by Marianna Muscat | Sep 11, 2009 | Online Marketing
Choosing the right internet marketing company is always a critical factor in your website achieving your desired business goals. Engaging the right online marketing agency can be a daunting task since there are many agencies out there all claiming to bring you good results. Here are top 10 questions that you should ask any search engine marketer before you engage with them;
- How long has the search engine marketing firm been in business?
- Avoid dealing with an agency that is just starting as they often lack experience.
- Does the consultant have a team behind or are they are part of a team?
- Always engage with an internet marketing consultant that has a team behind them.
- Could you please describe your most recent successful online marketing campaigns
- Ask to browse through the agency’s portfolio, case studies, whitepapers and testimonials, this will reflect on their past works.
- Are you Google certified?
- It’s advisable to hire an agency that is certified by Google.
- Will you provide website stats? If so, how often?
- Every agency should be able to send you stats on a monthly basis or as & when you require them.
- Do we have to sign a contract with you?
- Avoid signing lengthy contracts as you could end up being tied to bad service
- What industries have you dealt with?
- A good consultant should have dealt with a broad array of industries.
- Have you won any awards?
- Experienced online marketers normally win awards, be it locally or internationally.
- How long does it take to get results
- Avoid consultants that promise SEO results overnight. They could be using black-hat tactics.
- Do you offer any guarantees?
- Good online marketing companies should offer money back guarantees.
by Marianna Muscat | Sep 9, 2009 | Articles, Online Marketing
ZA Group in association with Google South Africa hosted a business breakfast on the 4th of September 2009. Presenting was Google South Africa country manager, Stephen Newton. Newton is the former Google head of analytics & commerce for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Before joining Google, he was Vice President of Double Click’s Ad Exchange and General Manager of Hitwise UK. His talk covered the following;
Google Maps – Streetview
Street View is a popular feature of Google Maps that allows users to explore and navigate areas through panoramic street-level images. Stephen mentioned that South African businesses could benefit from the Street View technology by embedding Google Maps directly into their websites for free, helping them to promote their businesses and raise awareness. It was also mentioned that this feature would be beneficial to tourists coming to South Africa for the FIFA 2010 World cup as it would help them navigate easily. It was also noted that the process of collecting and processing the images would take several months and would be made available at a later date in Street View on Google Maps for South Africa.
Google Adwords
Stephen talked about the flexibility of Adwords mentioning how advertisers can spend as little or as much money they want, all depending on their advertising budget available. Newton also explained how AdWords allows advertisers to set up their targeted national regions, targeted language and country. Adwords distribution is one topic in which a bit of time was spent on explaining how ads are shown on the content and search networks. In conclusion Stephen Newton explained how Google remains committed and excited about improving access to information for local South African users.
by Francois Muscat | Sep 8, 2009 | Online Marketing
This video answers some poignant questions, on the power of the internet and internet marketing. Charting the phenomenal progress of society and technology in recent years. This video is a must for anyone wondering what the values of web marketing and search engine optimisation are.
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by Marianna Muscat | Sep 7, 2009 | Online Marketing
In simple terms, Google’s pay per click program allows you to acquire a position on the search engines by choosing a bid price you are willing to pay for each visitor you receive on your website. Pay per click is one of the most effective channels which one can use to advertise, this is because an advertiser only pays Google once their advert is clicked on. Pay-per-click ads are very useful in driving targeted traffic to your website quickly. Here are some of the benefits of using PPC
- Budget flexibility – With Google’s PPC you will be able to set a daily budget and this can be adjusted accordingly. Google will never charge you more than your budget.
- Instant Results – In most cases PPC will result in an instant increase of traffic to your website. Unlike SEO that requires a bit of time before it starts sending traffic to your website, PPC is instant. When set up and managed correctly a PPC campaign can produce results in a short period of time.
- Campaign Flexibility – Google’s PPC campaigns are so easy to work with. Google will even make suggestions to you, for instance it tells you if a keyword is not performing or if your ads are being limited by your budget.
- Measurable Results – With Google’s PPC you will be able to measure your return on investment. You will be presented with metrics such as cost per click, click through rate and overall monthly costs. Having such information at hand can assist in measuring the performance of your campaigns.
- Brand Building and Awareness – PPC can be used as an effective way for brand building and increasing brand awareness, this is because your ads will be presented to searchers every time they search for the keywords you are targeting regardless of whether they click your ads or not.
by Marianna Muscat | Aug 31, 2009 | Online Marketing
The Web represents pure capitalism at its best and is a global phenomenon which has never existed before. More than any particular industry or field, it is truly a consumer’s market that has a relative low cost, barrier to entry. Within a very short time if you do not have an on-line presence you or your company will be invisible to the consumer who uses the internet “mostly’ at this stage to research required products and services and you would want to present your at the exact moment that that person is searching using what is termed as ‘key’ words.
Once just having a website was once enough to stand out in the crowd and be regarded as have a “through the line” marketing strategy when used in conjunction with other media. This on-line world has exploded and borders on being almost overpopulated not just with legitimate competition but a countless number of charlatans and inexperienced teenagers posing as service providers. With so many fly-by-night sites acting as background noise, a soft spoken or unprofessional website that has not been optimised allowing search engines to find you is easily drowned out.
The intention is to provide information to those savvy businessmen who want to use their websites to market their businesses and act as a silent sales force generating and attracting interested parties, leads and ultimately conversions. It’s a subtle yet crucial point that will make more sense as you venture further.
by Marelise da Silva | Aug 28, 2009 | Online Marketing
How do you get your news? Do you read it online or from the morning paper? More people are reading news online than the traditional printed newspaper. Why do you want to read news that is a day old? People read news online in popular news websites, social networks, blogs, podcasts, etc.
The reason for this is:
- Online Speed: Traditional newspaper news is outdated. It takes a day to prepare, print and distribute Popular magazines can take up to a month. News stories can be found online as they happen. Real time information.
- Newspaper space: Newspaper space is limited. Every page in the paper must be paid for by advertising revenue. When the newspaper business revenue falls, the number of pages must decrease. There is absolutely no space limitations on the internet.
- Cost: Traditional newspapers are much more expensive to create and distribute than online news. Distribution costs for newspapers continue to escalate with labor and fuel costs. None of these barriers exist on the web.
- Search vs Browse: In traditional newspapers and magazines you browse to what you want to read. It is a much slower and relaxed way to get and read your news. Most people today Google their questions and they get instant results. The web allows for instant results, traditional newspapers doesn’t.
- Environmental: Traditional printed newspapers and magazines have an environmental cost. With extensive recycling efforts there’s high costs of fuel and labor with paper recycling. News found on the web is ozone friendly.
It is a fact that printed news and magazines are dying daily. Online news and opinions is busy growing. Social media and blogs is replacing traditional newspapers and magazines.
The web has the advantages of being almost instantaneous, flexible or unlimited amount of space and providing a free source of news.
