Ask these questions to a content marketing agency before hiring

The success of any digital marketing strategy largely depends on the kind of content you create. And this is not something that everyone can be good at. Naturally, hiring a content marketing agency makes sense as you will get expert guidance this way, without having to onboard professionals permanently and spending a lot more on their salaries. Moreover, by outsourcing content development and marketing to an agency, you will have more time on your hands to focus on the core aspects of your business. But, can every content agency you come across seal the deal for you? No! You need to ask these questions first, to gauge if an agency is the right choice or not.

What is your experience and can you show past work samples?

While some agencies might have a decade of experience to back them, others might be just starting off but ready to make a mark. Even a brand new content agency can do a great job for you if they have the requisite knowledge or talent. This is something you will need to decide based on your requirements. Also, if an agency has spent some time in the industry, they should be able to show you past projects and give you a list of clients. This will help you assess if they can run campaigns successfully, have a quality team at their disposal and know the latest trends. 

How do you carry out research before starting to work?

If a content marketing agency doesn’t have a clear research method, do avoid it. Whether the content marketing strategy will succeed or fail will largely depend on the research process. Ideally, a good agency should find out all that they can about your company and industry, they should understand your objectives, and they should study your target audience’s behavior, intent and needs. Plus, the agency should conduct a competitor analysis which will help them devise a strategy to help your business stand out from others. 

What are the tools used to collect data or generate insights? 

Any reliable agency will use tools related to web analytics, SEO analytics, social media analytics, CMS and blogging, to collect valuable data and provide insights about how your campaign is performing. These tools usually take care of everything from keyword research and SEO campaigns to monitoring competitors’ keyword usage and organic traffic tracking etc.  Also ask how the agency will prepare the analytics reports and if they use charts, graphs and so on. They should be able to tell you which keywords are performing well and which ones should be dropped. The agency should also help you to constantly update your content so that the traffic doesn’t decline. 

Who will work on the project or how will it be handled?  

This is an important question to ask before hiring a content agency. See if they have enough writers, editors, designers and content marketers in their team to handle your project’s size and complexity easily. For example, if your project is a massive one and requires say 800 SEO articles per month, an agency that uses only an in-house team will not be suitable. You will need an agency that has a large network of contract-based professionals. Such an agency will be able to scale up or down the staffing as per the project need. 

Last but not the least; do ask how much they charge and how much time they will take to start the project and complete it. Avoid a content marketing agency that promises a very short timeline or too cheap rates. This will usually lead to compromised quality and a waste of money for you.  

Types of Content Writing Services You Should Know About

Marketing is the most significant aspects of all online businesses. If you wish to reach an expanded base of audience, you need to invest into some form of online marketing. Online marketing is further classified into various categories, such as content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, etc. However, content marketing is the one of the most widely used ones.

When it comes to content marketing, it usually encompasses all text-based contents. For instance, articles, blogs, press releases, infographics, social media content, etc., are some of the most important types of content writing services offered by reputed content marketing agencies. It is important to understand that you cannot get the desired results by just using one particular type of content. The following are some popular content types that you must go for in order to ensure optimal results.

Blogs: Blogs have become the most vital aspect of content marketing strategy nowadays. These pieces of information can help the audiences in acquiring all the information they are looking for. Writing a few quality blogs does not take a lot of time. In fact, good content marketing companies can help you with over a dozen blogs in just a couple of days. These blogs are helpful in establishing a connection with the audiences. However, make sure to regularly post blogs on your website in order to keep the readers engaged.

SEO Articles: SEO articles are slightly more technical as compared to the other content writing services. They are written with the main purpose of improving the ranking of your website. You must hire the services of an experienced content marketing agency thatis aware of all the latest SEO tactics that can help to improve the visibility of your website.

Infographics: If you are specifically looking for a content type that can offer loads of information to the readers then you must consider infographics. These are pictures that incorporate a lot of data into them. Also, the format of this is very interesting. In fact, it is seen that a lot of users prefer

infographics to quickly go through all the information instead of reading a whole article. Infographics can be used on websites, blog sites and even social media sites.

E-books: Although this form of content is not very popular, but you simply cannot neglect its reach and effectiveness. It one of the best ways of generating leads.

Social Media Content: There are many ways in which you can leverage social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. to post valuable content about your company. You can take the assistance of a renowned content writing agency that can help you promote your products and services on the social media platform.

All these aforementioned types are the main types of content writing services you can opt for. Always make sure to discuss your content marketing strategies with your chosen content writing company to ensure that they take the right approach and implement the right practices.

Affordable SEO Services Tips and Tricks

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is a digital marketing tool that websites use to get themselves noticed by search engines. With a smart SEO strategy, one can ensure a good online presence.This online presence can help generate leads that can be successfully converted to sales with the right marketing and sales tools. Thanks to the effectiveness of it, every brand runs some or the other SEO exercises through digital marketing. This high demand has made affordable SEO services rare.

If you are a brand looking for an amazing presence online and want to end up in the top results of search engines without burning a hole in your pocket, here are some tips you can follow.

•  One way to cut cost if you cannot find affordable SEO services, is to ensure that you have a great and SEO worthy content already.  One of the important elements of content creation for SEO is the length. Long articles with smartly placed keywords tend to get picked up over the short ones.

• Just because a digital marketing agency is charging premium rates for SEO services does not always mean they can do a good job at it. Always look at their work with previous clients.  You are sure to find affordable SEO services from smaller firms who have a reliable track record.

•  If you go ahead and cut costs by writing the content yourself, make sure that you do your homework before you begin. Read up about the best practices when it comes to SEO content writing and how SEO works. This includes keyword placements, article structure, length, and a lot more.

•  Interlink your page to other URLs. This way you can increase the traffic on your site. Interlinking can help bring traffic to any specific page you want. It also helps with keyword ranking. Interlinking helps pass on SEO benefits to the linked page as well.

• When you are creating your website, create one that has the right number of elements to help it load faster. Google picks up such websites faster. A faster website does not just help increase the number of visitors, but also reduces the chance of them visiting some other site for the same information.

The importance of SEO for any business cannot be stressed on enough. When looking for digital marketing experts to collaborate with, make sure you speak to a few of them before you zero in on any. Ask all the questions you need to know about their SEO strategies, tools, and ways of measuring the data. Also, be clear of what you wish to achieve from the SEO exercises before you start looking for someone to help you with it. This makes it is easier for them to understand what you want and what needs to be done.

Finding affordable SEO services may be a challenge but not impossible. There are a number of agencies online that you can get in touch with and explore the possibilities for collaboration.