Hiring

Finding a Digital Marketing Firm: The Top Questions to Ask Before Hiring

50.8% of the global population is already online. Roughly speaking, that’s about 4 billion internet users. Without digital marketing, you’re missing out on a big chunk of your potential audience.

With a professional digital marketing firm on your side, you can reach out to this audience and start growing your business! But how do you choose the right one?

Here are five questions to ask when searching for the best marketing companies. 

Once you find your perfect match, you can start growing and beat out the competition!

What Previous Clients Have You Worked With?

First, test the agency’s experience. Have they worked with another company within your industry before? How did it go?

Find digital agencies that have experience with your industry. That way, you can skip the guesswork. They’ll already know what works.

Make sure the agency is equipped to handle your company’s specific needs, too.

Search for an agency that offers experience specific to your industry and needs. Working with them will become a lot easier as a result. 

What Tactics Do You Use?

Some agencies are versatile and offer a long list of tactics. Others perfect the process for a single campaign. 

Ask if they offer a range of digital marketing services or specialize.

For example, Ignite Digital offers a number of services to help businesses grow.

You might need specific help, such as social media marketing or a new website. When choosing a marketing firm, make sure their capabilities and expertise align with your marketing goals.

How Will You Help Me Achieve My Goals?

Marketers who plan their projects are 356% more likely to have a successful campaign. Before you start working with an agency, make sure they have a plan and process in place.

You can also ask:

• Who will become my point of contact?
• How often will we communicate?
• What tools or software do you use?
• How do you keep up with the latest trends?

Make sure the agency’s process provides everything you need before moving forward.

How Do You Measure Success?

What key performance indicators will the marketing firm look for? How will the plan change if those goals aren’t met?

Marketing requires a lot of analytics. Ask how the company will look at the data so you can understand it when a report comes in. 

This is also a great time to inquire about how often they’ll update you about a campaign’s performance. 

How Much Do Your Services Cost?

Your marketing campaign won’t become a success unless you invest time and money. As you search for a marketing firm, make sure you determine their costs.

They might charge based on a project, monthly, or hourly basis. 

In some cases, the firm will offer you a package deal. Make sure to choose an agency that aligns with your budget and overall marketing goals.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Digital Marketing Firm

When you team up with a digital marketing firm, you want to know they have your company’s best interests at heart. With these five questions, you can find the perfect match from hundreds of agencies.

Check out the Digital Marketing section on this site for more helpful tips.

SEO Service: 7 Important Questions to Ask Before Hiring an SEO Company

Getting your website online is only the first step. Now you need to bring people to it.

SEO is one of the best ways to do that.

93% of all online experiences start with a search engine. You need to get in front of the people looking for your services.

Coming up with an SEO plan takes a lot of work. That’s why it’s important to find an SEO service that is up for the job.

But there are a lot of companies out there. Not all of them will be good, so you need to do your research to find the right one.

Ask the seven questions below when you are picking a new SEO service.

1. What’s Your Process for Improving SEO Rankings?

There are good ways to improve your off-site SEO, and then there are bad ways. You don’t want to hire a company that uses shady tactics to get your site ranking in Google.

In the past, webmasters used to be able to rank their websites by posting a lot of spam links to their websites. Google wasn’t as sophisticated back then, so it was easy to game the system to make your site look like an authority.

But things have changed. Linking to your site like that today can get your site penalized and hurt your rankings.

Make sure you understand this when a company explains their SEO strategy to you. You want to be above the board on all your SEO strategies.

2. What Types of SEO Will You Do?

There are several types of SEO you can do to improve your rankings. The two methods below are the most common ones you will see used.

On-Site SEO

On-site SEO is the process of modifying the pages on your website to be more friendly with the search engines. Much of this involves optimizing each page for a keyword.

There are tools, like the Google Keyword Planner, which will show you the search volumes of keywords people use to search Google. Your pages should be optimized to reach as many of these terms as possible.

An SEO will do this by changing your text to include that keyword and it’s variants, optimize your page title, and optimize your page description.

Off-Site SEO

Google isn’t smart enough yet to rank sites based purely on content. It still uses backlinks as a factor.

If an SEO service engages in off-site SEO, they will work to build links back to your website. These links can be in the form of resource links, guest posts, or any other method available to them.

3. Do You Guarantee the #1 Spot?

If you want to weed out the low-quality SEO services, ask the question above. Nobody can guarantee that you will get the number one spot on Google.

The only thing you can do is optimize your chance that Google sees your website as the best result.

