Part 2: The Fifth Dimension - Search Marketing

Online advertising can help you reach buyers in ways that are more directly measurable. But navigating, choosing and bargaining within the mysterious world of online media can offer as much risk as reward. Last month we introduced online advertising in Part 1: The Fifth Dimension. This month, we’ll share some ideas on how to implement your online campaign.

Buyers are impatient. When they launch a search engine like Google and type in keywords, they usually don’t look deep into the results. In fact, studies show that if your firm or discipline or biography is not on the first results page or at the top of the second after typing in a keyword, your chance of being found plummets. Thus getting to the top of the results page is important for every marketer. Achieving that high ranking is called “search engine optimization,” or SEO.

Figure 1 (Source: http://www.arealabs.com)

SEO is a discipline just as Web design is a discipline. Here are some basic rules that will help optimize anyone’s site:

• Know what keywords your buyers are likely to use and write keyword-rich content, particularly within the first 25 words of your narrative
• Include keywords in headlines because search engines pay more attention to headlines than text
• For database-driven sites, create “plain English” URLs (not an infinite string of gibberish)
• Publish regularly (It’s why blogs rank so well.)
• Create a good site map
• Share links with relevant sites
• Choose a content management system that enables the easy calculation of keyword density on each page
• Structure HTML code so Google and other search engines can see you
• Don’t try to trick the system.  It will trick you back.

If you really want to improve your SEO, hire a writer who knows how to write for site optimization. Squeeze everything out of your site organically through intelligent writing and close attention to (ever-changing) search engine “rules.” With the basics covered, your rankings will improve. But the Internet is a competitive space. If you want to guarantee that your site’s address will be seen on a results page, you’ve got to buy it.

Buy the words
There are hundreds of search engines on the Internet, but for C-level executives, Google is king: 86% of buyers search via Google at least once a week (Yahoo 41%, MSN 30%). Thus, we’ve used Google as our “medium” of choice for this article.

Paid placement on search engines
Let’s imagine you’ve optimized your site internally. Your rankings are improving but not fast enough for you. You can “buy” keywords (or at least get in the game for these words). And it’s a little bit like picking your table at a casino: High-reward words (very competitive) require high contributions to play.

How it works

• Select keywords for what you’re trying to promote (a service, an event)
• Bid on keywords
• Write a simple text ad that includes those keywords
• Specify broad match, phrase match, exact match
• Target a relevant place for your ad (your Web site, mini-site, etc.)
• See what happens

These keywords, in “Google speak,” are called AdWords.

Google AdWords
Go back to Figure 1. “AdWords” refers to the text ads that appear as “sponsored links” on the right of the search results page. AdWords are considered a form of direct marketing because your message appears only to the interested buyer.

There are challenges, however, with Google AdWords:

• Choosing the right words (Choose carefully. This is part art, part science.)
• Determining the optimal bid (Same: Art. Science.)
• Managing click fraud (Another story not included here but important to acknowledge.)
• Integrating the campaign with your Web analytics (Modify your site in response to poor results. Goose your site in response to good results.)

The easy part? AdWords gives you substantial control over your costs.

• “Impressions” are free. You pay only for “clicks.”
• Targeting is more accurate with AdWords than with any other medium we’ve found.
• Because clicks are countable, you can demonstrate ROI to your CFO.

A recent heat map of an eye-tracking study by Enquiro proves we (Westerners) read as we’ve been trained to: buyers look to the top left results first, and trail off as they make their way down the page:



Figure 2 (Source: apentium.net)

Improved organic search engine optimization should increase traffic on your site. But, if Google is correct in its calculations, paid AdWords should bump that traffic even further. Makes sense. So we tried it. This was an entirely selfless act on our part to be guinea pigs for your firm. If we failed to increase impressions and traffic, you could turn away from this channel without a qualm.

Our $10,000 monthly investment produced a 60% increase in site traffic. 

We should remind you that another important benefit of Google AdWords is free impressions. Even though users say they don’t click on sponsored ads, they’re still looking at them. Impressions create name recognition.

Maybe nobody chooses a high-value service provider based on search results. But getting on the list is important because if you’re not on the list, you don’t have the opportunity to offer your services. And that’s what good search marketing does. It gets you on the list.

If you'd like help with your firm's search marketing, please call (202) 420-7563 and Amy Beheler will put you in touch with the right individual.

Greenfield/Belser's Big Idea is published monthly.  For more information, visit greenfieldbelser.com. 

Comments

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Excellent SEO techniques to bring a site on top ranking of a search engine. But I am not sure whether the buying a word technique is as good as the others or not.

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