About SEM
Why use Search Engine Marketing?
Search engine Marketing expands your audience. Advertise with Google, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter alone and you'll reach over 90 percent of the internet audience. Add in smaller, niche PPC search engines and shopping engines and you'll experience complete coverage.
Results can be measured. Statistics can be gathered from your web server logs to determine the efficacy of an ad campaign.
It’s where your customers are!
Your customers use search engines to find information about products or service that you sell. Advertising on those search engines is one of the cheapest ad vehicles available. Search engine ads expand your reach across your target audience. Your advertising results are measurable. Ads can be revised in the middle of a campaign. Perhaps the better question is this: Why start anywhere but with search engine advertising?
Search Engine Optimization or Pay Per Click? Which should you use?
It can be confusing trying to learn about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click Advertising Programs (PPC). Many clients don't know which option to choose, or whether or not they might benefit from both. Below, we've described advantages and disadvantages of each, and when they may be best for you. At the bottom, we describe how some companies strategically use both together.
About Pay Per Click Advertising Programs
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Pay per click advertising programs are fast to implement. It usually takes two weeks for us to do our work, including time for you to approve everything along the way. Then, Google AdWords are up and running as soon as we place the campaign, and Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter listings are live after an editor reviews them. |
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We don't have to change anything on your web site. |
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In theory, there is no limit to the number of terms we can bid on. |
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PPC is good for promotions, as we can turn the campaign on and off whenever we choose. |
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We have very tight control over the program, as we dictate where the listing appears and what it says. |
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Placement of PPC listings is usually higher on the search engines' results page for sponsored listings than for editorial listings. |
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It's very easy to test different search terms, offers, descriptions, etc., and measure results. |
Pay per click advertising may be best for you if:
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You want high rankings on keywords relevant to your business. |
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You want to get up and running quickly and start driving traffic. |
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You have a promotion where you want to be able to turn a campaign on and off. |
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You want to be able to test search terms, products or offers and quickly see results. |
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Your site is search engine-unfriendly and you don't want to invest in changing it. |
There's not always a need to choose between SEO and PPC. Many companies do both. Here are some suggestions for running a combination of SEM and SEO:
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Run a quick PPC campaign first, while the time consuming SEO is being done. |
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Similarly, test search terms with PPC and see which ones searchers seem to respond to most, before undertaking SEO. |
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Use both strategies in an effort to be visible in as many places as possible. Even if you appear twice on the same search engine results page, lean back and grin, knowing that you're both high up on the page (PPC) for people moving quickly, and in the editorial results (SEO) for anyone who may skip over the ads. |
About Search Engine Optimization
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We do work upfront and monitor and report your positions and results. The changes we make today will probably still be driving traffic to your site a year from now. However, your rankings may continue to change and we can help track and update your strategies so that you remain highly ranked. |
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Over time, SEO is usually less costly than PPC. In fact, it can be free of charge after the up front work is done. |
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There's a credibility factor, since the site is listed in the engines' editorial results. This is a sort of third party endorsement - savvy searchers know that the site didn't buy their way in, so the ranking is viewed as "earned." Some searchers skip over sponsored listings and only pay attention to editorial results. |
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Broad coverage on all search engines worldwide. In theory, if you have an optimized site with links pointing to it on other sites, every search engine out there should be able to find and index your site. You may get traffic from search engines you've never heard of. |
Search engine optimization is probably your best bet if:
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You want to spend some time on search engine marketing up front and have it pay off in the future, on conceivably every search engine there is around the world. |
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You have a budget to do some work now, and want to save money later on. |
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Your site is fairly simple, without a lot of complicated bells and whistles. |
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You can afford to wait a few months for results. |
Learn more about Link Building and Social Media.
Get details about KeywordFirst’s Paid Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Local Search programs.
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