Search engine marketing is an ongoing process of planning, execution and evaluation.
Did you know that over half of all Internet users in the United States use a search engine to find products and information on a daily basis? With a statistic like that, who can afford not to have a search marketing program?
No matter how terrific your site is, if nobody can find it reasonably quickly on a search engine, you're losing a major potential customer base. You need to spend time, and sometimes money, to make sure your site can be found. It's not enough to put it out there on the web where every day millions of new web pages are being added to search indexes.
A search engine marketing program can not only help you gain valuable exposure to your target customer base, but can help you avoid the common mistakes that can actually hurt your exposure.
You've probably gotten this offer in your e-mailbox: "We submit to 7500 search engines for $29.99!"
And we've got a bridge to sell you. Ask yourself: How many search engines can you name? Five? Ten? If you don't know where or what they are, chances are your visitors won't know either. No matter how you slice it, over 90% of every Internet user out there will use one of the five top engines to find your site, and more than two-thirds of those use Google as their primary search engine.
As for the remaining mysterious 10%, that doesn't mean you can't reach them, too. Smaller, secondary search engines are out there, and it pays to find a few. There are also niche directories and search engines that may cater to your industry. The point is to concentrate your energies on your largest customer base and to carefully research relevant secondary places to list your site. Otherwise, your site will be lost among billions, floating somewhere in mystery-directory number 7499.
Imagine you're shopping for a flat screen TV. Your research shows a price range from one to two thousand dollars. Now let's say you find that same TV for $89.95. Trigger some alarm bells? Do you find yourself asking what's wrong with it, if you even entertain the possibility of such a low price?
Likewise, when you see a marketing offer for $29.99, do you imagine that price buys you a person sitting at his or her computer, submitting your site carefully and strategically to one engine at a time until the aforementioned and magical 7500 limit is reached? Wait, we've got another bridge lying around here somewhere...
There's only one way to submit to that many engines: automated submission programs. Someone plugs in your URL and the program hums along for a few hours randomly throwing your site out there.
So what's wrong with automated submissions? First, automated submissions exclude directories (like Yahoo! and the Open Directory, two key directories that also supply results to a number of other engines) that require hand submission and human interaction. It also excludes engines that require a user to enter a specific access code before submitting a site. Some search engines require you to enter an access code specifically to prevent submission via automated programs. Plus it opens you up to the danger of being blocked by engines that frown upon these methods (think Google).
Take our word for it: Any offer that sounds too good to be true is too good to be true.
Search Engines are constantly changing. Some go out of business, some purchase others, and all are on a constant quest to refine and perfect the search process. As search technologies change, the "rules" for getting your site listed on search engines change, too. If you're relying on information published in 2002... 2006... even 2008 to tell you how to get your site listed in search engines, then you may, at best, be missing out on valuable opportunities to really get the search results you want. At worst, you could be violating the latest search engine guidelines, and that could get your site dropped, or banned from the listings completely. One day you stuff five hundred invisible keywords onto your page because you heard it was a good way to improve your rank, and the next thing you know you're begging Google's forgiveness and promising to reform if only they will let you appear in their results... even on page twenty-five.
Before you decide to use a particular strategy, make sure you know that it's an effective – and not a potentially harmful – one. A reputable search engine marketing company will know and follow the rules and will know and use strategies for obtaining the coveted "free" listings that won't inadvertently send your site to the bottom of the pile.
Your dad probably always told you that nothing in life is free, and that's just as true of search marketing. Even if you decide to only list your site in free engines, there will still be a cost in terms of human resources and time, whether you hire a search marketing company or design and implement your own search marketing program. Search marketing is simply another form of marketing, and you wouldn't expect to put out a direct mail piece, or a brochure, or a billboard for free.
So how do you define your costs for search engine marketing? This is a challenging task that requires you to spend some time outlining your marketing goals. Your best bet is to set a budget that's comfortable, and then research your options or consult with your search marketing company on the best ways to use it.
Here are just a few ways you can use your search marketing budget:
One way or another, you'll be spending time, money, or both to market your site online. But an effective program will give you a return on your investment that makes it all worthwhile.
You've optimized your site, now when is it going to be number one? Maybe never! Probably not what you wanted to hear, but the best way to work with the search engines is to understand them and to have a realistic expectation of success. There is absolutely no way to guarantee a position in the search engines and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Even Google states clearly in its guidelines that no one has a "special relationship" with them or can promise a specific result.
But before you decide to spend your inheritance buying up advertising to boost your ranking, it is important to understand that ranking isn't everything. Your rank can change daily, or by the location you're searching from, even by personal preferences that you set on your browser. You would be better served by analyzing your site traffic reports to measure visits, conversions and visitor trends. Would you rather increase your web site sales, or its position on a page?
Without obsessing about the number one slot, there are ways to affect how a search engine sees and ranks your site. A good search marketing program will take into account the basics:
All of these things come into play when dealing with search engines and can improve your site's listing in them. But remember, search engines aren't the ones buying your product, signing up for your newsletter or contracting for your service. People do that, so when it comes to search marketing, be careful not to focus on search engines and forget about the real people who you hope to turn into customers.
Search engine marketing isn't a fast and easy way to promote your site by putting it out there and submitting it to as many engines as possible. It is an ongoing marketing strategy aimed at targeting your audience, gaining exposure for your site and business through evaluation, planning and execution, and giving visitors what they need to become customers.
Your Internet strategy, like any aspect of your marketing plan, should be a sound one, based on experience and research, and it should function in tandem with the rest of your marketing plan.
Want to learn more about how your site can get a better search listing and bring in more customers? Contact Us for a site analysis and consultation.
Whether you know exactly where you want to take your business or aren't sure where to start, our planning and consulting services will outline your web needs, define marketing goals and determine an effective way to make it all work. Before you invest a single cent in developing a web site, we will define and document your business needs.
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A content management system gives you editorial control over content that appears on your web site and can serve as a distribution tool for information. Having a content management system for site maintenance will save you time and money by simplifying recurring tasks and giving you in-house, real-time control over your web content.
We employ search engine friendly practices and follow industry standards for every web development project to ensure your site is crawler- and user-friendly right out of the box. If you are looking for improved search listings and more qualified traffic, we can help by analyzing your web site and analytics to find out where it needs improvement.
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