I’ve been trying to put a renewed focus on PPC recently. It’s something I’ve wanted to get better at for quite a while, but the lack of proper tools has made it quite difficult. I’ve started using a tool called PPC Entourage. I also considered PPC Scope, but haven’t tried them out as I heard mixed things about their tool. Now, I wouldn’t consider myself to be a PPC expert (yet), but I can at least say with confidence that good data helps you make better decisions. Now that I don’t have to rely on clunky Excel files as much, I finally feel like I have the resources to start doing things right and improve my campaign performance. Having accessible data has also motivated me to start putting more effort into researching best practices, and I have to say I’ve learned quite a bit in the last few weeks.
It’ll take time to see how much my optimization efforts help, but I’ve been putting effort into the following strategies (largely based on the PPC Entourage training):
- Finding new (profitable) keyword opportunities based on existing campaigns (data mining)
- Testing new match types for existing keywords
- Removing poorly performing keywords and adding “Negative Search Terms” as needed
- Reducing bid amounts to profitable levels as needed
All of this was possible prior to PPC Entourage, but it was quite tedious, so I hadn’t been optimizing campaigns often enough. To be honest, I’m not convinced that their suggested methodology is the best as I have my own thoughts on how campaigns should be optimized, but I thought using their guidance would be a good way to learn how to use their tool. It doesn’t look like the optimization strategies I’d like to use are easily implemented using only PPC Entourage data, but I’ll learn more as I continue to use the service.
That said, although I do like the tool and it’s the best I’ve personally come across so far, this post isn’t really meant to be a PPC Entourage review as I haven’t dug deep enough into it to be able to tell you how robust it is. Even if it doesn’t offer everything I’d like, it’s certainly “good enough” for me to get started with and better than relying exclusively on Excel. I fully expect that it will save me both time and money as it is.
Hi Dax,
Thanks for posting about Entourage. I too am very interested tools to become more time and money efficient with my PPC. Now that you had several more months with Entourage can you let me know if you are still using this? If so what are your thoughts?
Thanks,
Randy
Hi Randy,
I’m still using it, but I do wish it was easier to modify reporting so I could focus on the metrics that are important to me. It’s great that it gives an easy way to access info I wasn’t able to easily get before, but I have to use it in conjunction with ad reports I download separately.
It’s not perfect, but it does a pretty good job and I still think it’s worthwhile.
Hi guys! I had a chance to demo their latest version and it is amazing! I think they are going to launch it sometime in early 2018. The PPC Entourage software is a must have for any Amazon Seller. The tool does everything and then some. It can be a bit overwhelming, but they have sensational customer support.
Sergei –
“sensational customer support”
Sensational customer support?
Anybody who thinks that Sergei is not working for PPC Entourage, go ahead and try and contact them . You will receive an email requesting you wait TWO BUSINESS DAYS!
I contacted them on a Thursday, that’s a 5 day wait time!
Good going there!