The Mis-Information Superhighway….

Distinguishing Fact from Fiction in the Internet Marketing Era

By Chris Behan

Having been in Internet marketing for more than 10 years, I’ve seen and heard just about every idea for promoting websites – both good and bad. I’ve watched large companies chase passing fads – just to end up right back where they began with no real strategic goals accomplished – while other companies stayed on track and consistently grew their business.

As online search activity continues to grow, companies are forced to navigate these increasingly murky, but lucrative, waters. The question just about every company has is, “Who do I believe and trust when it comes to Internet marketing?” This question becomes increasingly difficult to answer due to the abundance of self-professed “Internet Marketing Experts” with the unique ability to take a straightforward, easily understood topic and make it sound like science fiction. 

For most companies, it’s imperative to seek Internet marketing help from an experienced, reputable firm. Studies show that choosing the right Internet marketing firm will yield greater results than if you rely on in-house efforts.

But before interviewing firms, it’s important to educate yourself on the topic to help ensure you make the right decision for your company.

What Do Some Internet Marketing Firms and Pigs Have in Common?  SPAM!
This is an unfortunate truth about some Internet marketing firms today, and being able to distinguish fact from fiction, wine from swine, can be difficult. If you choose to hire an Internet marketing firm, here are 10 important questions or points to consider before making your decision:

1. Be wary of firms that guarantee #1 ranking in search engines. While it is possible to achieve number one overall listings in search engines, it’s widely considered unethical to guarantee it. 
2. Know where and how your money is being spent. Many Internet marketing firms take the fees paid to them and simply buy traffic or links from other websites, rather than properly market your website.  When the buying stops, so does your traffic.
3. If you’re optimizing for organic search (non-paid listings), ask the firm if they participate in link-building schemes, or buy links from other websites. Participating in link schemes is a very black-hat spamming technique with serious consequences.
4. If the potential firm proposes purchasing multiple domains or shadow domains, or employs deceptive redirects or utilizes doorway pages – don’t walk away, run!
5. One size does not fit all. I have seen too many firms push social media plans and blogs onto companies, and these companies will never see a return on that investment. Your plan needs to be unique to your industry and to the goals of your company. Internet marketing plans that work well in one industry may not work at all in another.
6. Do they use proprietary software to market or manage websites? There’s no software program in the world that can properly optimize a website, and in most cases, you’ll never own the software that a firm uses to manage your site, leaving you with nothing if you decide to leave them.
7. Do they insist on hosting your website? Hosting has nothing to do with Internet marketing; however, some firms insist on hosting your website. Don’t allow them to. This is an effort to consolidate the control they have over your site, and in turn, your business.
8. Do they follow Google’s recommended SEO guidelines? These guidelines can be found by going to Google and searching “Google SEO guidelines.”
9. Ask to see actual results for both their own corporate site and their clients’ sites, and always ask for and call their references.  I cannot tell you how many “Internet Marketing Experts” I’ve met who have no results for their company’s site, much less their clients’ sites.
10. Most importantly, if you’re optimizing for organic search (the non-paid listings that run down the left hand side of search engines), where approximately 80% of all search engine visitors click,  ask if the firm writes content for your website on a monthly basis as part of their service. Search engines like Google thrive on new content and there is no way to successfully market a website without it.

Avoiding the Google Death Penalty…
I certainly don’t mean to be overly critical of my own industry, much less scare anyone from hiring a reputable company, but that being said, making the wrong decision can have consequences far more serious than having your online campaign fail.  In fact, if the firm you choose is involved in unethical marketing practices, your site can pay the price and actually be banned from search engines. BMW Germany was involved in such practices and was given the “Death Penalty” by Google, effectively eliminating them from Google results. 

Making the Right Decision…
So back to the original question: Who should you believe and trust when it comes to Internet marketing? Armed with common sense and information from reputable third party sources like Google’s SEO guidelines, I suggest you trust in yourself to choose the right firm.    
I will leave you with my favorite quote. My firm lives by it, and I believe every Internet marketing firm should.

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” – Henry Ford