“Best in class”, “We drive results”, “Industry leader”.
These are just a few of the things SEM agencies claim as their identity. Like everything else, advertisers are flooded with messaging demonstrating that each agency is better than the next but the question is, “why?” What makes Agency X the leader? What makes Agency Y the best? Agencies are great at calling themselves the All-star, but don’t always make it clear for advertisers just why they are deserving of these titles. As SEM is all about numbers, it is particularly important for advertisers to gain clear insight into the pros and cons of each agency and not just rely on a glamorous marketing pitch. Below are a few things to consider when researching SEM companies:
1. Technology. While agencies will usually provide information on their technological capabilities, it is a good idea to dig deeper than this. Find out if they developed their own technology or if they license it from another SEM company. If they license it out, what made them choose this specific technology? Do they plan to change anytime soon? Why or why not? read more…
Breaking through the clutter – choosing the right SEM agency
August 20, 2009
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Posted by rnathan
PPC – tips for staying ahead of the curve
August 13, 2009Paid Search is a rapidly changing advertising medium and it is crucial to keep up if you want to be successful in this field. For example, advertisers have the ability to tailor messaging directly to searchers on-the-go if they take advantage of Mobile/Geo based targeting. This gives them the opportunity to use location-based messaging to offer in-store/onsite discounts and special offers specific to customers’ locale. Also, rich media ads in search allow for true branding efforts as they provide a merge of display and SEM. These are just a few of the many new Paid Search opportunities introduced every day.
With over five years of SEM experience, we are experts in innovation. We have developed several of our own unique features to ensure advertisers have access to the newest and best SEM techniques:
• Catalog management – the ability to optimize and report independent of search engine account structure. Makes highly-targeted, large accounts extremely manageable. get more tips…
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The Human Side of Search
August 5, 2009As the Search Engine Marketing industry continues its maturation, the old growing pains are making way for new ones. We are glad to see that search solution providers are becoming more transparent, particularly in encouraging advertisers to own their own search engine accounts or at least making the account data easily available. This is a significant improvement over the old days when agencies “owned” search engine accounts and it was nearly impossible for advertisers to get their own data, let alone logins to the account. However, a new issue, which is perhaps equally concerning, is the trend towards removing the human element from the search equation.
We see this in two ways:
1. Search vendors provide the technology and minimum training on the platform but do not teach the ins-and-outs and, in particular, do not provide search-relevant training to make a search engine management technology truly effective.
2. Search vendors suddenly concerned about cutting cost are putting huge swaths of search programs on automated strategies and not performing ongoing analyses to understand the ramifications and strategic optimizations.
As proprietary search technologies continue evolving to provide added functionality to the search engines, it is crucial that advertisers continue demanding not only transparency but also human expertise. Search Engine Marketing is not a “set it and forget it” operation, even with the most advanced platforms on the market. There are too many externalities to depend solely on automated strategies. In order to get the most out of a search solution, advertisers should expect to change their workload from execution to strategic analysis for greater search control and success.
Josh Krafchin
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Posted by rnathan
