it's probably all relative to your past experience...

if your ppc isn't very good, likely that it can be improved enough to cover the premium and more.

but in general, i don't think they have the expertise that many professional ppc managers have - no proof of that, just my assumption that someone who specializes in particular in an area, will have a leg up on someone who doesn't.

ask them for a pay for performance arrangement.

My last company was acquired by a YP, so I know the ins and outs of this stuff.

Each YP is a bit different, so I'm going to generalize a lot here.

The YPs have *lots* of data. If used correctly (and not all do), they can do an amazing job of managing an account.

Unless you're spending a lot of $$, you won't have a dedicated rep at the YP. Support is OK, but rarely great. If you are spending a lot of money - then you probably want a PPC manager instead of a YP.

YPs generally have lots of tracking. Phone calls, contact forms, driving directions, etc. So, you can quickly tell if they are being effective (like anyone - give them a month or three to get it going).

Rarely will a YP migrate your existing account. They generally build a new one from scratch. So, you will lose all of that history you had built up (assuming its good history - if its bad - then this doesn't matter).

Outsourcing your PPC management (to anyone) can save you time. If you don't have the time to optimize your account - then its not just the premium you're paying - you are also paying to get some of your time back.

If you have a really good account, have been managing it for a while, testing ad copy, landing pages, etc, and really understand PPC - then don't outsource to a YP. If you outsource - find a good PPC manager.

If you have an account that you barely touch, it just sits there and collects some clicks and you're hoping it does well, then hiring someone is usually your best bet to increase your returns.

> if your ppc isn't very good, likely that it can be improved enough to cover the premium and more.

From experience, I'd say that Rhino is absolutely correct.

> but in general, i don't think they have the expertise that many professional ppc managers have

I would agree with that as well. I don't see YP hiring very many expert managers. I see them being what I call an Adwords sweatshop. They likely "train" a bunch of people for a half day telling them here's what it is, here's what we want you to do. Of course, they get paid minimum wage. Or have automated systems. I used to see, at least here in Canada, many ads like this (say I searched for a chiropractor):

Chiropractor in Your City
Find a chiropractor.
View my profile.
www.citychiropractor.com

All ads were the same, no matter what I was searching for. Those businesses did not get their money's worth.

With a manager, as eWhisper said, you're paying to get your time back. But also you're paying for expertise, not likely with YP.

Having someone at Google is no better. Just because they work there, doesn't make them an expert. I just saw an account set up by a Google rep. It may have been better than what the client might have done (certainly faster) but there was lots of room for improvement. Even Google has its Adwords sweatshop.

Why is YP managing Adwords accounts? Are they acting as an agency?

I'd like to clear the air on training. There are some YPs & aggregators that do 1/2 day trainings and pay people low wages (I've never seen minimum wage as degrees are almost always required for these positions).

There are others who are paying salaries equal to what you'd make at an agency and training people for a week or more. Some of this training is online and some is in person (I own a training company so I'm pretty versed in how companies do internet marketing training).

It's hard to lump them all together from an efficiency standpoint as there is a large variety of skills and technology.

YPs, newspapers, radio stations, tv stations, etc have a salesforce that already has a relationship with businesses. Adding online marketing to their product mixture is the natural evolution of selling advertising. Remember, some of these companies also own sites that get a lot of traffic and also sell ads on those sites as well. For instance, DexOne own business.com, dexknows.com, etc.

The account might be anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000. I have had an adwords account for several years. Google came in and helped shape my campaign by taking my database of adjectives to apply to a series of keywords and make the ads more dynamic.
I log in once a month to adjust CCP.

YP is acting like a broker/manager. They want 10-20% commission and claim that it will be well worth it. I'm too sceptical to even try, but since my YP rep treated me well on other things I'd at least hear her out.

If they act as a manager of your account and you get a competent person to do the job, it should be well worth it in my opinion. I've taken many accounts myself and improved efficiency by well more than 20%.

I assume that 10-20% is percentage of spend. For how long? Just make sure you understand any contract and the metrics used. A couple of times, I've had hard time explaining to a client that their ROI is improved. All they looked at was a reduction of the number of sales (or clicks or impressions) when they were in fact making more profits, a better ROI, which to me is the bottom line.