Arlington Advertising SEM SEO

New year, same commitment to our clients.

by with No Comment Internet Advertising

First of all, a very Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog post.  I hope 2018 brings you all many blessings and good fortune.

As we enter into a new year, I’m reminded of how often things change, and yet still stay the same.  The digital advertising world is very fluid.  Clients come and go, budgets go up and down, targeting and demographics change, and strategies are constantly being adjusted and altered.  But one thing will never change, and that is our commitment to our clients.

Everything we do revolves around what is best for our clients.  We don’t cut corners, we don’t put our needs above those of our customers’, and we don’t fail to listen to their opinions.  We are your partner in advertising, not your vendor.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a product to sell.  We don’t have a shiny car or a cutting-edge piece of electronics that we can show off.  Products like that help to sell themselves.  Our value-add lies in the marketing knowledge and experience that we bring to bear, and the tremendous customer service that we offer to our clients.  Selling a service is a lot harder than selling a product, but it’s what we do.

If you have been looking to grow your business, especially through Pay Per Click (SEM, also called Google Adwords) and SEO, and you’re looking for an agency with a proven track record of success and a sincere commitment to our client’s goals and needs, give us a call.  Chances are we can help you, and likely for less money than you may have thought possible.

 

SEO company Philadelphia

Is Pay Per Click worth it? You betcha!

by with No Comment Internet Advertising

Here at DanMatt Media, one of our primary service lines is Pay Per Click marketing, often referred to as SEM or Google Adwords.  Pay Per Click is a highly-targetable and very useful form of advertising.  Though it is more expensive to run a Pay Per Click campaign than say an SEO campaign, there are decided advantages to it.

If you look at a standard Google search query (for example, “Denver dentist”), you will often see 3 or 4 paid search ads at the very top of the page.  They are designated by a green “Ad” icon next to them.  These are the Pay Per Click ads, and there is a reason why they are at the very top of the page, and why they are likely the first thing you will see.  Google doesn’t make any money on SEO (organic search) but they make a whole lot of money on Adwords campaigns.  Every time someone clicks on those ads, Google receives a fee for the click.  As such, Google has a vested interest in having those ads seen by as many relevant people as possible, which is why they are at the very top of the page (there are also typically paid search ads at the bottom of the page as well, with the organic SEO ads sandwiched in the middle).

Pay Per Click campaigns can easily be three, five, ten, or more times as expensive as SEO campaigns.  The reason for that is that you (the client) are paying every time someone clicks on your ads.  That isn’t the case with SEO campaigns, which do not charge per click.  But while Pay Per Click campaigns are more expensive, they tend to produce a lot more leads (usually phone calls or website form submissions) and they drive those leads much more quickly.  The reason for this is simple.  With Pay Per Click, we can position your ad at the very top of page 1 of Google on the first day of your campaign.  If your budget allows for it, you can literally have the top ranked ad in your industry and geographical area.  That is not the case with SEO, which can take many months to achieve a page 1 ranking, let alone a # 1 ranking (and that may never happen).

So the real question isn’t whether Pay Per Click is worth it.  It is.  The real question for clients to consider is how quickly you need to see results (new leads), and what you are willing to invest each month to obtain those results.  Ideally, a client’s marketing budget should include several facets of digital media buying, including both Pay Per Click and SEO.  But when we get the sense that a prospective client is looking for results right away, we almost always recommend the SEM channel.

 

SEO company Washington DC

So what do I really get if I run an SEO or SEM campaign?

by with No Comment Internet Advertising

I’m often asked this question by prospective clients.  Specifically, what will they receive if they sign up with us for an SEO (organic search) or SEM (paid search) campaign.  It’s a good question, so here’s the answer…

All of our SEO and SEM campaigns include everything that is required to achieve success.  For SEO, that includes things like a custom website audit; keyword, title tag, and meta data optimization; custom back-linking; social media and syndication campaigns; and many other on-site and off-site offerings.  For SEM, that includes things like detailed traffic analysis, keyword group research and optimization, ad group creation, split ad testing, and call tracking.  And of course all our SEO and SEM campaigns include monthly reporting, so our clients know what results they are achieving and exactly where their budgets are being spent.

