Search Engine Marketing (SEM) For Business - An Introduction

The Internet is the ubiquitous and universal source for information about almost anything. When most people want to find products, services or information, they use the Internet, or more specifically, they use search engines that have indexed the content of almost every website and web page in the world. Since there are many millions of websites around, the challenge for businesses is to get your information found by people looking for what you offer.

That's where Search Engine Marketing (SEM) comes into play - to get the various search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to list information from your website and specific web pages for relevant search queries. The real challenge is not getting it listed, but getting it listed in such a manner that it shows up high enough in the search results to get attention. There are two primary SEM approaches to draw attention to your information on the Internet:

1. Organic - the website content is organized in a manner that search engines can readily identify the information context and relevance for indexing so that the results show up in relevant searches. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) uses methods to specifically optimize website content to achieve the correct and best search engine results. SEO begins with understanding how the search engines work to index websites and produce results for a search. Based on this knowledge, SEO employs numerous techniques to optimize the content and various internal settings of a website so that it will achieve better search engine rankings than competitive websites.

2. Paid - a business pays for various forms of advertising such as paid placement, paid inclusion and contextual advertising for their website to feature in search engine results. Pay Per Click (PPC) is the most common method for paid inclusion in search engine results. In Google it's the first 2 or 3 listings highlighted in yellow on the search results page plus the sponsored links in the right hand column. With PPC Internet marketing, a website operator pays for associating a specific keyword with their website. When someone searches for that keyword, the search engine displays the associated website information and link. Each time a visitor clicks on this link to their website, the website operator pays the search engine a pre-determined fee.

The cost per click depends on the popularity of the keyword(s) and how much other website operators are willing to bid for that keyword to link to their website. This means that the more a website operator is willing to pay per click, the higher an entry will rank in the search results list. Each search engine has separate PPC contracts.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a marketing strategy that requires proper research, planning, management, execution and continuous refinement. SEO begins with the website design and construction, and is a continuing process to improve results and stay current with search engine changes and quirks. PPC or other paid options are part of the overall business marketing and advertising budget to achieve the best possible ROI across all marketing possibilities for the target market(s). Search engines continue to evolve and change how they index and rank web pages.

Taking action for your business:

* Search Engine Marketing should be a high priority for every business that wants wants tangible results from their website and Internet investment.
* You need to do both Organic and Paid approaches to get the best results.
* Paid methods produce results fastest - within hours or days. Organic methods take months to produce results.
* Organic search is essential for high performance long-term sustainable results.
* There are many websites and articles on the Internet about how to do SEO. Getting the basics done right is relatively straightforward - any reasonable website developer should know how to do it.
* Getting outstanding long-term results with SEO requires more expertise. SEO consultants are a dime a dozen - do your homework and check references before retaining someone.
* Although organic SEM seems to be free since there are no direct payments like PPC, doing SEO correctly does require paid expertise and resources.
* SEM is a major factor for achieving Internet Marketing success - it deserves the right attention and funding, but only within an overall, defined Internet Marketing strategy.

The key to successful Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for your business is developing a coherent strategy and execution plan encompassing organic and paid approaches.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - Steps to Get Business

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is by far the most effective and efficient way to advertise and promote your business online. With over 72% of internet users using Google as their search engine, the need for your business to show on the first page of Google has never been greater.

Many people are unaware of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and just take for granted the results that appear when they search for something on a search engine such as Google, Yahoo or Bing.

However, search engine marketing seems to defy to current doom and gloom of the recession. Think about this:

"The average Britain spends 164 minutes online everyday, compared with 148 minutes watching TV"

Over half the world's population now has access to the web and nearly 90% of them find what they're looking for using search engines. 36% of people think that the result at the top of the first page is the market leader and 80% of people make their choice from first page listings alone. With over 21 billion web pages wanting a first page position how can you get your website on the first page.

This is called search engine marketing and I have listed a few techniques and tips to get you started with optimizing your website to rank well on a Search Engine. Remember that this is a basic guide to help to you on your way.

Link Building

First we have to look at how search engines rank a website and decide which order to list them. The simple (very very very simple) version is, Google changed everything the way many search engine rank. The initial creators of Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin) wanted to create a search engine that could rank a website for quality and list them in order of quality to the user. The way they decided to rank a website was to count how many other websites link to it. If other websites link to it then it must be good. So, essentially links mean votes. Like I said, this is the very simple version and there is so much more to it than this but it is a great place to start as it holds the most importance.

