Finding a Really Great Marketing Company

For every bad marketer, there is also a good one. The good ones don’t advertise as heavily, because quite frankly, they don’t need to. Word of mouth and referrals drive the business, so don’t be afraid to ask around.

Much like the mechanic that never fixes his own car, don’t dismiss a marketing company because it doesn’t have a flashy website. Instead, ask for references, links to client pages and a detailing of the work they will perform. Be specific. Ask if they use paid traffic services. Ask how they do keyword research. Read the content on the reference pages they have supplied.

Be Careful What You Wish For

As in any endeavour, view all promises with a healthy dose of skepticism. By the same token, keep expectations realistic. I’ve known too many people who’ve been duped by underhanded marketers, simply because legitimate marketing companies could not meet their demands.

Never demand that you must have the number one search engine ranking. Never act like you’re doing the company a favour by bringing them business. Never act like seo marketing is easy, painless and really no big deal. Never set unreasonable targets and deadlines. Never try to dangle the carrot on the stick.

Why?

You will offend the legitimate marketers, and they will turn down your business. Honest and trustworthy marketing companies put effort and time into the jobs they do, and should be treated with respect. When you hire a professional, treat them with professionalism.

Legitimate marketing companies will have a strategy, timeline and will work with you for the overall goals of your website. They will discuss different elements of your website, offer suggestions to improve the quality and possibly the design. They will help you market your business itself, not just the website.

Marketing your business is the key that separates the good from the bad. The fact is, being at the height of search rankings doesn’t guarantee sales increases. The value of a company is based on how much revenue it can generate, not how well it ranks in search engines.

A good marketing company will improve ranking, but it will also improve the customer experience and sales conversion. Social media presence, interactive contests, newsletters and other engaging activities are a large part of promoting your business and improving your profits. Marketing is not about Google, it’s about making money.

What it comes down to is this: if your marketing efforts haven’t improved your bottom line, then it’s time to look for a better marketing and seo company. Results matter.

Word Blunders: Effect or Affect?

The battle for grammatically correct content seems to be never ending. Words we use in every day conversations stump us when we type them out for the screen.

The effect of these common blunders affect the character of our message.

Words that carry the same linguistic properties can stump even the most seasoned professional. In some instances, the meanings are quite close. Affect and effect are a perfect example, since their meanings are intertwined.

Affect: This word means to have an effect on something. Yes, really. No wonder we have trouble keeping these two straight. However, I can give you some help.

Affect can be used as a noun or a verb, but it usually involves emotion or some sort of change.

“She was deeply affected by his eloquent poem.”

In the context of that sentence, affect clearly refers to an emotional stir. Affect can also refer to an influence or impact.

“Roses affect her allergies.”

In this context, affect is implying the influence that the roses will have to someone with an allergy to them.

Effect: This word is most frequently describing a consequence. It’s the end result of some other action.

“His reckless actions at the track had a big effect on his family.”

In the above example, it’s easy to see that effect is not referring to emotion, but the consequence of the deed.

“The proposed changes are scheduled to take effect next month.”

In this case, effect is used to describe the anticipated result and its potential occurrence. Again, note the lack of emotional context. Effect usually has a sense of being solid or absolute, more factual than emotional.

Memory Aids

It’s all good and well to read and understand how each word is used. But when you’re on the spot, it can be tough to remember which one you need. Here’s a little help.

Affect = Affection. Affect is most commonly used in terms of emotion and influence. Since affection is an emotion, it’s a good word association to help clear your thoughts and bring you to the correct spelling.

Effect = End Result. An effect is usually something final. The end result or anticipated end result. When you are looking at your use of the word in writing, think about “special effects” used in movies to help you remember the spelling. A special effect is used to create a final onscreen result.

If all else fails…

If you still find yourself stuck for which word to use, by all means, use a synonym.

“She was deeply moved by his eloquent poem.”

“Roses aggravate her allergies.”

“His reckless actions at the track had a big impact on his family.”

“The proposed changes are scheduled to take place next month.”

Cheap or Inexpensive? How Keywords Impact Your Image

Choosing keywords and phrases that will increase your page ranking is a daunting task. One one hand, you want keywords that will be related to search terms the average consumer is using in the search bar. On the other hand, you don’t want to devalue the professionalism of your website. Can you do both?

In a word, yes. Catering to popular keywords without compromising the integrity of your image is entirely possible. It does, however, take a little finesse.

Using words like cheap instead of inexpensive doesn’t need to downgrade your business. As long as you fill your content with related words such as affordable, good value or price sensitive, interspersing the occasional cheap is perfectly acceptable.

For example, you can use a word like cheap to increase the perceived value of your products. Think of a line like this: “Tired of using cheap laundry soap that doesn’t get your clothing clean? We offer affordable laundry detergents at no-name prices that remove stains as well as those expensive national brands.”

Used carefully and in conjunction with associated words, secondary keywords will actually increase your probability of a higher page ranking on certain search terms. The search engines engage in latent semantic indexing (LSI) to properly determine the content of a web page.

In laymen’s terms: search engines look at at all the related words to see if they apply to the search term.

The other side of the scenario caters to popular searches. A consumer who searches the phrase “cheap laundry soap” won’t be discouraged or disappointed to discover that’s exactly what you are selling.

Using the coveted search phrase will bring potential buyers to your page, no question. Once there, you must utilize value enhancing words to emphasize the attributes and better quality of the laundry soap compared to competing brands. Showing the consumer that you offer an excellent product at a bargain price is what will convince them to buy your laundry soap.

A final thought to bear in mind, a customer may search for ‘cheap laundry soap’, but what they are actually looking for is ‘cheap laundry soap that works’. Focus your content on getting the sale, not just getting the visitor.