Critical Beginner Tips to Achieve Search Marketing Success
Updated June 2018
The term “search marketing” has evolved into an umbrella term which includes both:
SEM (Search Engine Marketing): paying for traffic using advertising on search engines such as Google and Bing/Yahoo.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): utilizing strategies that are free to work on, to rank your site “organically” (naturally, without paying).
The overall goal of all of these efforts is to increase your website’s traffic and visibility on search engines. It’s advised by many digital marketing experts that starting your business website with a solid SEO foundation is the best thing you can do to ensure your long-term digital success.
SEO Starting Points
SEO is constantly evolving, so strategies from five years ago won’t necessarily work anymore. It takes time to stay updated on what does work so you can stay ahead of your competitors. This is a long term strategy, so if your business is interested in the long haul, this is where you should be starting.
- Audit your website. There are many tools now that will run a free audit on your domain name to see what the major issues are and if there are any quick fixes that can rank your site higher in a short period of time. When using any tools like these, it’s always best to use two or more to ensure the most accurate results.
- Research your main keywords. There are always certain words and phrases businesses want to type into search engines and see their website pop up first. It’s important to remember that while you may know your desired audience, there are always surprises on what they actually type into a search engine. Using tools like Google AdWords Keyword Planner and SEMRush (again, more than one tool), will give you great insight into what types of phrases should go on to your website so you’re exposed to as many relevant people as possible.
- Be active on social media. The channels you decide to use and how frequently you post will vary greatly based on industry and where your audience spends most of their time online. Generally, B2B companies will focus on Facebook, LinkedIn, and maybe Twitter. B2C might try Instagram, Facebook, and maybe a few others.
SEM Starting Points
As search engine marketing has evolved, it has become very flexible and is able to meet just about anyone’s business needs. Google for example not only has the most popular search engine for text ad advertising, it has also built up a large world-wide network of display advertising options, with access to millions of websites where your ad can appear. You have the option to choose these ad spots based on theme, keyword, and even down to the specific page of a site!
All of this can be done in your Google AdWords account. But before we get ahead of ourselves…
- Have your business goals in mind, and determine if your target audience is in fact searching for your type of product or service on a search engine. In some cases social media paid marketing might be a better option. But if search engines are where the party’s at…
- Choose the search terms that you want your ads to appear on. The tricky part here is making sure these terms are searched often enough, and at the same time aren’t too expensive in terms of pay-per-click (PPC – the advertiser pays each time an ad is clicked). Other advertisers might be bidding on similar terms, which brings the bid price up. If you’re unsure about how to do this feel free to contact us!
- Figure out your budget. Budgets can be set as a daily amount, and specific campaign timelines can be set as well, similar to that of an offline campaign. A maximum dollar amount an advertiser is willing to pay per click may also be chosen, to prevent the whole daily budget being spent on one click.
Next week we’ll talk specifically about SEO and a few reasons why it is increasingly important for your business and its digital success.
If you’re as busy as many business owners are, focus on what you need to do, and let a Google certified internet marketing agency take care of your search marketing strategy!
K-Kom has years of experience and multiple Google certifications to set your campaigns off on the right foot so you can enjoy watching your business grow. We also provide website optimization and SEO services. Contact us today with any questions you may have and we’ll be in touch shortly!