Even if you do manage to get the first spot, there isn’t a guarantee that you’ll stay there. The Google algorithm changes all the time. What works today to rank you at number one won’t necessarily work tomorrow.

Find a company that will be honest and realistic with you.

4. What’s Your Reporting Process?

You shouldn’t take search engine optimization services at their word. They should provide you regular reports about what they’re doing.

Your SEO company should be able to provide you several reports detailing their progress. If you want a simple overview, an activities report should be enough. It will tell you all the work a company accomplished during the month.

If you want to track things on a deeper level, you’ll need to ask for ranking and traffic reports. These reports will show you how the work being done is impacting your website.

Yes, you may not see results for a while. But if you don’t see any results after a long time, it may be time to switch to another provider.

5. Is There a Content Strategy?

Doing on-page SEO can make a big difference, but putting together a content strategy can set you apart from your competitors.

You can only say so much about your keywords on your product and service pages. A blog will allow you to target your audience with information posts.

Doing this will give you more visibility on Google, so check to see if your SEO company provides this service.

6. What Changes Will Be Made on the Website

There are a few simple on-site SEO techniques you can make to improve your website for search engines.

But you don’t have to limit changes to the basics.

Ask your SEO company if there will be any significant changes to your website that you need to know about. These changes can be anything from web design to website programming.

If they do handle major changes, check to see if they do things in-house or outsource them. If you want to work with someone local to your area, you may not want to have your work outsourced.

7. Do You Have Case Studies?

While you can’t guarantee results with SEO, you can measure the results. Because of this, SEO companies should be able to provide you case studies from work they have done in the past.

You can also ask to talk with the people who are part of the case studies. This will give you a chance to speak with people about what it’s like to work with a company.

A company can get results but still not be a great fit for your business. You’ll learn both the pros and cons of working with an SEO company.

Pick Your SEO Service Carefully

Doing SEO takes a lot of time. Be careful of anyone that guarantees results and do your research before hiring an SEO service to work for you.

Getting traffic is half the battle. You need to convert your visitors into sales after that. Head over to our marketing section to learn how you can optimize your website to bring in sales.

The Top 10 Reasons for Hiring a Life Coach

Have you been pulling yourself out of bed each day and going through the motions at work? If so, you’re not alone. Around 60% of people feel dissatisfied with their jobs?

The problem here is that when you aren’t fulfilled with your career, other aspects of your life will suffer. Pretty soon you’ll feel lost, unmotivated, and self-conscious. These issues are difficult to reverse on your own.

Many people in this position have found solutions by hiring a life coach. These are professionals who can provide guidance as a means of getting your life back on track.

This may seem like a drastic measure, but a life coach offers many benefits. Let’s go over ten reasons you should consider hiring one.

1. Guidance After a Major Setback

Misfortune and loss are part of life. Moving past these setbacks can seem impossible, especially if they alter the way you live or cause emotional damage.

A life coach will act as a support system during trying times. They’ll help guide you through things like depression, anger, anxiety, and grief.

In addition, a life coach will advise you on the steps you need to take to refocus on your responsibilities. The goal is to get on with your life in the healthiest way possible.

2. Regain Momentum in Your Life

If you’ve found yourself treading water without advancing, you may have difficulty figuring out what you’re doing wrong. A professional life coach is invaluable in these situations.

They’ll examine aspects of your personal and professional life to determine where you’re getting caught up. There’s a chance you’ve fallen into some bad habits without knowing it.

Once a life coach determines what’s holding you back, they can advise you on what steps you need to take. This could mean making important career decisions or changing your entire outlook.

3. Strike a Balance

To maintain happiness and fulfillment, you need to strike a healthy balance between your career, family, and relationships. In today’s busy world, this is hard to do.

Taking advantage of life coaching is a great way to even out elements of your life that are out of alignment. A professional will help you make the right sacrifices needed to place more emphasis on things you’ve neglected.

There are life coaches that specialize in a wide range of issues. The list on this site will give you an idea of what’s out there.  

4. You Need Accountability

When you need to make changes in your life but can’t seem to get the ball rolling, it helps to have someone to hold you accountable.

After you’ve established a set of goals, a life coach will help you become more disciplined. Because they’re with you each step of the way, you’ll feel more accountable for your progress.

Keep in mind their job isn’t to be an authoritarian. A life coach helps inspire you to take your goals and responsibilities more seriously.

5. Understand Your Full Potential

If you don’t believe in yourself, you’re setting limitations on your success. This has a direct impact on your future.

