• DM News, Wednesday, November 21, 2007 4:15 PM

Price point choices have been ingrained in the practice of search marketing from its onset. Marketers choose how much they're willing to pay for a specific keyword, then close their eyes and bid, (hoping!) that their price point beats their competitor's (and is still a bit cheaper than they'd planned).

But scoring the lowest price when it comes to choosing a search firm may actually be a bad thing. According to Did-It's Dave Pasternack, search companies that seem to be low-balling their competitors may be desperate for business and ultimately do marketers more harm than good. Pasternack argues that the 15% agency fee that has become the industry norm should just be a starting point; and that depending on the client and the size of the job, search firms could feasibly ask for more.

In the increasingly complex search space (think content networks and blended search, among other things) a search firm that sticks to their guns on that fee isn't shortchanging themselves and will likely be able to do a better job at getting results.

Read the whole story at DM News »