Author: Puretech Internet
Marketing and advertisement is of foremost importance for any business / company. There are different reasons why companies pursue it. The popular ones include: getting more sales; branding, increase in visibility, and/or market share; or to introduce a new product line or services. According to recent trend branding and positioning is not only limited to offline world, Internet and Search Engines such as Google, Lycos, Yahoo, MSN, AOL etc., also play an important role in achieving this objective.

How does it relate to Internet and Search Engines?

If your product is not right in front of your customer at the respective stores where these products are typically purchased, you can certainly say that you are missing out on sales, market share, and branding. The same concept applies to the Internet and search engines. If your web site doesn’t shows up in the top rankings for your offered services and products in major search engines you can calculate how much business and branding you are missing out on?

SEM is a Combination Art & Science.

According to SEM Experts, Search Engine Marketing is both an art and science. Its goal is to optimize a site’s ability to be found on Internet search engines and directories for the most targeted keywords / phrase by employing various Search Engine Optimization strategies and drive qualified traffic to the web site. This leads to more quality referrals & hence increase in sales.

Search Engines provide Target Traffic.

Search engines are the most widely used means of finding information on the Internet. It provides an effective method of driving highly targeted visitors to your web site. A new study shows that the Web has grown to more than 2.1 billion documents and is growing at the rate of 7 million pages per day. Another study indicates that people who spend five or more hours a week online, spend about 71 percent of their time searching for information. That goes to show that how important are search engines in branding and marketing of products and services through your web site. It is the No.1 way people find your web site.

Positioning your right web site at right place.

If your business’s main product is “fashion garments”, you have undoubtedly positioned your product at most of the department and fashion stores. Following the same suit, SEM Experts position your product/website at the top of the search engine results so when users search for ” fashion garments” roughly 1,500 times daily on the major search engines, your website shows up in the top rankings. Now suppose this campaign is conducted for 8 months (including the maintenance) and there are 1,500 searches a day and your website is seen as #1 daily, the users will begin familiarizing your company / brand name, thus helping in better brand recall and easy sales.

How does it differ from Offline Marketing approach?

With a successful search engine marketing campaign you can accomplish every goal and objective that is sought after with offline marketing and advertising. There are two major differences between offline and online marketing: 1) Marketing your website via search engine marketing, email marketing, banner adv. have proven to be drastically less expensive than their offline equivalents, and 2) Search engine marketing facilitates you to demonstrate your product throughout the world or whichever geographical area you chose but with offline marketing, your marketing and selling efforts are restricted to a particular area in a city or town as the case may be.

Why is Search Engine Marketing more effective?

The ROI for SEM is excellent compared to any other online marketing means, especially when compared to online banner adv., direct mail campaign etc. With SEM, you get better conversion rates, lower cost-per-click, and lower acquisition costs. A study by market intelligence firm NPD Group, say “consumers are five times more likely to purchase products after seeing search listings versus online banner advertisement”. In the same market research report it was found that high search engine listings drive the highest awareness or branding for a website, with consumers recalling websites 60% of the time from search engine listings #1-5, and roughly 20% for online banner adv.

Among the Top search engines, Google is considered to be the major source of referrals for all web sites and the main target of every SEM campaign. It is followed by others major engines and directories such as Lycos, MSN, Yahoo, AOL, AltaVista.

Search Engine Marketing is no trifle task. It is an art and science of applying the knowledge and experience gained over the years researching the search engine’s distinct criteria, unique indexing parameters or algorithm. It requires a calculated approach guided by proven and ethical methodologies to deliver the results.

With usage of Internet increasing in multiple folds in India and abroad, search engine marketing is an effective and appealing means of marketing and advertising to reach your target audience and cannot be ignored. For more Search Engine Marketing

Author: Zach Hoffman
A Search Engine Marketing firm in today’s market should create an Online Marketing campaign with key strategies to bring highly qualified visitors to your website from the major search engines. Search Engine Marketing targets visitors that are expressing interest in your products or services by asking the search engines for information related to your field.

A common practice in Search Engine Marketing today is Search Engine Optimization - SEO – the strategy of creating a website as a relevant source in regards to a websites information. This allows your website to appear on the search engine in the area many associate as being the search engine‘s choice website for a topic of information.

Traditional SEO complimented by a Sponsored Search campaign commonly referred to as PPC - Pay-Per-Click or CPC – Cost-Per-Click marketing allows companies to target keywords beyond what their website may currently focus on. Sponsored Search also allows a website owner to have a flexible strategy when it comes to choosing the keywords they would like to attract visitors for or the geographic area they would like to target.

Search Engine Optimization and Sponsored Search combined create a complete SEM - Search Engine Marketing strategy. Search Engine Marketing gives many visitors the impression that your website because it is at the top of the search engines is a qualified information source.

The quality of website visitor traffic can vary based on your website positioning. When being placed at the top of the search engine you are most likely to attract an active and ready to act shopper. Whereas being placed on the second or third page of the search engine you are more likely to attract a researcher visiting your website.

Once a visitor arrives at your website you want them to perceive you as a relevant source of information. They already are linking you as relevant to a specific topic because the user found you on the major search engine. The next step in the communication channel in developing a relationship when a visitor arrives on your website is relevant content. Visitors to your website can represent many objectives in the online world including turning a visitor into a lead or sale. When creating your online marketing strategy for your business it is important to focus on the results you would like to see your website deliver – leads or sales – create a concise message you would like your visitor’s to receive.

Qualified website visitors can arrive from both types of search engine positioning, Search Engine Optimization and Sponsored Search. We find it is best to test Search Engine Marketing and its effectiveness for your website by starting with a Sponsored Search campaign and using the data built up in your campaign from Sponsored Search to create your Search Engine Optimization campaign. A Search Engine Optimization campaign is not as dynamic for targeting as a Sponsored Search marketing campaign can be, though a Search Engine Optimization campaign will bring you highly qualified traffic.