Posts Tagged ‘SEM’
What is Webbiquity? How to Be Everywhere Online
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010Welcome to Webbiquity! What exactly is that? Briefly, Webbiquity, or web presence optimization (WPO for those who prefer TLA’s), is the fusion of SEO, social media, interactive PR, online reputation management and other disciplines to make an individual or organization ubiquitous on the web for their name/brand and unique descriptive phrase. If SEO is about getting your website onto page one of Google, WPO is about owning that page.
For example, Jill Konrath is webbiqitous for the phrase “selling to big companies,” holding all 10 spots on the front page of Google for that phrase. The results include her website, blog, a link to her book
From a historical perspective, the web a decade ago (or even a bit less) was still primarily a broadcast medium with limited inactivity. Although in theory anyone could own a website even then, the web presence of most commercial organizations was limited to their own websites and whatever had been written about them by professional publishers and analysts, plus a few directory listings. The last few years have, of course, seen the emergence of social media and an explosion of user-generated content. A company’s website is now only one of myriad places where customers, buyers and other interested parties can find information about it.
This new environment has created the conditions for web presence optimization: using all of the tools now available to make a company as “findable” as possible not only for branded searches but also for key phrases that uniquely describe the enterprise and its offerings. Using these tools properly means not only dominating search, but also presenting a clear and consistent message across channels, wherever buyers or industry influencers may find you.
Specifically, web presence optimization is about achieving webbiquity using the tools show in this diagram, including social networking, social bookmarking, blogging, interactive PR, video and content marketing to disseminate the company’s message as broadly as possible. Just as importantly, companies need to maximize the search value of these different tools and platforms by taking advantage of the linking and cross-linking opportunities they provide.
So, for example, social media releases–part of interactive PR efforts–point readers to company microsites and its media sharing (images, video, presentations etc.). Media sharing accounts are connected to Twitter, which is also used to promote content marketing. Reputation management sites point the organization’s Twitter account as well as social networking profiles. And everything links back the enterprise’s website and blog.
The end result is that when customers, prospects and influencers (bloggers, journalists, analysts etc.) are looking for information on your industry, they find you everywhere. Your story and messages are bolstered by your webbiquity. You have the opportunity to become a valued resource in your industry. Further, the interactions you have with these various constituencies across social networking and other media platforms demonstrate that your people aren’t just smart, they are also helpful and responsive.
This is obviously a high-level view of the elements of webbiquity. Future posts here will delve more deeply into the tools and tactics that can help you and your company “be everywhere online” for your brand and industry discussions.
Three Tips for Optimizing SEM Programs
Friday, December 18th, 2009
This post was originally published on the WebMarketCentral blog in February 2009.
If you’re relatively new to search engine marketing programs such as Google AdWords, these tips can help you get better results for less money. For those experienced in SEM, these tips may still serve as helpful reminders.
1. Bid on your own company name. Even though your website should already show up in a top organic search spot for your firm’s name (unless your company name is really generic), using it in your paid search campaign provides benefits: showing up in both the paid and organic search listings boosts your brand credibility, helps your site additional clicks, and enables you to deliver specific offer messages. It also lets you guide visitors to specific landing pages other than your home page. The cost of paid clicks for your company name is usually low, and the conversion rate—assuming a well-designed landing page—is generally very high.
2. Periodically check and clean your keyword lists. Your keyword lists should be dynamic, with an objective of continually improving the ROI of your campaigns. Periodically go to Reports…Create Report and run a Placement / Keyword Performance report. Under Add or Remove Columns, be sure to include the Conversions, Conversion Rate and Cost/Conversion fields. Under Filter Your Results, select Keyword Status of Active so you’ll only get results for the keywords currently in use in your campaigns.
Once the report is complete, you may want to export it to Excel to make the data easier to work with. Sort the data in a couple of different ways, first using “Sort by Impressions Descending Then by Clicks Descending,” then “Sort by Clicks Descending Then by Conversions Descending.” These two sorts will indicate which keywords to drop and which to expand on.