But there is a more important answer to this question.  Whenever you engage in an SEO or SEM campaign, you are paying for exposure.  Exposure to targeted, relevant potential customers is the one thing that any quality SEO and SEM agency can offer.  No advertising agency can guarantee you specific results (the oft-used “guaranteed 1st page rankings on Google” scam) or a specific return on investment, no matter how often they tell you otherwise.  It would be wonderful if exposure and top-notch rankings always resulted in huge amounts of new business for SEO and SEM clients, but that isn’t always the case.

The goal of any reputable SEO and SEM agency is to provide maximum exposure for their clients, to the most relevant group of potential customers possible.  Ideally that exposure leads to increased phone calls and customers for the client.  Unfortunately, many business owners who run an SEO or SEM campaign do not understand that their marketing campaigns are not guaranteed to deliver an influx of new clientele, and that’s why we make every effort to educate our prospective clients on what it is that we can actually do for them.  In essence, we tell them which factors are under our control (your rankings and traffic gains), and which are not (we can’t force people to do business with you, even if they see your ad at the top of the search results).

Understanding what a digital marketing agency can and cannot do for you is very important prior to beginning an SEO or SEM campaign.  Here at DanMatt Media we go to great lengths to set realistic expectations with all of our new clients, with the goal of forming a longterm partnership that is beneficial to both organizations.  As a valued client of ours, you deserve no less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  So help me Google…

mobile search engine optimization

How do you know which advertising channel is right for you?

by with No Comment Internet Advertising

Here at DanMatt Media we’re pleased to be able to offer our clients a wide variety of online and offline advertising and marketing solutions.  Our offline channels include print, radio, and television advertising.  Our online (digital) channels include SEO, SEM (paid search), IYP (Internet Yellow Pages), web design, and affiliate marketing (email, banner, and social media marketing).  But how do you know which channels will work well for your business?

The easy answer is to ask us.  A quick call or website submission is all that is needed to get the ball rolling.  We’re always happy to evaluate a potential client’s business and create custom quotes for them.  But as a general rule of thumb, the following guidelines tend to apply to most situations…

Radio and television advertising typically works well for most companies with larger advertising budgets.  These forms of advertising are effective but expensive, as you need enough budget to be able to saturate the air or radio waves with your message.  For example, a single radio spot once a week isn’t going to get you anywhere, but 6-8 of them will.  It typically takes at least $5,000 per month for radio and $10,000 per month for television to run an effective campaign.

Print advertising (yellow pages, magazines, and outdoor advertising) is our other traditional channel, and this medium works very well for service-based companies (plumbers, dentists, electricians, lawyers, etc).  It can work well for companies that sell a product too, but it’s variable.  Print also has the advantage of a performance-based offering, our pay-per-call option.  With pay-per-call our print clients only pay for the valid phone calls that they receive, so it’s risk-free advertising for them.  We were one of the very first agencies to offer pay per call to our clients, and it has worked beautifully for many, many years.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing works well for almost every client.  85% of all the search engine traffic on Google and Bing is routed to the organic side of the page, and that’s where SEO ads are found.  SEO ads run 24/7 and are highly effective ways to get your company in front of your targeted audience.  Best of all, with the addition of our new local SEO plans we are now able to help smaller businesses who service a single metro area.  Our SEO plans start at only $299 per month and there are no longterm contracts to sign.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is our other search engine offering, and it too works well for almost all business types.  Paid search is a highly effective way to advertise your product or service, it’s completely targetable to just about anyone, and typically generates results very quickly.  All of our SEM campaigns include monthly reporting at no additional charge, and can be fully customized to fit any business need.  SEM requires a larger budget than SEO, as paid search ads only run when there is enough budget to keep them up.  But when paired with SEO it’s an excellent one-two punch to give you a complete online presence.

Lastly, our affiliate marketing channel, which includes banner/display, email, and social media traffic, is an excellent performance-based offering that works well for online product sales and lead generation campaigns.  In other words, if you’re selling a product online, or you’re looking to generate leads through an online form, we can help you.  Many of these campaigns offer the advantage of pay-for-performance, which means our clients only pay us for the products we sell or the leads we generate.  There are no upfront costs and no longterm contracts to worry about.

We have a lot of services to offer our clients, and in many cases several of these options are used to create a comprehensive online and offline advertising campaign.  We specialize in bringing our clients increased business at the best rates possible.  If you’re looking to grow your company, give us a call or send us a website request.  We’re here to help!