Internet Marketing Expert: How To Find The Best Internet Marketer

 

Every business needs a good internet marketing expert to plan, launch and manage effective digital campaigns. With the digital marketing piece becoming more important in this post-Covid world, it’s important to engage the best internet marketer.

 

Following a few rules will help you find the an internet marketing expert that is a good fit for your business.

 

Searches for internet marketing are on the rise as the Google Trend below shows. More businesses are coming online and many of them require an internet marketing expert to setup and launch their campaigns.

 

 

There are many types of internet marketing experts including content marketers, PPC experts, SEO consultants, web developers, graphic designers, social media experts, Google Ads specialists and more and these are as many as the platforms that are out there.

 

There are also internet marketing agencies, freelancers and specialists and the route you take will be determined by a number of factors. Some will be cheaper and perhaps more affordable for your business. And some will be more suited to what you’re trying to achieve and your goals but may not be within your budget.

 

The reality is you may have to do a lot of searching and also make some mistakes as you look for the best internet marketer for your business.

 

What to look for in an internet marketing expert

 

Certifications

Check that the internet marketing expert has certifications that demonstrate their proficiency in their chosen area. Many platforms like Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, HubSpot and others provide training material and courses to equip marketers with the necessary skills.

 

Google for example provides Skillshop where you can learn about products such as Google My Business, Google Analytics and Google Ads. The courses are in-depth and provide a structured process to setting up and managing these platforms and setting up new campaigns.

 

At the end of each course you can take an assessment to test what you’ve learnt and if you pass the assessment test you get a certificate of achievement. And these can be included in a CV or placed on your website to demonstrate your achievements.

 

However to gain full certification and reach partnership level, there are client performance requirements which have to be achieved. The Google Ads Partner programme for example requires that the Google Ads Specialist should manage advertising spend of at least $10,000 every 90 days. Failure to achieve this means one cannot qualify for the partner programme.

 

Google Partners are the most experienced Google Ads specialists that have demonstrated good knowledge of the platform and have experience managing campaigns.

 

 

Skills

This is the most important element of your search for an internet marketing specialist. You have to check out the exact skills they have with creating a strategy and executing on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, Organic SEO, Twitter or any of the other hundreds of platforms out there.

 

 

Industry experience

Experience in your industry is something you should look out for when conducting a search for an internet marketing expert. Check that they understand how your industry works and what your target market is looking for in your products or services. Only an online marketing specialist that has worked with similar businesses will understand this and you can find out who they have worked with in the past.

 

Reviews

The best internet marketing freelancers will have excellent reviews and you will be able to see these on third party review sites and also on their website. Just make sure they are genuine and not fake reviews and ask to call some of the past customers to be able to confirm this. Unfortunately it’s possible to manipulate some review platforms. For example, an internet marketer may only ask for reviews from clients they have had a positive experience with, and those with a negative experience aren’t invited to leave a review.

 

Charges

A good internet marketing expert is not cheap. They will charge accordingly and you’ll have to set aside a reasonable budget to hire one.

 

However, there are many internet marketing freelancers that you will find on sites like Freelancer and People Per Hour. And most are offshore and provide a wide orange of services at very low prices – much lower than you would pay a full time employee. And some are good and provide an excellent service for a very affordable price, but finding the right one can be a challenge as anyone who has tried this route can attest.

 

The problem is many internet marketing freelancers take on multiple projects and the really good ones will be in demand and will not always be available when you need them. And that is true during peak periods and they will spend less time on your project too.

 

 

What an internet marketing expert does

 

Digital Marketing strategy

Formulating a digital marketing strategy that works for your business is the primary task of a top internet marketer. Of course, there is always the option to engage with a marketer for execution only purposes like setting up a campaign, and then you handle the strategy. But the best results will often come from working closely with an internet marketer to create and implement a digital marketing strategy.

 

Internet marketing research

Internet marketing research skills are important to running effective digital campaigns. There are many research tools online, both and free and paid, and using them effectively is key. If you’re looking to run search campaigns for example, you will need to use a keyword research tool like the free Google Ads tool, Keyword Planner. This is an advanced tool that shows you historic and forecast search volume data from Google. There are also competitor research tools provided by SERanking and SpyFu and they are valuable tools to help you assess the performance of other businesses. An internet marketing expert will be familiar with many of these tools and will use them as part of their regular work to conduct online research.

 

Campaign launch

Launching a campaign is an important step and all the work done before will determine how successful this part will be. New campaigns don’t often perform well at launch and require a lot of initial work to get them to an acceptable Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). A lot of the early work will involve testing things like ads, landing pages, advertising platforms, budgets, bidding strategies, creatives and much more. So when working with an internet marketing expert, check that they have these skills and that they have a plan on how to progress the campaigns.

 

 

Campaign management

Managing online campaigns is usually the hardest and most time consuming work that an internet marketing does. The digital marketing plan and strategy has to be followed to achieve the goals of the business and achieve a good ROI. This will require daily or weekly updates to the campaigns and you should receive regular updates from your internet marketer about how the campaigns are performing. The budget will be important here to  achieve your goals and one that is too low will work against your campaigns. The internet marketing expert you’ve hired should make ongoing suggestions about the budget and should advise when this should be increased to scale your campaigns.

 

Where to find an internet markter

 

1. Google search – a search for an internet marketer will bring up thousands of results in both the sponsored ads and the organic results. So you are spoilt for choice in the options that are available to you and that could help you find the right person. However, this can be problematic because finding the right person will require contacting many internet marketers. You will have to use the criteria listed above but that could be time consuming. But at a minimum, you should contact at least 3 marketers and check out their reviews before making a decision. Remember though that search results can be manipulated by unscrupulous internet marketers so you have to be very careful. Also a sponsored PPC result is very different from an organic listing. With a sponsored ad, it is easy for a business to attain a top position in the results if they have the budget for it. So it doesn’t take as much effort as an organic listing which requires doing Search Engine Optimisation to appear on the first page and in the top listings. Businesses that appear in the top organic listings are almost always the best at what they do and because of that they have been rewarded by the Google algorithm with a top position. But as with all things, you still need to do more research into the internet marketing consultant because as history shows, organic listings can be manipulated too.
2. Freelancer websites – websites like Upwork, Freelancer and People Per Hour are popular with small and medium sized businesses that are looking for marketing expertise at a very affordable level. There are thousands of online marketers on these websites from all around the globe, all with a wide range of skills. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to find an internet marketing expert because you can compare proposals that you receive for any project that you upload. On average, for each project you upload you can expect to receive between 5-25 proposals so you will have some work sifting through them. You are also likely to see a wide range of quotes from marketers in a diverse range of countries. What is most important is to find the best internet marketer for your needs and not just the cheapest.
3. Social media – finding an internet marketing specialist on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter is like finding a needle in a haystack. Because these sites are not structured as search engines are, a search may not always bring back the best results. However there are sites like Linkedin for professionals and a connection can put you in touch with a good referral. Just be sure to do extra research into the industry they have worked with and all their reviews to see past client experiences.
4. Referral – this is one of the best ways to get a good internet marketer. You can ask someone you know that has worked with other marketers for a recommendation. If they’ve had a good experience then you’re likely to experience the same but always ensure that you do your due diligence. Follow the same processes that you would when looking for a marketer from scratch and check out their reviews, check out their past work and skills and then hire them if all is well.

 

So, these are the factors you will need to consider when looking for an internet marketing expert. It’s not difficult if you follow a few of these processes and in no time you will be hiring a great internet marketer.