If your company is in the market for an Internet marketing
agency, this should be a pretty exciting time. Soon, your bottom line
will benefit from the expertise of a company that can bring you more
exposure than ever before. However, now is not the time to lose your
head. Hiring the right Internet marketing agency is indeed going to be a
huge help. Hiring the wrong one, on the other hand, could set your
business back considerably. So here are some mistakes you'll want to
avoid making.
SEO is an essential field for getting ranked on search engines and finding your market. Unfortunately, it's also a very broad subject that leaves itself open to vague service descriptions. So you want any potential Internet marketing agency to be specific about what they're going to offer.
One mistake is to hire a company because they say they can handle things like back links, social media, directory listings and a whole collection of services that all happen away from your website. These things can definitely help; there's no doubt about that. But what you want is a company that will also handle on-site SEO. That's absolutely essential to climbing the ranks of Google.
Along the same lines, simply providing you with some blog posts or changing your meta descriptions won't help either. You need a company that can actually give you legitimate SEO campaigns. This means syncing up every component of their SEO services so they all work in tandem to get you up those page ranks.
Don't just take their word for it either. Ask them specifically about your company and website. What do they plan on doing with it to get results? Can they give you examples of when they've done this in the past?
Nothing is as hot in marketing right now as social media. As such, expect that any Internet marketing agency you talk to is going to bring up this golden calf. The problem is social media-a lot like SEO-is rife with vague services and empty results.
One perfect example is Twitter followers (or Facebook friends, etc.). Each follower isn't worth the same amount in terms of the resources it takes to secure them. Think of them like actual customers. If you ran a car lot that sold minivans, who's worth more to you:
• Customer 1: Recent college graduate, single, lives in the city by the subway.
• Customer 2: Married career man in his 30s who's expecting twins.
That's how you need to think of Twitter followers and other social media currency. A company with a long history of securing these may actually not be worth your time. You don't want followers/friends/pins, you want leads. Hire the company that shows you how they're able to procure actual leads from social media.
Assuming They're Responsible for Their Resume
You always want to look at the resume of any Internet marketing agency you're interviewing. But that doesn't mean you simply assume they're responsible for the success they've had. In today's day and age, those numbers could come from a variety of things.
This is why you have to contact their prior clients and ask them about the agency in question and how big a role they really played. It could be that a competitor went out of business, they came out with a new product or they simply started using Facebook. While this would be a rare event to happen consistently for an agency, it's worth taking a second to make that call.
The right Internet marketing agency will be a godsend and worth every cent that you pay. However, that doesn't mean you need to overpay or even purchase certain services. You may be able to handle your blog perfectly well, for example. Updating social media may be in your wheelhouse. If those things aren't jobs you can handle now, consider taking classes or otherwise learning the ropes. You could potentially save a lot of money and maintain some control.
Before you hire an Internet marketing agency, make sure you're avoiding the above mistakes. Countless companies before you have made them and some didn't recover.
Not Being Specific about SEO
SEO is an essential field for getting ranked on search engines and finding your market. Unfortunately, it's also a very broad subject that leaves itself open to vague service descriptions. So you want any potential Internet marketing agency to be specific about what they're going to offer.
One mistake is to hire a company because they say they can handle things like back links, social media, directory listings and a whole collection of services that all happen away from your website. These things can definitely help; there's no doubt about that. But what you want is a company that will also handle on-site SEO. That's absolutely essential to climbing the ranks of Google.
Not Providing SEO Campaigns
Along the same lines, simply providing you with some blog posts or changing your meta descriptions won't help either. You need a company that can actually give you legitimate SEO campaigns. This means syncing up every component of their SEO services so they all work in tandem to get you up those page ranks.
Don't just take their word for it either. Ask them specifically about your company and website. What do they plan on doing with it to get results? Can they give you examples of when they've done this in the past?
Social Media, Social Media, Social Media
Nothing is as hot in marketing right now as social media. As such, expect that any Internet marketing agency you talk to is going to bring up this golden calf. The problem is social media-a lot like SEO-is rife with vague services and empty results.
One perfect example is Twitter followers (or Facebook friends, etc.). Each follower isn't worth the same amount in terms of the resources it takes to secure them. Think of them like actual customers. If you ran a car lot that sold minivans, who's worth more to you:
• Customer 1: Recent college graduate, single, lives in the city by the subway.
• Customer 2: Married career man in his 30s who's expecting twins.
That's how you need to think of Twitter followers and other social media currency. A company with a long history of securing these may actually not be worth your time. You don't want followers/friends/pins, you want leads. Hire the company that shows you how they're able to procure actual leads from social media.
Assuming They're Responsible for Their Resume
You always want to look at the resume of any Internet marketing agency you're interviewing. But that doesn't mean you simply assume they're responsible for the success they've had. In today's day and age, those numbers could come from a variety of things.
This is why you have to contact their prior clients and ask them about the agency in question and how big a role they really played. It could be that a competitor went out of business, they came out with a new product or they simply started using Facebook. While this would be a rare event to happen consistently for an agency, it's worth taking a second to make that call.
Neglecting Your Own Talents
The right Internet marketing agency will be a godsend and worth every cent that you pay. However, that doesn't mean you need to overpay or even purchase certain services. You may be able to handle your blog perfectly well, for example. Updating social media may be in your wheelhouse. If those things aren't jobs you can handle now, consider taking classes or otherwise learning the ropes. You could potentially save a lot of money and maintain some control.
Before you hire an Internet marketing agency, make sure you're avoiding the above mistakes. Countless companies before you have made them and some didn't recover.
Jack Maow has a deep understanding of internet marketing and new
media technologies. He enjoys searching articles in his spare time.
Presently, he is writing contents on Chicago internet marketing agency.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Maow
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