An easy trap to fall into by business owners, especially start-up companies, is personalizing spending.  In an increasingly impersonal world where giant corporations have spent countless hours learning how to reduce relationships down to an automated phone call or survey, it seems more personalized services produce better results but endure countless hassles by the people they are helping to increase profits, visibility, branding and all the rest. It’s kind of like the doctor who provides free care out of the goodness of his/her heart but as a result keeps seeing the same paranoid patients who are never satisfied with the diagnosis: things are better than ever.

A classic example is with Google Adsense. Many web companies run a set amount of advertisement campaigns with Google’s set algorithm and the results vary. If your company executes it the right way (mousetrap to catch leads, closer to turn into dollar) then it is something that you should look into. Some companies find that the dollar amounts for advertising compared to the profits are not big enough resulting in the said company ‘spinning their wheels’. In other words, they get lots of work for very little profit.

If a company says they spend $5000 a month on Google Adsense and are seeing minimal profits, it is likely that there are more profitable ways of spending those marketing dollars. This is not to say that the Adsense money is not worth it but that if they can take half of that or most of it to building a consistent, long term approach that is more cost effective yet produces the same or better results than they should go for it.

This is where web marketing approaches really come in handy. Through video realms such as youtube and search engines like Google, the right direction can eclipse Adsense production. Some of these results can come quickly but depending on the ‘viral’ market where your company sits. For example, if you are a phone repair company topics like the Android vs. iPhone operating systems can be hot topics compared to plumbing company who discusses how to fix a toilet. Regardless, search engine optimization (SEO) will likely take 3-6 months to obtain the consistency you are shooting for. With small companies aiming for localized niche markets, 3 months can be the expected wait and with national or more competive venues 6-9 months should be the reasonable goal.

The results have come in and they are positive: Now what?

Let’s say that you had decided to take half of the $5000 spent on Adsense and spend it to outsource to a web marketing company. At about the 4 month range you can say for certain that this move was a smart one, as profits are higher than Google Adsense and with half of the same amount of money going out.  In other words, its working. But now what? Many companies will tell you that you need to keep paying them the same amount of money for their services.

A fair question to ask is “ok, you promised me a top 5 ranking within six months and we got it. I see how being #1 would help more but it seems the majority of the work is done. Why should I keep paying you the same amount?” This is a fair question and one that should be answered by the company you are outsourcing to.

Here is a question that, if I’m the company producing results, I don’t want to hear. “Ok, you promised me a top 5 ranking within six months and we got it. I see how being #1 would help more but it seems the majority of the work is done. If I’m going to pay you I will need to see what exactly you guys are doing so I know if it is worth it to keep paying you.”

For an SEO service, the results are in the rankings and leads/profits produced through other online avenues in a natural (free) venue. If you want to see what exactly they are doing, you are asking for trade secrets. For this to happen, you would need to hire someone who has that expertise. If you do this, you will likely be spending 2-4 times the money annually that you are outsourcing for similar results. It is not fair to the company you are outsourcing to need to produce this information.

Business situations can produce sticky situations in terms of trust when it comes to internet marketing, especially if friends are involved. Overall though, if you are better off now than before paying a company for marketing services, it is probably a great thing.

It is not unfair to know how your company is being marketed and if there is actual work being put into it. You may feel helpless not knowing exactly how your company is being marketed, especially if you are not web savvy. If you don’t know how to monitor these things on your own, you should ask the company providing services and they can point you in the right direction without divulging all of their know how.

If they do not help with this, perhaps they are just sitting on their hands collecting a paycheck. Maybe it’s easy for them to do so knowing they have set your company for riches moving forward. But regardless, a small business can’t afford to burn away cash in thanks to past efforts. If they are not being forward to you about ways to monitor their work, do some research on your own.

Don’t know how to monitor these things? Check out my follow-up: How to Spy/Track your Outsourced Web Marketing Company Service.