http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com Views, thoughts, opinions, facts, rants, reviews on/about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) from the SEO/SEM teams at Zunch Communications, Inc. en-us Copyright 2008 Zunch SEO Blog - ZEN-SEM (Zunch Enlightened News - Search Engine Marketing) (Official Site) - Search Engine Marketing (SEM) http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:23:13 CST SEO is not something that happens by accident. Certain experts have been able to fine tune their abilities to generate results almost on a guaranteed basis. They can predict results based on actions take to optimize a website. This is not a surprise, nor is it some kind of magic, it is a matter of calculating search engine rank based on experience and exact tools.  Using search engine analysis tools can be very useful. In fact, they can mean the difference between receiving thousands of visitors and having none at all. Certain analysis tools are more useful than others, but if more tools are used, your SEO efforts can be multiplied 10 fold.  With an analysis tool you can predict how many visitors your website can potentially receive. In addition to SEO, this is can help in the market research stage of your business. Imagine making a website you planned on using SEO to promote, before doing research of the search engines. If there are no searches for the niche of your website, you will fail miserably. Many beginners fall into this trap and wonder why they are not receiving visitors even after months of effort. If the initial search base does not exist, their will be no search traffic even if your website is ranked number one.  Some search analysis tools include different data for you to study. For example, wordtracker offers not only searches per month, but also the amount of competition for the search. This makes it easy for you to see if you want to enter a market or not based on its saturation.   Another useful component of these tools is that they allow you to “dig” and find low competition key words you would never have been able to think of yourself. Finding these low competition key words quickly in many niches, will allow you to build a powerful website by building traffic from thousands of tiny traffic sources. When competition tries to inch into your niche territory, it will be too late and very difficult to beat you in ranking.  The problem with these tools is that they can sometimes be off in their analysis of searches. In some cases they can only be used as a guide to certain low competition key phrases, however, they cannot always be trusted for the exact numbers. In an attempt to fix this problem, you can use a clever tactic of finding out the true worth of a key phrase by promoting your site through adwords or any other search marketing PPC program on the Google, Yahoo, or MSN search engines.  By advertising using adwords or the other 2 search marketing programs, you receive accurate search information. If in a week you see that your advertisement was visible to 2,000 individuals, then you know that is how many visitors you can expect for your website when it is ranking number one. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/The_Amazing_Usefulness_of_Search_Engine_Analysis_Tools.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/The_Amazing_Usefulness_of_Search_Engine_Analysis_Tools.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:22:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) As an Internet marketer, you know how important it is to get your site ranked highly on search engines. When people search for key phrases, search engines instantly search all websites and rank those that are most relevant at the top. Since search engines cannot be as specific as we often hope, they have to rely on websites that use the key words and hope they can deliver the sites you are looking for. The sites on the top are most often visited and so, as an Internet marketer, you will want to work towards getting your website on top.  The easiest way to do this is to use key words that are most often searched for and create websites around those words. It is important to pay attention to competition because it is likely that many other people are using the same key words. The best way to do this is by submitting articles with links to your site. The articles should relate to the key words so when search engines scan them, and quickly pick up on key phrases. Search engines can analyze how many times the key words are used and rank accordingly.     When using articles to help you to get to the top of search engines, you will want to make sure your content is fresh and original. Many people have trouble coming up with their own content and copy and paste from other highly ranked sites. This is a common mistake novel marketers make because they think if that content ranks well, their site will as well. However, when search engines rank websites, they look for copied content and sites with duplicates will not do as well as the original site.   When search engines rank sites based on the key words, the HTML title tag is very important. You will want to include relevant phrases in the title tag because when search engines scan sites, usually they rank those that have key phrases in the title tag because they are most likely relevant to the topic. Adding the key phrase in the title tag can be done through coding when you first begin creating the site.   Link popularity is another method search engines use to rank websites. Link popularity is measured by the amount and quality of links pointing to your website. This can be hard to measure, but as a simple method you can assume that links from websites on the top of Google are considered high quality for your situation. Google’s algorithm assumes that websites that are linked to by sites that are known as relevant in their niche are important themselves, which increases their ranking.  