PPC Geeks

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Whisky-Online, an auction website. We sell pre-owned bottles of whiskey on behalf of the seller and take a commission. 

We have two businesses within the same premises and with the same team. One’s a whiskey retail website where we buy products from distributors and sell them to customers at retail price, and the other one is the auction site. 

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We were looking for PPC services. Before PPC Geeks, we worked with a company that offered all-in-one services, including development. However, we had to end the relationship because of some misunderstandings. I prefer to find a business that specializes in one thing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks provides us with PPC advertising services and manages our Google Ads.

Matt (Senior Client Manager) sends analytic reports weekly. He also advises us on when to push for more leads and discusses how much we’re going to spend on that in order to get the best results. 

What is the team composition?

I mainly work with Matt, and I occasionally talk to Chris (Managing Director & Co-Founder). He is very open about getting in touch with him. 

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

I found PPC Geeks on a website with a lot of companies listed on it, and I gave them a call. It was a good feeling right from the start, and I didn’t end up contacting anybody else. 

Chris was really helpful; I explained to him the difficulties that we had with the previous developers, and we had 10–15 conversations over a couple of months. This helped their team understand our business and requirements. They also offered us a money-back guarantee; if we weren’t happy after the first month, they’d cancel the contract and return our money.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them £1,500 (approximately $2,000 USD) per month.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our business has definitely grown with their team’s efforts. I’d rather spend more money on someone who gets the job right. 

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform really well in terms of communicating and meeting deadlines. Matt just picks up the phone, and I always make myself available. It helps us box things off quicker that way; he sends me reports every single week.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is always willing to work with you and take your ideas on board. They never have any complaints, and I can give them feedback without any problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they have anything to improve. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Just pick up the phone and get in contact with them. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager for a lottery collective company. We bring people together to buy lottery tickets, so they increase their chances of winning.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We needed help with PPC.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They help us with the sales side on Google. They run our PPC. We organize the scheduling, and they make adjustments for us. Our needs change based on how the jackpot goes up and down. Therefore, our budget is a bit more dynamic. It’s a lot more work than just turning a campaign on and off. They’ve been really responsive to that.

They also provide us with regular overviews about our competitors.

What is the team composition?

We have one main contact. There are more people working on our account in the background.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

A director of mine came across them. They did a free PPC audit. The results that came back were impressive. We decided to try them, and it worked out really well, so we continued with them.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested £100,000 (approximately $137,460 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and the work is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve been really collaborative. We’re good at setting targets for the next quarter and pushing each other to reach those goals.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn’t have any issues with project management. They update us throughout the month on how things are going and what we can work on. We use Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with other providers in the past. We’ve found that working with larger agencies; we don’t get the attention to detail that we’re looking for. Since our business is unusual because of the jackpots and lottery we work with, it requires a certain understanding. They were willing to persevere through the tracking changes. They showed us they were willing to work with us and be flexible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be really clear on what your objectives are. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chairman of Patrol Store. We’re an online shop for police and security personnel.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We were trying to increase our efficiencies with PPC.

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks manages our PPC accounts. We had previously worked on PPC in house, and at times with other providers, and PPC Geeks took over that work. At the beginning of the project, they did a review of our account as well as a market analysis to see what the potential was. Currently, they’re in the process of trimming and making our account more effective and adding their own elements to it. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We did some internet research for an agency that was specifically focused on PPC. They fit the bill, so we looked at some reviews and brought them on board.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $5,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2020.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We keep a record on a monthly basis of both gross and net profit we make from PPC. We’ve seen a significant uptick in that profit since we’ve started working with PPC Geeks.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well. From the initial observation, to the market review and implementation of the project, PPC Geeks has been great. They’re very effective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been doing this for years, and PPC Geeks is the first agency that’s been truly effective. In my opinion, there’s no flowering up what they’re going to do. Their approach is very straightforward, factual, and results- and data-driven. 

The team is totally transparent in what they do, letting us in on both successes and failures. They’re very open, and we feel we can trust them with our decision making.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s a bit subjective, but they could perhaps be a bit more aggressive in their approach to growing the account. They’re very professional in a way that would suit most clients; they exercise caution as they grow the account. 

