Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Article Check - Beyond Clicks & Conversions: Six Requirements for a Value-Added SEM Vendor
Business spending on coaching will exceed $1 billion this year. Although once considered a perk reserved exclusively for senior executives at multinational corporations, today coaches are just as likely to be found at entrepreneurial start-ups and small businesses. Still, confusion exists about exactly what coaching is and the kinds of results it delivers.I’ll argue that enhancing self-awareness is the most important benefit of coaching, because without it things don’t change. Finding out how one is perceived by others can be eye-opening. An individual may have strengths that are not being used to hi
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile
A few days ago I returned from my annual National Speaker's Association (NSA) conference in Atlanta. The educational sessions were OK, the hotel was so-so, and the town was lacking in exciting things to do, but my experience was stellar. How is that possible?Though I am often accused of being an extrovert, I consider myself quite introverted, as I truly dislike social events and networking gatherings where I am forced to meet new people and mingle with individuals whom I don't know. You know the feeling - that insecure child inside of you automatically assumes that you won't like anyone new and that
Education
On the most basic front, an SEM vendor should add value by educating you, the client, by sharing their knowledge of SEM strategies, tactics, technologies & trends. Does your SEM vendor send you news (either ad hoc or via newsletter)? Do they maintain a SEM resources section on their site, or an industry blog? One way we’ve educated our clients is by hosting a free half-day seminar, bringing in our valued partners and industry leaders to share the latest and greatest you usually have to spend big bucks to see at Search Engine Strategies.
Experience
I started my career in high tech PR, representing a technology company (now called LapLink). For the first year I pitched their product to press & analysts, I’d never even seen the application, let alone used it. Once I had an opportunity to try it, I was amazed, and it helped me do my job that much more effectively. Lesson learned. Has your SEM vendor tested or use your product regularly? We not only make a point of experiencing our clients’ products, but we often purchase them. Some are easier than others, as a bag of Kettle Brand Chips are not as much of a financial commitment as a hot new LCD projector from InFocus.
Feedback
I’ve been a customer of WebTrends & WebPosition since the products first launched. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to provide input on future iterations of the products. The same goes for our other service-based clients. If your SEM vendor isn’t providing you feedback based on their experience with your products or services, they’re either ignorant or fearful, and neither is helpful to the evolution of your company.
Referrals
Regardless of whether or not your product or service is useful to an SEM vendor, they should be sending you potential prospects and partners. If they don’t, they aren’t a strategic partner and you’re missing out on growth opportunities. We regularly refer customers and partners to clients, not to mention recommendations on potential vendors and employees. This is particularly true for long-term clients like InFocus and Marqui, who come to Anvil as a trusted partner with a variety of requests.
Exposure
Due to my background in PR, I’ve spent a good amount of time promoting Anvil via press releases, syndicated articles, speaking engagements and awards, but that’s not unusual. What is unusual is if your SEM vendor does that for you. Even though we do not offer PR services per se, we’re always looking for opportunities to promote our clients. We’ve brought a handful of clients into speaking opportunities, and even included them in pitches that have resulted in press coverage.
Strategy
If you’re the type of company that doesn’t look to vendors for strategic business advice, please stop reading here. If you’re the type of company that is always looking for that edge, and is open to input from vendor partners, you should already have received unsolicited advice from your SEM vendor. On more than one occasion, we’ve had to be brutally honest with our clients about short-sighted marketing strategies (that impact us directly) or even bigger picture business strategy (branding, positioning, infrastructure, etc.) based on our collective knowledge and experience. It takes a strong company to listen, and an even stronger company to act on that input. So far, telling clients the truth hasn’t hurt us.
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile
There are literally a million CafePress people out there wondering how to make money with their t-shirts. There are some incredible t-shirts sites that are not making their hosting fees. Truly beautiful sites too.'Fact is, you don't need the latest and greatest t-shirt site to make money on t-shirts. In fact, if you focus too much on selling t-shirts, you will drive yourself batty. Take my word for it. Uh Huh!No, you really need a web site, or blog, that is about anything but t-shirts to make money on t-shirts. That's right, anything but t-shirts.There are too many t-shirt sites out the
Experience
I started my career in high tech PR, representing a technology company (now called LapLink). For the first year I pitched their product to press & analysts, I’d never even seen the application, let alone used it. Once I had an opportunity to try it, I was amazed, and it helped me do my job that much more effectively. Lesson learned. Has your SEM vendor tested or use your product regularly? We not only make a point of experiencing our clients’ products, but we often purchase them. Some are easier than others, as a bag of Kettle Brand Chips are not as much of a financial commitment as a hot new LCD projector from InFocus.
Feedback
I’ve been a customer of WebTrends & WebPosition since the products first launched. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to provide input on future iterations of the products. The same goes for our other service-based clients. If your SEM vendor isn’t providing you feedback based on their experience with your products or services, they’re either ignorant or fearful, and neither is helpful to the evolution of your company.
Referrals
Regardless of whether or not your product or service is useful to an SEM vendor, they should be sending you potential prospects and partners. If they don’t, they aren’t a strategic partner and you’re missing out on growth opportunities. We regularly refer customers and partners to clients, not to mention recommendations on potential vendors and employees. This is particularly true for long-term clients like InFocus and Marqui, who come to Anvil as a trusted partner with a variety of requests.
Exposure
Due to my background in PR, I’ve spent a good amount of time promoting Anvil via press releases, syndicated articles, speaking engagements and awards, but that’s not unusual. What is unusual is if your SEM vendor does that for you. Even though we do not offer PR services per se, we’re always looking for opportunities to promote our clients. We’ve brought a handful of clients into speaking opportunities, and even included them in pitches that have resulted in press coverage.
