Ubites Digital Marketing Services

The top 10 strategic technology trends 2014 disclosed in the recently concluded Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013 in Orlando, recognized cloud, mobile devices, mobile apps and applications, as the first, second and third place holders respectively. In fact, some changes have started showing their impact, and that are tangible enough to be realized by individuals and businesses alike. Today, everything that we work upon or use is available over the Web through Software-as-a-Service, Infrastructure-as-a-Service, and Platform-as-a-Service. Whether you talk about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint, email services, or other applications, all are taking the refuge of the Internet. Cloud storage – iDrive, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, among others, give us the privilege to carry our data anywhere and access it through any device, thus making platform difference redundant. Global B2C ecommerce sales is expected to hit $1.5 Trillion by the end of this year, thereby making concrete and mortar shops jobless.

This shift in paradigm inspired Ubites people to move ahead and explore their business vertical, which remained confined to tech support so far. Ubites has introduced Glitzy Media to offer complete range of digital marketing services to offshore and domestic business clients.  The portfolio covers:

(a)    Digital Marketing: This is to promote brands and their products and services, and help businesses attract prospects, get qualified leads, serve customers, drive sales & growth & stand out in the marketplace.

(b)    Website Development: This is to give wing to entrepreneurs through responsive, user-friendly and search engine-friendly websites that can help them carve a niche of their own.

(c)    Creative Designing: This will make sure that websites that go online have impressive look that can grab the attention of volatile reader base. It will deal with designing banners, logos, and other images of high quality.

(d)    e-Commerce: Devoted to online consumers, it will help businesses to monetize their efforts and spread their empire crossing the barrier of time and space.

(e)    Online Reputation Management: Without reputation and fame, it’s hard to live and business. Yes, it’s a fact. Ubites helps clients’ to have sound image in front of their stakeholders, including partners, customers, employees, and more.

(f)    CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Bond between customers and a business can make a big difference, and with CRM services, Ubites endeavors to help entrepreneurs to empower their employees to stay competent with customers’ demands.

(g)    ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): This is to help entrepreneurs manage their resources effectively and provide different processes and people working there with better collaboration tools. This will ultimately pull down their operational costs and enhance responsiveness and business return on investment.

Thus, Glitzy Media powered by Ubites is an abode of businesses and enterprises. However, to what extent it will benefit its clients and give momentum to their business is hard to say at the moment.  But no doubt, understanding the stiff competition in the digital marketing industry, it will bring services and products at par with the global standards. Plans and pricings are not disclosed on the websites, but being a startup in the industry, they are likely to benefit prospects and customers.  

4 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Firm

You’ve got a problem. You’ve been tasked with hiring an search engine optimization (SEO) firm to provide various online marketing services to your company. You went out and did a search on Google for “[your geographic location] + seo” and got a list of 300+ SEO firms. You start contacting the firms starting with the one at the top, since it seems reasonable that the guy at the top must know what he’s doing. But as you contact the firms they all tell you the same things, or as one reader put it in a comment on one of my previous articles, “SEO is surely the greatest con ever. Can anyone here tell me how every would-be Internet Marketer on the planet can promise every client to get them onto the first page of Google natural search?” The easy answer is that some can deliver while others can’t. But if that’s the case, how do you figure out which SEO firm to hire?

First, let’s clear up some misconceptions about SEO firms.

A nice-looking website does not a good SEO firm make. If you’re looking to hire an SEO firm that can also take care of designing your new website, then yes, you should probably consider how good their own website looks. But if you’re only looking for top-notch SEO, some of the best firms have websites that are second-rate at best.