As a company, we have a higher appetite for risk, so we wouldn’t mind if they took more. Ultimately, we’ve only been working with them for a few months, so that’s something that will probably come with time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need real clarity on what you want to achieve. Ideally, you should also have historic data so that you can compare their performance with your own. Mathematical KPIs are critical, and if you have those, share them, and work together with PPC Geeks, you’ll have a very effective relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're an independent specialist design school based in central London. I'm the marketing director for the organization and we teach interior and garden design courses.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

In our small college, we've got quite a complicated set up where we've got lots of different interior design courses available which all share similar keywords but are geared towards slightly different markets or overlapping markets. It’s the reason why we hired PPC Geeks to set up our Google Ads to ensure we had the right people coming through with the right ads.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Generally, the team takes care of our Google PPC campaigns. We started out with a three-month test with PPC Geeks. The first month was just testing what was working and what wasn’t. As time went on, we’ve gradually adjusted the account and we’ve renewed it every month based on their performance. Currently, we’re keeping them for the rest of this financial year which started in September 2020. 

Previously, what we had was a little bit too linear, so they worked on the basis of which keywords were already working in the marketplace and which ones would be suitable for us. With COVID-19, PPC Geeks really helps us by advising the things we can change on our platform based on what they’re doing with other clients and the general knowledge that they have.

What is the team composition?

Normally, we work with 2–3 people. All throughout the project, we’ve dealt with the managing director through to account managers.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We found companies through Google. We shortlisted people to contact and scanned how they collaborate and their values. After that, we approached three different people in several organizations and encouraged them to pitch for our project. In the end, PPC Geeks became the winner of that pitch. 

We chose them because their approach was sensible. They're a bit more business-driven in terms of what we wanted to get out of our project. They also seemed incredibly knowledgeable and had the attitude to proactively do tasks, change things, and keep up with the requirements of the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

At first, we spent £2,000–£3,500 (approximately $2,300– $4,100 USD) on our ad efforts, and that gradually increased as the project continued.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started onboarding in January 2020 and since then we’ve extended our collaboration with PPC Geeks to an ongoing basis.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

It's difficult to identify the specific metrics because we've got a legacy database system and shopping basket system that are all tied to a monolithic database. Basically, we haven't quite got the full tracking on the shopping basket amounts of money that come through from our sales yet. 

Though we are seeing less traffic, our bounce rates have dropped significantly. They also brought in quite a diverse range of visitors to the website who we wouldn't normally have found because we didn’t necessarily target them. More importantly, based on the people who are coming through and booking interviews and enrolling in our courses, we're getting the right kind of inquiries.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

Together, we’ve created a system that allows us to work seamlessly. When we brief them on what we’re doing and what we do with our products, they come back to us with a proposal presenting what they’ll do and the keywords they’ll use. Their time implementation continues to improve as our partnership progresses. They also give us weekly dashboard reports and provide extensive data, too. 

We also meet at least once a month, but sometimes more. It all depends on when we're changing offers and products as we have courses throughout the year. So when some courses have started and we can't take any new people on, we may want to increase traffic on one course for a month or two, and then reduce it down again. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to the other agency we’ve worked with, PPC Geeks are a lot more practical and surgical in what they do. Other companies all cost more or less the same per month and you always have to pay more if you want to see real results. We admire their wealth of knowledge and we trust them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there are any areas that they could improve on. I understand that ads are always going to have typos and small issues in there because there's a lot of jargon, but they have always been consistent in reaching out to us and just checking in with how we’re doing. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to get a really good briefing package about your business and your products. You should also provide any statistics you have. Just give everything to them and make sure that you have a verbal video meeting explaining everything to allow them to really understand your business. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing executive at a resourcing company for nurses.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We had a bad relationship with our previous PPC agency, so we were looking for a new partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks completely restructured our campaigns and managed keywords. Most of our candidates come from Google PPC, and they also do some SEO. Additionally, the team has created our campaigns for our B2B marketing.

What is the team composition?

Matt (Senior Client Manager) serves as our account manager. We also interact with Chris (Managing Director & Co-Founder).

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

PPC Geeks cold emailed us, and we got them to do a presentation of what they could do for us. That’s what we liked about them, as well as their online reviews.

