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Choosing the Right Internet Marketing Firm

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A frequent mistake that businesses make is hiring an internet marketing company too quickly — primarily based on price. Your website is a visual representation of your business and a poorly designed site can frustrate visitors, misrepresent your products and even lose sales. Before you hire an internet marketing firm, research the answers to these questions:

1. How Much Experience Does The Internet Marketing Company Have? Do They Have Any Special Qualifications Or Specialties?

Longevity in the industry is a good indicator of stability and skill. Online marketing firms that have been in the business for a while and built admirable reputations are usually known for sound design work and customer service. Choosing an internet marketing company that has been around longer means they will be more likely to be around in the future for ongoing maintenance and updates to your website.

The answer to this question will give you a general idea about the skill set at the web company. Having a tertiary education is good. Having a lot of experience is better, and combining experience with a tertiary education is best.

2. How Many Staff Members Do They Have And What Are Their Roles?

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to effective web e-marketing. Companies on average have one designer, a couple of web developers, analysts, and a few sales and support people. Some companies use Just-in-Time staffing, adding or removing staff as needed. This helps keep overhead low and skills fresh.

3. In Addition To Internet Marketing, What Other Services Does The Agency Offer?

Many prominent internet marketing firms are branching out and offering other services, including web development and design. SEO, Search Engine Marketing, Web Content Writing, Social Media Marketing, Blog promotion, and Google AdWords Management are services offered by many experienced online marketing companies. The key is finding a company that offers the services that you are looking for.

4. Does The Internet Marketing Firm Spend Time With You To Gather Business Knowledge And Give You A Formal Proposal?

It is good to select a web marketing company that will take the time to offer a custom solution for your website. Oftentimes, the online marketing firm will provide you with a questionnaire to fill out so that they can get a better feel for your goals, competition and overall website needs. Your website will play a large part in your overall brand marketing. Therefore, it is important that your internet marketing firm have a clear picture of your overall marketing goals.

5. What Are the Internet Marketing Company’s Payment Terms?

For anything from a small non-profit site to full corporate branding, most internet marketing companies will charge an upfront deposit and stage payments based on agreed milestones and deliverables. Be wary of any internet marketing firm that asks for payment in full before starting the project.

6. What Is The Internet Marketing Company’s Policy On Non-Disclosure And Privacy Of Information?

In order to create the perfect marketing plan for you, your internet marketing firm needs access to important information about your company — information you wouldn’t want your competition, or anyone else, to know.

This is particularly true if you are starting a new company. You don’t want others to steal your concept before you’ve had a chance to monetize it. Therefore, a solid non-disclosure and privacy policy will protect your information.

7. What Are The Average Timelines For Completing Your Web Design Project Including Ecommerce, Logo Design, And Corporate Branding?

If the company does both web development and internet marketing, ask what the firm considers a typical turn-around time for projects similar in size to your own. This should give you a fairly clear idea if the website designer/developer has time tracking and project management systems in place. If you have a hard deadline that you need to meet, be sure you tell the design company up front so that they can plan accordingly.

8. Who Will Be Your Central Point Of Contact For Your Internet Marketing Project?

It is important to have a single point of contact for your project to ensure nothing gets lost in translation. A Project Manager should be assigned to all web projects. If you are working with a small web company, however, the Project Manager may also be the web designer and/or web developer himself.

9. Does The Company Outsource Any Project Components To Third Parties Or To Countries Like India? If So, Which Components?

While outsourcing may be a valid business decision to save costs and keep overhead low, you’ll want to be cautious with any internet marketing company that takes your project and out-sources large components to another country. If you have concerns about low quality, cheap labor, and remote project management issues when jobs are outsourced to India, be sure to bring them up before your project begins.

10. Can The Internet Marketing Company Help With Website Content Copy Writing?

SEO copywriting can make or break your website. Your website design may draw the reader in and focus their attention where it needs to be, but the words themselves do the selling. And if the content is optimized correctly, your website can be showing up on the front pages of the search engines for your chosen search terms.

Be sure the internet marketing firm you choose offers copywriting and ask to see samples — particularly samples of sites within your same industry. This will give you a good foundation on which to base your decision.

11. What Programming Languages And Operating Systems Does The Internet Marketing and/or Web Development Company Work With?

Ideally, your web development company should offer both the open source PHP/MySQL and ASP.NET programming languages. They should make a technical recommendation on which platform would best meet your needs and budget.

12. Do The Internet Marketing And Web Development Experts Build Websites To Web Standards?

Standards compliance, such as W3C and Web Standards Group are highly recommended industry practices. The main reason is consistency in how your visitors view your website on different platforms and future proofing.