• The SEO firm that ranks first in your geographic area is not necessarily the one you should work with. I’m going to let you in on a secret. My own firm almost always shows up first in Google for “utah seo,” and has for most of the past 10 years, but it’s not because we’re the best SEO firm in Utah. I’m not saying we’re not the best SEO firm in Utah, but if we are that’s not why our website ranks high, because a lot of our competitors are doing a better job of SEO on their own websites than we are doing on ours. Why does our website continue to rank #1 for “utah seo?” Sure, we have some decent content on the site, we’ve got the code right for the most part, and we have some good inbound links, but mostly it’s because we were one of the first SEO firms in Utah and it’s an old domain that’s been in use since 1996. Google puts a lot of weight on those two factors, and fortunately for us, it’s hard for anyone else to compete without a time machine.
• The best “SEO firm” for you might not be much of a firm. Bigger is not better. Less sometimes, but not always, is more. The right SEO firm for you might have one or two employees working from a basement. Or it might be the SEO firm with 500 employees. Don’t write either one off automatically.
• All SEO firms are scam operations. This statement is 100% false, in that it’s only 95% true. Or as the late Rex E. Lee put it in a statement about lawyers but which applies equally well to SEO firms, “It’s a shame that an entire profession should be maligned because of two or three hundred thousand bad apples.” Yes, you’re right to be careful about the firm you hire. Too many people hire a firm, only to leave a year or two later and wonder “Did I just throw all that money away on nothing?”

Now, on to the meat–how do you hire the right SEO firm?

1. Decide what you need. Do you need link removal, reputation management, a one time SEO audit, ongoing SEO, link building, PPC management, retargeting, content marketing, or one of the other 20 services SEO firms frequently offer? If you’re not sure what you need, start by figuring out the job to be done. Do you want to grow sales by 20% over the next 12 months, or leads by 50% over the next six months? Is your goal increased rankings, or do you just need the boss to know that someone is working on SEO and then you can check this bothersome item off your to-do list? Have a goal in mind by which you will measure the success of your engagement with your SEO firm, and make that goal the center of your communication with them. If you can’t measure how successful your SEO efforts are, you’re less likely to be successful with them.
2. Get multiple consultations, but keep it secret. Once you know what you want, sit down with an SEO firm, in person or by phone or email, that seems reasonably qualified and ask them to help you figure out what you need to do. Most SEO firms will gladly offer a free consultation because they know by doing so they have a chance to impress you and win your business. This time will also help you to know if you like the firm and the people you’ll be working with. By the end of the consultation, which may take a few days if the SEO firm needs to go and do research on your website and industry, you should received a proposal with the services you need and pricing for them. Then, unless you’re in a time crunch and love the first firm you’ve met with, go do the same thing with one or two other firms to have a basis for comparison. But don’t advertise this. When you tell an SEO firm “I’m shopping around,” or “I’m talking to other firms,” this doesn’t always make them compete harder for your business, it may make them compete less. This is especially true of some of the best SEO firms, where clients are fighting to work with them rather than the SEO firm fighting to work with that client.
3. Get case studies and references. The #1 question you want answered from an SEO firm is “Are you going to help me get my job done?” When you go climbing in the Himalayas you want an experienced Sherpa. Without being able to see the future, the best way an SEO firm can answer this question is to show you that they’ve gotten the job done for other clients just like you. If you run a self storage company, and you talk to an SEO firm that has done work with 10 other self storage companies, and they’ve all had good results, then that’s a reasonably good predictor they’ll be successful working with your company. If your company is unique and you need a generalist SEO firm rather than one that focuses exclusively on your industry, get case studies and references from SEO firms that have at least done work for clients with similar business models and similar “jobs to be done” as yours.
4. Make the firm tell you stories. A good SEO firm executes tactically. A great SEO firm does that, but is highly creative as well, and creative people tell good stories. Stories also allow you to get a truer vision of what the SEO firm is all about. Case studies and references are like looking up someone’s LinkedIn profile. You should do that before hiring an employee, but you wouldn’t hire someone based exclusively on their LinkedIn profile. You’d also want to hear them tell you stories about their background, experience, and successes and failures. This is part of why video interviews from companies likeHireVue are taking off. Ask the SEO firm how they were founded, what their best client experience was, what their worst client experience was and how they handled it, and how they’ve improved over the years. Even if you have made up your mind after following the first three tips, as you listen to stories you may completely change your opinion.

