PPC Bid Management Software - Criteria please!

I need help in reviewing PPC software

[Corey]

Can anyone help me with my review of PPC Bid Management software? I have determined what MY criteria for this software is, but I am curious of what others may feel is important.

I have downloaded all the free trial versions I can. They are running now for a week to 30 days each. I want to not only pick one for myself but also write a review that can be posted on the Internet for others to benefit from.

Here is the criteria I have come up with so far...

1. Price
2. Trial offering?
3. Simplicity of setup
4. Bid management rules available
5. Ability to handle multiple accounts
6. Interface design and usability
7. Return on Investment (ROI) tracking ability

Can anyone think of others?
Does the priority of these look appropriate?

Thanks!

[vibgyor79]

8) Ability to handle different PPC search engines

[simon_c]

- Sophistication of bid management rules
- Ability to manage multiple clients
- Ability to identify friendly as oposed to non-friendly sites
- Ability to manage large numbers of keywords
- Vendor support

As well as considering the tool itself, there's also the PPC campaign management element provided by some vendors where they do all the work for you. This may not apply to the web savvy readers of Webmaster World, but is certainly a significant factor for many PPC advertisers looking to outsource this part of their campaign.

- Depth of keyword research - appropriate to the client

- Quality of listings construction - do they make best use of the advertisers message, with correct grammer and keywords used as appropriate. Writing 10k individual listings is a challenge?

- Customer account management - can you talk to someone who knows your campaign intimately, can you rely on their judgement?

- Budgetary management - do they make sure you achieve your targets in terms of CPC, CPS, overall spend, ROI as well as making sure you don't run out of credit?

- Accessibility of account managers - do they pick up the phone when you call?

- Knowledge of markets, trends - do they have a wide experience of handling similar campaigns? eg do they know that a homeowner loan is different from a tenant loan?

- Technical ability to integrate deep links - can they deliver users to the most appropriate content, rather than the home page? Integrate tracking urls, and liase with other service providers to get it all off the ground.

[Corey]

Thank you very much. This is all very helpful. Keep it coming...

[Shak]

Corey,

Welcome to Webmasterworld [webmasterworld.com]

Is this what you would like your ideal software to be able to do, or are you actually creating your own super perfect tool?

Shak

[Corey]

I am actually trying to determine what I need. My situation and criteria are listed below.

However, at the same time I figured I would go ahead and write a review that might be helpful to others. That is why I am trying to "put an ear out" as to what others would want as well.

Does that answer your question?

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BTW, here is my overview and critera I came up with before starting...

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OVERVIEW

I need a tool to manage my multiple PPC accounts. They vary in size from several hundred keywords to a dozen. Total keywords will reach well into the thousands relatively soon.

I am primarily interested in something to monitor my Overture US accounts. Over time, I may choose to use other other "alternative" PPC accounts. I do not wish to manage my Google AdWords accounts, yet I am very interested in what potential there may be for this.

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PREREQUISITES

The PPC Management tool will need to be an Overture "Approved Third-Party Vendor". These are listed on Overture here. As of June 11, 2003 there were seven candidates listed. They fall into three categories...

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I can post more if interested. In fact, the entire review so far is posted on my website. Let me know if I am allowed to post a url to it. I don't want to disobey any local forum rules.

[worker]

This goes without saying, but just in case...make sure the solution you choose is an approved solution by the key players, like Overture.

In fact, I'd suggest you get their list of approved 3rd party bid management solutions and work backwards from there.

[simon_c]

The list isn't comprehensive as it only lists tools with agreements with Overture US. I know of at least one approved Overture 3rd party bid tool, but because their agreement is with Overture UK it's not listed on the Overture US site.

'fraid I'm not allowed to drop urls though.

[Corey]

You make an interesting comment, Simon.

Does Overture only list the "approved PPC Management tools" that are approved with Overture US, but not other Overture markets?

This seems odd to me that they would not post all.

[simon_c]

Indeed!

[Corey]

Does anyone have any other criteria? I have been in contact with the makers of a couple of these software packages and I can look into other criteria if you are interested.

Thanks again.