Keywords really can make or break a solid campaign. This applies to most facets of Search Marketing (SEO, PPC, Social Networking, etc.)
Why are keywords important?
Well, without them your targeted audience can not find the products, services or information that is key about your business.
How do I select keywords?
Well, you know your business better than anyone, so shouldn’t you be the all encompasssing authority on your key search terms? That would be the most logical choice and if you are shaking your head in agreement, you are dead wrong.
This is what gets many of talented business owners and marketing folks into problems. Your personal knowledge of your business and appropriate words are only truly valuable for the very start of a campaign.
The real valuable keywords come from your customers and potential clients, and watching the ongoing movement in the marketplace. So how do I find out what they want and or what they type into search engines?
Glad you asked, and the answer is research & test, test, test. The whiz bang, mysterious dark art to white hat Search Marketing is that there are no secrets, its all research, analysis, strong strategies and repeated testing.
Leverage the data that is provided in initial campaigns to formulate stronger and stronger campaigns over time to deliver exceptional results.
Tip: Start with the tools.seobook.com research toolset - and you will be ahead of the competition.
Bookmark at:What is it with this industry we know as Search Marketing?
It seems customer after customer has worked with a previous vendor that when asked about their services simply hands the customer a “chinese menu” pricelist and lets them order a solution ala carte.
How can this method work?
How can you be sure of successful results when you are buying the same size solution offering as every other company in any industry is buying? If you sell products are your needs the same as someone that provides service? Are you a B2C player, or a B2B? Every company has different goals, objectives and needs.
Every company is at a different maturation phase of Search Marketing.
Do yourself a favor, pass on the two egg rolls and chicken friend rice and partner with a firm that is interested in your business, the direction you are heading as an organization and is willing to taylor a solution specifically for you. Make them demonstrate they know you, your competition and your marketplace before beginning an engagement.
Bookmark at:“Google accounted for 63.98 percent of all US searches in the four weeks ending September 1, 2007. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 22.87, 7.98 and 3.41 percent respectively.”
See statistics for US Search Engines as of September 2007 in the HitWise Intelligence Report.
Bookmark at:Search engine marketing is the act of leveraging a range of marketing techniques required to make a website visible to the various search engines and directories so that it will attract visits from a targeted audience.
These techniques include the optimization of the website or landing page, the submission of the site to directories, and the use of paid listings, which means paying a search engine to have an ad placed at the top of the search page or along the side of the page. The above mentioned techniques will help additional traffic to a companies website.
Website traffic is not the only concern of a company when if comes to its website, in fact it is only the first step in a successful search engine marketing campaign. The other two and more critical factors are click-through and conversion. Traffic is great, but traffic alone on your site does not pay the bills.
What makes the ROI in Search Marketing so powerful is when visitors to your site are encouraged through best practices to click through, or look deeper into the site.
Last and even most critical is the ability to generate and improve upon website traffic conversions. In a conversion, a visitor agrees to take the next step, to sign up for a whitepaper or account and even to purchase something from the website.
A properly thought out and executed strategy will take all the above facets into consideration and can drastically improve all of those areas.
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