Getting
new business with search engine marketing.
With search engine promotion being so topical in the marketing press at
the moment I just thought I'd take the opportunity to look at how us marketers
can implement and measure a truly effective search engine marketing campaign.
Having worked on many search engine promotion and optimisation projects I am still amazed at the large number of search engine marketing businesses that are still solely focusing on the technical aspects of this area of web marketing. Search engine promotion is more than fine tuning your code and building links.
Getting on the first page of Google is just the start.
OK so let's assume you're either a seasoned search engine marketer or currently have a search engine promotion agency working with you. You've done the basics - you've fine tuned your HTML code, you've done some content optimisation and you have deployed a 'themed' back links campaign. Great, you can now sit back and patiently wait for your rankings to go up and wait for the orders to come flooding in. Well, this isn't going to happen folks. Let me explain why.
Back to marketing basics.
At SiteVisibility we have developed what we like to call the 'extended search engine marketing mix'. Typically when search marketers talk about the SEM mix, they refer to the various techniques that you can use to increase your visibility and reach in search engines. The four most common techniques are search engine optimisation, pay per click, trusted feeds and contextual advertising.
Now the objective for most marketers is to generate an action amongst their target audience and not just drive awareness. Conventional marketing communications tools like direct mail are measured on their ability to obtain a tangible response from the prospect being targeted. That response could be completing a contact form, or filling out an order form.
Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action & Satisfaction.
As marketers, our goal is to generate awareness, interest, desire and ultimately action with satisfaction - in the marketing world this is commonly referred to as AIDAS! Now, if we apply the AIDAS model to search engine promotion, by just focusing on getting top rankings in search results we are only achieving awareness and interest. We generate awareness as a result of appearing in front of the user in the search results, and interest is only generated once that user decides to click on your link. Most search engine marketers see this as their goal and say their job is done as soon as they have either achieved your first page position or if you're lucky when a click through has been achieved.
This is a 'cop-out' in my opinion because you could be top of the search results for a key phrase that might not deliver the quality or volume of visitors that you expect - so measuring the effectiveness of a search engine promotion campaign by purely focusing on rankings is poor marketing. Just remember 'window shoppers' didn't help grow Amazon!
Measuring 'click-throughs' is important but I still don't class this as 'action' just yet. This is a useful metric to have if you want to measure interest and brand awareness. If a user has come on to your site, then they have gained some exposure to your brand and messaging, and yes, I agree that is the first step in engaging with a potential new customer online. But how can we make the most of that visitor's session, now that we have worked hard to get them on to our site in the first place?
Competing with the back button.
As soon as you get a user on to your site from another external website like a search engine, your biggest competitor is the back button in the browser! If your site doesn't make the right first impression and if you are unable to guide the user to what they have come for then the chances are they'll go elsewhere. Most of the time online users are impatient and very focused - they know what they want and they want be in and out your site with the minimum of delay and frustration.
So what can you do to help move the visitor to the stage where he has the desire to take the next step and take that that all important action?
The extended search engine marketing mix.
What I am going to tell you next is not rocket science. In simple terms you need to guide, communicate and interact. On your website you can do this by excelling in the following areas, what I like to call the 'extended search engine marketing mix':
1. Get your house in order - or in this case your website. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a 1000 times. A badly designed website will get your visitors hitting that back button pretty quickly. You need to ensure that your site is accessible, easy to navigate and inspires confidence in your brand.
2. Focus on creating great content - in the words of David Ogilvy, "Knowledge is useless, unless you know how to communicate it - in writing!" Your website is made up of images and words; if the quality of your content and actual copywriting is poor then you'll struggle to capture the interest of your target audience. Also don't forget to give them a 'call to action' - most websites don't do this very well.
3. Integrate don't isolate - smart web marketers understand that their online marketing tools are going to work more effectively if they're all tightly interwoven, as opposed to being used in isolation. So, make sure you think about how you can combine the various tools to help guide your prospects through the decision making process.
Measure, test and refine your model
Measure and refine! As a marketer you have to prove that your search engine marketing tactics are having a positive impact on the bottom line. Unless you know what's working and more importantly what's not, how can you expect to improve?
There are many great web analytics packages out there that can help you measure visitor numbers, user behaviour, actions, and even ROI from search engine marketing campaigns. Tools like 'Click Tracks' and 'Visitor Ville' have even turned this quite time-consuming and mundane process into something a little more exciting for you 'left-brained' marketers with their visual approach to displaying statistics. So, now you have no excuses for not being able to effectively measure your search engine promotion campaign!
To find out how we can help you improve your search marketing efforts
why not contact us.
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