Adaptability

While you might think you’ve created the best website ever, it’s what the audience thinks about the site that truly matters. So if your great idea doesn’t pan out as planned, or if there are technologies or resources you can implement to make your site better, don’t be afraid to adapt your site. More than likely it will need some improvements or changes along the way anyway.

Operations

For many businesses, a website is an additional source of traffic to gain customers. So make sure that your business is already running like clockwork when delivering your service or products to your customers online.

Team Roles

Make sure you’ve established the proper team roles, so if something in the site is not working, you’ll know exactly who to go to get it back up and running smoothly.

Proper Search Engine Optimization

As soon as your site is published, it will begin getting indexed by all the search engines. Make sure to provide the right title, description and keywords for each page of your site so that when users find your listing in the search results, you have made sure to provide the most informative description possible.

Quick Updates

If you’re sold out of a product, make sure it’s indicated on the site and try to avoid letting it happen again. The same goes for any other part of the site that might need spot-checking for updates — contact information, pricing, etc.

User Experience

We’ve all been the customer, and we know what we like and what we don’t when we visit someone else’s business. Look at your website through the eyes of a user and focus on addressing those things you don’t like.

Promotions

If you build it, they will not come. Remember that your website is like an island, and that visitors aren’t going to come and spend money on your island unless they’ve heard about it and trust it’s a great place to visit. Hard work in promotions will help increase your traffic quickly. Have your checklist of forums, blogs, websites, and other places ready so you can start getting traffic right away.

Metrics Measuring

All the traffic in the world isn’t even the best thing if you don’t know where it’s coming from or if/how it’s converting. Spending wisely on online marketing is key, so make sure you are properly monitoring the correct metrics.

Mission Statement

Every business has a mission statement. Use yours to guide you in case you find yourself losing your way, or if you’re not sure where to start.

Planning Ahead (Scalability)

Let’s say you’ve done everything to get your current site a good deal of traffic. Do you have a plan for if/when your traffic increases exponentially? Can your product line be streamlined? Is your web hosting package easily upgradeable? Do you have sufficient products to provide to your customers? Considering how widely you’re looking to scale your site in the future will help you avoid a major site crash, or loss of missed sales.

So when does a business decide to take PPC into its own hands?

In this particular case, I offered my services free of charge to my friend. It’s not that I felt he couldn’t learn PPC management, but with his limited amount of available time combined with the immediate time table in which he wanted to launch his advertising, it would be most effective for him to allow me to help him execute his plans.

PPC is not extremely difficult to learn for an internet savvy individual, someone willing to learn about the industry who is available to conduct the proper market research…not to mention, spend ample amounts of time testing. PPC management is a valuable skill that any interested person could learn, however many business owners don’t have the necessary time to invest in mastering what is a true specialization. Things to think about when considering launching your own PPC campaigns are:

* How much time will it take you to learn PPC management?
* How quickly do you plan to launch your ad campaigns?
* How much time do you feel you’ll need per week to manage your campaigns, and do you have this time available?
* How well do you understand your audience and your competition?
* What main keywords are you competing for?
* What is your monthly PPC budget? What is your expected ROI?
* What are the benefits of managing PPC yourself versus hiring a specialist? And vice versa?
* What is your maximum CPA (cost-per-acquisition) spend per lead?
* How do you plan to minimize ad spend waste?

These are a few questions to weigh when considering adding online advertising to your marketing plan. Our advice on when to take PPC into your own hands is when you are certain you or someone in your business has the available time to invest in learning PPC and all the details of what it takes to manage this type of account. However, just “doing” online advertising by publishing some advertising campaigns isn’t the best strategy and isn’t in the best interest of your company.

Keep in mind that online advertising is similar to any other advertising venture, meaning you do have to spend money to make money. Your decision lies in whether some of the money spent will be invested in your own time or in someone else’s.