• See who links to you and then see who links to your competitors and try to muscle in on some of their action. Simply go to yahoo.co.uk, then in the search box type "link:yourcompetitor.com". This will bring up a list of websites linking to your competitors website. Then contact them and ask them to link to you too.
• Don't be stingy. Make sure you have links going out from your website. Important though that you link to high quality websites, i.e. If your website is a property website, have links to the relevant governing bodies, Wikipedia or the largest property portals. Search engines will see your site as being a good place to get good content.
• Submit your website to online directories. This can be very boring and takes hours. But once you have had your site accepted in to a directory. You'll have a link back to your website. Remember. The more the better.
• Subscribe to forums in your niche. You can include a link in your signature straight to your website. Remember though. Do not spam on a forum. Forum users will not like it and the moderator will probably kick you off. If you use a forum properly though you will find it quite engaging.
• Read blogs relating to you niche market. This is very educational as well as beneficial for link building. Read the blog then leave a comment about that blog. Don't forget to include a link to your website though. Just don't make it too obvious.

Social Media Marketing(SEM)

"Facebook", "Twitter", "YouTube", "Flickr", "Myspace" - These are all Social Media websites. They provide a means for people from all over the world to join online and share information. The way in which people communicate vary though. "Flickr" allow people to upload photos and share them with other users or even comment on pictures uploaded. "Youtube" allow people to upload videos etc. The number of people visiting these websites to share information is in the millions. So maybe you could use these social communities to spread the word about your website. Social media is a great way to connect with hard to reach people that share the same interests. There are a number of ways to do this.

• Make your content interesting enough for people to want to view it. Then,unlike search engine optimization, change the content often, This will make people want to keep visiting you.
• Make it easy for people to tag or bookmark your new content. Bookmarking is very fashionable at the moment. The most popular way of doing this is by getting an "addthis" button due to its ease of use, however, there are many buttons available.
• Use more than just text in your site. Create a video and submit it to a video sharing website like "Youtube", Create a PDF version of your content and create an audio version too. Submit it to appropriate websites. Don't forget the link back to your site.
• Blog.Blog.Blog then blog some more. The simple truth is that the majority of internet users love blogs. So do search engines. Create a blog and use it. A lot. Submit it to sites like "technorati.com". If it is good enough people will link to you and then share and tell others about your writings.
• Make friends. The social media community, are very social and friendly. They will want to talk to you and ask you questions. Make sure you are polite and take time to answer any messages. Negative feedback spreads faster than positive feedback.

Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC)

This is a method in which you pay to get people to your website. Have you ever done a search on Google and found there are two columns. The Colum on the right is called sponsored links. They are adverts from businesses. They do not pay anything for appearing there but they do pay when you click on the advert (pay per click). This is a very fast way to get people to your website but you do have to pay. I would recommend getting a pay per click company to help here. It will save you a lot of money. However, if you must have ago your self here are some very basic tips.

• Budget. Make sure you create a sensible budget and stick to it. Don't get in to a bidding war.
• Don't just rely on pay per click as the be all and end all for your business marketing. PPC is great for promoting specific products and services very quickly but you always have to pay for the result.
• Analyze your cost per click and cost per acquisition closely. Then compare it to your other marketing activities. See which one works best.
• Remember that sites such as Google take into account the quality of your website content being marketed more than how much you are bidding. PPC is my favorite part of search engine marketing due mainly to the sheer speed of return on investment BUT make sure it is done properly other wise it can be devastating.
• Always have two ads running at the same time for each product but with different ad text. Google will use the most successful advert for you and show that advert more often, helping you gain more traffic. Change to poorest performing advert and see if it improves. Keep repeating. This will eventually lead to you having the best possible advert showing.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Remember the two columns we just mentioned. Search engine optimization is the are of optimizing your website enough for Google to rank it on the left hand column. This list is ordered on how relevant your website is. And you don't have to pay for these listings. Ever noticed how all the big companies appear at the top of the first page. Now we should as "which came first - The chicken or the egg?". Search engine optimisation is generally split into two categories onsite optimisation and off site optimisation. The first, when done property is very important but it will only get you to the starting line. Offsite optimization is the race itself. A good search engine optimisation campaign should include all the search engine marketing techniques mentioned and when you really get into it you can learn the more advanced techniques. Below are a few basics.