Setting clear goals, getting multiple bids, examining predictors of the future, and listening to stories–that’s how you ensure you’ll hire the right SEO firm. Are there exceptions? Sure. At my own firm we’re terrible at producing formal case studies. We’re busy doing the work that produces results for our clients, and although we know we should have the case studies, somehow they don’t make it to the highest priority. And I know of some firms that I wouldn’t hire myself nor recommend to anyone else, and yet they have great looking case studies. In both cases listening to stories is a way to better see the reality behind the company.

SEO vs. PPC - Which Provides You the Better Value?

Organizations of all sizes are realizing the importance of online marketing, especially through search engines. Nowadays, people are more likely to end up on your website via a search engine than going directly to it. In fact, according to Jupiter Research, a Forrester Research company, 81% of users find their desired destination through a search engine.

This research makes it clear that it's very important for your brand to have a strong presence in the search engines, ensuring that you're in front of your target audience. However, there's still a big decision to make - whether to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization, or naturally ranking high in the organic results) or PPC (Pay-Per-Click ads, the Sponsored Links and purchased ads on a Google search) to get in front of your target?

Done correctly, both can get you on the front page of the search engines for targeted terms and in front of your desired audience. However, each has its respective benefits and costs. SEOmoz, a great SEO resource, recently published an article by the team at Enquisite quantifying the effectiveness of SEO vs. PPC.

The article details that organic results are 8.5x more likely to be clicked on than paid search results! That's a large disparity and is likely attributed to searchers gradually learning the difference between organic and sponsored results, and recognizing that organic results are typically the more respected resource. Also, researchers have used heat maps to show that searchers' eyes focus on the top organic results, with people barely noticing the ads to the right.

However, PPC holds a slight edge in conversion rates, as paid search results are 1.5x more likely to convert click thrus from the search engine. The SEOmoz article attributes, to the fact that the paid search result's "text and landing page is custom optimized by the advertiser."

So, looking at both of these numbers, it can be concluded that "the opportunity from organic search is 5.66x that of paid search."

So, given the flat out choice of ranking high organically or having great PPC ads - the overwhelmingly logical choice is organic. However, we all know it's not that easy or else those "Rank #1 in Google TOMORROW" robo calls would be much more effective. True SEO takes time, not get rich quick schemes.

PPC's true strengths are its speed and expansiveness. With a PPC campaign, you can be on the first page for a multitude of targeted terms within a day. However, the terms can cost anywhere from pennies to many dollars per click; also, for a PPC campaign to be done correctly, it's usually best to hire a firm that can manage it full time. This can mean that PPC campaigns can get very expensive, very quickly - especially when done correctly.

SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization, estimates that 87% of search engine dollars are spent on PPC vs. 11% spent on SEO efforts. That's more than $10 billion spent on PPC vs. just $1 billion spent on SEO. That means the strategy that's over 5x more effective, SEO, is only receiving 1/8 the media spend in the market! It's hard to justify the expense of a PPC campaign, knowing that SEO is more successful and the overall better longterm value.

Don't get me wrong, there are certainly times to use PPC - when you're first launching your company, it's a great way to get your name out there and build brand awareness. For a limited time offer or special event, PPC is an effective way to get exposure that SEO wouldn't have time to contribute to.

Also, PPC is more effective for products than it is for service companies; for example, we focus SEO efforts on terms such as Raleigh web design and Content Management Software; however, we do not engage in PPC advertising for these terms, because they're usually a waste of money for a services firm like ours. Yet we have an electronic payments client that runs a PPC campaign focused around its specific product offerings, and this strategy makes sense for their market.

However, when it comes to the long term lifeline of your internet marketing, the result is clear - SEO offers the better value in search marketing. You won't rank #1 overnight, but SEO is more affordable and the longterm benefits have been proven. All of these facts demonstrate that your company should spend more of its time and resources focusing on SEO vs. PPC.

