Introduction
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a web advertising structure, commonly associated with leading search engines like Google, Microsoft Advertising (formerly known as Bing), Amazon. Following the typical PPC model, an advertiser is liable to pay the publisher against each ad click that can be a search engine, a website owner or even multiple website networks.
Advertisers place their bids on specific key phrases or keywords which strategically targets relevant audiences and regions. These ads are either textual search ads or shopping ads (fusion of text and images) which on being clicked makes an advertiser legally liable to pay.
On the contrary, there’re PPC display advertisements; commonly known as banner ads which appear on websites based on the user’s search intent as well as crawling behaviour. What’s worth noting is that these banner ads do not fall in the category of PPC advertising.
Looking at the success rate, competition and potential on the digital landscape along with the target-specific approach, leading social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest also joined the bandwagon, adopting PPC as their primary advertising model.
This professional guide is divided into two essential sections covering all the considerable factors before legally entering the PPC contract or even picking up a digital company for the services.
SECTION A
PPC Contract: Overview & Legal Elements
A PPC contract is a detailed legal document that seals the deal between the PPC consultant and their client. Such contracts are extremely important if both parties’ aims at understanding the terms of agreement, projection and milestones clearly. If you as a freelancer, a corporation, a start-up or established business have started working on PPC advertisement models, having a legal contract is extremely important. Many problems arise when people don’t understand the contracts they sign. Some important factors to keep in mind while signing a PPC contract are:
(i) Delivery Dates & Milestones
The PPC service providing agency shall use reasonable and persistent effort in the development of PPC campaigns and strategy to deliver the customer with deliverable milestones and dates for these deliveries. The customer should be assured that the milestones are mere estimates and do not require the timelines.
(ii) Look at the Services Being Offered
All the services provided by the PPC agency are intended to provide customers with a preferred position in the selected paid search engine marketing inclusion and should be reported regularly. So the services may include current web marketing, website evaluation, performance and analysis, and competition reports etc.
Any professional expertise digital marketing service providers, would always advise you to take a closer look at the services that you can avail. Digital Gravity, Minds Metricks, and Red Spider are some of those companies that aim to provide you with the best of their services along with convenience when trying to create a web page.
(iii) Campaign Budgeting
The customer and the agency of search engine marketing should agree upon an initial budget. This budget is maintained for all PPC related efforts, which includes individual PPC advertiser allotment, and the margin for daily and monthly expenditures. If there are certain policies of the industry or the company, those are taken under consideration as well while designing a budget.
(iv) Campaign Creation & Implementation
The PPC agency hired for this purpose should be responsible for creating several campaigns while producing numerous advertising copy, keywords and demographic targets based on the client’s services and the company’s research. The agency will create a landing page linked with the advertisement; the customer will be directed towards the page on a click. All creative services included in this agreement may be subject to separate web designing expertise with relevant terms and conditions.
(v) Monitoring & Reporting
The PPC agency should monitor and manage the client’s PPC campaign and costs per click rates. Bids and rates will be adjusted according to the statistical results to maximize return on money on a particular keyword.
(vi) Governing Law of the State
The governing law of the United Arab Emirates will be kept in mind during the writing of the PPC contract. It will be governed and interpreted according to the law of the state.
(vii) Providence of Notice of Breach & Opportunities of Cure
Approximately, 100-million lawsuits are filed all over the world every year. The PPC service providing agency and the client should provide a notice of breach with a settled opportunity to recover the damages before each party should be allowed to take the matter to court. The dialog that will arise as a result will reduce the likelihood of the matter being ambushed by lawsuits.
In case of disagreement, alternative remedies should be present in the contract to maintain mandatory negotiations. These remedies should be concerned with the top management, mediation, and arbitration. The element of confidentiality is essential in such cases.
(viii) Waiver
A waiver is defined as a legally binding provision where both the parties of the contract, i.e., the service provider and the client, mutually agree to voluntarily penalize a claim without the other party being liable. It will be difficult to determine the amount of damage that may arise in case of breach of contract from either party. This is the reason it is difficult to determine the penalty amount beforehand. On the contrary, this is why it is appropriate to provide a predetermined amount of damages to be paid upon breach when proven.
(ix) Indemnification
For indemnification, the client has to warrant that every resource provided to the PPC service provider to be used in the PPC campaigns is legal and licensed to the client. So in case of any claim brought forwards by a third party, the client will hold the company harmless.
(x) Transfer of Rights
In case that the PPC service providing company is unable to continue the campaign services, all of the non-exclusive rights to the PPC campaign will then be granted to the customer. The rights of transfer cannot be applied to third-party licenses and all of the resources and material which is owned by the developers.
