We examined the different types of search marketing firms earlier this year in our whitepaper: “The Anatomy of Search Marketing Firms”. But should a business outsource search engine optimization (aka SEO) in the first place?

The answer depends on your business. In some cases, the smart decision for a business is to outsource SEO to a marketing services company. In other cases, it makes sense to bring it in-house which could mean hiring consultants, hiring full-time staff, or asking existing engineers, copy writers and marketers to incorporate SEO into their work. Every business is unique and determining the your business’ needs, objectives and resources is the first step to answering this question.

What follows is an outline of the questions every business should ask itself before bringing SEO in-house or shipping it off to an SEO firm. Continue Reading »

There is a growing urgency for marketers to have a Facebook and Twitter social marketing strategy. With announcements and articles about these popular social networks coming out at lightning speed, it is easy to get caught up in the buzz and to jump right in.

The problem is that the current state of social marketing is much like online marketing was 10 years ago when every channel – search, email, affiliate, display – was lumped into the same general “online marketing” category and marketing strategies were applied uniformly across all. In the time since, the industry has evolved to understand that these channels have unique opportunities for engagement and should be managed as such.

Social marketing is in that same early stage with many marketers treating Twitter and Facebook the same by simply synching their Twitter Tweets with their Facebook Newsfeed. What gets lost in the excitement is that Facebook and Twitter offer completely different opportunities for brand building, direct marketing and customer engagement. Continue Reading »

One of the reasons (aside from great performance) that Google Adwords and other search advertising has become so popular is the ability to optimize campaigns “on the fly”. With unprecedented control in a self-service interface, the user controls budget, pricing, targeting and creative within a simple, easy-to-learn interface. But with all this control comes the downside of “over-optimization”.

Have you ever been too hot and turned down your air-conditioner only to find that you are too cold later? And then you turn the AC back up only to find that you are too hot later? The difficulty getting it just right is, in effect, what happens with over-optimizing search: The user logs in, changes all the parameters (keywords, bids, creative, etc.) to improve results and then finds that they did too much. So they log back in and make a number of similar changes to correct the campaign; except the campaign quickly goes back the other way. This happens to too many search campaigns and the following is intended to provide a brief guide on how to avoid over-optimization: Continue Reading »

Links are a critical component of ranking well in organic search listings. They are also one of the most difficult parts of a search engine optimization (SEO) program. Some SEOs will offer a quick fix and guaranteed results to improve a client’s rankings with their link-building programs. Oftentimes the campaigns deliver positive results at first. But in the long term, the client is usually left with a hefty bill to pay and no quality links to show for it. What happened?

Quality links from quality sites are hard to come by without effort. They require extended efforts to build, and the approach to achieving a long-lasting quality link can be manual, tedious and very time intensive. At the very least, it is an ongoing effort; not a one time, quick-hit activity. Continue Reading »

The following is an excerpt from the whitepaper, “The Anatomy of Search Marketing Firms: An Insider Look at Search Marketing Service Operations.”

Every marketer wants the best toolset to be used for their campaigns, but search marketing software is developed by a wide range of companies. Knowing who is behind development and maintenance of the software is just as important as knowing what features it offers because the costs and effectiveness of software varies by developer and can significantly affect the outcome of a campaign. It is crucial that clients clearly understand the benefits, limitations and market readiness of the software its employees and agencies use and the developers who make them.

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You may have heard someone recently say something to the effect of, “Buying media is yesterday’s news. Earning it is the future.” But what is earned media?

Earned media is publicity without payment to the person or company who provides the publicity. One of the primary reasons for the buzz is that earned media is often used synonymously with the term “free media”. The other reason for its recent buzz is that platforms for easily distributing earned media – like Facebook and Twitter – have become very popular over the past couple of years.

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An Inside Look at Search Marketing Service Operations

One of the most frequent complaints that we hear from clients is the difficulty in evaluating and differentiating each firm’s capabilities, experience and ability to deliver. With more than 2,000 firms offering some form of search engine marketing services in the United States, businesses looking to hire or buy a search marketing company encounter a cluttered marketplace with little information on how to distinguish between each firm’s strengths, weaknesses and differentiators. This whitepaper was designed to provide that starting point.

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The following is an excerpt from the Thrivepoint white paper, “The Anatomy of Search Marketing Firms: An Insider Look at Search Marketing Service Operations.”

The approach that a search marketing firm employs in its strategy and tactics for achieving results is born from its search marketing philosophy. A firm’s philosophy is taught from day one to new employees and re-enforced to existing employees through process, training, compensation and other aspects of the firm’s culture. While every firm has a unique approach and competitive positioning, in the search marketing field, there are two general philosophies firms tend to segment themselves into.

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Hiring an SEM is at minimum a million dollar decision and for many marketers, the stakes are much higher. Advertising budgets will be allocated. Managers and line workers will be hired. Revenue will be projected and counted upon. Thousands of hours will be put into establishing and managing the relationship. While the upside will be apparent, how can clients limit the downside risk and hire the right partner?

Ensuring success and limiting risk starts with the implementation of a robust regimen of upfront planning before any SEM meetings take place. The upfront planning process is designed to ensure that clients are making objective and well-informed decisions that lead to long-term, successful partnerships with their SEM.

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In SEM (or other digital marketing) agency pitches, many buyers keep information close to the vest. Information is an important asset when negotiating a deal and buyers want to be in a position of strength during negotiations. However, there are some important pieces of information that can ensure that a sales meeting and pitch process is productive and efficient. Disclosing this information will ensure that the agency provides the right information for evaluation and constructs the best possible deal for the buyer.

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