On Online Advertising. In an eMarketer.com study conducted during 2008, $13.5 billion was spent on online advertising with a bulk of it spent on search engine marketing. Just how much? Well based on the research, 88% of money spent went to paid search and 11% went towards organic search (SEO). Should these things change in the future, especially during a recession? With budgets being tightened and everyone trying to save some money, I would imagine that while search marketing efforts are going to increase, the focus shouldn’t be on throwing out paid search ads, but on your content and truly understanding how your site is being noticed by search engines.

As part of an integrated campaign, search marketing should play a crucial role, especially now during the recession. With more people getting online and using search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN Live Search, having your site appear near the top of the page when certain keyword phrases are typed can generate tremendous traffic to your website and can often lead to conversions/purchases. So what steps can you take in order to make the most out of this?

One of the first things that you should probably do to help avoid firing blindly into the Internet world is to have someone come in and conduct a search engine audit on your website. Based on my past experiences in working with a consultant, they review your site and let you know what’s good and what’s bad about it – from a search engine perspective. Then they go about and take a look at what keywords will work for your site and the competitiveness of each of them. They will generate statistics, trends, reports, etc. that will help you moving forward. There are a few companies that would conduct this audit for you so look them up. The beauty is that these keywords can be used both for SEO and SEM placements.

But let’s look at search engine optimization for a second. This is probably the first place you should look when trying to promote your site versus jumping over to search engine marketing and essentially “spraying and praying” that your text ads will strike a chord with someone and have them click on your site. It is a debateable topic whether paid search garners more traffic/conversion than organic search, but it would make sense to make sure that your “house is in order” before promoting it. By this I mean make sure that your content is exactly the way you want it? Is it specific enough that if someone types in a certain keyword, that the page will have enough information for them or will it result in them clicking further which is a bad thing? Does your site adhere to search engine optimization best practices? The more care you put into your content and your website design/development overall, the better your search results will be.

However, search engine advertising/marketing should not be overlooked. In fact, the technology behind it has grown over the past few years and there are ways to make sure that you are getting your money’s worth. Perhaps the greatest asset to SEM is the geo-targeting approach. If you are only wishing to reach folks in the west coast of the United States, then you can have your text ads show up for those people with IP addresses located in one of the several states in that region. This will help avoid your text ads showing up for people who might convert but you weren’t targeting – thus avoiding wasting money. Something else to think about when you’re managing your campaign is the time and effort (and possibly cost) associated with managing this SEM campaign. Unfortunately you can’t simply choose a keyword, insert your ad and let it run for the duration. Why? Because the keywords are done through an auction-like process. The higher you are willing to bid on a moment’s notice, the greater your frequency of being seen (impressions). It’s always a state of constant monitoring, but you don’t want to break the bank to be seen all the time. That would cost thousands of dollars (depending on the keyword). One option is to check out a web marketing management solution that may wind up saving you some money overall – like Yield Software. These companies will help you monitor your campaigns and allow you to manage it on your own. So they give you the tools, you shape its path.

It should be important to note that when you’re looking at the keywords and the bidding price, if you have enough content on your site relating to that keyword, you should focus on doing organic search or SEO. The less competitive the word or phrase you’re targeting, the more you should go with SEM. I once heard an analogy “SEM is like renting your home while SEO is owning your home”. This definitely holds true. With a strong SEO strategy, your website/landing page can be the leading “authority” on certain keywords but if you’re only focusing on a temporary campaign or not sure about the effectiveness on a specific page, then you might want to also consider SEM. However, do NOT think that these are mutually exclusive. These should be woven together to help form a cohesive strategy in driving traffic to your site and when done correctly, can help bring you success during these times.

Network Solutions has experts that are staying abreast of these changes. They are offering webinars to help you respond & maximize your presence.

Search engine optimization & search marketing are important for a number of reasons. It offers:

• Increased traffic to your Web Site
• Best way to connect qualified customers who are searching for your products to your site
• It impacts your bottom line if you aren’t aware of the most up to date SEO practices
• Identifying keywords that drive traffic to your site
• Help your company stand out to those searching for your products
• Understand how search technology is changing & how it impacts you

No matter where you’re located at you can attend these informational sessions that Network Solutions offers. Please register in advance.

Webinars that you can attend online:

SEO Webinar
Oct 22, 2008
Information & Sign-up

PPC Webinar
Oct 23, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Link Building Techniques Webinar
Oct 28, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Keyword Strategies Webinar
Oct 29, 2008
Information & Sign-up

SEM for Local Businesses Webinar
Oct 30, 2008
Information & Sign-up

Additional Reading for Search Engine related topics:

6 things from Search Engineers by Marketing Pilgrim

The five goals of a search optimized page by DazzlinDonna

Free Links to Your Site by Matt Cutts, Google

This means that you must be on top of your game to make your web site accessible by search engines of all types so your Search Engine Marketing strategy must be a solid part of your overall marketing plan.

Many people talk about Search Engine Marketing in very loose terms but it is essentially separated into two parts – Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click Advertising.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is the free part of Search Engine Marketing. The goal is to earn top rankings in free search engines which are called “natural” listings. In this instance you work to optimize your site giving the search engines what they’re looking for so that it is listed properly improving your ranking and hopefully making the front page. There are a few tricks to making this work and I recommend hiring a consultant or service provider that can optimize your site properly. Trust me, it will be money well spent. Here is a well accepted process to maximize your SEO:

- Find the most relevant keywords for your market
- Plug those keywords into the headlines, subheads and body copy of your web pages but use them sparingly
- Get inbound links to your site through things like blogs. It is what the spiders love the most because it is “natural”.
- Keep the search engine “spiders” coming back with frequent new content. Blogs are a good example of this.
- Use a site map because the spiders take a top level link and dive deep into your web page indexing all of your web pages
- Don’t be dense with keywords or the search engine spyders will see right though it

It is important to note that while this is the most cost effective approach to getting your site traffic, it will take time. If you need traffic immediately, you will have to add Pay-Per-Click (PPC) to your strategy.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

If you have used a search engine, and I am sure you have, you have seen results that are up at the top or off to the side and colored differently than the standard results. That is because someone paid to get there. The way it generally works is that the search engine company has keywords set at a certain price for a level of “clickthroughs” or when people actually click on the link to get to your site. You can also use various web site provider packages to help you manage this effort. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this strategy.

Advantages

- Your web site shows up immediately in search engines which is great when you are really trying to do time sensitive campaigns

- It is a great way to test keyword effectiveness that you will want to integrate into your natural SEO strategy

- You only pay for the clickthroughs to your site

Disadvantages

- It can be costly because you might pick expensive keywords that are so hot your marketing budget could get blown right out the window

- Competitors can intentially clickthrough to your site making your costs go up, although this has been fixed by search engine providers to prevent fraud

Combining Strategies is the Best Way to Go

As time goes on, a strategy utilizing both approaches is the way to go. Over time, your site will increase its ranking in search results and you can reduce your PPC for direct and general keyword hits. This will allow you to use PPC for more targeted efforts like product launches and specific campaigns. Lastly, it is important to note that you should not rest on what you have done and keep your site fresh and relevant. Techniques and search engine algorithms are updated all the time as more people learn to “game” a certain aspect of the system.