PPC Bid Management Software Pros and Cons

Pay Per Click Management Software

If the stats and figures on your ad campaign is making your head spin as you try to figure out all of the best keywords and possible mathematical formulas that will ultimate bring click-throughs that end in an actual sale, it may be time to consider turning over the hard and tedious work to an automated process. Some will gasp at this concept, while others will be relieved to sit back and let the potential for profit to flow.

These are some of the PPC bid management software pros and cons:

Pros:

Saves Time

Unless your business revolves around complicated mathematics, you are a business owner or manager not a math whiz. Using ad campaigns to market is time consuming, and so is your original job of running the company to drive in sales. The idea of PPC bid management was supposed to increase your profits and boost your visibility in internet search engines and social media platforms. What ends up happening is now you have an extra step of constantly manually tweaking keywords and poring over statistics and trends of potential buyers. By automating this process, your time is freed up to focus on the big picture of optimizing your landing page and finding opportunities for growth while getting back to the tasks of actually running the business and not sidetracked with time-consuming details.

Super Efficient

When you are in charge of your PPC bid management campaigns, the way you know when it is time to change keywords and other details on your ads is through trial and error. You run tests manually. When you integrate a software designed for PPC, you turn this process over to pre-written algorithms, also known as rule-based bidding. The software will automatically take care of bid changes quickly and make sure bids are set exactly where they need to be, finding clicks, saving money, and generating conversion rates. Some software programs even cover bids on return on ad spend ROAS model which means keywords that have a low conversion rate but tend to lead to higher sales volumes are never overlooked.

Generate Reports Quickly

Generating reports provide you with the necessary information to determine which PPC ad campaigns need to be modified and which ones are working well for you. With bid management software, you are able to quickly run a report whenever it is needed, even on the fly. Customize the report to show exactly what you need to know, and have it ready in seconds.

Manage All Accounts in One Location

If you want to see the reports in Google Ads Or Google AdWords as it’s formally known, you open Google Ads and take note of the numbers. To see the reports in Facebook or Twitter or other locations, you close out of Google Ads and open up Facebook or Twitter or other locations. This is tedious and takes several extra unnecessary steps. With PPC bid management software, gone are the days when you would have to open each individual site to gain statistics and report information. You see all of the reports and important numbers immediately making it easy to determine whether or not you have met your goals.

Cons:

Price

One of the largest hurdles to get over when it comes to automating your PPC bid management campaigns with software designed specifically for this function is the cost. While, these software programs will often pay for themselves in terms of net gains, depending on your individual company’s needs, this may or may not be the case. Be absolutely certain of your budget before over spending on software.

Not Fool Proof

As with any software, it is programmed to handle specific scenarios. It is not a human brain with the capacity and ability for making decisions that require critical thinking or gut level choices. It automates everything, so it may have a few bugs to work out or a few downsides. For instance, if the keyword data is not pulled properly, and new bids are set on bad data. With an automated process used in a software program, you are trusting its accuracy and may not even notice that it glitches until you see sales plummeting.

Out of Practice

When you turn a process over to a machine or software technology, you are now hands off except for glancing at an occasional report. Otherwise, you trust it is doing the job you paid for it to do. When these software programs glitch, it is going to be difficult to diagnose an issue if you haven’t been working with ad campaign bids for awhile. Even if you choose to use a software program for bid management, it is important to realize that you will still need to stay fresh on your skills and remain vigilant with your PPC account management process.

Tips to Know Before you Choose Software Automation

Keep in mind that if you decide to automate this process that not all software is created equal. Pay close attention to what your needs are and who programmed it. Some software programs may be better at reporting, while others are great at bid manipulation. Research to know exactly what your needs are before you buy software to do it for you. Although, there is no software that would be better than a skilled human.

Another Option – Write your Own Program

When considering all of the PPC bid management software pros and cons, don’t forget the possibility of writing your own automation process. If you have the mindset of a programmer and understand the process involved with your individual ad campaigns, you may want to tackle writing your own system to record data for all keywords along with associated costs and potential revenue. Or, have someone on your team do so, provided he or she fully understands the Google API.