Everyone feels the need to stretch every extra penny in these tough economic times. Even the most profitable company isn't immune to cutbacks and budget tightening.
Search marketing tends to be very cost effective, and can exhibit high ROI (define) as it is, but you still can't rest on your laurels. With less budget for traditional media and more going into online media, marketers are realizing that even though online is the "measurable" and "cheap" sister, it must be optimized to maximize results.
That means revisiting your search strategies to make sure you're fully exploiting every dollar you invest.
Let's review some quick tips for optimizing your search efforts (both paid and organic) to stretch your dollar further:
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Ensure you have an appropriate measurement and reporting framework in place so you can clearly see what is and isn't working. Your Web site analytics should show you which search engines are driving traffic, leads, sales, etc., and exactly which ads and keywords are performing.
Schedule regular internal analytics reviews or request reports from your search vendor so you can isolate areas of opportunity and items that aren't performing. Reallocate your dollars where the investment is paying off, but base your decisions on accurate, factual data.
Check Your List, and Check It Twice
Consider revisiting your keyword list to determine "must haves" and what keywords are unrealistic to keep. While a term like "online gaming" may be relevant to your business, it will cost you a lot of time and effort to get a top ranking.
With paid search, you'll pay an astronomical amount per click. If you're doing SEO (define), the odds of your business rising to the top of the rankings are slim, if not impossible. Seek out niche, long-tail (define) terms (three or more words) that have a higher probability of getting your business to appear higher in the results.
Go Free or Go Home
Don't buy directory listings or links on third-party sites. Instead, develop interesting content or tools to offer on your site that people will want to link to naturally.
Also, consider distributing limited content on a third-party Web site to procure a multitude of inbound links. Try building links the old-fashioned way -- prowl the Internet for potential partners, provide a strong rationale, and ask very nicely if they'll link to you.
Relevance is Bliss
In paid search, most search engines don't just base your position (or ranking) on your maximum bid -- they also take your quality score into account. Your quality score gets assigned to you at a keyword level and is based on how relevant a user experience you create (how well your ad copy matches the query, whether the landing page reflects the query, etc.). The more relevant the experience, the less you pay for a click.
You might want to revisit your paid search strategy to ensure your quality scores are top notch and you're paying the minimum possible for each keyword.
Stop The Love Affair With Google
While Google has the highest market share, it also likely has the most advertisers vying for high placement. More competition usually means higher cost.
While you might still want to have some presence on Google, test out other engines to see if you can extract improved efficiencies. Consider looking into smaller or niche engines -- and I'm not just talking Yahoo or MSN.
Does your industry have specialty engines that your audience might use? For example, in the healthcare industry, healthline.com is a health information engine.
Do you offer audio or video content on your site? You might try BlinkX, a TV search engine.
Do you have a corporate blog? How does your site fair in Technorati?
You get the picture.
First-Timers, Just Say No to DIY
You've seen those TV shows on home renovation disasters, right? That's exactly why you should call a professional to do a job that isn't your area of expertise. You'll only end up paying more to correct your mistakes.
Consider enlisting a search marketing expert. Even though a search professional will cost you more upfront, the long-term reward will actually more than likely save you money, reaping a higher ROI than trying to do it in-house.
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Showing posts with label Marketing SEO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marketing SEO. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Email marketing 'should be integrated with other channels'
One of the biggest mistakes a company can make in terms of promotional strategy is to limit itself to just using email marketing to reach customers.
This is according to Larry Golden, one of the chief executives of RSVP Publications, who explained that it is important to integrate email campaigns with other marketing platforms to maximise success.
"To increase the response rate, research a targeted audience to find an exact fit for the particular message and consider combining email marketing with other web-based marketing as well as direct mail," he advised.
Mr Golden went on to cite a study by International Communication Research showing that almost three-quarters of respondents preferred to receive announcements of new products by direct mail.
The advice could also be extended to other forms of online advertising. Almost half of marketers do not integrate their search marketing campaigns with offline channels, according to a report published by iProspect earlier this year.
Read MOre..
This is according to Larry Golden, one of the chief executives of RSVP Publications, who explained that it is important to integrate email campaigns with other marketing platforms to maximise success.
"To increase the response rate, research a targeted audience to find an exact fit for the particular message and consider combining email marketing with other web-based marketing as well as direct mail," he advised.
Mr Golden went on to cite a study by International Communication Research showing that almost three-quarters of respondents preferred to receive announcements of new products by direct mail.
