Transcript Good Evening Introduction to Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Good Evening
Introduction to
Search Engine
Marketing (SEM)
Introduction to Web Marketing
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Presented by Rob Laporte of DISC,
www.2DISC.com
With the Steady Sales Group, with
Sheldon Snodgrass
www.SteadySales.com
Sponsored by HCDC
This Evening’s Plan
Speaker’s Background
 Audience’s Background
 A Three Minute History of Web
Marketing

This Evening’s Plan (cont.)
 ROI
(Return On Investment)
 What I Will Not Discuss
 Email Marketing (Briefly)
 Affiliate Marketing (Briefly)
 Banner Advertising (Briefly)
This Evening’s Plan (cont.)
Key Definitions
 Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 Submitting Your Web Site to the SEs
 Predicting & Tracking Results
 In-house vs. Outsourced
 The Future of SEM

This Evening’s Plan (cont.)
 Usability
in Web Site Design
 Questions and Open
Discussion
Speaker’s Background
 Traditional
Marketing to
Shakespeare Scholar to
Web Marketing Consultant
and Business Owner
 Founder of DISC,
www.2disc.com
Audience Background
Your professions and why you are here
 How many have web sites now?
 How many have done some web
marketing?
 How many would like to do some web
marketing?
 Vocabulary Quizz
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Audience Background (Cont)
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By show of hands, how many of you have done or
contracted for paid placement or pay-per-click
SEM?
How many have done or contracted for search
engine optimization (SEO) or “organic SEO”?
How many have heard of the software,
“Maestro”?
How many have heard of the SEM software,
“IGAAMI”?
How many plan to do some web marketing within
the next 6 months?
How many find SEM to be a baffling field?
One Minute History of SEM
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1995-1998: Text-rich, often ugly sites got lucky
with good SE position
1997 – 1999: A plague of spam tactics, most of
which will now get you banished or demoted
2000 – 2001: failing web design firms scramble
willy-nilly into SEM; illegitimate tactics and
pricing confuses buyers and poisons the SEM
well.
2001 – Now: SEM moves firmly into mainstream
business, with major corporate attendance at the
Search Engine Strategies conference series, and
with a major shift of corporate marketing budgets
into SEM.
One Minute History of SEM
(Cont.)
 Unlike
other web marketing
channels, there is a lot of published
statistics about the growth and
viability of SEM.
 Recent
moves by Microsoft and
Yahoo, for example, attest to present
and future importance of SEM.
Brief History: Re-Cap
Poor Thinking, Bad
Investments, and now, at last,
Focus on ROI
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ROI (Return On Investment)
The Current Buzz about ROI
 Not all ROI is Measurable, but much is.
 (Clicks to your Web site x Conversions x
Gross Profit) – Costs (in labor, software,
and advertising).
 Assign a value to a contact from the web,
whether a form, and email, or a phone
call.

What I Will Not Discuss
 Few
details, but I will point you to
good resources
 Ebay, Froogle, Yahoo’s new
Product Search and Trusted
Feed
 Several other secondary and / or
advanced web marketing tactics
Email Marketing
 Fuggetaboutit
 No
spam, no rental lists
 Careful use of in-house “opt-in”
generated email list is OK
 But how do you get that list in the
first place?
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SEM, people who email you, from all other
traditional marketing channels.
Email Marketing Resources
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In my opinion the best book on e-mail marketing as of about a
year ago is Permission-Based E-mail Marketing That Works by
Kim MacPherson (2001). I have not read The E-Mail Marketing
Handbook (2002) by Dr. Ralph Wilson, but I suspect that it is
very good. There are tons of web sites with information, but one
of the best, if not the best, is www.wilsonweb.com. The Direct
marketing Association’s web site can have some good
information: www.the-dma.org, (esp. see www.thedma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=1304 ). Another excellent
resource is the I-copywriting discussion list and archives:
www.adventive.com/lists/icopywriting/summary.html.
