We all know that organic SEO (having your website links show up on search engine results for “free”) is the most effective way to drive visits to your web site, but it’s also the most competitive and resource intensive way as well. So, if you want instant gratification, with measurable results, pay-per-click (PPC), often referred to as cost-per-click (CPC), advertising should be your first priority.

Like many agencies, we typically don’t manage media buying (in particular PPC advertising) for clients with a $3k or lower monthly budget. What’s the reason for this? It’s actually quite simple. We offer transparent pricing where we base our monthly management fees on a percentage of the total advertising budget of the accounts we manage. Below $3k, where our fees drop below $500 per month, we don’t believe that we can commit the necessary resources to run effective campaigns. So what we consider to be the minimal, reasonable compensation for our work ends up representing an unreasonable percentage of the total advertising budget for the client, and we sometimes can’t reach a mutually beneficial agreement.

The problem

Many small business owners and managers contact me for advice in regard to this same issue. They are having trouble finding a reputable agency to work with their smaller budget and they aren’t sure where to turn. By the time I am talking to them, it seems they have already been burned by mass-marketing agencies like ReachLocal or Yodle, and have a dim view on the whole industry. They’re bombarded with endless noise, aggressive salespeople, and a plethora of product offerings that are hard to differentiate.

Ideally they want someone with the skills and experience to help them set up and manage their campaigns, but with limited resources, it usually makes more sense to find an out-of-the-box solution that they can implement themselves. Luckily, these folks do have a few good options to choose from, but there is another cost to consider: Time.

The solution

The question always comes down to: What’s your time worth? After careful consideration, if the business owner or manager decides it is worth their time to do it themselves, I present a few solid options (assuming they understand that search engine ads are a good place to start with their paid promotions).

1. Learn the basics. Here are some really useful websites to peruse for a solid understanding of search engine marketing, and some specific articles to get you started:
• Wikipedia article on search engine advertising
• Arguably the best beginners guide to learning SEO
• Google defines different options for keyword targeting
2. Get started with local ads. Once you have a basic understanding of keywords, ad copy and the way search engine ads work you’re ready to get started. Google has produced a simplified version of the AdWords program called AdWords Express specifically to help small, local businesses get started. It’s different than Google AdWords in the sense that it’s specifically tailored to local business that don’t have a lot of time to invest in PPC but see the value of advertising on Google. It’s really not a bad option, and the learning curve is much lower than the next option we’ll discuss, but also won’t produce the greatest results.
3. Go straight for the gold. The next option is to set up your own AdWords account from scratch. This will definitely take you more time and has a higher learning curve, but there is no great alternative to getting your hands dirty, so start digging. Click here for a great guide to get you started on AdWords.
4. Power users. If you’re feeling comfortable so far, then you’re probably ready for the next step up in control and features. AdWords Editor is a free software application produced by Google that virtually every agency uses to setup and manage search engine advertising campaigns. It’s a Microsoft Excel type interface that lets you efficiently set up hundreds of keywords and campaigns, and set other interesting parameters to complement your strategy. It’s amazingly useful, but requires a solid understanding of how search engine advertising platforms operate and all the different factors that determine the success of your campaigns. To top it off, you might want help optimizing your landing pages, and this other free tool from Google may come in handy.

So why hire an expert?

What we just touched on is the tip of the iceberg, really. With TurnClick for instance, we help our clients with more than just creating a strategy and building the campaigns, we also look at the other important tools we have to work with and try to optimize campaigns accordingly. Once you have the accounts up and running and driving traffic, the next thing to worry about is how well that traffic is converting into leads or purchases. This area of online marketing is called conversion optimization, and we use various tactics, some of which you can find on this SEOmoz article on ppc landing page optimization.

In addition to strategy, and landing page optimization, we also provide phone call tracking services so our clients can fully measure the return on investment from all their online marketing efforts, not just the ones that result in web form submissions.

If you have any questions, or anything to add, don’t hesitate to comment below.