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[11.23.2006]

Search Engine Marketing -- | Branding + ROI |

This will be one of several blogs that furnishes details & updates of a particularly niche marketing industry that is growing at a rapid pace. It is called Search Engine Marketing popularly abbreviated as SEM is something that I have been very closely associated with lately.

SEM: Is the process of increasing the visibility of websites on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs: results that you see after you search using Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask). Google returns 100's of pages for every search. Now if I had a website and my link appeared in the 54th page for instance there is a very slim chance that a consumer is going to wade through 53 pages to get to my link. Thus improving rankings on the page is crucial to gain visibility and hence leads. This marketing technique involves 3 different practices:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The process of optimizing content, source code, architecture, keyword density, linking structure and positioning within a website to optimize rankings (popularly known as ORGANIC or NATURAL results) on Search Engine Result Pages.

2. Paid Advertising: A means of getting sponsored listings on SERPs by buying 'keywords' (the text that you enter in the search space in Google to search for something). For example Google provides a service called 'Adwords' to manage campaigns. So lets say company 'XYZ Inc.' is a steel manufacturer. XYZ Inc. then buys/bids for Keywords (on Google Adwords) that they think is relevant and popularly searched pertaining to their busines like 'Steel Manufacturer in US', 'Popular steel companies', steel makers and so on. There could be 1000 variations. So XYZ buys/bids on all these keywords that serve their ads on the pages. The ranking of ads in the sponsored lists again depends on a particular quality score (discussed in forthcoming blogs) and maximum bid amounts. Now there are again 3 types of Paid advertising methods.

• PPC (Paid Per Click): The advertiser/marketer pays search engines the maximum bid amount only when the consumer clicks on the ad
• CPM (Cost Per Mill): The advertiser/marketer pays an amount to the engines when the ad receives 1000 clicks
• CPA(Cost Per Acquisition): The advertiser/marketer pays search engines when the consumer fills out an application or completes a questionnaire or the likes. The price varies accordingly.
  

3. Paid Inclusion: This method guarantees inclusion in listings but is expensive and may not be efficient but is a quick fix.

Chandrachood

Services: Google - Adwords | Yahoo - Overture | MSN - Adcenter