13. What Is Covered In The Firm’s Website Testing/Quality Checking Phase? Are You Able To See The Website While It Is Still In Development?

Basic testing requirements should be browser testing, checking for broken links and general usability tests to ensure the website is easy for website visitors to use and interact with.

By seeing a development staging version, you will be able to check the website before the launch date and make any necessary adjustments.

14. Does The Internet Marketing Firm Allow Clients To Host Their Websites With Any Host?

Sometimes, for the sake of functionality or other good reasons, a web company may ask that you host your website with them, but this is not always the case. You may have existing commercial relationships with an ISP or web hosting company that you would prefer to use. It is important to know before hiring an internet marketing firm if they will require you to move hosting to them.

15. Do They Provide Any Training Once The Website Is Launched?

If your website project includes customized systems or software, it can be extremely helpful if your internet marketing company provides you with training documents for future reference. If your system is very detailed, it might even be optimal to arrange for a training program or ongoing customer support. However, this is really only necessary if you plan on hosting the website yourself or you have your own people to support it after development.

16. Is The Internet Marketing Firm Knowledgeable in Web 2.0? Is This Included In Your Quote, Or Are There Extra Charges?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a science in itself; an experienced Internet marketing company should be able to offer you a variety of options including organic, PPC and social media marketing as well as online advertising. Depending on your business requirements, you should consider hiring an internet marketing company that can create a custom online campaign to help you achieve maximum results.

Usually there is an extra charge for single items like developing videos, commercials and ads, photo shoots, copywriting and so on. Ask about these if they are part of your marketing plan.

17. What Is The Charge For Website Updates After The Initial Website Is Completed?

While marketing is an ongoing process, the website is often considered a one-time effort. But there is always extra work to be done: changes and updates, new content and so on.

Be aware of the charging structure for updates to your website. Consider how often you will require updates and ask the internet marketing firm how they handle future updates and maintenance.

If you have frequent or large updates to your website, you could consider a Content Management System. A CMS is only really useful in the event of regular changes and if a staff member has good training in it. If neither are the case, it may just be cheaper to have the supplier to manage small updates.

18. What If You Find A Problem Or Code Bug After The Site Is Finished? Does The Graphic Design Company Have Any Kind Of Code Warranty Or Guarantee?

Often web companies will make the change if it is small for no additional costs. However, be aware that if it is a change and not a bug fix, you may be required to pay extra. Typically, internet marketing companies will give you several designs to approve initially and then involve you every step of the way. Each approved section of the project is considered finished. Going back and making changes — even if they seem simple — can be costly.

19. Is The Copyright For The Website Transferred To You When The Project Is Complete? What About Images in The Website? Logo Design?

Copyright law is a specialized legal field. You should ask to own the copyright on all of the work designed and developed after you have paid in full for the project.

20. Will The Website Development Company Comment Your Source Code?

Commenting code is part of good website development. If code is commented well, you won’t spend a lot of time if the unthinkable happens and you’re forced to find another website supplier either part way through the project or its maintenance.

Finding the answers to these questions may seem time consuming and quite involved, but it is an important part of the interview process. After you have interviewed several companies and had your questions and concerns addressed, you should be able to select a talented internet marketing and web development company that is knowledgeable and easy to work with. The firm you choose also needs to have the ability to produce a web design and website that represents and enhances your overall corporate branding.

Of course, you could choose to not follow our suggestions and just hire the least expensive firm available — or a friend of a friend who does graphic design and internet marketing. But then you could end up with a real mess. Your internet business depends on how good you look. You wouldn’t ask a friend to install a new set of teeth for you, would you?

Want to Develop Your Career? Find The Right Mentor.

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Many senior and executive job searchers cite utilising an impartial mentor as one of the most invaluable resources when seeking their next career move.

A mentor is usually someone who has travelled the same career path and is one step ahead on the career ladder; they pass on their firsthand experiences in order to help you with your own career progression. A mentor is someone who is there when you are in need – say, when facing redundancy – or even when things are going well – when the offers are plentiful and the choice of what to do next can seem somewhat overwhelming. If you are facing a crossroads in your career a mentor will guide and support you with the knowledge gained from their own career path.

Friends and family can provide a certain level of support and guidance but a mentor is not a friend. A mentor’s distance and ability to be impartial is indispensable when making important decisions relating to your career. You know this person on a professional basis so the advice and criticism is easier for them to give and easier for you to receive than if it was from someone close to you.

On many levels you must choose your own mentor, you must respect the decisions they have made and trust that they will be honest with you and have the desire to see you progress and do well. Your relationship must be mutually beneficial and you must give as much as you receive whilst listening to what they have to say.