• Include your keywords in your domain, title, meta tags. The first thing a search engine spider will read is your domain name. i.e [http://www.yourdomain.com]. This doesn't mean anything to a search engine so ideally use [http://www.yourdomain.com/your-key-words], or even better [http://www.your-key-words.com] . Then the next part is your title. Don't just have "home Page" or "Front Page". I would have "your domain - your key words". This also matches the domain name. Then repeat the same in your meta data. And sprinkle it throughout your web page. Keep it readable though.
• Make each page different. This helps search engines differentiate them and should lead to them indexing each of your pages separately.
• Get a site map and submit it to major search engines. Don't pay for this service though. It amazes me that people actually charge for this. Just type into Google "sitemap" and you should be presented with website that will generate you a sitemap for free.
• Keep going. Older sites generally rank better than new sites. It is believed that older websites must be more reliable. As there is nothing we can do about this just focus your time on other offsite optimisation such as link building, social media optimization and if you just can't wait, Pay per click. Search engine optimisation is a long term solution but boy is it worth waiting for.
• Validate your HTML code. Visit "validator.w3.org/ ".This will ensure that web browsers show your website correctly and helps search engine to index your site. There is no point in optimising your website if it doesn't work properly.

Other useful tips

• Get Google Analytics. It is one thing having a website but you need to know what people are doing when they are on it. Google analytics is very comprehensive and FREE but it does not report in real time. Woopra however does report in real time. The choice is yours. Before doing anything else you should get one of these other wise how will you know your efforts are paying off.
• If you decide to use a company to undertake your search engine marketing campaign (recommended) make sure you choose your search engine marketing company wisely. Don't just go on recommendation. It is going to be a long working relationship so the important thing is that you get on with them. Do your own research on the industry. Think twice about search engine marketing firms that say they can guarantee a first page listing in a short time, the methods they use WILL end up in your website being banned. BMW found this out the hard way.

Search Engine Marketing is not an easy option but when done properly will bring untold rewards.

This is by no means an exhaustive list but it will give people new to the concept a few things to get on with and research. Look out for more articles that will start to break the subjects down into more detail.

Internet Marketing Trends For 2010

I have already predicted hot Internet Marketing trends for the year 2010. But relatively I observed these days offline marketing activities are combined with online nowadays. Offline marketers are trying to get the maximum Business from their online strategies as well. According to the Online blogs and web sites and also based on my current knowledge following Internet Marketing trends are predictable year 2010.

1- Segmentation becomes the important online strategy to deliver personalized communication to the customer though Internet of direct. Likewise, in offline marketing, segmenting the customers and sending them relevant marketing messages are going to be the key task for online marketers to get business. Using the behavioral data online marketers need to identify profitable and meaningful segments to convey the message which suit them best. This year online marketers will spend their three quarter time for this and construct the online marketing activity more meaningful.

As a part of the segmentation online strategy, Email Marketing is predicted to be the major outcome of it. Companies which solely operate online keep on investing more on email marketing and through effective segmentation offer a very appropriate and personalized communication to the customers and get profit. The only threat is, with the current economic problems how customers are going to respond to the email marketing of the firms. For this customers opinion should be obtained about the email frequency.

2- Search Engine Marketing will continue to evolve and become stronger in the behavior of online customers. Consumer information search phase is closely associated to the search marketing. Apart from the search engines other social sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Stumble upon Twitter, will also become more influential. This automatically boost the effort of search engine optimization, but it is also projected since customers look for more relevant results search engines may also change their logarithms and strategies in this year. We have to wait and see for this.

3- Tracking is likely to be the online soldier to defend your strategies and tactics. Online tracking of purchase behavior, Search Engine behaviors are also going to play major roles in an organization's activities. Use of Google analytics site tracking is the other key to measure the success.

4- Social Media Marketing (SMM)is always emerging as an important strategy for the business. The buzz online is the main source of reputation for the firms operate online and offline. The negative word of mouth online will drop over 40% sales and spread more negative buzz about the firm. The effective handling of social media will also be an important strategy for firms in 2010.