Affiliate Marketing
 Maybe
Later ($30,000 minimum
in first year)
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“a system of tracked referrals from one web
site’s content to a related site, such that the
referring site earns a contractual percentage
of the value of all present and/or future sales
or leads” – Rob Laporte
Affiliate Marketing (Cont.)
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The Big Five are: MyAffiliateProgram.com,
Commission Junction (cj.com), BeFree
(BeFree.com), LinkShare (LinkShare.com), and
Performics (Performics.com).
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Two of these have moved into SEM
Big investment, medium risk, big rewards
It can help your SEM, via inbound links.
Affiliate Marketing Resources
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Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants
(2001) by Shawn Collins.
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/advertisi
ng/article/0,,5941_1577071,00.html – Good
statistics on affiliate marketing compiled by
Shawn Collins.
http://www.clickz.com/aff_mkt/aff_mkt/archives.
php -- ClickZ.com is a good resource for all
web marketing matters. The links here pertain
to affiliate marketing.
Banner Advertising
 Fuggetaboutit
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Upcoming ROI analysis will
explain
But there are always
exceptions, so have a few
standard sized banners ready
to go
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Ask for publisher for stats and
references
Banner Advertising Resources
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www.iab.com (or .net but NOT .org) –
Internet Advertising Bureau. By far the
most authoritative resource, though
they do push the industry and in the
past have published patently biased
research.
 www.clickZ.com
ROI Interlude
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Please See ROI Hand-out
Search Engine Marketing
Definitions & Perspectives
 Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
 Submitting Your Web Site to the SEs
 Tracking Results
 In-house vs. Outsourced
 The Future of SEM
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SEM Definitions
SEM = Search Engine Marketing (Some
now say “Inquiry Marketing” is more apt)
 SEO = Search Engine Optimization, also
called Organic or Natural SEO/SEM
 PPC = Pay-Per-Click (e.g., Overture,
Google AdWords)
 Paid Placement includes PPC plus any
way by which you pay to get into the
search engines, e.g., Trusted Feed, Yahoo
Directory.
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SEM: It’s Hot
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Paid search listings will total $1.6 billion by the end of 2003,
making up 25 percent of total online advertising spending. Two
years ago, it made up only 10 percent of spending. -- Jupiter
Research, July 2003
42% of those who bought from online retail sites arrived via
search engines.
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The average work user spends 73 minutes per month
at search engines, second only to 97 minutes at
news, info and entertainment sites.
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Over the next five years, the researcher expects spending on
search to increase by a compound annual rate of more than 20
percent. -- Jupiter Research, July 2003
Please see the handout, “Search Powers Online Ad Revival.“
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SEM: A Highly Disciplined Field
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If there were a cheap (under $2000) or easy
(under 20 hours) solution, tons of businesses
would do it, thus nullifying the competitive
advantage of the solution.
To better understand the skills and labor time
needed in SEM, please see my article, “SEM: InHouse vs. Outsourced,” at the Search Engine
Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO),
www.sempo.org/sem-article-sem-in-house-vs-outsourced.php
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That article is crucial for deciding not only
whether you should try SEM in-house, but also for
evaluating a prospective SEM vendor.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
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Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing is a
method of advertising on search
engines like Overture and Google and
their many affiliated search engines.
Companies pay to be listed in search
results. The higher a company's bid for
a particular search term, the higher its
listing in the results.
PPC: Hype and Reality
 There’s
been a lot of media hype over
PPC, because:
It has proven the best revenue source for the SEs,
who thus promote it heavily.
 The media fastens onto “The Next Great Thing.”
Many SEM vendors hype PPC, because, compared to
SEO, it is easier to do (but not easier to do well) and
is easier to hire for. In PPC it is also easier to
guarantee placement (though not ROI).
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PPC: Hype and Reality
(cont.)