The advice could also be extended to other forms of online advertising. Almost half of marketers do not integrate their search marketing campaigns with offline channels, according to a report published by iProspect earlier this year.
Read MOre..
Monday, December 1, 2008
Marketers turning to SEO for PR purposes
New research has revealed that more than half of marketers use tactics such as search engine optimisation, pay-per-click and email newsletters for PR purposes.
According to the poll by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, 51.4 per cent of marketers in the UK and Ireland have done so, with almost two-thirds of respondents suggesting that internet-based PR was important.
However, just over four in ten marketers said that they did not have the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy, while 31.2 per cent indicated that their organisations did not fully understand the business benefits of internet PR.
A significant proportion of brands were also found to be neglecting social media platforms such as Twitter, blogs and social networking in their PR campaigns - potentially missing out on a key way to reach younger consumers.
Phil Szomszor, head of digital at Citigate Dewe Rogerson, remarked: "Companies can learn a great deal from those brands that are already blazing a trail with online PR, including the need to measure results, involve a wider range of disciplines, secure senior management buy-in and use a wider range of tools and channels."
Read More..
According to the poll by Citigate Dewe Rogerson, 51.4 per cent of marketers in the UK and Ireland have done so, with almost two-thirds of respondents suggesting that internet-based PR was important.
However, just over four in ten marketers said that they did not have the in-house digital skills to develop a sound online PR strategy, while 31.2 per cent indicated that their organisations did not fully understand the business benefits of internet PR.
A significant proportion of brands were also found to be neglecting social media platforms such as Twitter, blogs and social networking in their PR campaigns - potentially missing out on a key way to reach younger consumers.
Phil Szomszor, head of digital at Citigate Dewe Rogerson, remarked: "Companies can learn a great deal from those brands that are already blazing a trail with online PR, including the need to measure results, involve a wider range of disciplines, secure senior management buy-in and use a wider range of tools and channels."
Read More..
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Aggressive Internet Marketing Made Possible
Aggressive internet marketing means full-blown marketing and promotions that exceed any businessman’s expectations. A business needs fierce internet marketing. No more, no less. But to make it low cost? Is that even possible? How can something so aggressive be affordable?
Luckily, you can avail of inexpensive aggressive internet marketing if you just look hard and good enough. Be keen and alert and know what’s going on in the online industry. The following questions will help you discern if your chosen internet site to do the marketing fits the bill.
1. Does the company offer free website design?
Even if you know your HTML, it is still more advisable if a professional team does it for you. Some internet marketing sites offer free web design to make sure that your site’s needs are met. It’s a must that marketing is integrated to the web design. If the company requires you to pay more than fifty bucks for the web design, then so much for straight-forward internet marketing! Look somewhere else!
2. How many keywords does your web site cater to?
Having too many keywords or key phrases to focus on will make your page ranking drop. Creating smaller web pages with content that emphasizes only a few keywords will serve Internet marketing endeavor better.
3. How search engine-compatible is your website?
Internet marketing is coined “aggressive” only if it is a hundred percent search engine-compatible. There are about 10 major search engines online and your site has to work accordingly with them. Find out if your internet marketing site is expert on search engine optimization.
4. Do you know your competitors?
Affordable aggressive internet marketing pushes your business forward by taking note of your competitors. Analysis and evaluation of the competition is mandatory to figure out your shortcomings and advantages over them. If this feature is excluded from your internet marketing plan, you’re getting a mediocre deal.
5. How efficient is the monthly marketing plan?
Usually, you’re asked to pay a monthly fee for the marketing plan. For a marketing plan to be efficient, it must zero in on the following things: webpage development, link exchanges, web content, updates and technical support. Of course, also included are the standard SEO, competition analysis and keyword density.
Read More..
Luckily, you can avail of inexpensive aggressive internet marketing if you just look hard and good enough. Be keen and alert and know what’s going on in the online industry. The following questions will help you discern if your chosen internet site to do the marketing fits the bill.
1. Does the company offer free website design?
Even if you know your HTML, it is still more advisable if a professional team does it for you. Some internet marketing sites offer free web design to make sure that your site’s needs are met. It’s a must that marketing is integrated to the web design. If the company requires you to pay more than fifty bucks for the web design, then so much for straight-forward internet marketing! Look somewhere else!
2. How many keywords does your web site cater to?
Having too many keywords or key phrases to focus on will make your page ranking drop. Creating smaller web pages with content that emphasizes only a few keywords will serve Internet marketing endeavor better.
