In this search-crazy society, pushed by a point-and-click generation, local companies are drastically changing how they market themselves, with online becoming a major focus.

Google and similar search engines like Yahoo! and Bing, list search results based on a number of keyword phrases and URL distinctions. Several local Web marketing companies agree there is no magic potion to guarantee a high ranking in the results of a search for a service or product. Nonetheless, they say it is possible to raise your search visibility, which in turn can lift your bottom line.

Netvantage Marketing

Netvantage Marketing Managing Partner Joe Ford describes his company as a search engine marketing firm.

“Our core focus is to help companies utilize search engines to attract more traffic to their websites and in turn increase revenue. We are really a hybrid of technology and marketing, but I’m really a marketer at heart,” Ford says.

The company focuses on three areas, including search engine optimization, paid search (or pay-per-click) and Web analytics.

Web marketing is an industry still in its infancy, Ford says. He and his business partner, Adam Henige, founded Netvantage Marketing in early 2008.

“We had zero clients and started out in the valley. The economy was terrible and the credit crunch had just hit. We have been very fortunate in our growth,” says Ford, who had worked previously for another Internet consulting firm in Lansing.

Ford states that most clients come to Netvantage Marketing, which is based in East Lansing, complaining that their websites do not appear on a search engine’s results page and asking how to change that.

“There is a lot of mystery behind how companies are ranked. Most of the formulas behind it are well-kept secrets and are constantly changing. We do our best to demystify the process and benchmark the results as our clients move up the rankings.” The search engines are constantly updating rankings, Ford adds, with keyword selection, link building and other factors all playing roles.

Search engine optimization not only includes the “organic free sites” that appear on a Web search results page, but also the paid search sites, or pay-per-click, that appear on the paid sponsor search list.

Google has been the leader when it comes to developing pay-per-click technology with the company’s AdWords platform.

“We help our clients place those ads and manage the tools available to them. A lot of our clients are aware of the tools, but just not familiar with how to use them. Now that Google has localized online searches, even companies on a shoestring budget can take advantage of the opportunities,” Ford explains.

Ford said Google, the Mountain View, California-based search giant, is fast becoming a major player in all aspects of communication and is driving most of the development in online search.

The final piece of the search engine optimization puzzle is Web analytics, Ford says.       

“Measurability is one of the greatest strengths of the Internet. We can track and measure return on investment through Google Analytics and other software programs. Clients can sometimes become overwhelmed by all of the data, but we’ll help them interpret the data and figure out what it really means.”

Ford believes his company’s competitive advantage is in its focus on search engine marketing and that alone. “We do not do Web design, we don’t venture into social media or e-mail marketing. At the core of what we do is search engine optimization.”

Web Ascender

As Ryan Doom and Kevin Southworth were deciding on a name for their new website development and Internet marketing firm in 2005, they searched for something to give the impression of forward motion and improvement. Hence, Web Ascender was born, and the number of clients and the company’s revenues have been climbing ever since.

The Okemos-based company offers Web design, Internet marketing and online development services, or a “full Web package” as Doom explains it.

“We really work with clients from inception to the implementation of their project, then analyzing of the results. It’s everything from website design, Web optimization and marketing. We think about website functionality as well as how they position it online.”

Doom says Web Ascender, which has doubled its gross sales nearly every year since 2005, develops Web strategies that insure high search engine rankings, but still allow easy human interaction.

“On-page optimization is based on several things. It’s how content is written, the URL structure and coding. We have a list of best practices that we share with clients to make sure of the highest probability of being found during a search.

“There are published algorhythms of how Google and other search firms do what they do. But there are a lot of hidden things and they are always changing the game,” Doom says.

Web Ascender, which has seven employees, also uses Web analytics to determine which Web strategies are working for a client.

“We can see traffic trends and determine which keywords are working and which ones are not. We ask, ‘Are the search phrases we’re using generating new visits?’” Doom explains.      

The biggest Web-marketing challenge in the next five years, Doom says, will be reaching mobile customers thanks to widespread availability of Wi-Fi and proliferation of smart phones.

“I believe most people will be doing things on their mobile devices that they are now doing on their PC. The mobile arena is going to just explode. We have to work on ways to connect with people making mobile searches. The interface is going to be a bit different,” Doom says. 

Author: Randy J. Stine
Photography: Terri Shaver