Tips for Choosing the right company for your WEB 2.0 internet marketing

Choosing a company to help you with your WEB 2.0 Internet Marketing can be daunting to say the least! You have so many choices to choose from and the biggest mystery is there are so many different prices to choose from as well. Prices can vary so much that it makes it hard to understand which company you should go with. What do you do? Roll the dice and hope the company you choose will come thru? Then what do you do if they don’t come thru?

So how do you come select the right company? There are a lot of things to consider and price should not be the deciding factor. I know what you are saying right now, “I only have a limited budget” or “my budget is only $2000.00”. I realize that everyone has a budget. However, if you take the time to properly interview potential companies, you will find the right fit for your needs. We will get to the budget later in this article.

 

The first thing you want to do is look at all of your prospective company’s sites. Is it appealing? Is it easy to navigate on their site? Does it take a long time to load in your browser? Do they have a bunch flash on their site? If the site is easy on the eyes and easy to navigate then you can more than likely place them in the “should interview” pile.

Once, you have selected your prospective “should interview” companies. You need to set up an interview with them. The interview should clearly communicate what your specific needs are. For instance, I need a custom site that I can monetize and I don’t want to have to create a budget for a pay per click campaign. Depending on the topic of your industry any WEB 2.0 company worth their weight in gold will tell you they can do that and they should mention social networking, social bookmarking or social marketing. If they don’t, RUN, don’t walk to the next company.

If they do mention social networking, social bookmarking or social marketing, tell them you are new to this whole blogging and social marketing stuff. Then ask them what they can do to help you. There are a lot of companies that will do all the marketing for you. They will post your content, some will even create your content. They will do all the social marketing but they don’t want you to learn it, because they will lose their residuals.

So by now I hope that you’ve guessed what the next question should be. In case you haven’t, ask them if they are willing to teach you to be self sufficient. This question doesn’t really mean that you need to be. Some folks prefer that someone else do all their marketing for them. The question is just to see if they are willing to train you. The hope is that they are ready to help you with your business.

This brings me to the next point. During the interview you must pay attention to the way the company is communicating information back to you. Are they taking the time to help you understand things you may not? Are they treating you as a peer or are they talking down to you. It’s very important that the company you choose is one that you can feel comfortable with. A company you can work with for a long period of time.

The company you choose should be a company who is willing to work WITH you. You never want to select a company that will just work for you. That’s why it’s important to pay special attention to how they treat you. Pay special attention to the things they recommend. For instance, are they freely giving you ideas about different ways they can help your company? If the company you are speaking to gives you some kind of recommendation about your company they should be one to consider. If the company doesn’t make any kind of recommendation then they should be put in the recycle bin.

You can also ask for past clients and references at this point. I really don’t think past clients and references hold much weight today. Think about it for a second, who’s going to give you a bad reference? As far as past clients, what company can’t create tons of sites with cool logos, etc. I have been hired by a lot of clients that have been through this. It never ceases to amaze me to what some companies will do to get a client.

Once you have selected some prospective companies you think you can work with and trust. You now need to ask them for a written proposal for the services they are going to offer. Make sure that when you are asking for a proposal that you re-cap the services they are going to provide. Write them down to make sure they don’t forget anything and to see if they add anything to the proposal. Some companies will give you a proposal with extras in it. That’s why it’s important to record the services you want included in the proposal. Then ask them when you can expect the proposal. Let them tell you when to expect it. You don’t know what’s on their plates at the present moment, so let them estimate when they can complete it. It also will give you another clue as to how they manage their time and estimate deadlines.

At this point you have already interviewed prospective companies. You have chosen the companies you think you can work with and are waiting for their proposal.

After you receive the proposals, make sure you go over the services that are supposed to be included. Check them off as you go down the list. If any of the companies forgot something, you may want to go back and tell them that they forgot a service. Ask them if they can add it in and re-send the proposal. Again, you are still trying to evaluate whether or not you can work with them, this is a free exercise. You want to see how they will react. Are they trying to work WITH you? Some companies may even just throw in the service they forgot. You never know until you ask. After, you have gone through all of the proposals to verify all of your services are going to be included. It’s decision making time or in some cases negotiating time.

This is where you can decide which company to go with based on your budget. If you have a favorite and they don’t fit in your budget call them and try to negotiate with them. A lot of companies will work with you here, but don’t expect them to cut their price in half. The other you can do in this situation is to ask them if you can do your project in phases. This way you can defer some of the cost to a later date.

There are plenty of other things to consider, the point I am trying to convey here is make sure you do your homework and to make sure you select a company that will work WITH you and just work for you.

If you are looking for a company to help with your WEB 2.0 internet marketing that includes building a blog and social marketing. Arsenal Marketing is for hire and is a company that will work WITH you. You can call us at 754.234.0547 or send us an email at info@arsenalmarketing.com to find out more.

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