SECTION B
PPC Management Firm – Hiring Considerations
It’s obvious that agreeing to a PPC contract requires SEO experts and consultants of a professional digital marketing agency that has the potential to maintain effectiveness of the campaign while reducing costs per lead. Experience and proficiency between different PPC service providers also differs so be sure you choose the right one by considering the following factors:
(i) Transparency
A reliable PPC management company should be willing to provide its clients and customers complete and unaltered information against every key performance indicator (KPI), landing page and ad account linked to your campaign. It’s important of you to know and understand the procedure a typical PPC manager would execute, all about your account activities and total time the firm dedicates to your campaigns.
A professional PPC firm should also provide clients with detailed, updated reports on the campaign performance and optimization, which can be produced conveniently using search engine analytics tools. That said; you should’ve complete access to all the information to ensure maintenance, administration and ownership of the account.
(ii) Certification
Yet another factor worth considering is hiring a PPC management agency, certified by Google. Paid search agencies bearing certification in Google AdWords ; for getting more customers as well as various other search engines and digital advertising programmes are highly preferred. Before agreeing to the contract, you may request the agency to furnish the certificate thus reassuring its credibility and success track record.
[Source: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_ae/home/ ]
(iii) Short-term/Temporary Contracts
PPC management agencies that prefer accepting short-term contracts are recommended. This is because you, as a client, might want to terminate the contract should the outcome of the campaign fails to achieve the desired goal or if the results drop to an alarming rate whilst the campaign is live. Agencies that accept temporary contracts are confident in their services while reflecting professional and competent services. These short-term contracts are typically of less than six months.
(iv) Performance History, Reviews & Expertise
A PPC company must have a proven success track record so that you may sign the agreement confidently. Ask the agency about its business model, strategies that helped in scaling-up its services and best practices to retain clients while bringing on board new ones. You can check the competency level of the company through its return on investment flow for the clients. A reliable agency would surely share the details and case studies of winning projects to win you over.
The digital landscape is always in motion and only future-focused agencies are able to keep up with the competition, including latest trends in paid advertising. Check the PPC firm’s expertise through the total time it dedicates to campaigns and taking all measures to improve the results. Success of the campaign as well as the company altogether can be gauged through its estimated Return on Investment (ROI) only after a brief period of launching the PPC campaign.
(v) Add-On Services & Strategies
SMO service providers and creative agencies that provide full-service creative digital solutions also offer paid marketing as part of their core services. However, there are companies being highly competent in particular service(s) so you should screen a typical PPC marketing agency that deals only in paid advertising. A good PPC marketing company also covers various online marketing services like conversion optimization, Google tracking and integration with other advertising strategies such as Google Analytics and Google Merchant Centre.
(vi) Cost Consideration
Almost everyone looks for quality service at a reasonable cost, business industries are no exception. Any corporation would surely wish to cut down on the cost while offering high-end services. You, as a customer and client should compare the cost and services of various PPC firms before signing a contract with any particular company. Make sure there aren’t any hidden costs or mark-ups; prefer agencies that offer free analysis and consultation on sign-up.
(vii) Expertise with Keyword Research
Success rate of PPC ads depend on keyword research, implementation and optimization based on the user’s search intent. A well reputed SEO service that adheres to the latest industry standards on keyword research and bidding definitely has the potential to generate organic leads once your PPC campaign went live on search engine(s). The company should also create and neglect negative keywords that return irrelevant leads or prompt additional expense.
(viii) Landing Page Optimisation
As a client or customer, you should know about typical operations and procedures a PPC agency would execute when creating and optimizing landing pages. Because landing pages influence overall quality score, your PPC campaign needs to target and optimize on the appropriate landing pages using technically sound and advanced tools.
(ix) Communication Strategy
A connected aspect to being transparent is communication which should be clear and understandable. Providing exceptional customer services requires effective communication in order to report on the progress whereas selecting the appropriate medium is also important. Be sure to come clear on the frequency and mode of communication once you enter the PPC contract from a selected agency.
(x) Business Understanding
All that said; hands-on experience and understanding of a particular industry is crucial in order for the service provider to remain ahead in the competition. When hiring a PPC firm, as if the company has a good insight on the target demographic so as to execute with the most appropriate and effective strategy. The agency should know all about demographic and geographic aspects in order to efficiently manage the keywords, landing pages and PPC campaign throughout.
Conclusion
The above guide offers complete insight on all the essential factors of a PPC contract as well as how to choose a company that’s proficient in the industry. A contract is a legal binding that requires both parties to reach an agreement on all matters of business. How the work proceeds and the campaign is set is largely dependent on the contract each party signs. This is why it is extremely crucial for each party to carefully read and understand the contract completely before entering a legal deal.
