The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article: December 2004, Volume 3, Issue 8
How to Select the Right SEM Firm - Part 1
by Bill Muller, Vice President of Marketing, iProspect
With so many search engine marketing (SEM) firms offering such a wide range of service and pricing options, it can be extremely difficult to decide which one is best for you. This issue is so complex, and the options so broad, that we’ve chosen to address the topic in multiple parts.
As is the case with so many large undertakings, this is a process that is best managed by breaking it down into smaller steps. So well before you start looking at specific SEM firms, it’s advisable to first establish your online marketing goals. With these goals in mind, you can then identify what steps need to be taken to accomplish those goals and what potential obstacles stand in the way. Next, once those needs and obstacles are identified, you can map specific SEM service offerings to fulfill those needs and overcome those obstacles. Finally, when the services that you require have been identified, you can begin seeking out SEM firms that offer such services, and start evaluating their ability to provide those services in a way that works with your business model.
In part 1 of this piece, we’ll address some of the important questions you need to ask yourself in order to move through this series of steps.
Your Online Marketing Goals
What do you hope to accomplish with your website?
Do you sell products and services?
Do you generate leads for your sales force?
Do you generate leads for distributors?
What type of “conversions” are available on your site?
Ecommerce transactions?
Requests for information?
Online demos?
Free newsletter?
Whitepapers?
Do you want to increase website traffic?
Do you want to increase conversions?
Do you want to increase your conversion rate? By how much?
Needs & Obstacles Driven by Your Goals
Do you currently know how much traffic your site is getting?
Do you know how many of each of your conversions you are generating?
Do you know your conversion rate?
Do you currently have a means by which to measure the results of any search engine marketing efforts you undertake?
Are you prepared to completely overhaul your website and start from scratch?
Or are you prepared only to make minor adjustments to your current site?
Do you have internal staff with the time and expertise to make changes to your website?
Do you offer a lot of seasonal products or services?
Do you update your offering often?
Do your products, services and information remain unchanged over long periods of time?
Identify Services From Your Needs & Obstacles
Do you need Web analytics in order to measure current and future performance?
Do you need outside support of your in-house staff to make changes to your website?
Do you need website design expertise to re-launch your entire website?
Do you need natural search engine optimization for long-term search engine visibility?
Do you need pay per click advertising management or paid inclusion management to advertise your rapidly-changing or frequently changing products or services?
Or do you need these services to supplement or replace natural search engine optimization?
Do you need website conversion enhancement or optimization to increase the persuasive power of your website?
SEM Firms Mapped From Your Required Services
Does the SEM firm actually make the changes to your site, or simply advise you on what changes to make?
Do they offer copywriting services?
Do they offer design services?
Do they perform natural search engine optimization?
Do they provide management of pay per click advertising campaigns?
Do they provide management of paid inclusion campaigns?
Do they offer any sort of website analytics package?
Do they provide a service to increase your site’s conversion rate?
Though this is an obviously incomplete list, you can still see that the answers provided to the questions in each step drive the questions to be asked in the next step – ultimately leading you to identify what services and capabilities are required by an SEM firm to meet your needs, and as a result, your goals. In part 2 of this article, we’ll discuss where to find SEM firms that provide the services you require, and how to evaluate their ability to deliver those services.
