Pittsburgh Online Marketing Technologists - How To Choose One

Pittsburgh businesses are fortunate in the fact that there are many talented Internet Marketing companies locally. As the Internet marketplace becomes more diverse it is important to choose an SEO consultant or SEO Search company that best fits your needs and budget.

We have been writing for some time about the need for businesses operating in the Pittsburgh Internet Marketing field to handle many aspects of Online Website Promotion. Many factors weigh into your choice for an Internet Marketing Engineer. Here are a few questions to ask of your Pittsburgh Online Marketing candidate.

Factors To Consider When Choosing an Online Marketing Pro:

First things first. Ask if the Internet Marketing Company or consultant you interview has any experience with your industry. This can eliminate a lot of research and you should be able to communicate freely with industry specific terms. Do they ask about the scope of your project and budget? These are good questions to begin with as they allow for the conversation to define your needs and expectations.

You should be able to tell whether the internet promotions specialist is resourceful by the questions they ask you as well. Are they merely reading a script? Or are they asking questions which relate to the current topic in your conversation?

Do they understand the fundamentals of On Page SEO?

Is there a clearly defined procedure they follow or do they evaluate your site or blog to determine the best course of action for your business? Both methods can be correct for certain situations. The key is to know which method to use and when.

Do they ask about the importance of keywords and how they relate to your business and overall online marketing strategy? Keywords drive what you want to rank for; they are the lifeblood of your site; and your business’ success or failure in the digital world.

Do they understand the fundamentals of Off Page SEO?

We define Off Page SEO as encompassing all forms of listing your business throughout the Internet not directly related to your website.  Off Page Search Engine Optimization includes preparing relevant Press releases to promote your new venture or publicize your current online marketing efforts. If you are in an established industry this question and strategy can easily be answered by some online recon on your competition. Sites linking back to yours with relevant keyphrases are called Backlinks and they are very important as well.

Traditional Media could also be termed as Off Page SEO or Branding. A comprehensive marketing plan will allow you to reach potential customers in other areas. Why limit yourself to just one form of advertising?

Do they understand the fundamentals of Social Media and its value?

The secret of Social Media is that it is "social. Wow, shocker right? The real value of social media when it comes to your business really depends on if your target audience uses it. Secondary to this is the brand reputation management piece. Direct selling on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Etc. is not near as effective as passive selling and information dissemination. Helping people is good business! It helps define your business as an authority on your marketing niche and allows for another great source of lead generation.

Does the SEO or Online Marketing Company have a Social Media component to their business? How many Twitter followers do they have? Do they know how to use them to further your Internet Marketing goals or are they Ttweeting for the sake of Tweeting? Can they communicate this to you and your customer? In short; are they making the most of their Social Media influence?

Are they short sighted when it comes to alternative methods other than Google?

Many businesses are unaware of the existence of Bing and Yahoo when it comes to comprehensive coverage in an overall online marketing strategy. Google still dominates the Search Engine Market but why exclude the other percentage of potential customers. We believe that failure to explore all avenues of revenue generation is like leaving dollars on the doorstep.

Do they have the ability and resources to combine all theses skills into a cohesive Online Marketing Plan?

Knowing how to perform all these tasks is meaningless unless your chosen Online Marketing Technologist can deliver. All these techniques require resources and time. A combined commitment from the business and the Online Marketing Technology Company are necessary.

Whether you ultimately choose Blackball Online Marketing or another Search firm or consultant, we would like the opportunity to speak with you regarding your business and its Online Marketing needs. Contact Blackball Online Marketing for your small business website promotion and speak directly with a Pittsburgh Online Marketing Technologist to assess your needs and give you a solid evaluation. Our initial consultation is always free.