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Reality: It is a lot more difficult to get positive ROI
than you might think – see my SEMPO.org article.
Reality: Tons of people over-bid and don’t know it
-- or don’t care because they have a marketing
budget to spend and the boss can see the
placements in the SEs.
Reality: Click charges can bleed you to death
slowly, and when you stop paying, your site
vanishes from the SEs.
Reality: Tracking ROI and adjusting your PPC
campaign accordingly can take a lot continuous
time.
PPC: Hype and Reality
(cont.)
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SEM professionals concur that, while SEO
earns better ROI than PPC, PPC is still worth
doing, especially if you use PPC management
software, like BidRank, Did-It’s Maestro,
GoToast.com, or several others that improve
on the bid management tools built into
Overture, AdWords, FindWhat and the other
PPC SE’s.
The key is predicting, tracking and adjusting
ROI: (Clicks to your web site x conversions x
gross profit or value of a lead) – costs (in
labor, software, and click charges)
Your SEM vendor or marketing manager
should work out with you in detail the ROI
formulas specific to your business by which
PPC Trends
 Localization
 Better
Self-Serve (less
expertise needed)
 The
Major Search Engines
Begin to Take Over SEM
Firms’ work (and Clients)
PPC: Sample ROI Calculation
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$400 (cost of sale) x 4.6% (3158 April
visits divided into 146 online catalog
requests) x 1.8% (conversion of
prospects mailed a brochure who
became customers) = $0.33 maximum
bid.
Please see your handouts for sample
Overture reports.
Search Engine Optimization
(SEO)
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The web is above all a linguistic
phenomenon
The top search engines constitute
the nexus, the spider at the center
of this web of words.
Match the language of your web site
to the language used in searches
performed by your best prospects.
SEO: What It Is
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SEO matches the language of your
web site (every keystroke, not merely
copy writing) to the language used in
search engine queries by your
prospects.
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Copy writing, html titles, navigation links, all file
and folder names, and (least effectively)
keyword meta-tags and alt tags – all words
count.
But what frequency, density and distribution of
key phrases should you use in each page? This
question is one major reason SEM professionals
exist. The best SEM firms reverse engineer the
SE algorithms.
SEO: Immediate Results &
Long-Term Investment
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Done right, SEO brings in a larger
quantity of targeted traffic than
does PPC, without click charges.
Contrary to what some SEM firms
(who want retainer fees) say, SEO,
properly done, does not require
frequent tweaking or re-submitting.
DISC SEO’d client sites in 1998 and
1999 that are still prevailing in the
SEs, with no changes to SEO
tactics.
Is Your Site Ready for SEO?
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Unlike PPC, SEO almost always requires
some site redesign or at least re-coding of
the current design.
Most sites have been and are being built by
webmasters who know little or nothing about
SEO architecture.
If you are planning to build or re-build your
site, consult with an SEM expert or online
resource before even taking a crayon to
paper. Even if you don’t do SEO, you want
your site to be open to the SE spiders.
SEO, Dynamic Sites, Shopping
Carts, & E-catalogs
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Opening non-static sites to the SE
spiders is a major trend now.
I do not have time even to
summarize this field.
Flash only sites can’t be read by the
SE spiders. Use Flash sparingly.
Mod_rewrite for Apache and its
Windows equivalents alone are NOT
a solution.
SEO: Examples
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Please see your handout for
the dog training web sites.
SEO Resources
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A Good starter for the
beginner is the brief how-to
section of my former
employee’s web site:
www.alchemistmedia.com
 More
SEM resources will
conclude the SEM section
Submitting Your Site to the SEs
Following the instructions at
the SE’s is good enough for
beginners and for most smaller
budget operations.
 For the top SEs and their
relations with one another, see
your handout and
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www.bruceclay.com/searchenginechart.pdf
Predicting and Tracking SEM
Results
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In most cases you can predict and track
the site traffic and revenues and
resulting Return On Investment (ROI) of
both PPC and SEO.
