue opportunities hidden away in search. These hidden revenue opportunities often produce the best results with the highest ROI bringing in some of the best customers.

How should you proceed? Are you already running a search campaign? Take a good hard look and see if there is room for improvement. Contact a PPC expert to see if they believe there is room to improve. Any agency you speak with, such as ours, should be willing to discuss this with you at no cost to see if this will work for you.

In these difficult business times, you truly owe it to yourself to explore all options. Reviewing your pay per click campaign with an (expert|agency may take just 15 minutes and may have the biggest impact out of everything you do in your business this year.exCan You Save Time and Money by Outsourcing Your Pay Per Click Campaign? Part 2 of 2

As we discussed in Part 1 of this article, the challenges of running a search marketing campaign are tremendous. Pay Per Click advertising has become increasingly difficult and the costs are ever increasing.

In Part 1 we discussed several of the essentials in running a PPC campaign: search marketing expertise, keyword selection, tracking capabilities and optimization programs. In Part 2, we’re going to cover four additional important factors: development costs, R.O.I. analysis, time requirements and learning curve.

5. Development Costs

If you believe you can build your own optimization software, great for you. It can be done, but it may cost you fifty thousand dollars or more and take many years to” get it right”. Rather than reinventing the wheel, for a fraction of the price, you can use a search marketing agency to assist you with your optimization. (You would want them to be|They should be able to both track and optimize on your behalf.

6. ROI analysis

Gone are the dot.com days when they believe traffic was king. Traffic is nice, but what really matters? Revenue, right? Wrong. Okay, profit margin, right? Wrong again. The real question is… revenue and profits at what cost. If you do $10,000 in sales and net $3000 profit, did you do well? That depends. How much did you spend on advertising? If you spent $200, great, you did exceptionally well. If you spent $10,000, you just burned through your budget.

With this volatile economy, you cannot afford to drive losing sales. Optimization is essential not only to your growth but you’re very survival.

7. Time Requirements

How many hours can you allocate to manage a search campaign? For a typical business dabbling in search, it may be 8 to 10 hours per week, 30 to 40 hours per month. For a business driving the bulk of its revenue from the Internet, that could easily be 100 to 200 hours per month. Many businesses have to hire entire teams to manage their pay-per-click campaigns.

Does your current campaign need a make-over? Are you managing yourself? If you are, how much time can you allocate to ppc that is not being spent on your core business. What is your time worth? You must know this before you undertake the monumental task of running a pay-per-click campaign.

8. Learning Curve

The one place where most “amateurs” go wrong is underestimating the learning curve involved in developing a successful search campaign. Even for industry veterans, a successful search campaign is a tremendous amount of work that draws on their experience with hundreds of clients. The days of simply putting up a search engine campaign and trying to manage it yourself ended in 2004.

Are you managing a campaign and having some success, chances are you are missing a large amount of revenue opportunities buried in hard-to-find places in search. These obscure revenue opportunities often produce the greatest results with the highest ROI bringing in some of the best customers.

How should you proceed? Do you already have a search campaign? Take a good hard look and see if there is room for improvement. Contact a pay per click expert expert to see if they believe there is room to improve. Any agency you speak with, such as ours, should be more than happy to discuss this with you at no cost to see if this works for you.

In these tough economic times, you truly owe it to yourself to explore all options. Reviewing your search campaign with an (expert|agency may take just 15 minutes and may have the biggest impact out of everything you do in your business this year.