To determine which terms to drop, set a threshold rule that you are comfortable with for each sort. An example would be 200/100: delete any term that has had 200 impressions with zero clicks, or 100 clicks with zero conversions.
After deleting unproductive terms, look at your most profitable terms to see if you can expand on these. For example, suppose top marketing books was a high-performing phrase for your SEM campaign. Within AdWords, go the ad group where you are using that term and click Keyword Tool. Type in “top marketing books,” then click the Get Keyword Ideas button. The tool will return a large list of related keywords, along with average volume and advertiser competition information, from which you can choose to add to your campaign.
3. Use SEM terms for SEO. Your SEM keyword reports contain a wealth of data about the keywords being used to drive relevant traffic to your site: which terms are searched most often, which produce the highest percentage of clicks, and which convert most effectively. Just as this information helps you optimize your SEM spending, it also indicates what terms you should focus on in your natural search efforts. SEM keyword reports are particularly valuable for identifying long-tail terms that are relatively easy to optimize for yet can produce a respectable amount of traffic.
Best of 2008: Search Engine Marketing
Saturday, December 12th, 2009Originally published on WebMarketCentral between August 2008 and January 2009.
Everything But Google: Alternative Search Marketing Options: SES San Jose by Search Engine Journal
Blogging a session on alternative search marketing outlets at the SES conference, Darrell Long provides bite-sized updates on pay-per-post (boo!), Superpages, Facebook, Quigo (interesting), ContextWeb, LookSmart, ASK (lower CPA than Google? hmm…) and MSN.
Why Google keywords cost more but deliver less by iMedia Connection
Dave McCarthy explains how Google uses its quality score to reward (or punish) advertisers, how to improve your quality score, and what types of landing page offers to avoid. All of which explains the interest in Darrell’s post above.
Killer PPC Ads: The Fundamentals by Search Engine Watch
An outstanding post from David Szetela that walks you step-by-step through the process of turning a boring, unproductive search ad into a “killer ad” that stands out and performs. Among his tips: speak directly to your audience, sell benefits not features, and use a clear call to action.
10 tips for scrutinizing paid search agencies by iMedia Connection
Noah Elkin offers thoughtful advice to organizations looking for search marketing help. Among his recommendations: think about your goals and budget first, so your needs are clear; think about the size of agency you’ll be most comfortable working with (“Do you want to be a big fish in a small pond, or a small fish in a big pond?”); and finding an agency that has experience solving your specific type of challenge is sometimes more important than finding one with similar industry experience.
Six benchmarks for the perfect search campaign by DMNews
Howard Sewell lists his ideal criteria for measuring the success of SEM campaigns. Of course, any search marketing program should do more than just generate clicks—without some measure of ROI, it’s too easy to spend money unproductively. Still, even Sewell admits that his list is an ideal that few if any programs fully meet. For example, “generates a cost per acquisition (CPA)…competitive with other advertising vehicles” is an extremely reasonable goal for almost any advertiser, while few organizations really have backend systems in place sophisticated enough to measure ROI on an individual keyword basis.
Optimize PPC Campaigns by SEM Scoop
A short but useful (particularly for SEM newbies) post on how to maximize results from paid search campaigns. Basically, 1) use keyword tools to help develop a solid list of PPC search phrases, which will be pruned over time; 2) test keywords, ads, landing pages—everything; and 3) understand and utilize broad, exact, phrase and negative matches.
The 5 Biggest Mistakes in PPC Testing by Search Engine Journal
The biggest mistake advertisers can make in an SEM campaign is not testing. Without full conversion tracking in place, there’s no way to measure ROI—and without testing, there’s no way to maximize return. Brian Carter notes both of those points and explains three other common PPC testing mistakes.
7 Tips to Save Money on Pay-Per-Click Campaign by Saad Kamal
Great advice on how to set up an AdWords program that produces positive ROI, though written more for newbies than seasoned pros. Among the recommendations here: understand keyword match types and use wisely, bid in odd amounts, and avoid the content network—at least until you have the search side performing effectively.