A life coach will do a number of things to help you realize your full potential. Promoting positive thinking and encouraging you to push yourself will help break the chains that have held you back.

A life coach will also work to motivate you and help you learn how to motivate yourself.

6. Unbiased Feedback

Seeking feedback and advice from friends or family members isn’t a bad thing, but there’s a good chance they’ll hold back. Maybe they want to protect you or simply don’t want to broach certain subjects.

A life coach, on the other hand, doesn’t have any connections to your life prior to you hiring them. This means you’ll get unbiased, truthful feedback concerning serious issues.

The perspective of an objective person can help you see problems from a new angle. Plus, a life coach isn’t afraid to be direct with you about things you need to hear.

7. Bring Your Dreams Into Focus

Getting stuck in a 9-to-5 job you don’t care about can cause you to lose focus on your passions. Eventually, you may forget what kind of life you intended to lead when you were younger.

If this happens to you, a life coach will help you rediscover yourself. They’ll teach you to reconnect with your aspirations and assist with taking the proper steps to reach them.

In addition, a life coach will help prioritize your goals so you remain on the right track to personal fulfillment.

8. Get Control of Your Fears

It’s easy to get intimidated by career advancements, challenges, and the thought of failing. Sometimes this intimidation turns to fear, and this does nothing but hold you back.

Life coaching can build up your self-confidence so you can face your fears head-on. It can also help you understand exactly what’s holding you back.

A life coach will put things into perspective so you can see that you’re in control of your fears. This is a great tool in the professional world.

9. Reach Daily Goals

If what’s holding you back is a problem with your daily routine, a life coach will work with you on reaching goals.

This often involves making small changes that have a huge impact. You may also need to look at each day independently and adjust your mental approach.

Once you start reaching daily goals, you’ll notice other aspects of your life improving as well.

10. Become Empowered

The work you do with a life coach can empower you to take control of the problems you encounter and solve them on your own.

This is a long-term benefit of working with a professional. Eventually, you won’t need them to help you confront and conquer obstacles.

Hiring a Life Coach Can Change Everything

Life is a constant challenge. There’s nothing wrong with seeking assistance from a professional.

If you’re having trouble reaching goals, overcoming setbacks, or you simply feel lost, hiring a life coach will get you back on track. You’ll soon find you can handle life’s hurdles on your own. Check out our site for upcoming events that can help you get on track.

Going With the Pros: The Top Benefits of Hiring a Professional Graphic Designer

If your pipes fail, you bring in a plumber. If you break your leg, you call up a doctor. If you decide it’s high time your company updated its logo, are you sure you want to try to take on that task on your own?

There are specific tasks that we’re better off leaving to the pros. And, graphic design is one of those jobs.

A lot of business owners see graphic design as a luxury expense. After all, how hard can it be to draw up a compelling ad for your latest marketing campaign?

The truth is, there’s a lot more to graphic design than doodling logos. And, whether you’re looking to create a new website or engaging packaging for your store, a graphic designer can help you get the job done.

Still not convinced?

Here are a few of the top reasons why you should hire a professional graphic designer.

Time Is Money

As a business owner, your day to day life is probably already busy enough as is.

By hiring a professional graphic designer, you won’t have to worry about dedicating a lot of time trying to design your new website yourself.

And, on top of that, by bringing in a professional, you can make sure that the job gets done right and on time, saving you and your company plenty of time.

A Fresh Perspective

A professional graphic designer has years of experience in figuring out what works and what doesn’t. And, on top of all their design expertise, they can bring to the table one thing you’ll never be able to get from your in house team: an outsider’s opinion.

A designer will work with you to figure out what you’re looking for while introducing fresh ideas that could help take your brand to the next level.

Boost Your Brand

Every successful business owner knows that branding is everything.

Bringing on a professional graphic designer can help you take control of your company’s branding.

A designer won’t just create the perfect logo to represent your business. They’ll also be able to create everything from color palates to design schemes that can make your company look more professional.

Get It Done Right the First Time

Finally, as we said before if you want a job done right, you need to hire someone with the right tools and expertise.

A professional graphic designer doesn’t just come with experience. They also will already have all the design tools needed to get the job done.

Graphic design companies will be able to work with you to ensure that you get the best people for your specific task and that the job gets done on schedule.

Why You Should Hire a Professional Graphic Designer

Now that you know why you should bring in a professional graphic designer, it’s time to get to work.

Are you looking for more ways to boost your business? We can help!

Check out our other articles for more information on everything from how to master social media marketing to how to design the perfect logo.