Selecting an SEM Agency

Many smaller ecommerce retailers struggle with whether to hire a full-time marketer to manage their pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, or hire an SEM agency to do it for them. There are arguments on both sides. Of course cost is a consideration. If you can hire quality staff for less than an agency will charge, building in-house expertise may be the way to go. If you decide to hire an agency, how do you find the right one?

Create a short list by combing through SEM-focused publications and associations. I like ClickZ, Multichannel Merchant, and Internet Retailer, and there are many more. SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) membership indicates some seriousness of purpose and focus, but you can find great agencies who aren't members.

Once you have a list, look at each website. What do they say about their approach? Is there a focus on what they do for their clients, as opposed to how fast they are growing? What does their client list look like? Are they helping companies like yours? If not, are they willing to learn the idiosyncracies of your company and industry?

If these look good (and there really is no excuse for an SEM agency to have a poor website), then give them a call. After you've been impressed by their senior account exec (aka "the closer), ask to speak with the person who will actually be doing the work on your account. If that person doesn't listen and ask you good questions on the phone, then you need to keep looking.

Most SEM's offer some kind of whiz-bang tools to better manage an array of PPC campaigns more efficiently. Don't be sucked in by how cool their tools are, because using those tools effectively means someone on your staff needs to be a pretty fair search marketer themselves.

If the pitch is about how their technology gives them an inherent advantage in delivering higher conversion and lower cost over time, you still need to grill the people on your account. Ask them how many clients they manage. Will they be able to focus enough time on you? If you're getting a team of people, make sure you talk to the whole team. Technology alone is not enough. Smart people who care about your success are always going to be the key to a profitable relationship with an SEM agency.