(Auckland, 9th February 2010) Search marketing agency, First Rate has been appointed as the exclusive licensee in New Zealand and Australia of the Search Engine Marketing (SEM) technology, SearchIgnite.

One of the world’s leading providers of SEM bid management and reporting solutions, SearchIgnite will provide First Rate with an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimise, track and report on SEM campaigns for its clients.

The SearchIgnite solution offers advanced features including cross-channel conversion path analysis and end-to-end automatic optimisation of creative, bids and landing pages.

Founder of First Rate, Jon Ostler said “We carried out an extensive, worldwide search for the best SEM technology available. In the end we chose SearchIgnite because of their technology’s leading bid management methodology, unique direct marketing features, and proven client results.”

First Rate CEO in New Zealand, Kevin Francis, said, “Due to an initially slow take up of SEM in New Zealand compared to other countries, we are now seeing a rapid increase in demand for SEM services. As New Zealand’s leading search marketing agency, we are excited to introduce cutting edge technology into the country that many local advertisers would not normally be able to access. Over the years, we have found that advertisers that take full advantage of contemporary online marketing channels like search gain a huge competitive advantage, we expect the deployment of this technology across our New Zealand clients will extend their competitive advantage further.”

Founder of SearchIgnite, Roger Barnette said, “We are excited to form a strategic relationship with First Rate across New Zealand and Australia. We were impressed with the reputation and leadership position First Rate has built up around their search marketing services.   This new strategic relationship with SearchIgnite means they will grow their leadership position further in SEM.”

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For further information or interviews please contact:
Kevin Francis
Phone: +64 9 920 1742
Email: kevin.francis@firstrate.co.nz

About First Rate
First Rate (www.firstrate.co.nz) is New Zealand’s leading search marketing agency, specialising in search engine optimisation (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and performance online advertising.  They are recognised as leaders in developing strategies and tactics that help their clients dominate the search engines and grow their online market share. First Rate works with many of New Zealand’s leading blue chip brands.  Its clients are spread over 50 industries including retail / e-tail, financial services, education, energy, travel, and software solutions.

First Rate Ltd, Company (registered) number 969774, is a subsidiary of ASX listed Q Ltd (ASX: QXQ).

About SearchIgnite
SearchIgnite is a leading provider of search management solutions for optimizing paid search to deliver improved performance and higher ROI. The company’s search management and digital media attribution technology offers an advanced suite of tools to manage, optimize and report on paid search campaigns in one central dashboard, as well as gather insights into the relationship between media channels. SearchIgnite optimises $400 million (USD), manages 50+ million keywords and drives $8 billion+ in revenue each year for some of the world’s leading marketers. More information can be found at www.searchignite.com.

The tension is becoming stronger and stronger as publishers are forced to deal with the prospect of having advertisers say to them: “I like your site but I don’t want to pay per impresssion”

Chief operating officer Samuel Stadler spoke to The Independent about SEO, PPC and Online Advertising [PDF].

First Rate’s New Zealand Top 10 Twitter list was profiled by the New Zealand Herald early November.

Tweets are now indexed by Google and, secondly, as part of Social Search, when one of your followers turns up in a search from Google the search results will favour content that you have tweeted over standard search result listings.

This means businesses cannot afford to not measure Twitter activity. Through their realtime feeds Google and Microsoft have placed it as a pivotal part of their information-gathering strategies.

Grant Osborne, director of strategy & performance,  and chief operating officer Samuel Stadler, spoke to the New Zealand Herald about social media marketing and Twitter’s online marketing potential [PDF].

And don’t forget to follow First Rate on Twitter (@firstratenz)

New Zealand is lagging behind in terms of online spend as a percentage of total advertising spend, with investment in search marketing activities even less.

Grant Osborne, Director of Strategy and Performance, spoke to NZ Business on how to make the most of SEO and SEM. You may download the interview here: Search Engine Marketing [PDF].

Editor’s Note: The article appeared on p. 54 in the November 2009 edition of NZ Business Magazine, available here.

Kevin Francis, Chief Executive Officer of Q NZ Ltd, spoke to Patrick O’Meara at Radio New Zealand on the Tuesday business segment.

Kevin outlined the online marketing growth potential in New Zealand, the various opportunities created by First Rate being owned by ASX listed Q Ltd, and how First Rate is delivering specialist Search & Performance marketing services, including search engine optimisation, under the Q Group umbrella.

For further information on how First Rate can drive your online marketing strategy further and achieve greater ROI, please contact us.