Choosing Internet marketing consulting services can be an overwhelming task – especially for the uninitiated or inexperienced. Where do you begin? What criteria should you be looking for? How do you know which consultant will be the best for my business and my particular situation?

Realize it is critically important that you have at least a good idea of what you want to accomplish. You must have a clear picture of what your outcome will look like as well as what it will do for you and your organization. Just as in goal setting, start with the end in mind. How will you measure the success of your project? What are your objectives or requirements? What problem or challenge are you facing that needs a more effective or more efficient solution? Is this situation an internally-focused or externally-facing challenge?

Will this be a 'one-off' project, or do you anticipate this will be only the first of potentially many interrelated projects over time? The criteria you measure a consulting firm on can vary depending on the type and length of the engagement.

But where should you look and how should you evaluate and compare alternatives? Probably the best place to start is by talking to other people in your organization or other people you know and trust outside of your company. Who have they used in the past? How satisfied were they with the results? Ultimately, how well did the outcome match their expectations? In addition to the solution how effective was the process? Did the consultant communicate clearly and effectively throughout the project? Did he/she maintain regular communication? How satisfied were they with the overall business process? Were they involved throughout project or were they 'hands-off' and only concerned with the result? In evaluating others experience it's important to understand the scope of their project as well as their level of participation in order to effectively understand their recommendation or lack thereof.

If a suitable candidate is not identified after tapping your internal and external contacts, the next logical avenue is to search the Internet using a search engine such as Google. The key to effective searches on Google or any search engine for that matter is the choice of keywords on which to search. If you were to search simply "choosing internet marketing consulting services," you will probably find a fairly tight list of firms from around the world and each could have any number of specialties which may or may not be a good fit for you and your company.

Whatever you decide, there are several basic guidelines will help you make a sound business decision for selecting the right Internet marketing company to fulfill your project and your company's consulting needs.

Consulting, Internet marketing services, conversion rate optimization (CRO), Web design and development (WDD) and search engine optimization (SEO) are the three interconnected services we provide to our clients to ensure they have a 360 degree view of overall web strategy. Do you know how each of the pieces of your Internet marketing strategy are working together to ensure it is an investment and not an expense? What is your conversion rate? How many visitors take a specific action you designed on your Web site?

Conversion is a multi-dimensional process whereby your emails or your website persuades prospects to take action on your site. Your ability to get your visitors to take the action you want them to take is a reflection of your entire marketing process and their level of confidence in your ability to deliver.

Is your Internet marketing living up to your expectations? Did you define up front what you wanted in return for your investment of time, money, and effort? It's critically important that you determine up front how you will measure the success from any marketing initiative whether online of off. What are your prospects goals? They arrive at your website hoping to find something that can add value to their lives and/or their business. They look to you to fulfill their needs. What are your calls to action? What is it you want visitors to your site to do?

1. Sign-up for your newsletter?
2. Download a whitepaper?
3. Enter a contest (in order to get their contact information)?
4. Download a free trial of your software?
5. Call you for more specific information about their particular needs?
6. Purchase your product or service directly on your website? (if you are a commerce site)

For instance do you have goals for the number of unique visitors you want to have come to your website on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis?

How well do you understand the art and science of integrating marketing and sales to convert a visitor into a customer? Commerce is all about sales in one form or another. In order to get the sale, you have to persuade the prospect that what you are offering is of value and that it will satisfy their needs. The bottom line is that sales is the process of persuading others to do what you want them to do. Anytime there is an exchange of value, the process of selling it taking place.

Marketing is not sales. Marketing paves the way for sales to take place. Sales and marketing must work together in order for the prospect to convert from a visitor to a customer. Visitors may arrive on your website and be interested in what you have to offer, but they still need to be sold. Once visitors begin to interact with your online store, all the marketing in the world won't save you if your site isn't designed to convert them.

There are essentially three fundamental ways to increase your revenues online.

1. Increase your conversion rate; number of unique visitors who buy divided by the total number of unique visitors who come to your site. Work on improving the number of website visitors who actually take your desired action. When it comes to improving your conversion rate, there are literally thousands of modifications or tweaks you can perform to your online sales funnel that could increase your number of visitors who convert into paying customers. For example, simply reducing the number of clicks or steps that are requires for a prospect to complete the buying process. Why do you think Amazon patented their '1-Click Checkout' process? Clarify your unique selling proposition (USP). Reorganize your checkout process to prominently display your guarantees and your commitment to security and privacy. All of these adjustments take into account the interrelationship of buying and selling.



2. Improve your merchandising by encouraging your paying customers to spend more through cross selling and up-selling or adding on additional services at a reduced rate. Another option might be bundling products or services into packages. Improve your copy - by engaging a professional copywriter to educate the prospect of all the benefits of your products or services can have a dramatic effect on revenue. (Intuitive and effective web design)



3. Increase the amount of traffic arriving at your site. The theory is that more visitors will equate into more sales. However, most of these options require you to increase your financial investment. Some tactics of this process include search engine optimization, (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) advertising. Public relations (PR) and e-mail marketing that encourages visitors to return can also be effective.

These three areas form the foundation of a solid online business and should be executed in this order: design for conversion, merchandise for additional revenue, and finally drive more traffic to your business. It's the only sane and sound methodology to build an online business that will stand the test of time.