One agency or two for your website and advertising?
Both models can work. What matters is that someone owns the result, and that you own your accounts.
| One agency for both | Separate specialists | |
|---|---|---|
| Accountability | One team owns the cost per lead | Results can fall between two teams |
| Speed of changes | Page and ad changes made together | Changes need coordination |
| Depth | Check depth in each skill | Each may be deeper in its own area |
| Tracking | Usually set up once, end to end | Needs a clear owner, or it breaks |
Questions for any agency
- Who is responsible for cost per lead, the website team or the ads team?
- Who sets up and checks conversion tracking, and how often?
- Can you build landing pages for the services we advertise?
- What will the monthly report show?
- Will we own the domain, website, ad accounts and analytics?
If you use two companies
- Name one owner for tracking and landing pages.
- Share access so both can see results.
- Hold a short monthly review with both.
Keep ownership
Whichever you choose, register the domain, website hosting, ad accounts and analytics in your company's name, with your own administrator access. It keeps you free to change providers later.
A handoff checklist if you use two companies
- Write down who owns conversion tracking, and how it is tested after every site change.
- Agree which pages each ad campaign uses, and who must approve changes to them.
- Give both companies access to analytics so they see the same numbers.
- Set a shared definition of a lead and how its quality is judged.
- Meet monthly with both, with one person on your side making the call.
Signs the setup is not working
- Each company blames the other for poor results.
- Nobody can tell you your cost per lead.
- Site updates break tracking and nobody notices for weeks.
Want a second opinion? We review websites and ads together at no cost. Get in touch or call (510) 857-7838.