Last Updated 3 years ago

PPC Agency - What Is it, How Does it Work and How Much Does It Cost

Est. Reading: 6 minutes

There are tons of articles out there claiming they can help you “get started” with paid advertising. However, most of them are either outdated or simply wrong.

Paid advertising is a form of marketing where businesses pay to get their message in front of potential customers. It’s often referred to as Pay Per Click (PPC). It's one of the staples of a holistic SEM (search engine marketing) strategy.

If you’re just getting into the world of paid advertising via search engine marketing, you may not know what you need to do to succeed in this space. Or maybe you don’t even know where to start. That’s okay; we’re here to help!

What is PPC? Pay-per-click as told by TopOut Group
Photographer: Launchpresso | Source: Unsplash

What is PPC?

Paid search advertising is when a company pays money to appear on a search engine results page. These advertisements are typically paid for by advertisers who want to reach a specific target audience. They are often displayed above organic search results.

PPC campaigns usually include keywords and ad copy designed to appeal to searchers. Advertisers bid on keywords to show up when users type in those terms.

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The most common form of PPC is called Pay Per Click, where advertisers pay each time someone clicks on their ads.

However, there are several types of PPC, including:

  • Paid search marketing. (Paid search marketing is one of the most common types of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising)
  • Display advertising
  • Social media advertising
  • Retargeting PPC advertising
  • Price comparison website advertising
  • Affiliate marketing

Why PPC management is important

Paid search advertising is still very much alive and kicking. It’s no secret that paid search is a powerful tool for generating leads and sales, so why would anyone want to ignore it?

Paid search advertising is a form of paid marketing where advertisers buy ad space on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

This type of advertising is very effective because it allows businesses to target specific keywords and phrases. When a customer searches for a particular term, they see advertisements for companies who use that phrase.

Advertisers bid for the right to show their advertisement on the search results page when someone types in a query.

When someone clicks on an advertiser’s ad, the business pays the search engine to appear on the results page.

A major problem with running paid search campaigns is that most businesses, and their owners, don’t have enough time to manage them properly. They often end up spending a disproportionate amount of time managing the campaign rather than actually making money from it.

That’s where PPC management agencies comes into play. By outsourcing your paid search management to a reputable agency, you can free up your time to focus on what really matters – growing your business.

Photographer: Louise Viallesoubranne | Source: Unsplash

What should a PPC management agency do?

Many companies offer services such as Google AdWords campaign management, but what makes a true agency different? Why should someone choose an agency instead of their nephew who knows HTML and has run some Facebook ads, or a freelancer?

Here are a few answers to help you identify an agency that should stand out from the crowd.

First of all, the agency will do everything for you. They will manage your campaigns, optimize your keywords, track your performance, and provide you with reports so you know exactly how well your campaign is performing.

An agency will also work closely with their clients so they understand their business goals and objectives. Agency team members have extensive experience working with businesses of all sizes and industries, so they can easily adapt to any situation.

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An agencies goal is to ensure you get the most out of your advertising budget. If you’re looking for a service where you just sit back and relax, then this is as close to that as you're going to get.

How does PPC fit into a digital marketing strategy

Paid advertising is a powerful tool that can help you reach your target market share when traditional methods fail. However, unlike organic marketing strategies, paid advertising doesn’t build long term relationships.

You should use paid advertising as part of a larger strategy. If you’re struggling to generate leads from organic posts, then you might consider running a PPC campaign to attract visitors who are already interested in what you offer.

PPC campaigns typically last between 30 seconds and 60 days, so they require less time than most other forms of marketing. They are also much cheaper than other types of advertising.

We recommend testing different ad formats before investing any money – for example, display ads, text ads, image ads, and videos.

You might be wondering why you should bother with paid search when you already have good SEO (search engine optimization) rankings. Well, if you have a business that relies heavily on SEO, then you may be losing potential customers because your site isn’t showing up in search results.

Paid search advertising provides visibility to your site so that potential clients can see what you offer and contact you. This means that your site can show up in relevant searches for keywords that match your product or services.

For example, let’s say you sell custom wedding invitations. If someone types in ‘custom wedding invitations’ into Google, your site would appear at the top of the results page.

So, whatever campaign you want to bolster, you can easily do so with paid search advertisements. The goal is to get to users in their intent stage.

How does a good PPC management agency help your online business

A good PPC management agency will save you time and money by automating most tasks related to running paid campaigns. They should provide a full suite of services, including ad creation, bidding, reporting, analytics, optimization, and more.

An effective PPC campaign requires much more than simply creating ads and clicking “go”. There are many factors involved, so it’s best to let a professional handle it.

Here are five things you should know about PPC management agencies:

  1. An agency typically offers several services. Some offer only paid advertising services, while others offer everything from web design to SEO services.
  2. Agencies usually charge monthly fees based on the number of keywords and ad placements you wish to target. They'll do their best to ensure KPI's like click-through rates are where they should be.
  3. They know how to properly optimize keywords and landing pages. Agencies will know the best key performance indicators to track. Conversion rate will be one of their main goals.
  4. They'll have access to tools, and knowledge to utilize those tools, that will ensure your campaigns are more profitable than not.
  5. Agencies understand audience targeting because they're steeped in it day-in-day-out and can recommend new audiences should a campaign stagnate.

BONUS: Most agencies will ensure your Google Analytics is tracking properly so they can differentiate paid and organic traffic. Which will be very useful if you also utilize Google Shopping placement in anyway.


There are many different agencies offering these services, but the prices vary greatly depending on the size of client base, location, experience, etc.

However, regardless of what method you choose to go down, you should first research whether you want to take the time to learn the in's and out's of PPC, or if hiring an agency that knows your industry would be a better use of your time.

You may find yourself struggling at first, but that's okay. Everyone starts somewhere.

Just keep going.

Want to try your hand at PPC yourself to see if you can handle it without the help of an agency? Grab our PPC guide to help start your PPC journey!

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