5 Keyword Strategies for B2B PPC Campaigns by High Rankings Advisor
Andy Komack offers five valuable, practical tips for improving web marketing results, such as “Users Do Not Search for ‘Solutions’” (so true!) and “Apply Your PPC Intelligence to SEO.” This is a relatively quick but highly worthwhile read.
Cookies, Milk & Kramer: Converting Visitors Into Buyers @ SES by aimClear Blog
Charlene Jaszewski, self-described “Internet Consultant and Word Wrangler Extraordinaire,” provides an excellent and detailed summary of presentations by Mike Moran, author of Do It Wrong Quickly
Challenges of Paid Search Marketing in 2008 by PPC Blog
PPC guru Gordon Choi outlines the challenges that pay-per-click advertisers will face as this space becomes more competitive, and provides strategies for addressing these challenges, including how to structure and retain PPC staff, monitor click fraud and write more effective ads.
Using PPC for Conquesting Your Competitor’s Brand Keywords by Search Marketing Sage
As Tad Miller explains, “‘Conquesting,’ as used in the Advertising Industry, is a means to deploy an advertisement for one’s products or services adjacent to editorial content relating to the competitor or the competitors’ products. In the online world it usually means bidding on your competitor’s ‘brand’ keywords on a Pay Per Click Advertising platform.” As a PPC tactic, it tends to have a high cost but also a high value per conversion. His post outlines five challenges of keyword conquesting along with six solutions to those challenges.
2 Major Reasons Why You Should Run a Search Query Report Today! by PPC Hero
This post shows how to use the Google AdWords Search Query Performance Report to generate new keyword ideas as well as to identify negative keywords for exclusion from your campaigns.
Marketing lessons learned form pay-per-click analytics by John W Ellis
How PPC analytics take the guesswork out of marketing, providing precise, quantitative feedback on elements like ad messages, geo-targeting and keyword selection.
Essential metrics in paid-keyword campaigns by DMNews
Olivier Silvestre provides guidance on optimizing landing pages, ad copy and keywords through the proper use of actionable SEM metrics.
Campaign Maintenance – Removing dead keywords by CDF Networks
A very brief post that doesn’t say a whole lot but provides an important reminder: while it’s important to experiment with new keywords to try to maximize campaign results, it’s also critical to periodically prune unproductive keywords in order to maintain high quality scores.
The Great (And Completely Ridiculous) ‘In-house vs. Outsourced SEM’ Debate by MediaPost Search Insider
Dave Pasternack hammers home the value of using an outside specialist firm for search marketing by looking at the possible reasons some executives might still believe their in-house teams can do this just as well. There is no explanation, however, for the incredibly wrongheaded statement about SEO in the last paragraph; typo?
Yahoo Smart Start – A Handy Guide For Yahoo Advertisers by Google Analytics Blog
PPC specialist Katherine Anderson recommends the downloadable Yahoo Smart Start manual as both a valuable guide for beginners and reference for experienced search marketers, saying “the book reaches out well to its target audience and addresses common concerns of new and experienced advertisers in an easy and understandable way.”
Google Analytics Keyword Sleuth vs Search Query Performance Report by Google Analytics Blog
Mark Curtis offers up a detailed comparison of these two helpful PPC keyword research tools. Both are free, but one is considerably faster and more thorough.
SEO and SEM Shortcuts, Spying and Stats to Dominate Google! by SiteProNews
Writer Michael Small supplies some now-slightly-out-of-date but still useful statistics on usage of the leading search engines as well as advice on tools to help improve both SEO and search marketing results.
The AdWords Content Network – Better Than Ever by PPC Discussions
Reflecting the experience of many search marketers, blogger Jeremy Mayes gives 10 reasons why the Google content network no longer sucks for advertisers. Thanks to improved quality of sites in the network, along with other factors, the content network can now provide reasonably good lead generation performance often for considerably less than the cost of search-driven conversions.
Whats the best keyword match type? by CDF Networks
Broad match, exact match, phrase match, negative match…ever wonder when to use which? This brief yet helpful post provides some answers.
