Hi there...I've been running my own adwords account for a couple of years and really enjoy the work. So I thought I should go into business and set up on my own and create/manage adwords accounts for clients. So I thought I'd ask if any of you have done the same thing, and if so, do you have any tips? Can you direct me towards any helpful resources? And do I need to be Google certified before I start? Have you made any mistakes that others could avoid...and do you enjoy it?! Sorry about all the questions! Any help would be really appreciated...
You don't have to be Google certified, but it's a reliable way to prove to potential customers that you know your onions Running other people's accounts is very different from doing your own - with their money at stake you need to be really sure you've got enough experience in anything that could come up, from conversion tracking to mobile ads to integration with analytics
Agree with Magda. You got to treat their account and money as if it was your own. Of course, you get all sorts of different clients, some won't care about the money (really!) but that doesn't mean you shouldn't look after their interests just the same. You've got to be patient and explain in clear details the what and why. Some clients want 1,000 clicks a day. Well, you got to explain that the search volume just won't support that (doing PPC properly and getting them quality clicks that is) or if they want a certain number of sales that maybe their site may not be that good at making those sales. Most clients are impatient and want instant results. You have to make them understand that this is long term. Learn and get familiar with other PPC services. SEO would be a good thing too as many do ask for both. Don't be afraid to outsource stuff like SEO you may not know or be good at. I for example advise on basic on-page SEO, not link building. No need to be certified. Many know nothing about it but some do and may ask if you have it. I for one believe it proves nothing but it builds some credibility. Be ready to always learn something new. Things don't stay the same for long. For example, I have yet to learn about this new remarketing feature Google has. I know I will have to and the sooner the better if I'm to provide better service to some clients. Next year, they'll have some new feature. Join two or three freelance sites. You'll probably find most of your jobs there. There's eLance, Rentacoder (now vWorker), oDesk, Getafreelancer and others but these are the major ones. All have advantages and disadvantages. Don't undersell yourself. If you want/need to charge a certain amount, stick to it. There will be lots of competition from others charging much less. Your job is to convince a potential client that you're the one for the job, that you're much better, even if you are not the cheapest. Not easy but when you do, you can win projects that others have bid much less on. When you do win projects, do more than what they expected. Create alliances with others, joint ventures. If you ally yourself with a web designer that would sell your PPC services, you could get some work this way. I once offered my services for free in exchange for getting my site hosting for free and potential clients. Best however to find someone good at selling and actively promoting it. Just a small mention on their site saying they do PPC (which they outsource to you) just won't cut it. If you have a job, even a part-time one, don't quit. Not unless you are willing to tough it out and potentially go hungry once in a while. If you have a spouse, they must understand and be willing to support you in this venture. If not, there'll be tough times ahead and the relationship can be strained. You must promote yourself in different ways. Using Adwords is logical but don't forget other forms of advertisement. Posting on forums like this one for example. I've found a couple of clients simply by responding to questions and I'm sure Magda has too. I enjoy it, enjoy helping other businesses make money. Of course, it's more enjoyable when I have projects and money comes in. But if you like doing it and you're good at it, it can be very rewarding.
I've run PPC accounts for many businesses now and have always found the work enjoyable. I agree with the above that you must think of the clients money as you own and always try to find ways of getting more ROI for the client. One of the ways I achieve success is to implement a strong set of negative keywords. This takes me above my adwords competitors as my campaigns are super fine tuned. KeywordTerminator has a great white paper on the subject of negatives.
Thanks for your comments everyone (especially Lucid for your lengthy reply!)...all very helpful indeed. I've got another couple of questions which I'd appreciate some guidance on: 1) Is there an industry 'standard' pricing model...eg, $500/mth management fee for campaigns under $10k/mth...and 5% of spend for projects over $10k/mth? 2) How do you get around the issue of billing? Do you request your fee plus monthly campaign fee up front? Or take the risk and charge them at the end of the month with another 28 days to pay? (ouch!). Many thanks in advance!
Same answer I gave you on WebmasterWorld: > 1) Is there an industry 'standard' pricing model There's all sorts of pricing models. It's up to you. But have a model where you'll make money. If you charge $500 setup fee and I have an ecommerce site with 100 different products, will that be worth it to you? I say no, that's why I charge based on the size of a campaign. It really comes down to an hourly fee but disguised as "I'll manage your campaign of x products this way for $x". > 2) How do you get around the issue of billing? Since I've been burned a couple of times, I now ask for at least a part of the fee up front. It depends on how comfortable I feel with a new client. My latest suggested half right away and I was going to suggest the same. Others, I ask for two months in advance. It just depends. If you use a service like eLance, you ask them to fund the escrow account before starting. This way, they prepay and you know the money is in there ready to be released.
Thanks Lucid...thought I'd post on a few forums to see what info I got back. Appreciate your comments...
Lucid Web Marketing, please PM me about setting up my campaign. I have it running, but not very successfully.
can you manage my adwords account.i am going to launch a clickbank affiliate site and want to try adwords but i am a noob at that.till i get good experience in adwords i would have lost everything.so can you manage my adwords account.pm me for that
Anyone who wants me to manage their Adwords or other PPC accounts, PM me here at DP or better yet, visit my site for my email and phone number.