Should I use a PPC management company?

I recently acquired a website that sells a membership to it's member's area, which is how it makes money, $20 a pop. With the right advertising, the previous owner claimed it made a profit of around $3000 last month after advertising. He sent me some of the keywords and such but I'm new to PPC and there is just way too many variables for each ad for a newbie a like me to be successful. I made one ad and the first day I made $100, but since then the sales have been between $0 and $60 per day, with about 5 other ads I have tried since. My ads are on yahoo marketing, soon to merge with microsoft adcenter, with whom I have set up an account as well.

I have been thinking about using a PPC management company to get me started. The way I figure, I am wasting so much money on making crappy ads and using bad keywords and bids that it would be worth it to pay someone. Right now I'm only spending about $10-$20 a day because I want to test what works and what doesn't without wasting too much money, but ideally with GOOD advertising I would like to spend around $1000/mo or more IF things are set up properly and making good money.

I was wondering what you guys think... is it worth it? It's very expensive, but considering the potential to dial in my ads and get everything optimized, it sounds like a good idea. I don't really want to have to pay someone several hundred a month to manage the account, I was thinking that I could pay someone to set up all my ads, keywords, bids, etc and get the ball rolling and let it ride, see where that does. Then, if sales aren't where I'd like them to be, either pay the monthly management fees or maybe at this time I will have learned by watching which ads are working with which types of bids and keywords, etc and possibly be able to do it myself.

So basically, I want to know if you think hiring a PPC management company is a good idea for someone like me, if they will even do a set up without becoming a regular paying monthly customer, and if there is anyone on this board that is knowledgeable and willing to do this kind of work for a decent price.

PPC advertising can be tricky and expensive. If you do plan on doing this, I would suggest first doing a lot of reading and then starting slow.

Focus on just a manageable number words of phrases at first and it won't become overwhelming.

I would suggest to use google adwords, it works great once you know how to use it. There is a great course on it here on BHW, check it out.

Unfortunately BHW wont let me post the link so look for Ryan Deiss "Wholesale Traffic System" It goes into advanced techniques you won't find in most of the PPC training

Thanks for the input, and yes, I was planning on using adwords as well, but haven't yet set up my account. I am leaning towards wanting to pay someone to at least do the initial advertising setup if that is possible... anyone know someone/someplace that will do a good job for a good price?

Should I use a PPC management company?

Well, the fact is there are many useless PPC companies out there and unless you're using metrics to measure and track every click...you'll be paying much higher prices.

The name of the game is ROI, if you not getting high ROI you'd be smart to learn yourself or only hire a proven results PPC company with track record that delivers.

At the moment, considering you are losing money, the best is stop trying to manage the account for a little while just to stop the "bleeding."
You can find some people here in the forum capable of running a campaign for you, there is no doubt about that.

What do you go to the "Hire a feelancer" section of the forum and search for a professional there who you can check the reviews so you know
about the quality of his/her work and hire them?

It can't be that difficult at all to get someone here to the job for a reasonable price. You hire them to set up the account for you based on what you have
right now, meaning... if it's necessary to create new
"ad groups" or "ads copywriting" or "keyword research"...just do it.

As of now, you are only losing money as you said. The best for now is to stop wasting money in a campaign that is not bringing in profit.


Go there and find someone.
All the best

thanks for the replies. i did stop my campaigns and i did post in the freelancer forum, although i have not yet decided who to go with. i really didn't get many responses to be honest.

i was wondering how much i should expect to pay someone (a freelancer, not a company) for the setup up and monthly management of adwords AND adcenter, let's say 5 campaigns completely set up with keyword research and bid adjustments, etc.

also, how many campaigns would you usually run for one website? i was just throwing out the number 5 off the top of my head (remember, i've never done this before) so i'm not sure how many campaigns the average person would use for a site. i'm sure it differs greatly depending on the variables, but how many do you guys run?