It can be very important to your success as an Internet marketer to know how search engines rank sites. If your sites do not get on the first page, it is less likely customers will see them. Once you understand how the sites are ranked, you can work around these methods. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_Search_Engines_Rank_Websites.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_Search_Engines_Rank_Websites.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:56:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Search engine marketing is a must for Internet marketers. For novel marketers, these tips can be crucial to the success of your website. When first starting out Internet marketing, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself before you can ensure the success of your website. Many marketers go into the business unprepared and this can severely lower the chances of getting the website noticed. Questions to Ask Yourself Actually being noticed by search engines is the first place to begin; you cannot be successful if search engines do not pick up your site. Ask yourself, can my website be found? If you cannot find it, no one else will be able to either. One of the most important things to know in order to be successful in search engine marketing is your competition. You should know the tactics that are being used so you can create your sites in a way that will be ranked higher than your competitors. The number one question you will want to ask yourself is if this is something you want to do. The whole point of search engine marketing is to rank on search engines and have your sites noticed and the only way to do this is to put a lot of time and effort into your work. Once you are set on what you want to accomplish, you are ready to apply these tips. Search Engine Marketing Methods There are many practiced methods that have proved successful to search engine marketing. A few of these methods include search engine optimization, paid placement and paid inclusion. When done properly, these methods can help your website become easily available on search engines. Search engine optimization is increasing the amount of traffic driven to your site and can help boost your site on search engines. Paid placement is a method used where the marketer will receive money every time advertisements linking to their site are clicked on. The more they are clicked, the more money you will make and the more popular your site will be. Paid inclusion allows search engines to charge a fee for website inclusion, but your website will be seen more often and will lead to you ranking on the search engine. Of course, you may have to put in money in the beginning of your Internet marketing, but it will pay off in the long run. Staying on Top Once you get your site visible to search engines and consistently attracting customers, it is important that you keep this spot and your popularity. You will want to make sure your site is the best by keeping new and fresh content, staying knowledgeable about your competitors, and keeping your website interesting and eye catching. These tips are basically the beginning in your Internet marketing. Remember that it may take time for these tips to actually yield results, but if done correctly, they can help you to become very successful. Finding the right tips that will earn your site income may also take some time and research. As with any business, there is much more than a few simple tips and methods and it will take work and perseverance. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Basic_Search_Engine_Marketing_Tips.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Basic_Search_Engine_Marketing_Tips.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:43:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Many people struggle when it comes to SEM marketing or Search Engine Marketing because they fail to properly understand how the system in place works. Another common mishap along this often trotted upon and grossly overlooked avenue to making money online, is that people fail to realize the SEM system in place actually works in their favor. And let’s be honest. Most people who are interested in learning about SEM marketing are only interested in it because they want to get online and start selling products and services to make money. But there are easier ways that you can go about doing this as opposed to overpaying for a local web designer to build you a custom website, holding and tracking your own inventories and then trying to find traffic and get good rankings. There are some really easy ways that you can garner lots of web traffic and high search engine results rankings without going for broke in the process. So without further ado, here are some candid SEM tips that will allow you get online and start selling fast, and see those search engine results you have so desired. Use a store hosting company. The best SEM marketing tips that I can offer you is to save yourself the hassle, time and money and open a store on an existing site that hosts them. This way all you do is add your tags and your products and boom, you are in business. All you pay is a monthly fee and their SEM system will automatically garner you high rankings in the search engines. Buy targeted traffic. Once you do have your website or online store active, buy targeted traffic. There are a number of really well know and rather large search engine optimization firms that specialize in SEM marketing, who can easily sell you targeted consumer traffic for a lot less money than you think that it may cost. This will splurge your website with unique hits and we all know the more hits, the more sales. Start a blog and use articles for added content. The most effective way to go about promoting your website online is by offering relevant and recent content. You can do this by adding a blog that has an RSS feed (Wordpress is great) or you can even go the extra mile and add an article database. Optimize your keywords and you will start to see SEM results in short period of time. Index your website and add a sitemap. Another surefire route to SEM success is assuring that your website is indexed with all of the major search engines. You can usually buy packages online for relatively cheap that will get you indexed with all the good engines for about a hundred bucks. Finally, get a sitemap and implement it to your website so that all of your pages with relevant content are mapped by the major search engines, greatly increasing your rankings. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/SEM_Marketing_Tips_Three_Easy_Ways_to_Get_Selling_Online.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/SEM_Marketing_Tips_Three_Easy_Ways_to_Get_Selling_Online.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:41:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Many entrepreneurs feel that they have to build their Web site first and then decide who to market their products or services to. That’s like a restaurateur deciding who their going to market their winning dish to on the week of their grand-opening. Imagine a restaurant that specializes in fine cuisine advertising to a burger and fries market. See, how ridiculous it sounds. The same thing goes to marketing your business on the Internet. Your Web site should clearly describe your specialty and the benefits of your product or service. Your web content should to be so tight that it clearly explains to your visitors why they should do business with you. In addition, your site should contain useful articles related to your product or service and samples in relation to your expertise. The following are five popular myths about Internet Marketing: All you need is a great web site Having a ten thousand dollar Web site with flash and spectacular graphics created by the best design team in the industry will not guarantee you sales. Your primary focus should be on building service that’s second to none. In order to achieve this, you must know exactly who you are marketing to even before you build your Web site. More Web site traffic equals more profits Before dipping into your marketing budget for pay-per-click listings, web directories and banner advertisements, have your current customers and business associates critique your Web site. You want to make certain that your future visitors will actually want to buy your product or service once they enter your site. During the critique, your current customers and associates should know exactly what you are offering right off the bat. They should be able to clearly describe the benefits of purchasing your product or service. Ask them if they felt motivated to do business with you after viewing your Web site. Build your mailing list from any source Building your mailing list from promotional gimmicks may bring temporary traffic to your site but it will not lead to sales—trust me on this one. You should acquire your opt-in mailing list from qualified leads. For instance, have your site visitors join your mailing list and invite people you network with off-line. Another way to build a client list is creating a well-written blog related to your products or services. Having "salesy” copy will boost your sales Your web content should exemplify professionalism. Your prospects will get turned off if your site is riddled with salesy content. If writing web content isn’t your cup of tea, by all means, hire a professional copywriter to write it for you. When hiring a copywriter make sure that they specialize in web content not just print media. Follow the get-rich-quick-on-the-Internet of the month scheme Your web message should never scream ‘desperate for a quick buck’. The only way that you can build wealth from your business on the web is by focusing on building a long-term business relationships with your customers. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/5_Biggest_Lies_of_Internet_Marketing.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/5_Biggest_Lies_of_Internet_Marketing.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:37:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Most business owners are extremely cautious with their online marketing spending habits.  The first thing they do before investing any money into marketing and advertising, they plan a solid online marketing campaign.  As a result of their efforts, they reap good “benes”.  On the flip side, however, there are those business owners that totally abandon the idea of effective marketing all together.  Many figure:  There are over 1 million potential customers online – I have a great Web site to draw visitors – the money should start rolling in at any moment...10, 9, 8, 7…And two years later they’re still counting. If you fail to develop a marketing plan, you are simply setting your business up for failure. The following will be the end result of your marketing efforts if you avoid careful planning: You will have low sales and conversion rates You will rarely receive requests for your products or services Wasted bucks on traffic leads will offer no conversion from your traffic Your business will more than likely flop So, what do you need to do in order to get your business out of a slump? You need to develop an effective Internet Marketing Strategy that will ultimately point you towards hitting your target market.  So, basically, you need to sit back, relax and create a short-term and long-term strategy.  For example, a short term strategy is one that will bring you a temporary traffic to your Web site (purchasing advertising, web directories and search engines).   Your long-term strategy is one that brings your Web site a consistent flow of targeted traffic over a prolonged period of time. This consists of strategies that will produce continued results for 3 to 5+ years. An example of this would be offering your visitors opt-in lists and giving away freebies, etc.  