5- Development of holistic digital portfolios will be the next trend in the year 2010. Earlier firms randomly did their digital marketing activities without uniqueness. But the important fact is, it is obligatory to combine everything as one strategy and build uniqueness among those. It can be the web site, Facebook page, blog, Twitter etc.

6- Consideration of Bing predicted to grow. Normally online firms formulate their strategy keeping Google in mind. Now the innovative breakthrough from Bing stimulates online marketers to think about it in their online marketing mix. The battle between Google and Bing, is the important factor online marketers need to consider.

7- Mobile web market is the new point companies need to look at. Now with the rapid increase in mobile penetration globally, customers want to keep their mobile phones as their purchasing wallet. Now it is time for online marketers to make use the mobile strategy and integrate with web applications.

8- Online customers think more about savings when they make a purchase. As a part of online strategy marketers need to convey messages about online coupons and savings concept. Since now online customers are price sensitive and they always look for better deal to purchase online.

9- Real time search from Google will be the other new study area for online marketers. The concept behind this is, getting relevant and fresh results for the searches.

10- Fewer registrations for web sites. Because of larger number of players in the competitive online market place, people find it difficult to remember their password and other information. So Facebook Connect and Open ID becoming popular where people use to register or signup for sites with one username and password

These are the trends to influence the online marketing strategies in the year 2010. Still Google remains the market leader position, the domination grows further. But still the hacking of Google China can give an impact on its strategies. Let's wait and see.

How Online Marketing Fruitful for Your Business

Internet Marketing, also referred to as E-marketing, Online Marketing or Web Marketing, is the marketing of any products or services over the Internet. Online Marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it refers to Digital Media such as the Internet, e-mail and wireless media; however, Online Marketing also includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems. Effective Web Marketing requires a comprehensive strategy that synergizes a given company's business model and sales goals with its website function and appearance, focusing on its target market through proper choice of advertising type, media, and design. Nearly all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured and tested Online.

Online Marketing

Online marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales of any products or services Online. Online Marketing does not simply entail building or promoting a website, nor does it mean placing a banner ad on another website. Internet marketing is associated with several business models:e-commerce - goods are sold directly to consumers or businesses,publishing - the sale of advertising,lead-based websites - an organization generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website and affiliate marketing - a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts. There are many other business models based on the specific needs of each person or business that launches an Internet marketing campaign. The targeted user is typically browsing the Internet alone, so the marketing messages can reach them personally. This approach is used in search marketing, where the advertisements are based on Search Engine Keywords useed by the online user. Online marketing and Geo marketing places an emphasis on marketing that appeals to a specific behaviour or interest, rather than reaching out to a broadly-defined demographic. Nearly all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested online though online users.

Web-site

The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an advertisement, visit a website, and perform a targeted action. Buyers and sellers often look at prices on the website before going to flea markets; the price shown on eBay often becomes the item's selling price. The Internet is becoming increasingly more crowded, and with an ever expanding list of companies jostling for the most advantageous position, internet marketing is becoming a more and more essential part of website management.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If people are looking for you on the Search Engines, then you need to have an Internet marketing strategy that includes Search Engine Optimization and search engine marketing. SEO is an abbreviation for search engine optimization; it is used to describe the process designing your website in a way that it will appear higher in search engine rankings. You will be amazed at just how many online advertising agencies are out there offering different forms of online marketing or internet advertising ranging from banner advertising, through to pay per click and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), with or without link building, which is utilising reciprocal or one way links, commonly referred to as backward links to increase your natural Search Engine listings. No matter which seo company you decide to use, or even if you opt to do the seo yourself, if you stick to the search engine guidelines and work regularly on your optimization, then you should be on the road to receiving a good level of business from your web site.

Information

The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing, one of which being lower costs for the distribution of information and media to a global audience. With automated different content in internet marketing and geo marketing the delivery of different content based on the geographical geo location and other personal information is automated. Such measurement cannot be achieved through billboard advertising, where an individual will at best be interested, then decide to obtain more information at a later time. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do not trust that their personal information will remain private. Recently some companies that do business online have been caught giving away or selling information about their customers. Several of these companies provide guarantees on their websites, claiming that customer information will remain private. Some companies that purchase customer information offer the option for individuals to have their information removed from the database, also known as opting out. However, many customers are unaware if and when their information is being shared, and are unable to stop the transfer of their information between companies if such activity occurs.