How much have you invested with them?

They charge us $1,800 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in December 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Since the results have come in, we’re doing much better. Compared to last year, we’re getting a lot more candidates that are better quality. 

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

Our relationship with them is much better than with our previous PPC agency. PPC Geeks is always there to help when we have issues, and they’re not afraid to take responsibility when something goes wrong.

We have weekly calls with Matt, and if I need anything, I can just pick up the phone and call him. They give us a report every Monday of what we achieved the previous week and what we’re aiming for. They also give us a monthly report. If Matt isn’t there, we just talk to Chris, so PPC Geeks’ communication is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What they forecasted is what we got. PPC Geeks is really good at what they do, and they’re constantly communicating even when we aren’t.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind right away. If anything, it would be nice to have more people working on our account because PPC is limitless which means we could be doing more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you start working with them, you’ll go through an onboarding process where you’ll write down your goals and what you want to achieve. Carefully think about your goals and objectives, and then communicate them to PPC Geeks.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a London-based data center operator. We design, build and operate data centers and have grown from a grassroots place to where we are now.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We had dipped our toes in PPC before, but it’s extremely complex to get it right. It also takes up a lot of time and you really need to know what you’re doing. As a smaller company, we didn’t have the time or in-house resources to do it. To ensure our budget was spent properly, we hired PPC Geeks as a third party to handle those efforts.

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks handles all of our PPC campaigns and efforts so we can be hands-off. They started with a deep dive to understand what we do and what we’re trying to achieve. We fund our Google Ads account and they come up with the ads, keywords, and manage the spend.

Their team comes up with new ideas on how to better spend the budget. For example, we’re exploring whitepaper downloads which they recommended. 

What is the team composition?

Matt (Senior Client Manager) is our main point of contact and he’s our go-to person, but we’ve also had some interaction with Chris (Managing Director). 

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

I believe we followed a recommendation. They were offering a free audit of what we had in place already, so we went ahead with that. From there, they pointed out glaring errors and laid out a plan for how they’d fix it, so we decided to use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around £1,500 (approximately $1,900 USD) per month on their fee, and then we spend around £2,000 (approximately $2,500) per month on ad budget. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2020. 

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We’re seeing more inquiries that are of better quality. All of the reports also show that we’re trending upwards, but the more meaningful result is the increase in inquiries. 

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They send us a report each week to make sure we’re seeing an upward trend. The report is a summary of improvements and headline figures. They also get in touch with us frequently to explain the results and where they see further improvement. 

It was really vital for us to be as hands-off as possible, so their ability to be succinct and recommend improvements has been great. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their deep dive was impressive. They don’t just want to get us more clicks, they want to get us more clicks that we want, which is more important. They really know what they’re talking about. Their management of the efforts has been great, too. Google Ads can be a nightmare to manage since it’s always evolving and changing, but they know what they’re doing with it. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been happy with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The best bet is to just let them do what they’re good at. It would be detrimental to direct them too strongly. Have faith in them for the best results. If you’ve been managing your own spend, it can take a few months to right that ship and see results — you need to have your eyes up instead of down. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the MD of a home care marketplace platform. We’re a startup open marketplace and online platform in the home care sector. Our objective is to match care seekers with carers in the home environment.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We launched our platform last year and had been doing some in-house PPC efforts. Essentially, we wanted to drive marketing towards increasing the number of carers and clients who use our platform. After a while, we realized we needed external expertise so we brought on PPC Geeks.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took over running our PPC account in its totality. Upon initial engagement, they conducted an audit of what we were doing and where we could improve. Those results led to the creation of targets focused on what we should strive for. They also did a diagnostic around our UX design and how to improve our quality score.

What is the team composition?

There are about three people. Our team works with Chris (Client Director), he's our main point of contact. We also work with Matt (Senior Client Manager) and another individual who works on the optimization of the ads, she is a little less involved.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We discovered them through a direct marketing email that was sent to me or my partner. At that time, we were in the process of looking at a couple of other companies but ultimately went with PPC Geeks.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about £15,000 (approximately $19,000 USD) a month for Google spend and then there are fees on top of that.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in October 2019 and is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The initial audit and UX diagnostic were very useful and helpful. As for impact, it’s a bit tricky to give an exact answer because there a number of factors involved. We were initially stabilized in November or December with our unit cost but then we went down a little bit.

