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Ever since AdWords was first introduced, freelancers have been offering their services. However, with online marketplaces’ expansion, the possibility of finding a good AdWords freelancer has increased tenfold.

Marketplaces like Odesk, Freelancer.com, and Trada all offer AdWords freelancers and it’s getting increasingly attractive to hire a freelancer instead of an agency. Freelancers are often chosen because they’re cheaper than a regular AdWords agency, but what might be cheaper today could be very expensive in the long run.

The key is finding the best AdWords expert for your business. We all started somewhere and this blog post is not about badmouthing freelancers. I know a lot of very talented freelancers, but for every talented AdWords freelancer, there are dozens of bad ones.

Don’t Go With Your Cousin’s Friend Who Works in IT

We all have an inclination to earn a little bit of extra money. People working in IT usually have skills that many friends and family members lean upon for support.

AdWords is however not an IT skill. AdWords is not just about setting up a couple of keywords to link them to an ad.

AdWords is marketing – successful marketing requires insight, experience, and passion for your field. Your ordinary IT supporter can’t manage your AdWords successfully without risking a big sum of money in your business.

How to Weed out AdWords Freelancers Who Can’t Help Your Business

To help you weed through the bad AdWords freelancers I’ve made a list of questions and insights that will undoubtedly help you.

The final decision is your own and no list in the world can help you make a risk-free bet. I urge you to also go with your gut feeling. If an AdWords freelancer answers all the questions below correctly, but your gut feeling isn’t in it – skip that guy.

Is The Freelancer Focused On The Same Values As You Are?

One of the first factors you should review is whether the AdWords freelancer is focusing on the same values as you are.

The freelancer you pick should openly explain that he focuses on building ROI. If no statement is made about ROI, then the freelancer is most likely just following every whim of his Clients.

The best AdWords managers explain thoroughly why it’s best to focus on ROI and they make sure to have the proper tracking in place to back up their work with numbers.

Don’t get lured into focusing your hard-earned cash on campaigns that generate awareness. Focus on how much return the invested cash will provide you. Breaking even is not a bad thing when you have a deliberate strategy behind it that won’t make you waste money.

There’s a big difference between losing money in the short-term to earn money long term (investing) and wasting money because you don’t know any better.

Look At Their Testimonials And Call Them At Will

The best thing you can do is ask for testimonials and then call them. Don’t just get them in writing – I urge you to call the testimonials to verify their authenticity.

At White Shark Media we regularly get our testimonials copied and we have already sent more than one cease and desist letter.

Most business owners are happy to answer questions to potential Clients if they’re truly satisfied with their freelancers.

Ask for an AdWords Account Review

At White Shark Media we always start off writing a report on a potential Client’s AdWords account. We do it to share with the Client our views on the account and to make sure both parties are in-sync with regards to values and expectations.

However, we don’t do it solely for the sake of the Client, and the AdWords freelancer you’re considering shouldn’t either.

We require a review in order to find out if we can help the Client at all. Some Clients have too low budgets and no means to increase them or are simply in an industry in which we know we’ll never be able to generate a positive return once our fee has been paid.

We aim to reach Clients who will be staying with us for at least one year because that’s where we find our biggest returns.

Your freelancer should have the needed experience to do the same.

The account audit should at least include:

• • Overall account structure

• • Amount of keywords

• • The potency of the keywords used keywords potency

• • Match type usage

• • Campaign settings review

• • Ad copy review

• • Review of the tracking efforts made

• • Negative keywords review and efficiency through the search terms report

These areas are basic and most AdWords account reviews will deepen in one of the aspects mentioned above.

You Should Be Getting A Free Proposal On What The Plans Are

No matter what you should always get a free proposal prior to starting a relationship with an AdWords freelancer. Freelancers normally don’t have the same website as a traditional AdWords agency and it can, therefore, be harder to find out what the plans are.

Competent AdWords freelancers will be happy to give you a written proposal on what they’re planning to do with your account.

The catch is however that your AdWords budget, and subsequent spend management, need to be high enough for the freelancer to get a healthy ROI on the time spent.

If your budget is too low you obviously won’t be getting an extensive plan of action. You can always ask for a 10-minute conversation to get the freelancer’s thoughts for the account. If you like what you hear then you can go ahead with him.

If it is an experienced freelancer then he’ll be able to knock out a strategy for your account in 10-15 minutes given that it’s a low-budget account.

I recommend that you read this blog post from Neil Patel about why he produces extensive free SEO proposals. If he can create big proposals for his potential Clients, then asking for a 15-minute review from your freelancer should be within reason.

The Following Statements Are Not True and Are a Huge Danger Sign

If you bump into the following statements while researching for an AdWords freelancer then just keep looking. Statements like the ones below are big signs of incompetency

• • Clicks are the most important factors in AdWords campaigns

• • The higher you bid the higher Quality Score you get

• • I have a special partnership with Google that allows me to have benefits in the AdWords auction

• • Dividing your Search and Display campaigns will automatically give you a better Quality Score

• • AdWords has a direct effect on your organic rankings (SEO)

Outsourcing Management of Your AdWords Account is Always a Risk

When you’re ready to find a freelancer or an agency to help you with AdWords there’s always some risk that it will not be a profitable partnership.

I highly recommend that you get more acquainted with Google AdWords management before hiring a freelancer for the job. A good start is to either download our book on AdWords. The Proven AdWords Strategy, which is completely free, will give you valuable insights on how successful AdWords managers think.

There are many aspects to AdWords and not all businesses have the possibility to earn a lot of money through AdWords. When outsourcing your AdWords management it’s important to fully trust the person managing the account. Wrong management could damage your AdWords account even after that person is gone.

Take a close look at the freelancer you’re about to hire, you won’t regret it.