What are other people's experiences in this realm? Anyone think that PPC is the more value-driven choice than SEO? Let us know your thoughts!

SEO vs. PPC: Knowing Which Is Right for Your Website

When it comes to boosting traffic to your website, you have two basic options: pay-per-click (PPC) advertising or search engine optimization(SEO).

You can pay for traffic using the PPC advertising programs provided byGoogle Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and others. They enable you to display ads in the sponsored results section of each search engine's results page. Then, you pay a fee -- based on how competitive your chosen keyword is -- whenever a viewer clicks through from your ad toyour website.

Alternatively, you can build traffic for free by achieving high rankings in the natural search results -- the listings displayed next to the sponsored results. You will need to follow SEO best practices to try to get your site displayed on these pages more prominently and more often. It may take time to reach the top of the natural results, but the free, targeted traffic will probably prove to be well worth the investment.

But which approach is better? It depends on your needs and budget. If you want more traffic fast and are willing to pay for it, then PPC might be right for you. But if you're operating on a shoestring budget, it may make more sense to invest time in chasing high search rankings through SEO.

Here are three questions to consider when deciding whether SEO or PPC is best for your business:

1. How large is your website advertising budget?
In choosing between SEO and PPC, you first need to decide what size advertising budget your business can support. You can set your daily spending limit as low as you'd like, but it can be a good idea to start with a minimum of $5 to $10 a day.

If you have no money to commit to advertising, you'll need to stick with free SEO methods. But if you have even a little capital to invest in PPC advertising, consider giving it a try because it offers a number of benefits, including:

• Faster testing. Websites should focus on achieving conversion, whether it's selling products, signing up email newsletter subscribers or some other action. That means actively testing website variables to improve conversion rates. These tests, however, require traffic to generate data, so you might want to purchase traffic through PPC advertising to get faster results.

• Protection from SEO algorithm updates. One major weakness of SEO is that algorithms change from time to time. When that happens, sites that have been optimized in one way can lose rankings -- and profits -- practically overnight. But when you pay for traffic, you're assured a steady stream of visitors, no matter what changes Google and the other search engines make.

PPC has a learning curve, though. Start with small, highly targeted campaigns and tie your PPC campaign to your Google Analyticsaccount. It can tell you which conversions are from PPC visitors and whether your ROI is positive or negative.

Related: Seven Tips for Improving Pay-Per-Click Campaigns

2. How high are the average CPCs in your industry?
In addition to setting your overall advertising budget, take a look at what other people in your industry are paying for ads.

PPC platforms typically allow users to bid what they're willing to pay for a single keyword click -- a fee that's referred to as "cost-per-click" (CPC). For instance, if you want to reach people searching for the keyword phrase "car insurance online," you could use the Traffic Estimator within the free Google External Keyword Research Tool and see that the average CPC for the phrase is $2.76.

But average CPCs can run much higher -- $28.55, for example, for the phrase "auto insurance." Those prices make it more difficult for new advertisers to turn a profit from PPC traffic. In such cases, SEO might be a better choice.

Related: 5 Tools to Take Your SEO to the Next Level 

3. How competitive are the SERPs in your niche?
You also will want to determine how competitive the search engine results pages (SERPs) are for your target keywords. To do this, enter your keywords into the Google External Keyword Research Tool, which will tell you the estimated competition level, as well as the number of advertisers bidding on your keywords and the average CPCs.

In the most competitive industries, you may find that results pages for your target keywords are dominated by authority websites. They can be nearly impossible to displace without a significant investment of time and money. In such cases, it may ultimately make more sense to pay for traffic via PPC promotions.

But it isn't always necessary to make an "either-or" choice. When combined, PPC and SEO can be quite powerful. Ask yourself these three questions and determine the optimal mix of PPC and SEO for your website.