Is DIY PPC a Good Idea?

Pay-per-click advertising is a fantastic marketing resource and can be instrumental in generating quality leads. But can you create a successful PPC campaign all on your own?

The short answer is yes, provided you’re ready for the process. 

Research 

PPC requires a lot of it. There’s the usual campaign prep like determining your audience’s age, income, location, etc., setting your goal and budget, and developing a strategy. Based on that information, you then need to figure out:

• Where to advertise, including the PPC platform you should use
• The style of ads you should run (e.g., search or display)
• The best tone, design, and keyword phrases to use

Setup

Once all that’s decided, you can set up your campaign on your chosen PPC platform. Most PPC platforms are user friendly. So if you have the proper campaign research to back you up, you can likely get away with browsing a couple of How to Setup videos or blogs. 

The trouble comes with updates. PPC platforms are constantly rearranging and adding and removing features to optimise their offering, making it harder for more casual users to keep up.   

Testing and Analysis 

It’s also important to test the ads during the campaign’s runtime. The most effective form of PPC testing is A/B testing, in which you run a control ad and an ad with a change (for example, using a different image or keyword phrase) simultaneously for a set time. 

To help you see what’s working and what’s not, you need to keep an eye on:

• CTR (or click-through rate) of the ads
• Quality scores (the more relevant ad will automatically score higher)
• Impression shares, as this lets you know how often your target audience searches a relevant query that triggers your ads to pop up in search

Fortunately, some PPC platforms like Google Ads have in-built A/B testing and analytics features that collect the data for you. However, implementing the findings in your current campaign or future ones will still be on you. 

In short, if you have the know-how and a solid amount of time to devote to it, DIY PPC can be a good option for you. Otherwise, it might better be left to the experts.