Search Engine Marketing (continued)

With any SEM campaign it is important to start with keyword research and analysis. A truly effective campaign uses keywords that will be searched by people in your target market. It is most important to optimize your site and your keywords for your target audience, not the search engines. Search engines base rankings on the search terms used by searchers, and keyword research will tell you what terms they use.
 

The next step is to determine how much money you will spend on PPC vs. organic optimization. To achieve a balance between organic optimization and PPC, you need to base management of your SEM campaign on your business objectives. If your main goal is to gain as many clients as possible in the next six months, and you don’t have to worry about a small budget, more focus on PPC may be a good idea. However, many businesses can dramatically increase traffic with a small amount of successfully targeted PPC and a few hours spent on organic optimization.

Other ways to organically increase your page ranking is to use directory submissions (such as Yahoo! Directory) and strategic link building. With links to and from high ranked pages you can improve your page ranking. However, it is important to be careful who you link to and from; links from poorly ranked or not “link-worthy” websites can have the opposite effect.
 

Whatever your strategy, a search engine marketing campaign will increase your website traffic. By tracking conversions (how many viewers become customers) and your ROI from both organic optimization and PPC, you will be able to see just how successful search engine marketing is. Search engines are still the number one way people find websites, according to DoubleClick and Greenfield Online.

For more information on how to increase your web presence with search engine marketing, contact us. Let us help you determine the best strategy for your company.