| If you are new to the Search category,
you're probably familiar with the term "Search Engine Optimization" (SEO) and
have seen or heard the term "Search Engine Marketing" (SEM), but are not exactly
sure what Search Engine Marketing really means. More than likely, you've heard the two
terms used interchangeably and may think that they mean the same thing. Though they are
similar, there is a dramatic difference between the two practices. Knowing and
understanding the difference between these two terms, and more importantly, knowing how to
take advantage of the differences is the key to overall success in marketing via search
engines.
There has been a dramatic but subtle change over the past
few years with regards to promoting websites via search engines. Rather than being two
interchangeable terms, Search Engine Optimization is actually an element of Search Engine
Marketing, with the other element being "Paid Search Media." It is those site
owners and managers that truly understand this, and utilize it on their site along with
all of the elements involved in each, that are achieving success on the search engines at
a reasonable cost.
Let's define the terms before continuing.
Search Engine Marketing:
The act of marketing a web site via search engines, whether
this is improving rank in organic listings, purchasing paid listings or a combination
thereof, along with other search engine related activities. (Source: SEMPO.org)
Search Engine Optimization:
The act of altering a web site so that is does well in the
organic, crawler- based listings of search engines. Also called "SEO." (Source:
SEMPO.org)
Paid Search Media:
Advertising programs where listings are guaranteed to
appear in response to particular search terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by
paying more than other advertisers. Also called "Paid Placement," "Pay Per
Click" and "Cost per Click." (Source: SEMPO.org)
It is important to understand that there is no less value
in performing Search Engine Optimization because of the rise in popularity of Paid Search
Media and Pay Per Click (PPC) programs offered by companies such as Overture and Google
(Adwords.) If anything, it has increased the importance of optimizing your web site,
namely due to the fluctuating costs of PPC programs.
The following tips will enable you to take full advantage
of Search Engine Marketing. They will also assist you in achieving your online goals as
rapidly as possible, and at a very reasonable cost.
1. Understand your online business
There are a lot of business owners that believe their
offline business is the same as their online business; that the two mimic each other.
Usually, this is only partially correct. This is especially true when it comes to
competitor analysis. Many times the companies you compete with offline are markedly
different from the ones you compete with online and visa versa.
To begin understanding your online business, simply write a
description of your company. Have your colleagues, family and friends do the same. If you
own a brick and mortar business, ask your customers to describe your business for you.
Most will be happy to provide feedback. You may find that many of the descriptions are
similar, yet different.
Next, go online. Search for your competitors' sites and pay
careful attention to how they are promoting and positioning themselves in the marketplace.
Use the information you've already gathered about YOUR company and refine it to ensure you
are properly differentiating yourself. Take the time to integrate your own identity, as
you now understand it, and based upon feedback from others.
2. Understanding your online customer
Frequently, your online customer's profile WILL be similar
to your offline customer. You should use this information when performing optimization to
your website and when buying pay-per-click keywords.
It is important to understand that much like traditional,
brick and mortar customers, there are different types of online customers. These customers
will search very differently and can sometimes be segmented by gender, race, and income
level. It has been proven that men search differently than women and further, older men
and women search differently than younger men and women do.
Two excellent studies have been produced recently that
discuss the different types of searchers. Those studies are:
- Enquiro's Inside the Mind of the Searcher (free download
registration required) is a first of its kind study covering the types of searchers using
search engines, what search results caught their attention and what enticed them to click
on results.
- iProspect's Search Engine User's Attitudes (free download)
is an in depth study that reveals the relationship between profession, age, education,
race and sex and how that influence a persons' searches.
These studies will provide you with valuable insight to
help you understand your customer base better. Once you have a thorough understanding of
how your customers search, you will be better positioned to apply that knowledge to
choosing the right keywords.
3. Determining a successful conversion
If you were to ask most web site owners what they want from
their web site they'd say "to make money". That generally rings true even if
they don't sell anything on or through the web site. Understanding what the true purpose
of your web site is the first step to determining what to deem a successful conversion.
