Abstracts - Integrated creative services

The fastest growing sector in advertising is online advertising. It's no wonder really… thanks to the widespread uptake of broadband across Europe people are spending more time using the Internet each week than reading magazines and newspapers combined.

Recent research shows searching is the second most popular activity on the web, behind email. No wonder a healthy share of online advertising is spent on pay-per-click (PPC) search engine advertising and it looks likely to continue that way.

Trends in search
Research from Piper Jaffray & co, shows that search will continue to dominate. In particular, their research says the top trends regarding search are:

Search engines are replacing portals
Search is becoming a branding tool
Google's dominance is increasing
Local search remains a looming opportunity
New search technologies are likely to expand the field

You're probably thinking 'if search is so important what are the smart marketers doing about it?'.

Accountable, measurable with great ROI
Early adopters quickly spotted the benefits that search engine advertising afforded them. It's a highly cost effective medium, used well it delivers qualified prospects straight to your website and, it provides lots of data for analysis.

Smart search strategy
The two keystones of a smart search engine marketing strategy are, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimisation (SEO). Don't worry, we're not going to get all techhy on you or use any more acronyms (promise!).

Advertise
Search engine marketing (SEM) is actually a search engine auction. The way it works is that you bid for the placement of your ads on search engine results pages (SERPs - ok just one acronym more because you'll find it really handy in the future, we promise). You then pay for the clicks that your advert gets based on the final bid that won you that slot on the page. Phew, still with us?

Optimise
Search engine optimisation is the art of creating content on a website that ensures you get found in the 'natural listings' of search engines when people search for relevant terms. In the past it may have been known to be a black art of coding tricks and underhand tagging of pages to deceive search engines to rank you as high as possible. Usability guru Jakob Nielson calls them 'black hat' tricks. Nowadays, it's all about coding your website to be full of highly accessible, search-engine-friendly, relevant content.

Why be 'relevant'
The beauty of keyword advertising (of Google's variety) is that you get rewarded for 'relevance'. The Google rating system determines the quality of your advert & website. The combination of these factors determines if and where your ad gets shown. The more relevant your content the better, the more relevant your ad the better. How do they do it? Not something you need to worry about… The nirvana is high click-through rates from well-qualified prospects. How your ads are worded will help, how your landing pages work will help too. You also need to carefully work out how to ensure that your ads are specifically not shown against certain keywords or combination of keywords. This will help reduce unwanted traffic (and expenditure!).

Funneling your prospects
Once you have attracted the right clicks the goal is to ensure that your website entertains, informs and generally hits-the-spot enough for the valued visitor to at least leave their details so you can contact them. Advertisers with the advantage understand how to cater to the various different types of prospects. By giving different customers what they want you will see your customers progress through the funnel gradually come out of the process as customers. Given the effort required to generate completely new business, it's a sage reminder to value your existing customers highly!

So, to recap…

How easy it is for customers' to find your business in search engines is very important and becoming more and more so
Search marketing is cost effective and can provide highly granular information about what is working and what isn't, an invaluable boon to marketers who like to base their activity on clearly measurable results
You need to be doing both SEM and SEO
A SERP is an acronym to remember
'Black hat' tricks to spoof search engines are soooo out
'Relevant' content is king
Treat prospects well in your funnel

The care and attention in managing your search marketing will pay great dividends and give you some really useful insights to your online audiences. If all that hasn't already convinced you here's the final push:

A massive boon to your marketing…
PPC advertising is an invaluable tool for marketers. You can quickly, cheaply and cleverly find out what works and what doesn't:

Split-test your advertising and see what works
Try out different types of landing pages and see which convert best
Experiment with new ideas… research new product areas, start conversations with areas of the market or build your prospects list by promoting and giving away "How to…" content (so called information marketing).

Take the reins!
The tools to revolutionise your online marketing exist and all you need to do is to take the reins. At the very least, give someone the opportunity to update your digital marketing by trying out search marketing campaigns, refining your website and email marketing funnels and developing an in-depth understanding of what works best for your business.

21st Century Customer intelligence
Knowing what customers are searching for online and how to attract and convert them is one of the most valuable online marketing services to invest in. Without it, your digital marketing is driving with the handbrake on.

Happy SEM!

If you would like to discuss search engine marketing in more detail please contact Paul Wreford-Brown