Zoron - 4:45 pm on Mar 23, 2004 (gmt 0)

I do feel that everyone who's manually intervening in keyword bidding either a)doesn't have access to regular ROI data

What does ‘having access to regular ROI data’ have to do with automated ’bid’ management vs. manual intervention when and if needed? As in your previous post you seem to be mixing ‘bid management’ with ‘analytics.’ They may be integral in a decision making process but are completely independent functions.

If your autoscript does the job on all your highest performing keywords, great. If and when it doesn’t and you don’t intervene, you’re wasting money and otherwise doing your client a disservice while trying to justify your automated/impersonal service, which in effect purports that the “average” dictates your response, over your client’s individual interests.

b)can't take ROI data for their keyword set and extrapolate bidding strategy from it

‘Applying’ ROI data, however significant, is just one aspect of many factors of a bidding strategy, one that usually precedes competitive bid analysis.

c)doesn't know what their business goal is

No disrespect intended, but that’s preposterous. You’re saying that JUST because one chooses to manually intervene, even periodically with their automated bid management program, they don’t know “what their (his) business goal is?” :o

…you should be able to put the entire thing on autopilot and have it run itself. That's what we do, and while we may be out-bid on any one keyword, for the hundreds of thousands of keywords we manage we're killing the competition due to the advantages of an automated closed-loop feedback system over a manual one.

Perhaps that’s the difference. I deal with one client (and their interests) at a time, and not as one of a small fish in a sea of thousands, in which a smaller, personalized SEM/PPC management service may go beyond a large mass managed one, and allow the ‘flexibility’ of manual intervention when advantageous to a client. And in the process I’m able to apply a highly effective bid strategy in achieving ”clear, consistent business goals,” because I am able to tailor that strategy to an individual client’s unique market, competitive environment and specific bid idiosyncrasies, if and when it might require manual intervention. And although perhaps you can “kill” much of the competition because of their inexperience or otherwise inability to counteract your autoscript, it is exactly that “self running, often unmonitored, auto pilot” system which can be your Achilles heel.