Just wondering, I recently saw an advert for online search specialist and reading the job description, the primary aim was adwords management (salary was circa £22k ($40 - 41k USD approx). SEO, copywriting (web copy) and increasing conversions from traffic was also stated but most emphasis on the actual adwords. I am curious if anyone is currently working full-time as adwords managers and how they came to enter into this field. I have a desire to get into adwords but I lack any product or advertising budget to gain adwords professional status (which I feel will have greater importance as adword type advertising increases in volume over the next couple of years). How would I be able to get into managing adword campaigns - is there anyone willing to 'mentor' in this area or able to advise on a path to take given that I have no product to sell myself nor have I a website where any form of arbitrage would be worthwhile in terms of experimenting with adwords and managing the required minimum spend over the 90days to qualify for passing the exam. Thanks.
If you're looking to get into practicing and learning to manage AdWords campaigns, just start with the biggest incentive to learn - manage your own programs. Join an offer network like CJ and promote their products. If you're not a fast learner the kick to your financials will make you wisen up fast enough. No joke, this is the fastest way to learn. On that note, consider getting some sort of AdWords voucher to start out so you get a little practice before actually spending your money. In relation to a mentor - read up at forums such as DP and WMW to get your bearings, you'll find all the mentors you need there.
That's good advice, becoming an AdWords professional would also help you to learn stuff that you probably wouldn't know otherwise by going through the learning center tests.
Career as a PPC Manager is both rewarding and secure if one understand and performs to role to the best of his ability. One most go for Google Advertising Professional as it is the only recognised certificate and adds to your profile. But no certification is of any use untill and unless you are able to perform. PPC is a direct marketing job and involves risks as well.
Circa £22k is what a relatively inexperienced Account Executive gets paid in London. PPC Account Managers with 2+years experience get paid between £30-£40k. Right now their is a HUGE demand for PPC AEs & AMs. Go through the Adwords Pro tutorial, write the test (and pass it!) and send your CV off to www.propellondon.com or www.round8.com . You should have a job faster than you can say CPA...
The part of the country where I am at - £12 - £13k is considered a decent income... so £22k is considered an excellent income. In understand London would be a totally different story as the cost of living is substantially higher. I am simply in a catch 22 at the minute, I can't get experience without doing the adwords and can't do the adwords as I dont have a product/service that would bring anything back from the investment of £500 per month that I read as necessary for the qualification. The test is part of what constitutes the certification - the actual 90 days PPC management is the other part which I am simply unable to do at this stage due to financial reasons. Edit: Is there any adwords simulators out there for becoming familiar with managing campaigns? ... might be a good thing if there was a website that offered this specialist PPC management facilities
Hello Ganceann, If I was in your situation, I would do exactly the following: Join an affiliate network, CJ or Azoogle. Buy or source yourself a large AdWords voucher and use that to start off. Starting out without much experience (other than wasting a lot of cash ineffectively on AdWords when it first started :S) I was able to get some degree of good return within $200-300 of running a good campaign and that's all you really need to get started. If you do fairly well with the vouchers, just put your cheque back into your advertising expenses and you'll have yourself your certification fairly quickly. Mind you, I'm the overly cautious type so I would suggest you thoroughly do your research for every aspect of your campaign before committing to it.
Well i dunno how it is in the UK, but in Australia, some Internet Marketing companies are willing to train people up. Maybe thats an avenue you can take, join a PPC Agency to get exposure thru their clients. Thats how i learnt Adwords and recieved by Google Adwords Pro. I will soon be taking on a Search Engine Marketing Manager role, in a bigger organisation.
You don't need to fulfil the additional criteria to write the exam. That's all an employer cares about. If you can say that you have passed the exam an employer will know that you can find your way around Adwords. This is more than enough at the moment to get a PPC job. The agency that I work at has just employed 2 PPC execs with NO PPC experience. The reason being that there just aren't enough PPC AEs and AMs out there. $50 for the exam and you are set!
I handle more than just AdWords but PPC is a big part of my job. Do a kick ass job for a few clients (even if it ends up costing you a bit) and things will start rolling from there. When you do great work for people they let other people know. I know that's a simplistic answer but it's how I kicked off my career.
Get your foot in the door with a search company and get hands on experience. That's what I would try and do.
Most experienced Adwords experts would probably never take a job for 41k a year. Especially when they can make that amount on their own in a couple months...
That is what I mean in a way ... using a salaried job as a means of gaining invaluable experience... then developing from there. I know PPC Management is thriving in some parts of the UK and in other parts of the world ... it is the classic catch 22 for my area where there are very very few people actively looking for such experience, but there is an increasing buzz about it (*so likely in the next year there will be higher demand, but low supply hence getting the experience now to be in a position to take advantage of that situation). Currently the position is done by their web design company - but the guy in charge wishes to make the role specialist in its own right and he has looked around the region without finding any specialist company to outsource it to. The position is dealing with a large scale nationwide business, so the ideal situation would be for an experienced person to come in and take over without needing guidance. However, with the dearth of suitably skilled people in my region - the role may be opened up to an inexperiened person but receive some guidance from the guy in charge... this is where I could get in The main aim for me is looking at how to gain experience, and with so little opportunities in this region, a salaried job would be an ideal initiation into the system... gaining the experience for future endeavours. The only part of the role specification I dont meet is the relevant experience - every other aspect I have done in the past or am currently doing. I have just never had any live exposure to adwords itself ( and adcenter launching recently as well places greater emphasis on the development of a specialist position)... Yahoo will also be out of beta in the future, so it would eventually become a PPC management role.
I think you misunderstand - I have never used adwords, but I know the potential that exists by using it. I am looking at gaining the 'live experience' and developing from there... so any position offering the experience would no doubt be beneficial to me. Granted, experienced Adwords users would likely not consider such a position as they would already be beyond a junior role and actively making an income from some aspect - whether on their own campaigns or for client accounts.
Well at the end of the day, Gancean needs a job. I dunno where you are based, but take a look at this website: http://www.jobsinsearch.com Its got all sorts of jobs related to SEO/SEM.
Thanks for the link Ewan - although as I said, the region of the UK where I am based is kinda behind the times regarding the internet in general - however, it is picking up at quite a pace since the cable and phone companies are having a big push in the area. It is also on the business side of things where most startups are now also focussing on the internet as part of their business plans for growth. I did take a look at the jobs available on the link provided - alas, nothing anywhere near me - but that doesn't stop me trying to break into this area :O