"What Is Search Engine Marketing?"
By Mark
Sceats
Search engine marketing is the most powerful online customer acquisition strategy available to marketers today. More & more businesses are diverting funds from online banner advertising into search engine marketing because it's cheaper & generates more sales.
If search engine marketing is not currently part of your marketing then chances are you're giving your competitors a big opportunity.
Search engine marketing fits within the promotional mix of a marketing
plan and is all about using Internet search
engines and directories to deliver targeted traffic to web sites.
The term "website traffic" is a bit abstract - what we're really talking about here are visitors. More to the point, attracting prospective customers interested in whatever it is your website offers.
Other terms you'll frequently hear used for search engine marketing
are search
engine optimisation (SEO), "search engine positioning"
and "search engine placement".
Whilst these are valid terms, search engine marketing has become increasingly
complex and sophisticated. Today it involves much more than simply
optimising page code.
Apart from search engine optimisation, other key aspects of search
engine marketing are the design and management of link
building and PPC pay-per-click
campaigns.
This is why the term "search engine marketing" has been
coined. It encompasses all promotional activities involving search
engines and-not just SEO. But semantics aside, the reality is that
many people use all these terms interchangably.
Now here's what Search Engine Marketing is not...
1) "Search engine marketing is just about getting high rankings
in the search engines"
Yes, high rankings in search engines are essential so your site
can be found. But search engine rankings by themselves are not
the end goal. They're simply a necessary step to achieving it.
High rankings in search engines are worthless unless they deliver
visitors to a website. (Blindingly obvious, but missed by so many)
In this regard search engine rankings are like newspaper
advertisements or billboards - their success is not measured by
how many there are, but by the responses they generate.
2) "Search
engine marketing is simply about driving increased traffic
to your website from search engines"
It's relatively easy to get vast amounts of traffic to a website,
but if traffic just clicks in and clicks out again what's the
point? That's like having lots of foot traffic go through a store
but few stopping to shop. Tyre kickers don't help your business.
What does is getting more of the right sort of traffic Visitors that convert. In other words focus should be
on traffic quality - not just quantity.
Done right, search engine marketing will deliver:
Exactly the sort of visitors you want visiting your website!
Achieving good rankings in key search engines that results in quality vistors is not an easy task,
particularly for competitive search phrases. It requires a lot of
time, effort and specialist knowledge to do it successfully.
For this reason and/or ignorance of its benefits, many website owners
do not implement strategies to achieve good search engine positioning.
This in itself gives organisations that do a competitive advantage.
So make the most of this opportunity to beat your competitors.
Contact Viz Marketing now for expert help. Or check out the Do it Yourself Search Engine Marketing page.
Next: Search engine marketing benefits
| key
search engines & directories | search
engine optimisation | the
right keywords | copywriting
| search
engine compatibility | link
building | Pay
per click | search
engine marketing - do it yourself |
 
This
page last updated
September 17, 2007
|