Strategy
If you’re the type of company that doesn’t look to vendors for strategic business advice, please stop reading here. If you’re the type of company that is always looking for that edge, and is open to input from vendor partners, you should already have received unsolicited advice from your SEM vendor. On more than one occasion, we’ve had to be brutally honest with our clients about short-sighted marketing strategies (that impact us directly) or even bigger picture business strategy (branding, positioning, infrastructure, etc.) based on our collective knowledge and experience. It takes a strong company to listen, and an even stronger company to act on that input. So far, telling clients the truth hasn’t hurt us.
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile
Continuing with our series on medical billing claims via electronic means, we're going to cover the EA0 record, picking up with field number 10, which provides more information to the payer about the accident, if there was one, in relation to the claim and the condition of the patient.EA0 field 10, positions 40 - 41, is the accident state. This is a two character state code that tells the payer in which state the accident occurred. This is important because each state has different laws regulating accident cases pertaining to medical billing of claims.EA0 field 11, positions 42 - 43 is the a
I’ve been a customer of WebTrends & WebPosition since the products first launched. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to provide input on future iterations of the products. The same goes for our other service-based clients. If your SEM vendor isn’t providing you feedback based on their experience with your products or services, they’re either ignorant or fearful, and neither is helpful to the evolution of your company.
Referrals
Regardless of whether or not your product or service is useful to an SEM vendor, they should be sending you potential prospects and partners. If they don’t, they aren’t a strategic partner and you’re missing out on growth opportunities. We regularly refer customers and partners to clients, not to mention recommendations on potential vendors and employees. This is particularly true for long-term clients like InFocus and Marqui, who come to Anvil as a trusted partner with a variety of requests.
Exposure
Due to my background in PR, I’ve spent a good amount of time promoting Anvil via press releases, syndicated articles, speaking engagements and awards, but that’s not unusual. What is unusual is if your SEM vendor does that for you. Even though we do not offer PR services per se, we’re always looking for opportunities to promote our clients. We’ve brought a handful of clients into speaking opportunities, and even included them in pitches that have resulted in press coverage.
Strategy
If you’re the type of company that doesn’t look to vendors for strategic business advice, please stop reading here. If you’re the type of company that is always looking for that edge, and is open to input from vendor partners, you should already have received unsolicited advice from your SEM vendor. On more than one occasion, we’ve had to be brutally honest with our clients about short-sighted marketing strategies (that impact us directly) or even bigger picture business strategy (branding, positioning, infrastructure, etc.) based on our collective knowledge and experience. It takes a strong company to listen, and an even stronger company to act on that input. So far, telling clients the truth hasn’t hurt us.
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile
If you knew how many small businesses spend all their time trying to save money, and that’s good for sure, but you can’t save you way to success. Don’t get me wrong, managing expenses is important for any business, but sales are the life blood. Cash is king, so you need to be prudent with your money and - you need to increase sales to generate the cash you need to grow and build your business.So how do we do that? Here are just a few thoughts that if acted upon can increase your revenues and fill your cash drawer today.1. Sell more to new customers: That seems obvious, you gain new customers.
Exposure
Due to my background in PR, I’ve spent a good amount of time promoting Anvil via press releases, syndicated articles, speaking engagements and awards, but that’s not unusual. What is unusual is if your SEM vendor does that for you. Even though we do not offer PR services per se, we’re always looking for opportunities to promote our clients. We’ve brought a handful of clients into speaking opportunities, and even included them in pitches that have resulted in press coverage.
Strategy
If you’re the type of company that doesn’t look to vendors for strategic business advice, please stop reading here. If you’re the type of company that is always looking for that edge, and is open to input from vendor partners, you should already have received unsolicited advice from your SEM vendor. On more than one occasion, we’ve had to be brutally honest with our clients about short-sighted marketing strategies (that impact us directly) or even bigger picture business strategy (branding, positioning, infrastructure, etc.) based on our collective knowledge and experience. It takes a strong company to listen, and an even stronger company to act on that input. So far, telling clients the truth hasn’t hurt us.
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile
You’ve probably seen or heard the Geico and Wachovia commercials touting their high customer satisfaction rates. Geico says it has a 97% customer satisfaction rate. Wachovia says it has the highest customer satisfaction ranking in its industry. At first glance, you might think that’s pretty impressive. But, let’s take a closer look at what a satisfied customer really is and then decide if you should celebrate such an accomplishment. (Please note I do not have any personal vendettas against either Geico or Wachovia. I am not “picking on them.” They are just the first examples that came to my mind.)
Moving Forward
Assess your current (or potential) SEM vendor based on the number of the above criteria you believe they meet or exceed. One point per element gives you a possible score of six. Below is a helpful matrix that provides suggested next steps in your pursuit of the ideal vendor.
Score:
1-2: Start looking for a new vendor. SEMPO is a great place to start.
3-4: Time to have a heart-to-heart about your desires and expectations as a client and set goals
5-6: You’re in good hands; continue to foster and evolve the relationship.
Indeed, any good SEM vendor should go the extra mile for your company. I have no problem demonstrating my dedication to clients. I liked one client so much, I married her. Talk about commitment.
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.caseupon.com/article/69157/caseupon-Beyond-Clicks--Conversions-Six-Requirements-for-a-ValueAdded-SEM-Vendor.html">Beyond Clicks & Conversions: Six Requirements for a Value-Added SEM Vendor</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.caseupon.com/article/69157/caseupon-Beyond-Clicks--Conversions-Six-Requirements-for-a-ValueAdded-SEM-Vendor.html]Beyond Clicks & Conversions: Six Requirements for a Value-Added SEM Vendor[/url]
Related Articles:
I'm Trying to Run a Business Here!
Bookmark it:
|