Search Engine Marketing Services Melbourne
SEM Definition. What is SEM?
Wikipedia defines Search Engine Marketing as ...
Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of online web site marketing on the internet that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) primarily through paid advertising. SEM may incorporate search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content and site architecture to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages to enhance pay per click (PPC) listings. WikiPedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_marketing)
We think thats backwards! For most of our clients who undertake both SEO and PPC Marketing, they typically generate around 40% of their business from Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) and 60% from free, organic or relevancy results as a result of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
So we think SEM is driven by SEO which compliments PPC ... or so it should be!
Search Engine Marketing comprises:
- Keyword Research
- Creation of customer-focussed web site content
- Search Engine Optimisation and
- Adwords Pay Per Click Advertising
1. Keyword Research = online market research
To be successful in terms of generating leads or sales online or from your web site, you must rank well in Google for keyword phrases that:
- Closely relate to the products or services you offer, perceived issues or problems and percieved solutions
- Are entered into Google to search, ie. keyword phrases that have associated search volume in the relevant geography for your business
Oftentimes we see people whose web site only reflects their business perspective. That is, they have only thought about how they see their business and their products and services. They don't think about how their customers see or think about them, their brands, products or services, the issues they resolve or the solutions they offer.
This is critical because this is what people will likely enter into Google when searching for those particular products or services.
For example, in relation to a printer, do people think and search for 'brochures', 'flyers' or 'pamphlets'? They're the same in the real world, but 'chalk and cheese' in Google terms, so knowing which to target, is imperative.
Keyword Research helps you find out, from Google, what terms people are using to search. Yes, it is post 1994 and big brother is watching you.
And how many search terms should you look for or are you likely to find? In our experience, we typically find hundreds of terms for any given business. Remember, the focus initially is the 60% of opportunity from free, organic or relevancy results, so it does make sense to 'throw the net as wide as possible' and look for the 'long tail of search'.
NOTE: If an SEO Agency if offering SEO packages with 10, 20 or 50 keyword phrases or search terms, then we think then do not understand how to successfully market a business online!
The output from our Keyword Research is segmented groups of related terms that people are using to search in your target geography. This is the input to the next step of creating 'customer-focussed' web site content to attract people who want to buy what you sell to your online business.
2. SEM = Customer Focussed Web Site Content
Keyword Research tells you what your customers want. By including content on your web site specifically focused on what your customers are asking for or about, you are linking your business, via Google to your prospective customers. This process of producing customer-focussed web site content, is what we think of as Search Engine Marketing.
And to give you a simplistic example ... many serviced based businesses do not want to quote prices on their web sites as each case is often quite different or they do not want to alert their competitors to what they charge. But, if people are searching on phrases including the words 'costs' or 'pricing', quite simply, if you include some web site content giving price ranges or example pricing, your web site will be more likely to appear in Google search results pages when your prospects enter those terms in their search.
So, armed with the logically grouped sets of terms from Keyword Research, we work with you to build web site content or web pages, focussing on the content your customers want and are searching for.
And for an Australian business, asking someone from off-shore to undertake this task is going to be problematic simply because of the vagaries of the English language.
3. SEO = 'free' traffic to your web site
Now that you have customer focussed web content, optimising that content according to the rules Google et. al. use to rank web sites in search results, is the next step.
Firstly, SEO is an 'art' rather than a science, although there are fundamental rules. Content should be unique. The web site and pages should be structured soundly and include relevant on-page and off-page content.
Do note that no-one can guarantee rankings, because the rules for ranking web pages is the Intellectual Property (IP) of the search engine companies such as Google, and are a closely kept secret. And, the rules regularly change ... at least yearly. And finally, your competitors are likely working on their rankings and likely impacting on your web site rankings.
Search Engine Optimisation should thus be ongoing and supported with regular (monthly) and detailed reporting of rankings, web site traffic and conversion (leads or sales).
4. Adwords PPC = 'fast' results
PPC is fundamentally different to SEO. Pay Per Click advertisements:
- Appear in the premier position on the search engine results pages
- You have full editorial control over the displayed content
- Can start driving qualified traffic instantly
In our experience PPC Advertising can drive up to 40% of sales or leads to a mature web site which has also undertaken ongoing SEO. And for a new or significantly updated web site, PPC can generate leads or sales much more quickly than SEO given Google can take months to fully update its public search index.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Adwords is an auction based system and a key factor in the auction is Google 'Quality Score'.
'Quality Score' is effectively a measure of how well the target page for an advertisement ranks in the organic search results for the entered search term. If you do not rank well for a term, you will pay more for a click than you would if you ranked higher for that term.
So, any PPC Campaign needs SEO to minimise costs.
Then the next question is, do you want to focus only on sales opportunities or have a broad focus campaign which also works to 'brand' your business? We usually start with tighly focussed sales campaigns to generate leads or sales and then expand the campaigns with branding activity including Remarketing Campaigns.
It's all about finding a positive Return on your Investment (ROI).
So, why wait? If you want more business from the 'Net and want to work with a local Australian Search Engine Marketing specialist who speaks your language and has a proven track record of results (see our testimonials and portfolio), contact us today!
More information?
For more information regarding our SEM services, please feel free to call us on 0419 501 726, send an email to info at ribon.com.au or use our contact form on our Contact page to send us an inquiry.
