There’s always a way to make things easier.
As a society, that belief has gotten us to where we are today. It’s the driving force behind modern technology. It’s the reason you can travel anywhere in the world in a matter of hours, that you can contact people wherever they are and do your grocery shopping without leaving the sofa.
The same is true for online advertising, thanks to PPC optimization tools.
What is a PPC optimization tool and why do you need one?
A PPC optimization tool is a piece of software or program that will make managing your campaigns easier and less time-consuming. How delightful.
No two PPC optimization tools are the same.
They have different functions and usability depending on what part of your campaigns they are trying to optimize. For example, one tool might identify duplicate keywords or ones you’re missing from your lists. While another tool could track your Google quality score.
The reason why you need a tool is down to its lead benefit. It saves you time. With more time, you’ll be able to:
- Get more of your jobs done
- Focus on the areas of your business that matter
- Implement new changes to deliver better results
- Strengthen your PPC strategies
- Improve your ROI (Return On Investment).
This is why we built Adzooma.
Adzooma is a PPC all-in-one advertising platform for Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Ads. We made it because as a small agency, we couldn’t find anything on the market that matched our PPC needs.
So, we built it. Fast forward a few years and some exclusive partnerships later, Adzooma:
- Analyzes accounts 24/7
- Generates personalized one-click optimizations
- Alerts you to important changes
- Makes adjustments on your behalf with automated rules
- Creates custom, white-label reports in minutes
Are there any alternatives to PPC tools?
There’s no one forcing you into using a PPC tool at all. You could do it all yourself of course. The downside of this is that it’s going to take you longer, so you need to consider if you’re okay with all this wasted time.
And yes, it is wasted if there are plenty of options available that will speed things up for you. This is time that you can invest elsewhere, helping your business grow to new levels.
Outsourcing with a PPC Agency
There are pros and cons to PPC agencies:
- Pros: you’ll definitely save time because they will do all the work for you. It also cuts out any steep learning curves as PPC will be something they can master in their sleep.
- Cons: you’re paying a lot of money to surrender control to a company that, ultimately, might not care about your results. It’s an expensive gamble and not always worth it.
To let you in on a secret, these companies will be using PPC tools to manage your ads. If you want to cut the middle man and do it yourself, follow these tips below.
The top 5 questions to ask before choosing a PPC optimization tool
Before you get into the good stuff, you need to figure out what your business actually needs.
Yeah, it can be annoying but it’s really important information that will help you access the tools that you’ve got.
Where can you save time? What do you need to speed up your processes?
For example, if most of your time goes on creating reports, you need a reporting tool. If most of your time goes on adjusting bids, you need a tool that will automatically do it for you. Nice and simple.
These are the essential features you need to look out for. Anything else is a nice extra.
What features do they offer?
So first things first, check what features they offer against your personal list of must-haves.
If they don’t make the cut, it’s not the right tool for you. If there are a couple of tools that do the essential features you need, work your way down the nice-to-have features to help narrow your selection.
Does it work for your business?
There’s no point getting a tool designed to manage multiple, large accounts if you’re just using it for small campaigns for your freelance clients.
After taking a look at the features, make sure it’s designed to work for businesses of your size and level.
It’s something we understand at Adzooma. In fact, it’s part of our mission to make PPC software accessible to all. No ifs, buts or special cases. No matter your size or industry, we’ve got a solution for you.
But this isn’t just about us, even if I am a little biased.
If you’re a freelancer, these PPC tools are worth a look:
- Adalysis
- AdEspresso
- KlientBoost
- Opteo
- Optmyzr
- Squared.io
- WordStream
For enterprises, Analysis, Asdpressio, Opteo, Optmyzer, and Squared.io should still be on your list. But you should also consider Kenshoo and Spaceboost.
How much support do they offer?
If you want to make the best use out of your PPC software, you’ve got to know that all your questions and problems will be answered and solved. That’s why you need to check out the level of support on offer.
The type of support is also important. If you like physically getting on the phone and talking things through, you might be surprised at how little tools offer this. By our count, it’s only Kenshoo, Kilentboost, and WordStream that have got you covered.
Nearly everyone will offer online support, emails or product tutorials to help ease you into the platform. And without appearing too sales-y, you can get in touch with us at Adzooma any way that you prefer.
Disappointingly, Squared.io offers none. If you’ve got a problem, I’m not sure how you would get in touch. Perhaps send them a carrier pigeon?
How much does it cost?
Price is a big one.
Your PPC tool has got to be worth the investment for what it does. Break it down rationally, let’s say it can save your team a day every week. How much is that day worth?
If it improves your campaigns, how much are these improvements worth?
If they’re worth the cost of the tool, great. Continue. If not, then there’s not really much point in you using it. It’s like buying a £3000 sit-down lawnmower to cut a tiny piece of grass that you can’t even get the lawnmower on.
The bottom line: if it doesn’t fit in your budget, it’s not right for your company.
Do they offer a free trial?
The most important thing you can do when choosing a PPC tool is to test it yourself.
It’s alright selling it with all the bells and whistles and promises that you can muster. But unless you physically use the tool, it’s impossible to know how it actually works with your business.
Most tools have at least a 7 or 14-day free trial of the product, apart from Kenshoo and KlientBoost. But they at least offer a demo of the product, so that’s something.
Final Thoughts
PPC optimization tools are designed to save you time. But that only works if you choose the tools that work for your company and speed up your management process. If you follow the tips above, you’ll be on your way to a winner in no time.
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