Oneupweb Elevates Its Search Game
Search marketing firm Oneupweb has announced it will add a portfolio of new Web-marketing services in an effort to grow into an inclusive one-stop shop for online advertising.
The search engine marketing (SEM) consultancy says it is adding usability services, mobile search marketing, online market research and online media buying to its core menu of search optimization, pay-per-click advertising and Web analytics.
“Everything we’re adding ties back to search, which is our core business,” said Oneupweb CEO and president Lisa Wehr. “The new services really expand on how we make search perform better.” All the competencies for the new services are in-house, she said. Oneupweb will not rely on third parties to deliver anything, although the firm does use an outside transport platform for e-mail marketing.
Among the new offerings, uSage will help clients improve Web site design, navigation, structure and impact. An online market research division will use focus groups to devise strategic marketing advice and a multi-variant testing feature called A:B Labs to determine the optimum combination of content, promotions, images and other elements.
Oneupweb will also launch an online media-buying service called UpLift that will use the company’s proprietary measurement technology to pinpoint and track the return on investment from online ad placements.
Interestingly, Oneupweb will also add a specialization in search marketing for mobile devices, a field that has drawn a lot of attention from the search engines in the last year but one that is only now beginning to attract advertisers, mostly for Web content and entertainment.
“Mobile is an emerging market, and no one has a deep level of expertise in this area yet,” Wehr said. While mobile search marketing may not attract a large portion of Oneupweb’s client base, she said, the industry will continue to grow, and early adopters may enjoy the same advantages in that medium that Internet pioneers still enjoy on the Web. “For businesses to whom it makes sense, I think it’s important that they get on board pretty soon.” Wehr says the firm has already begun working on mobile SEM projects for some customers.
The move by Oneupweb is part of a larger trend by both online agencies and traditional ad shops to bring more Internet marketing features in-house, to serve clients more efficiently. “In the early days [of online marketing], people were just throwing money at the Web left and right and not really paying attention to the performance,” Wehr said. “Now they recognize that some strategies are required.”
She pointed out that banner ads were all the rage in the early days of the Internet, until their poor performance caused them to fall out of favor and all but disappear. “Now they’re back,” Wehr said. “But they’re more sophisticated, and their tracking is better, making them more effective.” Online marketers have learned the same hard lessons about other Internet ad channels, driving marketing firms add expertise beyond SEM to remain viable.
The Oneupweb growth initiative was telegraphed in January 2006 with an announcement that the company would ramp up staffing in this quarter and expand its Lake Leelanau, MI headquarters. Wehr did not specify how many employees would be added to power the new service offerings but reaffirmed her intention to keep the 6-year-old SEM firm independent and privately held.
