Search engine marketing consists of promoting your website through increasing its visibility in search engines. This can be accomplished through organic search engine optimization and/or pay per click search engine marketing. Notice the screen capture of a search engine results page. Pay per click advertisements are outlined in red, while organic listings are outlined in yellow.
Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines use sophisticated algorithms to determine the credibility of your website, and the quality of its content. Getting other websites to link to your website will build its credibility. Such links are viewed by the search engines as third-party stamps of approval. When writing your website’s content, it is important to consider length and keyword usage. Search engines are interested in the amount of information your website provides and the keywords it relates to. Providing the search engines with an adequate balance of these two factors will drive your website toward the top of the search engines.
Pay per Click (PPC) Search Engine Marketing
MSN, Yahoo and Google allow you to select keywords that are related to your businesses, and pay a fee to have your ads displayed when users search for them. The search engines decide how high to display your ads based on a function of your websites quality, the quality of your advertisement and the maximum amount you are willing to pay per click. Contrary to common belief, your position in the paid listings is not solely based on the amount you are willing to pay per click. If managed properly, your ads will be displayed above your competitors at a lower cost per click.
Quality of Search Engine Traffic
When a user conducts a search he/she is expressing interest in a topic, product or service. As a result, the visitors your website receives from search engines are already interested in your offerings. The selling is already done for you. Furthermore, when using pay per click search engine marketing, you only pay when you receive an actual visitor. With most conventional forms of marketing you pay a flat rate to broadcast a message to a loosely targeted audience, regardless of the results it generates.
Why does your website exist? Think about it for a moment, and you’ll realize that it’s not an easy question to answer. If you can’t give a concise, fifteen-word answer to this question, you know you have a problem. Once you know why your website exists, you can start to figure out what actions you want your website visitors to take. After all, if your site exists to generate leads for your service company, and none of your thousands of monthly visitors ever pick up the phone or send you an email, is the website a good investment of your time and money?