Coming across a mentor in your natural career world can prove difficult. The relationship that you build is very different to a friend, or even a manager or colleague, however, the need for someone who can provide this support can be crucial when at a junction or feeling stunted in your career progression. If you find yourself in need of a mentor you can enlist the help of a career coach.

A career coach may not have travelled the same career path as you but they will have assisted many people like you, from a range of industries and backgrounds, and will have a large network of contacts. What is more, you don’t have to give anything back. The coach is working for you only, the relationship is purely built on pushing your career forward and making the right decisions now, laying the foundations for future opportunities.

PCS Executive provide a bespoke career coaching service to all their clients to make sure they are making the right decisions to really maximise their career potential. The support provided by PCS will help you today, whilst setting you on the right track to find the new opportunities for tomorrow.

For more information, and to arrange a one to one consultation with a PCS career coach, visit www.pcsexecutive.com or call 0844 880 6690 to speak to an adviser.

Will the New Job or New Career Choice I Like be the Right Career for Me?

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As a psychologist and career counselor, I have worked with thousands of people over the years who are choosing or changing careers, and who are wondering whether they would really like to be in a particular career. Based on this experience, I believe that most people who want to go into a career they think they’d like do not really explore the questions they need to in order to be sure that it’s the right career for them.

Here is a list of 20 questions to find answers to before concluding that a career you think you’d like is really right for you, followed by 9 sources of information for answering these questions:

Questions:
1. In general, why do you think you’d “like” this career?
2. Why is going into this career important to you? What values, needs, and goals does it satisfy?
3. What do you actually know about this career?
4. Do you have any direct experience in this career? Have you had any jobs or volunteer experiences?
5. Have you talked to people who are in this career?
6. Have you done any reading on the career?
7. What are the opportunities? What kinds of money can you make in this field, and where are the openings?
8. What would your typical day be like in this career?
9. What are the drawbacks, disadvantages, and roadblocks of this career?
10. Do your interests match the interests of others in this career?
11. Do you have the aptitudes, skills, and abilities to be successful in this career?
12. Do you have the education or training to get into this career?
13. Do you have the personality characteristics that will make you successful in the new career?
14. Do you have the motivation and energy to follow through and do what you would need to do to get into the new career?
15. What are your “transferable” skills? That is, what skills or knowledge do you now have that you can use in the new career?
16. What skills or knowledge do you have that would not only be transferable, but that would also be a unique advantage in the new career?
17. What will it take to get into the new career? What kind of additional training, education, or experience would you need?
18. Have you developed a specific plan, including timetables and specific goals to be accomplished?
19. Do you have a network of support from family, friends, co-workers, or significant others?
20. Having answered all of the above questions, do you still “like” the career and think it’s a good idea to get into it, and why?

I think you’ll find that there are many resources you can use to help you answer the above questions. Among them:
1. Reading. This would include not only the hundreds of books and pamphlets on careers and career choice, but also publications describing careers (such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published by the U.S. Department of Labor and available on the Internet).
2. Practical experience. Not only is it possible to get a full-time or part-time job, but one can also volunteer at an organization or a company a couple of hours a week, just to get exposure to the area. Usually, any organization is glad to have this kind of help (unless they think you’re an investigative reporter from some newspaper or TV program).
3. Job search counseling. Anyone changing career directions needs a highly competitive job search strategy. This should include resume, cover letter, and job interviewing strategies that are specific to your situation. This may also include advice on researching the job market.
4. A thorough self-assessment. This is not an assessment BY yourself, but an assessment OF yourself. A good career counselor can provide this kind of assessment, which would include counseling and testing.
5. Career tests. In general, tests divide into three categories: 1) aptitude, ability, and skills tests, 2) career interest tests, and 3) personality and motivational tests that focus on characteristics related to the career world.
6. Career coaching. Guided discussions with an expert can help you to clarify your goals, strategies, and commitment.
7. Education and training. Before you launch full-time into a degree program, it is possible to take one course, or a seminar, or a workshop, or a brief certificate program in the new career.
8. Networking. There are many job clubs and career resource centers available to explore new careers. Schools, career counselors, and other professionals can usually give you information on these resources.
9. Informational interviewing. It’s usually not a good idea to go into a career if you haven’t talked to at least a few people who are already in it and can give you the lowdown. You can also talk to people in academic and training programs.

Armed with all of this information and all of these insights, you should now be in a better position to judge whether taking the next step in this new career area makes sense for you.

Plan The Right Internet Advertising Campaign

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