Throughout the engagement, we’ve been doing a lot of upgrades to the site in terms of new technology and releasing features. There were a lot of interruptions such as tags on the site being deleted or outdated. On top of that, we changed the frontend of our site once or twice as well. It was all a bit messy in terms of the direct results of PPC Geeks’ work.

There were also a few breaks in terms of consistency. Their team didn’t have a consistent platform to work with for the full period of time, and then we hit COVID-19 in March. We had gotten to a point in late February where had a stable platform. PPC Geeks was able to slightly improve the numbers.

However, we were disappointed in terms of expectations of what we thought we’d get. It’s not fully their fault because of internal matters. It has been hard to engage, and there are external market factors as well. Everyone in our space experienced an increase in conversion costs.

All-in-all, there was some impact from PPC Geeks’ efforts, but it’s hard to tell because there are many external factors. It’d be unfair for me to judge them on a final score because of those things. This is unusual because it means I can’t give a definite answer if they were brilliant or not.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve dialed up their ads a little bit, and they’ve been performing very well. We switched partners last week. Overall, we’re a complicated sector, but I can see that their team produces smashing deliverables.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great with project management. We receive weekly reports on time and in full. There’s also good management and communication. Our teams hold a weekly phone call that allows us to touch base. Apart from that, if I wanted to look at where we were falling in quality score or even run back over some of the UX, they had no problem doing that work and coming up with pretty comprehensive feedback.

They’re responsive and proactive. When they realized we were struggling to reach the numbers we wished for, they analyzed the situation in efforts to find out why. Through this, we saw that competitors were throwing money into the sector pretty quickly along with other factors. Overall, their management structure is good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The thing that stands out the most is that Chris is very honest. We would have lots of different opinions from our internal team, but Chris was very good at listening and taking that on board. He is good at coming back with an objective, data-driven stance rather than a subjective one. Chris is very strong with that, and it’s clear he has the desire for us to be successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve loved the numbers to have been better. We didn’t give them the smoothest of runs in terms of being able to do that. But to me, it comes down to the bottom line, and we didn’t get there because of the many reasons I explained.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a constant, open dialogue. Also, you must be on top of the data. This means constantly questioning the data and reviewing it rather than waiting a month at a time to do so.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a sales rep for Atlantis Tanks. We’re a manufacturer and supplier for liquid storage solutions for diesel, oil, and water.

What challenge were you trying to address with PPC Geeks?

We had a website that we needed to get out to prospective customers as quickly as possible. We had some issues with PPC in the past, and we were looking to resolve those. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

PPC Geeks took over over our Google Ads campaigns. To start with, they overhauled the set-up and developed a strategy that maximizes efficiency and traffic gain. They then made changes to the campaigns themselves and provided best practices for us to follow on budgets and other factors. The team also advised us on some landing pages that they wanted and suggested changes to make to the backend of the site for Google optimization.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people: a Google Ads manager, a strategy manager, and an overall account manager.

How did you come to work with PPC Geeks?

We found them on Clutch. We searched through quite a few companies and did a gradual whittling down of teams. PPC Geeks wasn’t the cheapest option, but they came out on top as being the most trustworthy and helpful to us for what we were trying to achieve.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership ran from July 2019 until January 2020. Other challenges came up so we had to pause their services.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

PPC Geeks set us up with a data studio dashboard on Google. We had a lot of input as to what metrics we wanted to see on that and what goals we wanted them to achieve. We then had regular reviews every week, month, and quarter to make sure we were on track. Some of those metrics include our bounce rate, conversion rate, page views, and organic traffic. What we saw was quite a significant decrease in our bounce rate and a lift in page views and conversions. The number of conversions wasn’t quite what we were hoping for, but that was due to internal issues, not something on PPC Geeks’ end.

How did PPC Geeks perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. I’m a big fan of project management, and I didn’t have to push PPC Geeks. They drove us instead, taking the effort and resources we put into PPC onto themselves. We got good value for their services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What really stood out about them was their open and honest approach. They didn’t promise anything that they couldn’t do. They set expectations and exceeded them. We were left feeling like we’d found a good partner that we’d use in the future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Costs are always a key thing. We especially have a low margin level. I’d speak to them about account management costs in the future just for long-term sustainability.