3. How search engine-compatible is your website?
Internet marketing is coined “aggressive” only if it is a hundred percent search engine-compatible. There are about 10 major search engines online and your site has to work accordingly with them. Find out if your internet marketing site is expert on search engine optimization.
4. Do you know your competitors?
Affordable aggressive internet marketing pushes your business forward by taking note of your competitors. Analysis and evaluation of the competition is mandatory to figure out your shortcomings and advantages over them. If this feature is excluded from your internet marketing plan, you’re getting a mediocre deal.
5. How efficient is the monthly marketing plan?
Usually, you’re asked to pay a monthly fee for the marketing plan. For a marketing plan to be efficient, it must zero in on the following things: webpage development, link exchanges, web content, updates and technical support. Of course, also included are the standard SEO, competition analysis and keyword density.
Read More..
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Technical SEO and Marketing SEO
You can get visits out of search engines two ways.
1. Advertise. You can pay to advertise, and pay for every click you get. Simple, quick and often effective. Paying for clicks is called search engine marketing (SEM) or Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.
2. Optimize. You can optimize your website for certain keywords so that people who click on ‘normal’ search engine results (not the sponsored/paid ads) have a better chance of seeing your website entries. This is search engine optimization (SEO).
Technical SEO
There are a whole bunch of things a website can do to kill its chances in the search engine race. Technical SEO makes sure that a website can at least get to the starting blocks.
You would think every website in the world would do this already, but they don’t. Some websites can’t even be indexed by Google (and if you ain’t indexed, you ain’t getting found anytime soon).
Technical SEO means making sure that all your web pages can be indexed, that each page has a unique title and description, that web pages use headings properly, that special sitemap files are prepared so that search engines can read them … the list goes on.
Marketing SEO
Where to start, all the really, really hard stuff. You see, because there are SO MANY web pages out there (increasingly with very smart SEO folk advising them or working for them), just getting to the starting blocks isn’t enough.
You need to stand out from the crowd. Writing good content isn’t enough, you need to promote it so it is noticed, read and passed on to others.
Websites without other websites linking to them don’t have any authority. And Google likes authority. Google seems to love authority so much it goes all misty eyed with high authority web pages and puts them right at the front of the queue.
SEOs who are good at Marketing SEO know how to get not just any old links, but high authority links, the ones that turn their web pages into high authority web pages as well. All links are not created equal, and Marketing SEO is what you need if you want good links.
Since SEO is so competitive these days, Marketing SEO is also very concerned with competitive research. Where do your web pages rank, what competitive pages rank higher, how many visitors do they get and where from, how many links do they have and where from, how can I get some of those visitors and those links … and so on.
Read More..
1. Advertise. You can pay to advertise, and pay for every click you get. Simple, quick and often effective. Paying for clicks is called search engine marketing (SEM) or Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising.
2. Optimize. You can optimize your website for certain keywords so that people who click on ‘normal’ search engine results (not the sponsored/paid ads) have a better chance of seeing your website entries. This is search engine optimization (SEO).
Technical SEO
There are a whole bunch of things a website can do to kill its chances in the search engine race. Technical SEO makes sure that a website can at least get to the starting blocks.
You would think every website in the world would do this already, but they don’t. Some websites can’t even be indexed by Google (and if you ain’t indexed, you ain’t getting found anytime soon).
Technical SEO means making sure that all your web pages can be indexed, that each page has a unique title and description, that web pages use headings properly, that special sitemap files are prepared so that search engines can read them … the list goes on.
Marketing SEO
Where to start, all the really, really hard stuff. You see, because there are SO MANY web pages out there (increasingly with very smart SEO folk advising them or working for them), just getting to the starting blocks isn’t enough.
You need to stand out from the crowd. Writing good content isn’t enough, you need to promote it so it is noticed, read and passed on to others.
Websites without other websites linking to them don’t have any authority. And Google likes authority. Google seems to love authority so much it goes all misty eyed with high authority web pages and puts them right at the front of the queue.
SEOs who are good at Marketing SEO know how to get not just any old links, but high authority links, the ones that turn their web pages into high authority web pages as well. All links are not created equal, and Marketing SEO is what you need if you want good links.
Since SEO is so competitive these days, Marketing SEO is also very concerned with competitive research. Where do your web pages rank, what competitive pages rank higher, how many visitors do they get and where from, how many links do they have and where from, how can I get some of those visitors and those links … and so on.
Read More..
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