Companies specializing in search engine marketing (SEM) and PPC are becoming very prevalent. How do you tell if you're dealing with someone that has the expertise or someone who is just faking it?

First of all, give the person or company a phone call. Don't just sign up without talking to them. Ask questions, see if it is easy to get a live person on the phone. Check to see if they call you back and how fast. Good customer service can be an indicator that you're dealing with a professional.

Next, you can check on their certification status. Ask if they've been certified by Google, Yahoo, MSN, SEMPO, or any other organization and follow up on their answer. Trust, but verify. Just because someone says they're certified doesn't mean they're being completely honest. All the certification programs offer a special link to a page on their server with details of the individual or company's certification.

Ask the PPC specialist what will be done to each campaign. They may not want to give you their "secrets," but they should be able to give you a general outline of what will be done. This ensures you're not paying them to relax at the beach.

Here's an example of what you might want to expect from a PPC specialist:

First of all, the specialist should do some brainstorming as well as a in-depth phone call with the business owner or marketing director.

You should hear that Ad Groups will be setup for each product or service offered with multiple variations. You should end up with a lot of Ad Groups. (If the specialist says you'll get one Ad Group, this may be an indication of lack of PPC knowledge.)

Keywords will be entered into the campaign, including various match types such as broad match, phrase match, exact match, and negative match. Using multiple match types will help you to achieve a lower average cost per click as well as eliminate keywords that are unrelated to what you're selling.

At least 2 ads should be generated for each Ad Group and will be tested daily or at least a few times per week. Constantly testing ads will put your campaigns light years ahead of most advertisers out there. Most people simply do not have the knowledge or they are too lazy to do it.

Bi monthly or monthly reports should be generated and sent to the business owner or marketing director with a summary of what has been done and what is planned for the next few weeks.

Keyword or ad group tracking is an important part of what a PPC specialist should be offering you. This may require you placing certain snippets of code on a few pages of your website.

This is just a general outline of what you should expect from a PPC specialist. If you take some time to do a little bit of research, it will pay off when you hire the right person for your PPC management.