Any advice for potential customers?

As with any partnership, it’s got to be based on trust. Chris (Client Director) and I developed a good level of trust early on. Once you have that trust and maintain, that’s all that’s really necessary.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Winebuyers.com is an online eCommerce platform connecting vineyards and distilleries directly to the end consumer using custom built technology. My role is Head of Marketing.

For what projects/services did your company hire PPC Geeks = Get Your 100% Free Google Ads Audit?

As a start up growing extremely quickly we needed to ramp up our PPC activity, most specifically to build and manage our Google Adwords account.

What were your goals for this project?

With over 50,000 products on the website our aim was to increase quality traffic to Winebuyers.com and achieve maximum conversions at the best possible ROAS.

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed a number of PPC Agencies but hired PPC Geeks for their specialist skills on Google Adwords. I was particularly impressed by the initial conversation I had with Chris when discussing our personalised audit. PPC Geeks also immediately understood our business model while other companies did not.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired PPC Geeks to build and manage our Google Adwords account for a four month period before we brought activity in house full time.

What was the team composition?

Right from the off we had three senior members from PPC Geeks on the Winebuyers PPC team. Chris, Dan and Kate were always up to date about our account throughout the project. I was continuously impressed with their attentiveness and incredibly advanced knowledge.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Kate's work on building out and optimising our Google Ads account significantly increased traffic and sales to our platform. After 4-6 weeks our Google Ads sales, specifically through PLAs, had jumped significantly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I was impressed by the organisation of our account. We received weekly progress reports and received in-depth monthly phone reports with a phone call with the Director Chris.

Due to the nature and size of our portfolio of products, I spoke to Kate several times a week over emails and the phone. Their service was impeccable and one of the team was always available to answer questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Chris, Kate and Dan were a pleasure to work with. PPC Geeks really went above and beyond any other advertising agency I've worked with, even helping launch our Bing Ads account which was outside the project scope.

The team at PPC Geeks was always professional, helpful, and happy to share tips and advice. I cannot sing their praises highly enough.

Are there any areas for improvement?

PPC Geeks were always very good at incorporating and responding to feedback.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager for a growing company that manufactures and stocks a range of steel doors for the UK national market.

For what projects/services did your company hire PPC Geeks Ltd?

We hired PPC Geeks to run our Adwords PPC campaigns across all our product range.

What were your goals for this project?

At the time we hired PPC Geeks, although we had dabbled with Google Ads int he past, we had no clear strategy or indication of likely budget. We wanted advice and help to establish the various campaigns, quantify opportunities and to deliver a measurable return on investment.

How did you select this vendor?

We had already been in contact through Linked In and had met several times. We selected PPC Geeks because of their persistence, enthusiasm and their absolute belief that they could do a great job for our company.

Describe the project in detail.

We set up initial meetings, where we discussed our requirement in detail, before getting to the technical requirements of landing pages and tracking. Once PPC Geeks had access to the website they set the ad campaigns up. They now monitor and tweak the campaigns to make sure that they are running at the optimum levels, both in terms of quality of enquiry and cost per lead. We receive regular performance reports and they are very contactable and responsive to requests for advice or account change.

What was the team composition?

Initially we worked with the Sales Director, Chris. In his absence I know I can contact other members of the PPC team. I know that Chris handles the client interface and that he has a growing team who look after the technical aspects of the business.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since the start of the campaigns, the account has always run with a lower cost per lead than we ever predicted. We have a regular and plentiful supply of leads. Our quote bank has more than quadrupled in the time we have been working together.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We work together very well, some weeks we discuss new ideas and strategies every day. Some weeks we go without any interaction whatever. I feel I always have access to their support and over time we have aligned our expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Personable, efficient and responsive. I was initially reticent about letting go of any control of the companies advertising. However, PPC Geeks have become trusted consultants and a good place to start for advice on new projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, neither business is static. I quite like that we can and often do disagree about strategy or implementation, but that friction often produces the best results and we both learn in the process.