When you have a strategy, your end result will be a constant flow of targeted traffic to your Web site. Try a New Product Feature to Maximize Your Marketing Campaign Now that you’re finally headed in the right direction (hopefully you are) there are a few online products currently available on the Internet to help you accomplish this goal.  For example, this week, Microsoft announced a new feature added to their Dynamics CRM Online product.  If you’re a CRM customer, you can now monitor your marketing campaign's effectiveness.  You can capture sales leads from your Web sites, view click-through rates, and much more.  Before this product launched, there was no way of truly monitoring the value of your online marketing efforts, so, now you can.  With this product, you can determine which marketing techniques bring in the most sales and which techniques do not. See, this is the reason why so many business owners enjoy Internet marketing as opposed to off-line marketing. Today’s innovative online marketing concepts are fully loaded with a variety of options to help you not only advertise your business but to manage it as well. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_Lack_of_Marketing_Can_Place_Your_Business_in_a_Slump_.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_Lack_of_Marketing_Can_Place_Your_Business_in_a_Slump_.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:18:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) What is one of the most popular marketing programs available on the Internet at the moment? Affiliate marketing.  With this program, there’s no need to invade your savings account because unlike traditional forms of marketing and advertising, you save thousands.  The average small to medium-sized business owner doesn’t have to place expensive ads in glossy magazines or spend thousands of dollars on billboard advertising – in most cases - you only receive a few leads.  Plus you do not have to open a call center and hire telemarketers to promote your products or services.  With affiliate marketing, there’s absolutely no financial risk involved.  Entrepreneurs and business owners have fallen in love with this program because you only have to pay for the results. Basically, how this program works is that you pay your affiliate partners a fee for each sale that they make.  So, even if a partner doesn’t make a sale one week, you don’t have to pay for their time. And with traditional marketing, you have to foot the bill regardless of whether or not you received a lead ---I don’t know about you, but that is just a little too risky. When choosing affiliate marketing, keep in mind that the Internet is saturated with affiliate marketing programs.  So, if you want to have a successful campaign, it's crucial that your affiliate program is unique and captures the attention of professional affiliate marketers. The following are a few tips on how to create an affiliate marketing program that will separate you from the rest of the programs out there: First, you must have a niche market. When a prospect enters your web site, they should know exactly what you are selling.  If you are selling timeshares, you shouldn’t sell a selection of items that aren’t related. Keep it simple and stay focused on one market. Next step - find niche partners who own web sites that has visitors that are interested in your niche market. Don’t do business with flakes. Find people who are motivated and already have experience with affiliate marketing. So, your affiliate partners should already have traffic.  Find new partners by advertising your program on your web site or advertise in affiliate marketing directories, there are several available online. Even though you may have a team of partners, always search for new partners just in case one decides to quit. Always send out updates to your partners on a consistent basis.  This will keep them up to speed on your new products and services or any changes. Also, you should supply them with tips on how they can be successful in marketing your products and services.  Make your affiliate partners marketing job as simple as possible. You should provide them with attractive promotional material - this will save them time. Establishing a successful affiliate marketing program will help increase your sales in a big way. Just keep in mind that having a successful program takes time and patience to build. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Cut_Marketing___Advertising_Dollars_in_Half_with_SEM.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Cut_Marketing___Advertising_Dollars_in_Half_with_SEM.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:19:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Recently, I spoke with a friend of mine that hired a Web designer to build an e-commerce site for his company.  Later on in the conversation, I asked him about his marketing methods and he told me that he was in the process of hiring an assistant to make cold calls and send out direct mailings to leads.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing …cold calls, direct mail, Déjà Vu, we’re back in 1992.   When I mentioned Search Engine Marketing (SEM); he didn’t hesitate to say, “Oh, I don’t need that stuff. I have everything under control buddy.”   Yes, he was serious. And he is not the only small business owner who is stuck in a major time warp.  There are many people who will invest thousands of dollars in building a Web site but use antiquated marketing methods that haven’t worked since Clinton was in office. Then months later, many people wonder why traffic to their Web site is not what they had expected.  If you want to increase your traffic flow, you have to use the right techniques. Most off-line marketing techniques simply don’t work for the Internet environment.   