ClickTecs is Now An Official Google Partner! What the Google Partnership Means for Our Clients
We are pleased to announce today the final ‘inking’ of our Google Partnership. ClickTecs has now become one of the few exclusive agencies headquartered in Mississauga, Canada and servicing the Franchise Sector, that is an official Google Partner. Although this is a great achievement for our staff, we wanted you to know that it was the trust and belief of our Clients that helped us get there. We wanted to briefly tell you what was involved in the Google Partnership and more about what the Google Partnership means for you and your business.
Google has monetized its Search Engine by offering advertising opportunities. Over the years, Google has invested a lot in making their system for Google Adwords more effective. Since advertising on Google is a dynamic and changing area, it is often very time consuming for businesses to manage it in-house. This has led to the emergence of many ‘Digital Marketing Agencies’ or ‘Online Agencies’. These agencies promise to help get businesses to the ‘top of Google’ and leverage the other paid advertising opportunities offered by it.
Since there is no license requirement to advertise on Google, how does a business that wants to invest in paid advertising differentiate between professional providers of this service and those who simply don’t know what they are doing? In reality, anyone can spend OPM (Other People’s Money) in Adwords, for better or worst, so what can Google do to prevent this Wild Wild West phenomenon?
The Google Partner Program offers every agency to prove they can meet the strict criteria set by Google to qualify to sport the Google Partner Badge.
Here are the criteria for becoming an official Google Partner:
1) Google Adwords Certification Tests
The first step to becoming an official Google Partner is to pass a series of tests. To fulfill the certification requirement, your agency needs at least one of its affiliated members to be AdWords certified. To get certified, an individual must pass the Fundamentals exam and one of the two advanced exams — either the Advanced Search or Advanced Display exam. These exams are timed and the pass mark is not 50% like they did in school. It requires you to get an ‘A’ in order to pass the exam.
2) Minimum Book of Business
Having an active and healthy book of business lets Google know that an agency will stand the test of time. Google checks an Agencies My Client Center (MCC) account to see if it meets their criteria in the following areas:
- Min Spend : At least US $10,000 in total AdWords spend over the last 90 calendar days. This is designed to ensure you are retaining clients and not having a high turnover.
- Min Activity: Spend activity in at least 60 of the last 90 days. This is designed to show you are constantly in the account updating and enhancing the campaigns. Simply put you can’t ‘set it and forget it’.
- Min Longevity: MCC is at least 90 days old. Shows you have been doing this for a while and are consistent.
3) Best Practices and Audit
In the accounts an agency manages, they need to demonstrate that they are maximizing the ROI and performance of the campaigns. Google watches the activity in the account to ensure that you are indeed following best practices. They are looking to make sure that someone is not just using the basic setup and dumping money into the account. They want to see some advanced techniques, calibrating the ad spend, maximizing the CTR etc. Basically squeezing every ounce of juice out of client’s marketing dollars to maximize clicks and conversions.
So for those businesses looking at investing in Google’s paid advertising program, you should definitely consider working with someone that can brandish the Google Partner Badge and has earned Partner Status. This can be determined by clicking on the badge and going to the companies Google+ Page which is linked to their Google Partner Status. You can find ours here, ClickTecs Official Google Partner
The badge recognizes companies that excel with Google’s products. Their businesses are healthy, their customers are happy, and they use Google best practices.
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About the Author : Jamshaid (Jam) Hashmi
A serial entrepreneur with extensive background in franchising and interests in multiple online business channels, Jamshaid (Jam) Hashmi has played an instrumental role in the franchise development and success of an international franchise company. His most recent entrepreneurial interests include launching ClickTecs, a Digital Marketing company specializing in Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing as well as Website and Mobile Application development. In 2007 he co-founded Search Result, an online marketing company that supplies services to Internet Marketing Consultants. A sought after public speaker, Jam has been the featured keynote at many franchise conferences and international summits. He regularly trains ‘C’ Level Executives and supports both new and seasoned business owners on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Optimization, Mobile Marketing, Brand Reputation Management and Conversion & Measurement through web analytics. When he’s not scaling the heights of the Internet world, Jam ‘unwinds’ on extreme thrill-seeking adventures from the jungles of the Amazon to the highest summits. His passions include working with NGOs on humanitarian missions to areas around the world affected by disasters and poverty.
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