Member Spotlight:

Direct Online Marketing Focuses on Search Engine Marketing and More

Teq Magazine
Pittsburgh Technology Council
January, 2008

Company Exec: Justin Seibert, Direct Online Marketing™
Location: Wheeling, W.Va
On the Web: www.DirectOM.com

Company Vitals:
We're located about an hour from Pittsburgh in Wheeling, W. Va., and are a fairly new company. I set up shop in 2006 after moving back from Los Angeles for family considerations, and we've been chugging along ever since. We've been very fortunate to bring in world class talent and groom bright folks with little previous related experience. By being picky and ony adding staff when necessary for sustained growth, we've kept pretty small. Right now five of us do all of the work, and we add a new full-time position every six months or so. Our mission is simple: we want to help companies in our region grow their businesses and the area.

What areas of Internet marketing does Direct Online Marketing™ specialize in?
Direct Online Marketing™ performs most anything related to Internet marketing, including blogging, Web site developlment, creation of e-mail campaign systems, and banner advertising. The bulk of our work, though, comes from improving search engine visibility: both search engine marketing (paid search, pay per click) and search engine optimization (natural, or organic, listings).

Why is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) mission-critical for any business?
It's funny - my perspective has changed over the years. I can't count all the companies I've run into that are happy where they are and don't want to make any more money. It blows my capitalist mind. A few types of businesses legitimately don't need it - monopolies and some oligarchies come immediately to mind - but the others?

Countless people are searching for the services provided by Pittsburgh Technology Council member companies right now. Who's being found? SEM allows companies to be seen immediately and to define which searchers they want (e.g., within a two-hour drive of Pittsburgh or all over the world). SEO can get compaies up high on the left side not just for searches on a company name, but also on searches for services or products that relay buying signs.

When you look at the numbers - more than 9 billion searches per month by Americans - the argument becomes even more compelling. One of our clients in a competitive vertical does eight figures every year on SEM alone; others have looked at results and now commit their entire advertising budgets on SEO and SEM. More typically, search works in concert with other forms of advertising and can actually increase ROI for radio, television, print, and outdoor when done together.

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