After all, conversions will determine the success or failure of your website as a business
tool.
If your web site is just brochure-ware, or used primarily
as a promotion tool, a successful conversion may simply be traffic. Conversion may be
measured as getting a user to browse through your web site, then filling out a contact
form, placing a phone call or downloading a PDF.
If you sell something through your web site then a
successful conversion will more than likely be defined as a completed transaction, or
"selling something." Remember, your web site may even have multiple types of
conversions.
It is impossible to determine the true success or failure
of your search engine marketing efforts without first knowing what success is, as defined
by setting standards of conversion for your site. Once you know what a success is, you can
begin to track that success. Tracking is covered more thoroughly in Tip 5.
4. Researching, Choosing and Implementing Keywords
Researching, choosing, and implementing keywords can be one
of the most daunting aspects of Search Engine Marketing. It is also one of the most
important.
Researching Keywords
Now that you have a better understanding of your customer,
your online business, and what constitutes a successful conversion, you can begin to
develop the best keywords to meet your goals.
Fortunately, there are many well written tutorials and
tools to help you succeed in researching, and choosing the right keywords. The August
edition of Market Position has an excellent article on Choosing the Best Keywords.
This article provides you with the following keyword
techniques:
- Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience.
- Target Niches.
- Brainstorm for keywords in your category.
- Choose only relevant keywords.
- Understand that keywords can have multiple meanings
WordTracker is an excellent tool to conduct keyword
research. It provides you with the ability to determine exactly what words are being used
in search engines to find the products and services that you may offer. If you haven't
tried WordTracker yet simply download the free trial of WebPosition Gold 3 and click on
the WordTracker icon.
Choosing Keywords
Once you've compiled a thorough list of keywords using
WordTracker you must decide the ways in which you are going to use those keywords.
Unfortunately most web sites do not have enough content, or
aren't large enough to support all of the good, quality keywords you have found using
these tools. Therefore, you should narrow your list. How?
You need to consider the following for each keyword on your
list:
- Does this keyword support my online goals?
- Do I have the content to support this keyword? If yes, then
is my page optimized for it?
- Do I have to create content to support this keyword? If yes,
then is it worth the creation effort or should I buy it through PPC?
- Is it a seasonal word? If yes, then should I buy it through
PPC or Optimize for it?
Pay Per Click keywords should be words that are seasonal,
marginally related to your web site, or cannot be ranked for in a reasonable amount of
time. PPC words will cost you more over a long period of time, so great caution needs to
be exercised when participating in PPC programs. For an excellent PPC tutorial, see the
WebPosition Gold 3 Page Critic.
Once you have created your final keyword list and have
determined how those words are to be used through either PPC or SEO, then you can begin
implementation.
If you have to build optimized web pages to take advantage
of some of your selected keywords simply download the free trial of WebPosition Gold 3 and
click on the Page Builder icon. With WebPosition Gold 3, you can build and upload your
optimized content all with one easy to use tool.
5. Tracking your rankings, website traffic and conversions
Now that you've completed the process of creating and
launching your Search Engine Marketing program, you need to be able to determine if your
efforts are succeeding. Of course, more online sales are an easy way to determine if your
efforts are succeeding; however, there are many more metrics to analyze in order to get
the most out of your efforts and money.
It is imperative that you be able to assess how your web
site is ranking for the words you've targeted. You need to know, for sure, if those words
are successful and are converting. You also need to know whether your SEO or PPC efforts
are bringing you the most traffic and conversions.
Fortunately, WebPosition Gold 3 and WebTrends Analytics
work together to provide you all the reports and answers. You can check your rankings
across search engines and keywords, compare rankings to your actual traffic from those
search engines and track conversions from your SEO and PPC efforts.
Copyrighted and has been reprinted with permission from
FirstPlace Software, the makers of WebPosition Gold. |