The Super Affiliate Formula

For many business owners, figuring out which of the many online advertising consultants to hire to help you increase your profits can be a frustrating and time consuming process .

Here are  five key points  to consider that will help you make your decision a little easier and with a whole lot more confidence.

What Size and Types of Businesses Do The Consultants Serve?             

What’s better? A consultant with a very narrow focus or one with broader experience?    While the core principles  of online advertising are similar for businesses of all sizes  , there can be differences, so it makes sense to hire a company that has experience with businesses similar to yours… but only to a point

Why can this be a problem?  Because too narrow of focus can also lead to being out of touch with broader marketing trends and this can lead to dated, sub-optimal approaches.

PPC or SEM? 

Certainly there is more to online advertising than PPC and search engine optimization  but they are the two largest, most well proven online advertising  philosophies  and firms typically specialize in one or the other. This is a fundamental decision that will influence everything going forward so choose carefully.

 Who is Going to do the Work? 

You are probably already wearing plenty of hats in your business. Right? So the last thing you need is an online consultant who makes more work for you  !  Yet unless you are careful you may just get yourself a whole lot more work  when you bring the wrong online marketing consultant on board. Here’s why.  Many “consultants” are great at telling you “what to do” but not so great at actually “doing” what needs to get done. Again, choose carefully!

Experience  

How much and how varied are the qualifications   of the online advertising consultant you are considering? Look for a wide experience base in a number of industries, and company sizes and look for depth of experience as well. If the consultant only has experience in one industry or only one facet of advertising or marketing (e.g. graphic design, web programming, SEO ) then you should have a low confidence level that this consultant  has the depth of experience and resource level necessary to develop  a complete online advertising  solution.

Campaigns vs. Complete Solutions 

This final factor may just be the most critical  when choosing an online advertising consultant, so ignore this at your own risk  ! A website,  article marketing, email marketing, social media marketing,
PPC advertising and Search Engine Optimization, 
  (the list could go on far longer!) are tactics NOT Complete Marketing systems.

Demand  that the consultant you bring on board demonstrate to you exactly how their SYSTEM handles these 3 “must have” components:

• generating traffic
• converting traffic to customers
• creating nurturing conversations with research oriented potential customers .

Do not settle for anything less than a complete  marketing and advertising system   or you will be putting your online advertising investment at risk and maybe risking the future growth of your business as well with an online advertising consultant that cannot deliver what you need.