Stacy Williams was recently asked to speak to a group of business owners about search engine marketing. This is the final post of a four-part series based on her presentation about the most important things you need to know about search marketing today. We’ll cover tips on PPC and Mobile and Local Search.
14. Being found in local/maps/places results is critical
A Google Places verified address ranks prominently and the accompanying map occupies a lot of valuable space in the search engine results pages. Listing business locations is critical, even if it’s just an office with no business interaction. Sometimes the verification of a business address can be tricky but it’s well worth the effort!
15. Consider running PPC on mobile devices
More and more consumers are using their smart phones and tablets for search. They are in such high demand that Morgan Stanley estimates global unit shipments of smartphones and tablets to surpass shipments of notebook and desktop PCs this year! AdWords makes this easy to implement. In the Network and Devices tab you can select the types of mobile devices to target, or you can target by the mobile carrier. If iPhone users with AT&T are a valuable segment, you can target them specifically and avoid wasting money on less profitable segments.
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Stacy Williams was recently asked to speak to a group of business owners about search engine marketing. This is the third post of a five-part series based on her presentation about the most important things you need to know about search marketing today. We cover tips about PPC and Social Media today.
8. Pull PPC levers wisely
There are numerous performance-affecting levers in a pay-per-click campaign that can be pulled. Focusing on improving those that have the greatest effect can really improve your campaign. Want a hint? High quality and relevant landing pages, compelling ad copy, and keyword quality scores are three variables that can always be improved upon.
9. Focus more on PPC ad copy and less on bids
Bid management can just get you more eyes and won’t do much if your campaign lacks compelling ad copy. Focus on the disease, not the symptom. Improving ad copy can raise click-through-rates and conversion rates, and can also reduce the cost-per-click. This often makes struggling with bids less of an issue.
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Stacy Williams was recently asked to speak to a group of business owners about search engine marketing. This is the second post of a five-part series based on her presentation about the most important things you need to know about search marketing today. This post will continue to discuss tips for search engine optimization (SEO).
5. Optimized press releases work
Optimized press releases are a great SEO tool that is often overlooked in SEM strategies. By sending out the press release yourself, you can bypass the press and reach your prospects directly through a controlled message.
How can a press release help SEO and how can it be optimized? Press releases affect SEO in a number of ways…
They take up more room in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) which means that your site is occupying more of that valuable real estate and keeping the competition out.
They also are a great link-building tool for bring up your site rankings. An invaluable element of these links is that you create the anchor text linking back to your site. Having a lot of backlinks with keyword-rich anchor text is an invaluable means of attaining high rank for those keywords.
Press releases also generate brand awareness, and as a result, site traffic.
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Stacy Williams was recently asked to speak to a group of business owners about search engine marketing. This is the first post of a five-part series based on her presentation about the most important things you need to know about search marketing today. We’ll start with tips about search engine optimization (SEO).
1. Search engine marketing offers incredible value to businesses
Search engines continue to be a huge marketing channel. In North America there are 266 million Internet users. In the US alone, there are a whopping 23 billion searches performed every month, and that number keeps growing. Skeptical if this translates into dollars? SEMPO and E-Consultancy estimated the value of the North American Search Engine Marketing Industry to be $16.6 billion in 2010, and projects it to be $19.3 billion in 2011. There are a lot of competing marketing channels out there, but search engine marketing has arrived as a top contender.
Best of all, SEM is flexible, measurable, and offers a great ROI. As proof, Prominent Placement’s clients average a $9 return, in terms of lead value generated, for each $1 spent.
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