Qualifications and main things to look out for from an agency before you can think about hiring them

Are you looking to hire an Adwords Agency to manage your e-commerce Search Engine Marketing? Are you aware of the main areas that you should look out for when hiring such an agency? Well, here are 33 Tips to hire an AdWords agency to manage my e-commerce SEM. We have highlighted the qualifications and main things to look out for from an agency before you can think about hiring them;

1. Qualifications- Are they certified? Have they taken Adwords Certification program? You want an agency that is qualified and has the relevant certifications.

2. Experience- How long have they been in the business? Are they newbies trying out the trade for the first time? You don’t want to take risks with your business and therefore want people with years of experience in Adwords.

3. Reputation- How were their previous projects? Are they people with a tainted history? You don’t want to hire cons who have a bad history and can vanish without accomplishing the assigned tasks.

4. Success rate- Adwords campaigns are not a joke! Before hiring an agency, demand to know how successful they have been in the past in the field. If they have had numerous failed attempts, you might consider looking elsewhere for help.

5. Timespan- How long will their campaign take before you see results? Watch out for sensible timespans. Don’t fall for people who promise instant results. Adwords is a gradual process and it will take some time before you starting seeing results.

 6. Campaign Strategy – Ask them about their campaign strategy. Some of the questions to ask include; does your strategy include Call-only campaigns? Will it include remarketing? If you know all of this then you can go ahead and hire the agency depending on what you think about their strategy.

7. Budget- How do they charge their services? You want an agency that offer their services at an affordable rate without compromising with the quality of the services.

8. Do they include Search Ads – These adverts are generally the most effective for small budgets and strategy. Inquire whether they include them in their package.

9. Ask about Call-only Ads – Call-only Ads allow you to target users only using a mobile device to search. In an era where more than 69% of all internet users use mobile devices, you want an agency that will offer this service.

10. Campaign Goals – Before thinking about hiring an agency, write down what your campaign goals are. This is what most agencies will ask you about most of the time. What are you looking for? Calls? Enquiry forms? General website traffic? Purchases?

11. Campaign Structure – Structure is one of the biggest factors within AdWords.A poor campaign structure means poor results automatically. Hire an agency with a clear defined campaign structure for increased chances of success.

12. Networks – Ask about the networks on which the ads will appear if you hired their agency. Most agencies have Google as the only network while others offer a couple other options. Inquire about this as well.

13. Location And Advanced Location Targeting – Will they target specific locations if you hire them? This is important in any E-commerce business. Inquire whether they will optimize your content and ads to target people in certain locations.

15.  Ask about Ad Delivery – How do their ads perform? Do they get a low CTR but not a great impression share? Choose an agency with a good ad delivery. You can ask for data to back their history of ad delivery.

16. Insist on Mobile Bid Enhancement – Mobile device conversions are important. As earlier mentioned, most people browse on their mobile phones and you therefore want to ensure the agency will target these masses for increased conversions and funnelling of sales. 

18. Conversion Purchases From Website – If you run an e-commerce site, you’ll want to know how effective AdWords is. You want an agency that will in the end present a report to show how many people purchased from your website.

19. Inquire about the Quality Score – Quality score is a very important aspect to understand. Ask a little about the quality score of the previous ads before you can think about hiring them.

20. Budget effect on number of ads – Will the budget affect the number of ads they offer in the end? Some agencies vary the number of ads depending on the package the client buys. Ask about this before hiring an agency.

21. Insist on Mobile Ads – Some agencies still haven’t woken up from the 90’s Marketing and haven’t realized that mobile ads are the main thing in the market. If your business is to thrive, then the agency has got to offer this service.

23. Tools – What tools do they employ in their service delivery? Inquire about this, it is important to hire an agency with the right tools of trade to ensure that your e-commerce will thrive.

24. Ask about the links- Backlinks? What sort of links to they employ in their campaigns. Understanding this is important before hiring a marketing agency.

25. Size of staff- How many staff members does the agency have? You don’t want an agency that has very few members who will be faced by an overload of work. Competent agencies have enough members to handle the workload on time.

26. Guarantee- Can they guarantee great results at the end of the contract? You want people with a vision and who will assure you of results at the end of the campaign. 

27. What happens if you terminate a contract? Ask them for your own safety. You never know what can happen on the way. If you are disappointed in their work, what happens? You want an agency that covers such situations.

28. Do they operate within the Google Standards- They have been cases of people who got into trouble thanks to the agencies they hired breaching the Google Code of Ethics. Ask the agency if they work within the guidelines before you can hire them

29. How often will they keep in touch- Once hired, will they keep in touch and update you on the progress of the marketing? Inquire about this from them.

30. Are they up to date with the latest Adwords trends? You want to know whether they are up to date with the trends in Adwords. The more updated they are, the better position your business will be in.

31. Reporting tools- what reporting tools do they use? Do they show credible results? Will they email the reports to you? These are some of the key things to ask.

32. Reporting frequency- How often will they show you the reports of the marketing campaign? You want an agency that will constantly keep you informed on how your project is going