Understanding
Internet Marketing Proposals
MAY 2005
No one seems to have much difficulty understanding most proposals
that they review, with the exception of the Internet Marketing
Proposal. Why? Because the Internet is so new and there are
so many scam artists out there to grab your money that you might
feel a bit wary of being conned. So, in this newsletter
I thought I would review how to properly evaluate an Internet
Marketing Proposal so that you fully understand what the solicitor
is offering.
CUT TO THE CHASE
Get a highlighter and go through the proposal highlighting every
verb -- optimize, submit, track, report, write, etc. This will
help you cut through all the fluff and fully understand the
tasks that the company is saying they will do. In a proposal,
the best a company can offer for a timeline on these tasks is
the order in which they will be done. It's impossible to say
that the first month we will have this or that done because
so much of the tasks depend on you, the client, providing information
and/or materials.
SCRUTINIZE THE PROMISES
Check out the promises. If they look too good to be true, they
probably are. Read it carefully. "We will TRY to keep your
sponsored ads in the top 3 positions" is not the same as
"We WILL keep your sponsored ads in the top 3 positions."
The company that can categorically state that all your ads will
be in top three positions no matter what your budget is scamming
you -- run quick! Let's be realistic, your budget and keyword
popularity will determine how high your ads appear and how often.
A realistic promise is, "We'll work hard for you and with
you to help your site bring in more leads and/or sales."
DIRECT PROMOTION ONLY, PLEASE
Whenever possible, make sure that any optimization or sponsored ads are going directly
to YOUR site - not a domain that is owned by the marketing company.
If they don't actually touch your site, you will be forced to
stay with them forever or lose your site traffic. Ideally, you want
all clicks from online campaigns to go directly to your site with proper tracking elements in place. If that is not possible, then you will have to rely on the marketing company providing you with a separate tracking domain.
COOKIE CUTTER PROGRAMS?
Beware the company that presents you with a full plan of action.
My first question would be, "How do you know I haven't
already done all or most of what you're proposing?" In
order to get a good partner you need a partner who is willing
to sit down with you and figure out where you're at before plotting
a course to where you want to go. A proposal is just a list
of tasks that the marketing company is willing to perform in
order to help you meet your goal. Maybe not all of the tasks
are necessary, maybe some are not right for your industry.
GUARANTEES
Check out the guarantee (if they offer one). Understand that
you are paying mostly for labor and that the marketing company
should be compensated for all tasks completed and out-of-pocket
expenses if you decide to cancel your contract. However, there
should be a cancellation clause that allows you to pull-the-plug
if you are not happy with the results and refund you the unused
portion of the contract funds. Don't sign with a company that
won't let you out of your contract with some kind of refund.
WHOSE MONEY IS IT?
If you're doing sponsored ads (Google AdWords, for instance)
whose money is it? It should be all yours. If the marketing
company is tying their compensation to your ad budget spend,
they have created a conflict-of-interest. In other words, it's
to their benefit to have you increase your ad budget since they
will be getting a portion of that increase. At Web-Kare, we
charge a separate management fee and the budget belongs to our
clients. Whatever is not spent is returned to the client or
rolled over to the next year's contract. This ensures that we
have the clients' best interest at heart in managing their ads.
BEWARE THE SEARCH ENGINE MYTHS
Turn a deaf ear to all of the search engine optimizing "tricks"
you may have heard about. Whether it's your brother-in-law,
dentist, or the mailman - there are no "tricks" to
getting high rankings. Rankings are achieved by three simple
rules...
1. Well written title tags that contain the keyword phrases
2. Well written body copy that contains the keyword phrases
and has good content and information about your subject matter
so that other sites will want to link to your site.
3. Well designed Web site that can be indexed by the search
engines
Note I didn't mention the magic "meta" tags? That's
because they are not magic and they are rarely used anymore.
While we still use them as part of site optimization, their
importance is extremely low. If the marketing salesperson is
gushing on about how they will "tweak" your meta tags
- hang up or show him the door.
PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS
How often is the Internet marketing company going to be in touch
with you? What reports are they willing to provide and how often?
Initially, the marketing company should be meeting with you
or talking with you on the phone fairly often to make sure that
your campaign is getting out the door on the right track. They
should be willing to review your reports and explain the data
to you. You want to select a company that you can rely on for
consultation and explanations. Remember, the marketing company
you hire, works for YOU, so don't be afraid to ask questions.
A reputable firm will be happy to share everything they know
about Internet marketing. At Web-Kare we've found a knowledgeable
client is our best client because they are not lured away by
the "hype" that other, less reputable companies are
pushing.
WHAT TO EXPECT
I'd love to say you can expect wonderful, relevant traffic with
a jump in sales, but the truth is that your campaign will probably
go through many revisions in trying to attain that goal. It
takes research and trial-and-error while measuring results to
eventually come up with a campaign that works best for you.
Then, when you think you've got it running smoothly, something
will happen on the Internet that will upset the apple cart.
Maybe a search engine merges with another search engine or a
new ad venue appears -- whatever it is, I can guarantee you
that something will change and your campaign will have to react
to take advantage of the change. An Internet marketer's job
is never done.
