The Search Marketing Advisor Newsletter Article:
November 2004, Volume 3, Issue 7

Search Engine Marketing Firm Selection: The 5 Most Critical Factors by Paul Wilson, Vice President of Sales, iProspect

1. Reputation & Third-Party Validation – What do the market research and analysis companies such as Forrester (www.forrester.com), Jupiter (www.jupiterresearch.com), and Gartner (www.gartner.com) say about the quality of services provided by this vendor? What do the industry-related buyers’ guides such as that published by MarketingSherpa (http://sherpastore.com/store/page.cfm/1759) say about this vendor? Has this vendor won any industry awards? Once you have narrowed your selection down to a few vendors, ask for references from paying clients. And especially ask to speak with clients who have been paying customers for 3-5 years. If they don’t have clients that have been with them that long, there is probably a reason.



2. Proprietary Technology – With MSN coming out with their own algorithmic search engine, the audience share for algorithmic search will continue to grow compared to Yahoo!’s paid inclusion model. Selecting a vendor that has built proprietary tools to monitor the changes in the algorithms so that their clients are building sites that rank high in the natural search results is key to your future success. Does the vendor you are considering have such tools? And with PPC costs rising at an alarming rate in many online marketplaces, does the vendor have an automated bidding tool to efficiently manage your keyword inventory? And does it manage your campaign holistically toward a goal you define, such as ROI, clicks, or ROAS? Ask to see their tools, and have them explained to you. If they can’t, they are more or less guessing at what will generate success for your campaign.



3. Thought Leadership – Are the management and employees of this SEM company known for their industry knowledge? Have they shown that they are industry leaders and will keep you ahead of the curve (and your competitors)? Have they published books on SEM? Have their published technical/scientific papers on, and gained patents for, their proprietary technology? Do they write for industry publications? Are they quoted by industry press? Do they regularly speak at industry events such as ADTech (http://www.ad-tech.com) and Search Engine Strategies (http://www.searchengine strategies.com)? Ask about the management team's experience and thought leadership in SEM, as well as their tenure at the firm.
   
   
4. Proven Success – Can the vendor provide and discuss client case studies that demonstrate success at meeting challenges similar to those you are currently experiencing with your site? Do these case studies go beyond the numbers and show the quality of the vendor’s work? Do they have just 3-4 case studies on their website – or dozens? Do any of their clients have case studies published in industry press? Do any of their clients present case studies at industry events?



5. Comparisons Versus Other Vendors – Ask the vendor how they compare to other vendors you are considering. How are they different? Ask for comparisons of their work vs. other vendors you are in discussions with. Can the vendor provide case studies that compare the results they have achieved for a client with the results another vendor generated for a similar client? If not, pick a current client in the same vertical market from each vendor you are considering (two travel companies, or clothing retailers, or insurance companies, for example), and ask to have a “ranking report” run on 100 random keywords from that vertical for each client – and see which vendor’s client has the most top-30 rankings on that sample set of words. The results can sometimes be very telling.

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