Questions to Ask a Digital Marketing Agency

You may be planning to hire a firm for digital marketing and you may have been burnt by SEO agencies in the past. When looking for a digital marketing company it is important to conduct research and ask them the proper questions.

There are 40 questions you need to ask a digital marketing company before deciding to hire them.

• Can I see examples? An agency should be able to show examples of their work.

• How will you become familiar with my business and industry? The agency needs to be able to relate and post relevant content for your business.

• How is content optimized for readers as well as search engines? There should be a process for finding a target audience. They should also work with SEO experts to help with relevant key words.

• What forms of content is produced? The agency should have websitecopy experience as well as experience with blog posts, info graphics, animations, videos, email campaigns, and other forms of relevant content.

• How many content pieces will be made per month? If you want to have something posted everyday you need to make sure the agency has enough bandwidth to handle this.

• Will new content be published on my site? Ask the agency if they can add images and content that is appealing to visitors. If the agency does not publish you will need someone in your company to do this task.

• What matrices are reports in? The agency should report on traffic, shares, comments, and tell how they are measured.

• Do you have a Google Partner Badge? If the agency has this badge they have employees that are certified in Google Adword and have access to Google Agency Team.

• Do you post to other platforms besides Adword? While Google is the most common search engine it is beneficial to find a company that is able to post to Yahoo and Bing ads as well.

• What tools are used for paid search campaigns? Paid search tools may be too expensive for your budget. They may have their own tools to help with this.

• Will you be able to see where your money is going in Adwords? You should be able to see how your money is being spent.

• What information is included in standard reports? Ad position, keywords, CPC, CTR, and other information should be in the reports and they should be easy to read.

• Do you have experience with campaigns on Facebook and Linkedin? Organic search in social media is decreasing so the agency should have experience with paid social media campaigns.

• What social media channels do you use? The agency should work with social media sites that are relevant to the needs of your company.

• What is the process for community management on social media? The team should be able to respond to any comments and start conversation on social media and stay connected to customers.

• How will social media presence affect the brand? The agency should work on branding on social media.

• What is the content development strategy? Find out how the agency and marketing team will work together to create social content.

• How is ROI measured? You should be able to track the campaigns without a problem.

• Can you show us websites that you have designed that are live? While your website will not look like these it will give you an idea of the quality of work that the company performs.

• Do you use templates or custom designs? If you have a limited budget a template may be the best option. If you are looking to sell your goods or services you may want to consider a customer design.

• Will I have input in the design? Find out if you are going to have input and if you can approve the design.

• Will the design be responsive? A company needs to make sure the website looks good on desktop computers as well as smart phones and other devices.

• Will my website scale as my business grows? You should be able to add additional products, services, and features without having to change the design of the website.

• Do you offer e-commerce? If you are selling goods you will want to work with a company that can add a shopping cart, accept payments, and reflect discounted prices.

• Do you offer maintenance even after the site is live? You are going to want an agency that will help with troubleshooting and any issues if they arise.

• How does SEO fit into your website design? The content should be keyword optimized including the title and meta tags.

• Do you set up Analytic tacking? Google analytic is important and the company should set it up so you can track the performance of the site.

• What kind of security features are used? You should look for a company that uses Secure Socket Layer and has this certification so you know that your connection is safe.

• How will this site stand out from the competition? The agency needs to understand your target audience and show that your company can give them something that other companies cannot.

• How will your agency improve the site’s conversion rate? They may state how they can increase traffic but they need to increase sales to make it worth your while.

• What experience do you have design sites for my industry? Even if they do not have experience in your industry does not instantly mean they cannot make you a good site. You can follow up by asking what steps they are willing to take to get to know your industry and business.

• How are we going to communicate? Find out the team members you will be working with and how to contact them.

• How will progress be reported? Will you receive a report every month or take part in monthly meetings?

• How will the different marketing techniques help your business? You want to see all the departments working together to build your page.