How to Safely Delegate Yahoo! Search PPC Management

[curiousgeo]

I own a small business that sells digital info products online.

For the last several years, I've always setup and managed my own Yahoo! Search campaigns and ad groups. In the early years back when it was still Overture, and when I could devote the proper time, we did very well.

As time went on and I got pulled in many different directions with other non-PPC-related aspects of the business, ROI declined. I sense that Yahoo! Search could still work very well for us, if someone competent would just put in a good 10-15 hours/week.

So I'm looking to outsource this task.

But in the process, a few control-related questions have come up.

What’s the safest way to delegate Yahoo! Search management?
For example, how do I keep the consultant out of the credit card AND budgeting settings?

If I wanted them for example to prove themselves at a $2,500/month budget, before allowing them to move onto a $5,000/month budget, is there a way to "enforce" this in the interface?

Also, what’s the safest way to protect our account and proprietary data if things don't go as well as planned? To avoid a "blackmail" type of scenarios and messy legal issues?

I'm looking to hear both from SMB’s who've outsourced successfully (vs. unsuccessfully), as well as insiders on dealing with the good, bad and the ugly of outsourced delegated Yahoo! Search management.

Thanks


PS: I posted a similar message in the Google AdWords forum back in May and got a very helpful reply.
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/...ad.php?t=17761
Now we're expanding our horizons to Yahoo! Search and are wondering about the issue.

[SearchEnginePPC]

Curious,

You can give people separate logins to your account with different levels of access. This is found under Administration -> Master Account Users of your Yahoo account. This will keep someone from having your login information or locking you out of your own account.

Also, I think Yahoo automatically protects the credit card information. If I look at that screen in my account, all I can see is the last 4 digits. Sure, a person could change or remove the card, but they wouldn't have access to the card you've put on the account.

As for a proof budget, I'm not sure of a way to do that other than setting up a duplicate account. This is what I'm doing with a client right now, and it seems to work just fine. It might be a sketchy practice according to the search engines, but as long as it's temporary, I think it should be fine.

Hope that helps!

[J Clark]

Curious,

In response to your questions:

What’s the safest way to delegate Yahoo! Search management?
For example, how do I keep the consultant out of the credit card AND budgeting settings?

The default setting for Yahoo is pre-pay - in other words your credit card is charged an amount specified by you and your campaign runs until that amount is depleted and then your credit card is charged again and so on. An option would be to allow the credit card to be charged the $2500 and then change a number or expiration date to prevent the card from being charged again. The $2500 will be used up and you should receive an alert notifying you that your credit card was declined. At that time you can reinstate the correct information and recharge the card to keep the campaign running.

As SearchEnginePPC stated, the credit card number is xxxed out so there will be no chance of the number being stolen.

Also, what’s the safest way to protect our account and proprietary data if things don't go as well as planned? To avoid a "blackmail" type of scenarios and messy legal issues?

I would recommend some type of legal document that would require a signature by both parties. It should entail restrictions on using your account data and setup as well as forwarding this information onto third parties. I would also recommend a paragraph stating the 'contract' is completely voluntary and can be terminated 'without explanation' (that may be harsh but it protects you in almost any scenario).

I actually take on outsourced work myself. In most cases I deal with accounts which have not been set up so I utilize my own credit card, contracts, etc. I can say, however, that with any client providing a campaign which has already been set up I voluntarily sign the above mentioned docs and offer to use my own credit card to avoid exactly the issues you are worried about.

So I'm looking to outsource this task.

As far as finding the person to outsource to? Obviously you want someone who has worked across the big 3 (googe, msn, yahoo) because there are different aspects and tools that can learn from by working with all 3. In addition, a quick way to find out how 'in tune' someone is with Yahoo is to find out if they have met the Ambassador certification requirements and passed their certification.
From the sounds of it you worked with the campaigns initially so I can assume you can speak the lingo...make them tell you something you don't know. After all, you want someone working on your campaigns who is more knowledgeable than yourself right? Or why would you hire them?

Hope that helps ... and if whomever you find doesn't work out, I'm always happy to provide a free 30 day trial myself