Google’s Move To Goggles – A Shift Towards Mobile Search

Out with the maps and in with the Goggles. Google has eliminated the Maps listings for Online Marketing categories such as Pittsburgh SEO, Pittsburgh Online Marketing, Pittsburgh Internet Marketing, and some other search phrases related to Internet Marketing. Is this the first of many categories to be removed? We see this as a possible emerging trend or shift in Google’s Map endeavors. Is Google making an attempt to scrap the often spammed Maps listings? Let’s look further…

Google has introduced Goggles, formerly titled Google Visual Search in the development phase. We see this as a possible replacement for Maps altogether. It aligns itself perfectly with Google’s move towards mobile computing in a big way. First, the Android Operating System, and recently the Nexus phone release all seem to be aimed at Google’s strategy towards focusing on Mobile Search Technology. Add to this Google’s Cloud computing initiative and the signals become stronger. (Pun intended)

As previously mentioned, this may be the beginning of Google's attempt to curb the rampant spam problem that plagues their maps. Bing has a more stringent verification requirement and their maps algorithm is less spammy because of that. Sometimes being first to market has its drawbacks as companies submitted multiple bogus listings in an effort to be found. Bing learned from this and only allows for Direct Mail registration as opposed to Google’s phone verification option which allows businesses to register from anywhere.

Pittsburgh is the home of Blackball Online Marketing so I can only speak to this issue from our point of view. As a small Pittsburgh Online Marketing company we cater to Pittsburgh businesses only. It would be nice to have a very pretty maps listing for Pittsburgh SEO again. It would also be nice for Google to share its decisions and be transparent about this selective omission. But Google is Google and that's that.

Google Real Time Search Results – A Game Changer

Now more than ever the field of Pittsburgh Online Marketing has become hypercompetitive. With Google putting out a new product every month, life in the Internet Marketing field gets more dynamic daily; and more fun. The scope of the upcoming 2010 changes is vast. There are many new products and changes. One change is the way Google plans to implement real time search results in its search engine algorithm.

In addition to PPC (sponsored results on the top and sides of the search results pages) and Google Maps for some keyphrase searches, Google has added real time search results. This position, appearing on page 1 for trending topics, leaves even less room for the organic results that Google users are used to seeing.

Never has social media been more important to ranking high for search terms in Google. Position is everything on a search results page and when it comes to edging out your competition for business, the highest rank usually prevails. Our advice is to implement a social media marketing strategy now if you haven’t already. If you have a social media campaign in place, now is the time to revisit it and re-evaluate your business needs and your comprehensive brand message.

When in doubt hire professionals to do a complete analysis of your needs and targets. You could be leaving valuable dollars at your competitor’s doorstep. If you have little or no idea what this means but realize its importance and would like to establish a social media campaign to benefit your company, visit our contact page for a free Blackball Online Marketing – Pittsburgh Social Media Marketing Experts consultation.

This is a guest post from Marc Poirier, the founder of Acquisio SEARCH, a search engine marketing software company that develops advanced bid management tools for PPC advertisers.

When most people think of auction-based, online ad networks, they think of Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter -- with Google dominating. But there are a lot of other, often niche-based, ad networks that combine contextual and keyword based advertising on an a cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand (CPM), or cost per action (CPA) bidding model. These other networks are known as the second-tier networks, and depending on your advertising goals, these second-tier networks can represent a great source of targeted traffic.

First, a lot of these networks can help you reach new, targeted audiences. After all, many alternative networks will strike deals with publishers that the Tier One networks have limited or no access to -- think newspapers, magazines, and blogs. And most of these publishers have a niche (i.e. pre-targeted) audience.

Second, about only 5% of page views come from search. So if you want to reach the other 95% with your message, you have to spread your ads around.

Third, these second-tier ad networks often offer more competitive CPCs and CPMs, letting you pay much less per conversion.

Finally, you can get a better return on individual campaigns through second-tier networks because they let you tailor your message on a niche-by-niche basis. This lets you determine which messages performs best with what audience, and you can then optimize your campaign on a network-by-network basis.

All this being said, the question remains: So what second-tier networks are worth my while? Well, you'd be surprised just how many of the second-tier networks are associated with trusted, recognizable brand names.

Second-Tier Ad Networks

Now, this is far from an exhaustive list of second-tier networks, but it features some of the more reputable ones. Many of them are also auction-based, and they are all targeted primarily at English language markets.

Ask Sponsored Listings
This search engine's contextual ad network uses a CPC bidding model like its larger counterparts. It is focused on specific verticals, and features publishers such as Excite, Mamma, and Dogpile, as well as other lifestyle and technology portals (e.g. CNET.com). Ask Sponsored Listings also boasts a reach of over 70 million unique users.

