Saturday, April 20, 2013

Secure Valuable Space with SEO

By Walker Levi Percy


Traditional marketing and search engine marketing, often referred to as search engine optimization, are very similar regarding competition and business goals. There is positioning or competition for space that is valuable and can drive business. What is that space worth? The volume of monthly searches and the typical conversions for those keywords will give a more accurate picture of the true value.

Old Fashioned Marketing versus SEM

There is a significant difference between the potential customer in traditional marketing compared with search marketing. At the heart of the difference is motivation, as well as their place in the buying cycle. SEM allows one to measure and calculate costs and return on investment at a level that is not possible in traditional marketing.

The way company's used to market, and the way some still do today, focuses on interrupting the potential customer. After a busy day at work, you sit back and relax while watching your tv show that you've been looking forward to all day. Then, in the middle of a great scene, there is a break for a commercial. You didn't actively turn to this commercial. In fact, in most cases, you are focused on the return of your program of choice. You might be amused by the commercial, but you could easily be annoyed. Traditional marketing is like throwing out a big net into the ocean. You may catch a lot of fish, but you might not catch any. And you only have 30 seconds to do it in the case of tv ad buys. And when you do have the opportunity, when you're at the mall, let's say, that you'll have that ad in your head and purchase their product when you are there.

With search marketing, customers are actively engaged in seeking your products and services. They are either in the research stage, or they are in the final stages of making their purchase decision and may even have their credit in hand at their computer or smartphone. Regardless, they are a much better prospect for you and your business. The ability to track your prospect on your site is unprecedented in traditional marketing terms. You can find out where they came from, how far they scrolled down on your pages, what links clicked on etc..

Doing the Proper Keyword Mining

Keyword research is always the linchpin in any campaign to build traffic. If you don't start with the right keywords, you could end up doing a mountain of work and not really achieving anything meaningful. You may be showing up number one for "banana lollipop making ideas" but if this search term is, for all practical purposes, never actually searched, then you are in for some disappointment. Proper keyword research takes time and is absolutely enhanced when there is a wealth of experiential knowledge on what it takes to rank in a specific category and the time required for that to happen. It also takes a keen eye to step back and have a birds-eye perspective of your overall strategy and how to implement and execute that strategy.

Where should you emphasize your focus on your keywords? If you go for the most competitive words at the outset, you are likely not going to see results for a longer amount of time than less competitive words.

If you do decide to tackle the big tough keywords at the beginning, make sure that you have some less competitive words in your basket so you can get a sense of what is working and what is not working much faster. Naturally, there are risks to seeking out only the most competitive terms. That includes the length of time required to see a return. As well, you may not be able to distinguish the signposts along the way. Gaining the proper perspective to evaluate what is working and what needs changing can be costly if you have not run a large volume search marketing campaigns in the past.

And this is one the key factors in securing a reputable company that manages seo campaigns.




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