Internet Business Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses

If your company does over $1 million in revenue and you don’t sell anything online, it is time to hire a search engine marketing expert. Here are a few tips on finding the right Search Engine Marketer (SEM).

SEM’s come in many price ranges, all the way from a $50/hour consultant to $500/hour consultants. Many won’t even give you a price until you’ve discussed your needs. You should ask the following questions of any SEM you talk to.

1. What specifically will you do for our company?

If this SEM guarantees anything, move on, immediately. Anyone with any sense knows that there is no way to guarantee anything in marketing. They definitely can’t guarantee that they will get you to a certain place in organic search results.

Correct answers could include improve branding, hopefully gain search engine positioning, build links, spread articles for distribution, write a press release, make sure your site is optimized, write linkbait, etc.

2. What kind of time frame are we looking at?

There is no way to know how long this will take. Most SEM’s will give you a range. An acceptable range is anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. This should be based on your competition online, keyword difficulty, and amount you’re willing to spend.

When the SEM you’re looking to hire answers, ask him/her to explain why they think that time period is sufficient.

3. When will we begin to see results?

If your SEM starts off with, “There is really no way to be exact, but…” you might be in good hands. As with question #2, there is no way to know when results are going to be seen. If the competition is lacking, you could show up for your company name within 1 month. If competition is fierce, or your company name contains a keyword (IMakeJewelerly.com has too many keywords, and would take some time.) it will take longer.

You can’t and you know you can’t, that’s why you’re hiring someone. However, their answer will give you insight to the amount of knowledge the SEM has. If this answer confuses you and he uses terms like Page Rank, SERP’s, API’s, quality score, sandbox, etc., don’t worry.

5. What other companies have you worked with?

If they haven’t worked with anyone, that isn’t necessarily bad, but you need to find out what makes them think they are qualified to handle your companies online presence.

6. Can you show us some results you’ve achieved?

Any good SEM has at least one or two keywords in the top 10 on Google that he/she can show you. If he says, “Well, I don’t have any results you can see…” be afraid.

If you ask those 6 questions, you’re on the right track to hiring a SEM expert!