Recently I wrote a post on how much knowledge a client should have, but along with knowledge also comes responsibility.  For any internet marketing agency to work well with their clients, there must be a mutual understanding of the overall strategy, and most importantly the execution.  Regardless of how effective the strategy may seem, if everyone is not working together to execute the strategy, it will fail.  Some clients may be under the impression that once they hire an agency, that all of their problems are solved and that the responsibilities solely lie on them.    This is far from the...

With all of the new communication tools and technology being introduced, the way that companies handle customer service has been transformed into a more effective and efficient manner.  Users want to be able to receive real-time support and have multiple options to contact a company.  So in order to meet the demands of customers, you need to be able to adapt and embrace these new forms of communication. Here are some examples of how companies are using Web 2.0 and Social Media to increase their level of customer support. Customer Service using TwitterMost people would think this is a bad...

Forums can be a great way to communicate with industry experts, gather feedback, position yourself as an industry leader and drive relevant traffic to your site.  The first step to marketing via forums is to find the right forums, where people are discussing your industry.  Using forum search engines like BoardTracker, BoardReader or BigBoards can help you find relevant forums quickly.  However it is important to focus on forums that are actively being participated in and are not filled with spam.  A post of reference is if the forum has over 1,000 registered members and 5,000-15,000 posts,...

There are plenty of free event services out there on the web that you can use to create, manage, promote, and track local events. Here are a bunch of free services that will help you market your next event online. Eventful http://eventful.com/ Eventful will allow you to search, create, promote and track online events in your local area. Search by location or category to make it easy to find the events you want to attend. You can also keep track of your favorite events by added them to your calendar. Eventful will also all you to create a profile, group, and friends list to stay in touch with...

Like any company, you have a budget. So how do you know if you are putting your internet marketing dollars to good use? Unfortunately there is no secret formulate to follow that tells you what percentage of your budget you should be spending on each marketing approach. However there are ways to effectively maximize your budget. When it comes to spending money on the internet there are dozens of ways you can go about it. Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, E-mail Marketing, Banner Ads, Video Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising, Display Ads, Classified Ads,...

If you are managing pay per click campaigns, both on an agency level or as an in-house marketer, you are constantly trying to figure out the best way to maximize your ad spend. Depending on what type of budget you are working with, you may be spending a few minutes a day or several hours a day trying to maximize your conversions. So at what point do you implement a bid management tool, if at all? This post will talk about how BMTs can help effectively manage your PPC campaigns, as well as help you judge when or if you need a BMT. Here are the 3 questions we will look at. How do I know if a bid...

If you are a search marketer, you may want to think about joining a few of these professional organizations. They can provide some good exposure in the industry, as well as help get authoritative links into your site. Here is a quick list of places to look into. American Marketing AssociationSEMPODirect Marketing AssociationWord of Mouth Marketing AssociationeMarketing AssociationInteractive Advertising BureauEmail Experience CouncilBetter Business BureauViral & Buzz Marketing Association Your Local Chamber of Commerce

Have you ever wondered how Google determines where to rank your pay-per-click (PPC) ads in the sponsored search results? Google has come up with what they call an Ad Quality Score that will help explain how they go about ranking ads. Google defines Ad Quality Score a dynamic metric assigned to each of your keywords. It’s calculated using a variety of factors and measures how relevant your keyword is to your ad group and to a user’s search query. The higher a keyword’s Quality Score, the lower its minimum bid and the better its ad position.Components to Ad Quality ScoreClick...

It doesn’t matter if you are building a new website, conducting search engine optimization, PPC advertising, or a social media strategy, there are always going to be important questions that need to be answered by the client. Having detailed answers to these questions will help you formulate a much better strategy. I broke up the questions in different sections. The first four sections of questions are broad questions that you could ask any client to get a better understanding of what they do, who they are targeting and what their goals are. Then there are project specific questions, depending...

Keyword Research is the foundation for any good search marketing campaign. Whether you are running a PPC campaign or optimizing your site for search engines, keyword research can make or break your search efforts. If you try to rank for keywords that are too broad you will end up lost in the mix. On the other hand, if you try to rank for keywords that are too targeted then you may not receive a lot of traffic. The key is to find that sweet spot. Try to optimize for keywords and phrases that are searched a lot, but do not have a lot of competition. Things to think about when choosing the right...