How reliable is AdWords as far as targeting people actually in or near those cities?
Sometimes when I search I see ads that appear to be trying to target me geographically but the businesses that are advertising are in a city 200 miles away - where my ISP has a facility.
FarmBoy
I have had some good experience with localization...
you may have to experiment some...I tried several different combinations until I found the one that worked for the sector I was targeting....and found that setting up the campaign with about a 100 mile radius...was actually the best (again..this is for a specific sector .. which I can't mention due to Webmasterworld's TOS)...
Since you;re doing seminars...then you are looking to inform people in the 5 destination cities...you will have to test your best keyword phrases vs. how large an area you want to target...a 50 mile radius might be the right range for you..but not easy to say without knowing what your seminar topic is...?
And regarding your other question..(how to determine the cost of hiring a PPC person)...
Most will probably go the monthly retainer route...some might do the performance pay route...just depends on how they run their business...
I know that's a bit generic...but I can't go into detail here...sticky me if you want more specific info...