Improvements in software for predicting
and tracking comprise a major trend in
SEM today.
I highly recommend that you use an
experienced SEM person to predict SEM
ROI before beginning SEM, so that you
can allocate resources and measure
results.
Predicting and Tracking SEM Results
(Cont.)
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WordTracker, Overture’s Term Suggestion
Tool, WebPosition™ reports, and server
statistics (WebTrends, Webalizer,
Hitbox.com, WebStat.com) showing SE
referrals to a site are industry standards
for predicting and tracking SEM results.
Many other excellent tracking tools are
available: ClickTracks.com,
ConversionRuler.com, TrafficROI.com –
see the resources section of
www.SEMPO.org and
www.SearchEngineWatch.com.
Improvements in and wider use of such
tools are a major trend in SEM today.
Tracking Results: Re-Cap
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You can track the source of every
visitor to your web site, what that
visitor does on your site, how much
they spend, and use that info to
hone your web marketing.
Please see your handouts for a sample
server statistic.
SEM: In-House or Out-Source?
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SEM is a serious, difficult discipline,
requiring months of training and
experience
However, you can do (or have your
webmaster do) a few things that will help
For more, please see my article at
www.sempo.org/sem-article-sem-in-house-vsoutsourced.php ( under “Resources at
www.sempo.org. )
Choosing or Hiring an SEM
Expert
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Ask for proof of past
successes in the form of
WebPosition™ reports and
server stats. Ideally, a vendor’s
web site would display some
of this proof.
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Get names and numbers of
past clients with whom you
can speak.
The Future of SEM
Better regional and local searching
and marketing
 More screen real estate taken by
paid listing vs. free “editorial listings
 Better ROI Tracking and automatic
bidding.
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The Future of SEM:
Localization
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Localization and regionalization of the
SEs: See ya later Yellow Pages (both
print and online).
Localization of SE queries, a trend that
is happening as we speak, means that
smaller budget businesses will be able
to earn good ROI from SEM.
The Future of SEM: SEO Prevails
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More screen real estate will be taken
by paid listings as opposed to the free
“editorial” listings in which only SEO
can positions you.
However, SEO will remain the most
cost-effective web marketing
channel. The SEs can’t sell all or
even most of their screen space,
because if they do, another Google
will emerge to convince people that
it has great “objective,” non-paid
listings.
The Future of SEM: Optimizing
Site Conversion Rates
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When most businesses deploy automatic
optimization of PPC web marketing, your
competitive advantage will come from superior
SEO and from optimization of the conversion
rates of your web site. The latter will require
superb usability and navigation design, and
testing of multiple landing pages. This trend is
in full swing now.
www.useit.com – Jakob Nielsen is the Guru of
site usability and navigation – His books are
required reading for webmasters and web
marketers.
Usability in Web Site Design
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Half of successful web marketing is getting
the right people to your site;
The other half is convincing them when
they are on your site.
You or your web designer must read Jakob
Nielsen, who is by far the top usability
guru: www.useit.com and the wonderful
book HomePage Usability.
SEM Resources: A Few Good Links
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www.SearchEngineWatch.com – The best, but you could
spend months reading it all
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www.SEMPO.com – Second best, and more condensed.
SEM vendors here should become members.
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www.clickz.com – The single best source for all things web
marketing.
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www.WilsonWeb.com – Enormous, well selected array of
web marketing articles.
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www.bruceclay.com/searchenginechart.pdf - shows affiliate
relationships among the top SEs.
www.alchemistmedia.com - A good how-to primer, by DISC’s
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former employee and current luminary in the SEM field.
www.useit.com – The Guru of site usability and navigation – His
books are required reading for webmasters and web marketers.
www.cyberatlas.com – tons of great web marketing statistics.
Questions and Open Discussion
Thank You and Good Night
Introduction to
Search Engine
Marketing (SEM)