AOL Advertising
Formerly known as Quigo AdSonar, AOL acquired this network over two years ago. This network offers contextual advertising via its AdSonar and FeedPoint products. Advertising is sold on a CPC basis, and advertisers can bid for each sponsored placement. AOL's sponsored listings are also available on sites such as The Washington Post, AOL Money and Finance, ABC.com, CNN Money, and FOX News. The network even offers rich media placements.

Facebook Ads
The Facebook Advertising platform lets you target audiences according to a variety of demographic and psychographic criteria. Advertisers can reach users by age, sex, location, education, and other targeted keywords. The ads are primarily text-based, with maximum of 135 characters, and can include a small image. Advertisers can also choose between CPM and CPC bidding options.

LinkedIn Direct Ads
For advertisers looking to target business professionals, there's LinkedIn’s DirectAds. This network boasts a worldwide user base of over 50 million professionals, and lets advertisers target users according to job title, industry, company size, and location. Advertisers also have a choice between CPC and CPM. Even though the LinkedIn network can be a very valuable for reaching certain businesses audiences, however, it’s not always the most affordable. For example, some ad categories feature CPMs of $50 or higher. LinkedIn Direct ads also offer rich media placements, but these are restricted to advertisers whose budgets exceed $25,000.

MySpace MyAds
Advertisers can also "hyper-target" MySpace user through their MyAds system. This network lets advertisers target banners according to users' gender, age, interests, hobbies, education, parental status, and location. Advertisers can choose between CPC and CPM bidding options, and since MySpace MyAds is also part of the FOX Audience Network advertising platform, advertisers can also target users beyond MySpace.

Alternative Ad Styles

The great advantage of online advertising is that it can be both better targeted and measured than other forms of advertising, and second-tier ad networks offer an opportunity to further refine the reach of your campaigns. In addition to targeting your message at niche audiences, you can often find CPCs, CPAs, and CPMs much lower (often due to less competition) than first-tier networks.

All that being said, before investing heavily in a second-tier network campaign, you should first test their traffic with a smaller budget. Doing so will help you both evaluate the quality of the traffic and whether it's appropriate for your offers. And if the traffic is suited for your ad offers, testing out a smaller budget beforehand will also give you an opportunity to optimize your campaigns around that traffic and how you're paying for it – whether it's on a CPC, CPM, or CPA basis.

Pittsburgh Online Marketing – Solid Strategies

Develop a Clear Pittsburgh Online Marketing Message:

Spend the time to plan your campaign. Determine your goals and what your campaign should be achieving. Allow for budget, scope, and duration. Decide beforehand what your message plans to achieve and focus your marketing message towards that goal. Although a clear Online Marketing Message is a strong start, it’s not enough. Now we must deliver that message.

Consistently Reinforce your Pittsburgh Online Marketing Message:

In the course of developing your Online Marketing message and planning your Internet campaign, it should become apparent who your target audience is. Now is the time to do further research what forms of Internet advertising your audience responds to. Go where your customers are and deliver your message. Experience through trials and testing is the best barometer for your success. Deliver your message consistently and at all times of the day. We have found that standard business hours do not apply because of the nature of today’s’ business climate. Tweak your message and delivery to achieve best results.

Give your campaign a chance. Very few campaigns achieve maximum goals right away. Stick to your plan and adjust it as necessary. Most Online Marketing messages succeed through persistence, trust, and authority generated by a sustained campaign.

Measure the Success of Your Pittsburgh Online Marketing message frequently:

Analytics can show a lot about your visitors. They are a fine measure of how Web traffic arrives to your site, what geographical locations visitors are viewing from, what their patterns are for finding your site, how they behave when navigating your site, and where they leave from. Social Media Campaigns, Print Advertising, other Online Marketing listings, word of mouth, and customer Brand recognition awareness also play a part in reinforcing your message. Reevaluate your plan and goals and adjust as needed.

Blackball Online Marketing specializes in all forms of Internet Marketing and Website Promotion. We handle Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns, Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Maps listings for Local Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing Campaigns as well as managing many traditional media delivery methods. Click this link - Pittsburgh Online Marketing or call us at (412) 377-7280 to discuss your needs.