Search Engine Marketing Strategy

Site traffic from the search engines is critical, but traffic is only a function of the goal, and is not the goal itself. All marketing campaigns, including SEO, function to increase sales leads and profitability. Traffic is a requirement to achieve this goal, thus SEO is enormously important. But keep in mind, your web site must simultaneously meet the requirements for a multitude of equally important, co-existing strategies that must function together to be effective. Arguably, the most important factor to successfully marketing your company online is the development of an all encompassing strategy for presenting web content to the appropriate audience. Therefore, good SEO is not just about ranking for keywords; it’s the definition of online branding.

Effective SEM strategies require:

• Extensive keyword research to:
  • Broadly uncover the range of keyword variations and opportunities in the marketplace in relation to your product
  • Narrow the results to the best keywords available to match your target audiences’ expectations
• Integration of keywords into the appropriate places of your site for both search engines and users
  • Manipulation of existing, or the creation of new, content to effectively reach your target audience by expanding the scope of available keywords to target
• Various conversion opportunities to acquire leads and sales
  • Contact forms, RFQ’s, etc
  • Multi Media, videos, audio interviews, etc
  • Direct Sales events
• Analytics software to track all conversion activities to source and marketing campaign
• Integrated phone analytics to track calls generated from online marketing efforts
• The renaming or products, when possible, to match consumer expectations
• Information Architecture and Site Usability evaluations and improvements where necessary
• The integration of online and offline marketing efforts
• Ongoing evaluation and testing to continually improve the effectiveness of your strategies

How much should SEM cost? The answer will always be a direct correlation to the amount of competition in your marketplace. Like it or not, that is the determining factor for all forms of advertising. The more competing firms stand in your way, the more it’s going to cost to dominate the engines for your keywords. Just keep in mind, the longer you wait, the more expensive it becomes. Everyday more companies are jumping into the game – and only the top 20 or so players, between natural and sponsored sections, are going to reap the benefits.