So, why is search engine marketing crucial to the success of your business? Before I answer this, you first have to come to the realization that the majority of companies that own a Web site use search engine marketing to drive traffic to their site. One of the main reasons why you will definitely want to consider this form of marketing is because it is very affordable compared to the traditional methods. For instance, you can implement Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques to help increase your rankings. In due time, you will begin to notice that your traffic has increased. Pay-per-click is affordable because you can set limits on how much you will spend for each click.  Also, there are many Web directories available that are free and many directories that cost less than $50 per year.  How effective is search engine marketing? If your primary goal is to increase the amount of visitors to your site, you can measure your search engine marketing effectiveness by evaluating your Web traffic statistics prior to and after you have put search engine marketing into action. As your site begins to generate some traffic, you will want to keep tabs on your conversion rates as well. If your results are lower than you expected, it’s time to find new ways to increase the amount of hits to your Web site. Next, you will want to increase the conversion rates of your actual visitors. That way, you will know on instant what it takes to make your search engine marketing a big hit. As for my friend who insists that cold calling and direct mail is the wave of the future, he insisted that I will see his face on the cover of a major national business magazine in less than five years—not with those outdated marketing techniques.   http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Increase_Your_Rankings_with_Search_Engine_Marketing.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Increase_Your_Rankings_with_Search_Engine_Marketing.html rnjonjo@gmail.com (Robert Njonjo) Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:30:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) It's no big secret that Google and other search engines see local search as one of the next big steps in search engine results. Toward this end, Google has been working to include local businesses at the top of specific geographic search queries. How's this work? Well, let's say you decide that Japanese sounds good for dinner tonight. And let's say you are in Dallas, which, as you probably know, Zunch is. So you do a search in Google for "Japanese Restaurants Dallas." This is the image that appears above (yes, ABOVE) the search results:   The cool thing for the restaurants appearing here? The map and the listings appear at the top left of the search engine results page (SERP), prime real estate and generally the first area of the screen that a viewers eyes land on. The cooler thing for the restaurants appearing here? It didn't cost them a dime to appear there! Really. And it won't cost you anything to list your business. You can read Google's own blog on the subject for more info. The blog doesn't explain how to get listed, so here's what you do: Visit https://www.google.com/local/add/login and set up a Google Maps account. Not only can you add address, telephone and other information, but you can include a link to your Website. You'll next have to verify your address. To prevent anyone from posting fraudulent listings, Google will verify via snail mail (yes, snail mail), by sending you a postcard. You will receive a PIN on the postcard. You'll need to log back into Google Local/Maps and enter the PIN. The next time Google updates the listings, you'll be included. Be aware that it may take 3-4 weeks before you appear in the Map listings. This is an unbelievably simple way to get listed at the top of the search engines for local listings. If many of your prospects are local, doing this will give you a leg up on the competiton, unless, of course, they've figured out how to do this also. So get the jump on the competition and do it, now. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_to_use_Google_Maps_to_Get_Free_Advertising.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/How_to_use_Google_Maps_to_Get_Free_Advertising.html james.sadler@zunch.com (James Sadler) Wed, 07 Feb 2007 10:43:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM) According to Forrester Research's 2006 Internet Marketing Report, website visitors want three things from your website when they visit: 1.  High quality information.  Good, relevant information is the single biggest influence on a website visitor both staying at and returning to your site. 2.  Ease of use. The site must be simple and easy to navigate or they'll become discontented and leave. 3. Quick Download.  Visitors hate to wait. Most become frustrated if they have to wait more than a few seconds for a page to download, and will abandon it within five seconds. How should you use this information? Review your site to make certain you are offering quality content on your site. Make certain your site architecture is easy for visitors to navigate. And avoid using images or graphics that slow the downloading of a page. Remember, there are still a large number of people using dial up for their Internet access. Don't assume that everyone visiting your site has a fast connection and can download your web page in a matter of one or two seconds.  In my opinion, the single most significant factor is having good, relevant content on your site. This accomplishes two things: 1. If a visitor sees content that he or she believes will give them the information they are searching for, they'll stick around. 2.  Good, relevant content also is great "spider food," meaning the search engines love content and having good content helps your rankings in the Seach Engine Page Rankings. So, check that site out now. And if you need help, you know who to call. http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Do_You_Know_What_your_Website_Visitors_Really_Want.html http://searchenginemarketingblog.zunch.com/post/Do_You_Know_What_your_Website_Visitors_Really_Want.html james.sadler@zunch.com (James Sadler) Tue, 02 Jan 2007 13:27:00 CST Search Engine Marketing (SEM)