Four Tricks to Gain An Unfair Advantage on AdWords by Search Marketing Standard
“Unfair advantage” may be stretching the case a bit, but author Andrey Milyan nevertheless presents four tactics that enhance your SEM results with Google AdWords.
With A/B Testing – You Don’t Think, You Know by Find Resolution
In this articulate and well-researched post, Jeff Campbell lays out a 10-step program for scientifically performing split tests to optimize campaign copy.
Why YOU fail with Google Adwords by SiteProNews
Leighton James ticks off ten common mistakes to avoid in PPC campaigns, from including too many poorly targeted keywords and failing to optimize landing pages to improperly using phrase matching options and modifying bids for the content network.
Avoid Scope Creep Money Pit SEM Jobs by aimClear Search Marketing Blog
In kind of an inside-baseball piece for search marketing agencies, Marty Weintraub shares his firm’s goals and scope document, which is designed to set clear expectations, avoid expensive scope creep and, in the end, make projects fair for both agencies and their clients.
PPC Automation: Robots vs Humans by StraightUpSearch
This post makes the case for using a real live PPC manager instead of PPC automation software. In practice, both are probably needed. Particularly for large, complex campaigns, automation software can improve efficiency and reduce total costs. But the software itself is just a tool; for best results, it needs to used in the hands of an expert search marketing professional who can use it to streamline tedious tasks while applying human judgment in areas such as optimizing ad copy and aligning SEM programs with overall marketing goals.
Pay Per Click Advertising Tip #11 – Conversion Tracking by semvironment
Okay, it’s kind of basic, but conversion tracking is essential to determining and optimizing ROI from search marketing programs. This post walks readers through the conversion tracking process on AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter.
Website Visitors Read Your Copy, Right? by Search Marketing Standard
Uh, no. Kevin Gold offers a couple of examples demonstrating that ad clickers don’t read landing page copy in detail. In other words, they respond to what they think the offer is rather than what it actually is. As with all other elements of search marketing campaigns, the key is to test, test, test landing page copy to not simply maximize leads but also disqualify resource-consuming non-prospects.
PPC ads should always lead your online sales efforts by DMNews
Writer Tim Schaden makes a compelling case that PPC efforts should precede and guide SEO efforts. Because PPC produces almost immediate results—while SEO changes need weeks to take effect—it’s the ideal testing ground for the productivity of various search phrases for a particular offering. Armed with analysis from PPC testing, SEO efforts can be focused on optimizing for the most valuable terms for a specific company, product or service.
How to Develop a Keyword List for SEO
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009This post was originally published on the WebMarketCentral blog in June 2008.
It’s critical, when starting work on a new website, to develop a list of the most productive keywords and phrases to work into the content and structure of the site. It can also be a useful exercise for existing sites from time to time; content changes, search patterns change, and a minor content and SEO face lift may be just the thing to reinvigorate traffic growth.
Start by jotting down a list of the obvious search phrases for the site. Try to think like a prospective customer—what phrases would they likely use to try to find the product, service or information you offer?—rather than your internal company jargon. The list doesn’t need to be long; 15-25 phrases is sufficient unless you are working with a very large website.
Next, run your initial list of phrases through a keyword tool in order to 1) determine the relative search volume of the terms on your initial list, and 2) identify high-potential related search phrases. Trellian’s Keyword Discovery is an excellent tool if you can justify the cost; if not, Google Suggest (and the AdWords keyword tool if you have an existing AdWords account), the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool and Yooter are helpful, free tools. In Reader Poll: Best Keyword Research Tools, search guru Lee Odden reports on the popularity of 15 keyword tools.
Finally, the most important step of all: after combining all of your original and the tool-suggested terms and sorting the phrases by search popularity, apply human intelligence to reduce the list to a final, manageable list of terms to SEO the site for. Not all of the terms that a keyword suggestion tool identifies as “related” to your initial list will really apply to your product, service or information. In addition, some terms will be too broad for SEO but may be use for a search engine marketing (SEM) program (SEO vs. SEM terms will be the topic of a future post).
The final list of terms can then be worked into page URLs, titles, meta tags and content to help the search engine spiders figure out that your site should show up well for these search phrases.
