By members of the marketing department at Aviva Canada
February 16, 2010
Consumer trends speak for themselves – there continues to be an accelerated pace to which consumers are going online to do their shopping from research, consideration through to purchase and do so through self-directed online searches. As direct marketers, we need to consider Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as a powerful and business critical component to our overall direct marketing strategy.
What’s more, SEM can help boost your direct marketing campaigns by leveraging key words and phrases imbedded in your campaigning.
So, where do we start?
You’ve probably spent a lot of money developing your website but maybe you’re not seeing the increase in online sales leads that you had hoped for. When consumers search for you on Google, Bing and Yahoo (the top 3 search engines), your business shows up but on the fourth or fifth search results page. So, what do you do now? How do you make your site easier to find? How do you use SEM to drive more business to your business?
This article will cover the basics of search engine marketing (SEM), provide you with a few tools that you can start using today, and provide some resources to help you take your SEM to the next level and ensure your direct marketing efforts are fully actualized.
What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the entire set of techniques and strategies used to generate more visitors from search engines to your business or marketing website. SEM seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paid search (i.e. paid placement and contextual advertising) and organic placement. Here are some useful definitions:
Paid Placement refers to text ads that show up in search engines (such as Google, AdWords and Yahoo!) that are targeted to a user’s keyword search. Paid placement advertising is very targeted and supported with strong metrics analysis, which makes for calculating online advertising Return on Investment (ROI) so much easier. Paid placement is also sometimes referred to as “search marketing”, “pay per click” (PPC) or “cost-per-click” (CPC) advertising.
Contextual Advertising refers to text ads that are targeted to the subject of writings on web pages (such as news articles and weblogs) using programs such as Google's "AdSense" or Yahoo Search’s "Content Match" programs.
Organic Search or Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the practice of using a range of techniques, including optimizing HTML code, web page copy editing, site navigation, linking campaigns and more, in order to improve how well a site or page gets listed in search engines for particular search topics. The higher your site appears, the more likely that a consumer will click on it.
Four reasons why SEM can help your business:
- To increase/enhance brand awareness
- To sell products, services or content online
- To generate online leads and widen the sales funnel
- To provide informational and educational content
How can you leverage SEM for your business today?
Let’s say your business is a brokerage that sells auto insurance. Use relevant keywords within your site copy that customers will use to search for your services (i.e. XYZ insurance, xyz brokerage, auto insurance, etc). By doing this, search engines make a better association between your site and the services offered which in turn could lead to better search engine rankings.
Ensure that all your web pages have the correct html codes that search engines are looking for. Some codes include (but are not limited to):
- Meta Tags: Keywords & Description
- Title Tag
- Alt Tags (For Image Descriptions)
- H1 Tag (For Headings)
If you are handy with HTML this should be easily accomplished. If not, work with your creative agency or designer to include these items. This information is picked up by search engines and used to determine your search ranking.
Links on your web page should be descriptive and drive traffic to the information your visitors are looking for in one to two clicks. Ensure that any other websites that link to you use a descriptive link. For Example, instead of a link reading “ABC Broker”, the link should read “Insurance Broker in Calgary”. This helps your placement when people search for “Insurance Broker” as oppose to the name of your brokerage.
Start a Google AdWords account (we recommend reading up on how to set-up a pay per click account, cost per click rates and monthly advertising budgets) and start testing out simple ads and keywords. Google does an excellent job at providing both beginners and advance users with tools to optimize their paid advertising.
Work towards advertising your web site on other 3rd party sites. Comment on insurance blogs, get involved with online forums, and answer questions posed by consumers online. You can also ask your online business network to link back to your web page thus building your sites credibility (something search engines look for – for more information, search for “PageRank” on Google).
Start a blog about the business you are in and use it as a channel to advertise your company plus your knowledge/experience. Search engines love blogs and will pick-up your blog articles to list in their index. Remember blog articles that are short and sweet work best (The top 10 reasons to have car insurance; Why do you need identity theft protection? How to be safe this winter on the road – in 5 easy points? What does XYZ brokerage offer you?). Remember, you want to emulate what a user might type into a search box.
Additional resources
What is Google Adwords?
Advertising Your Business with Yahoo! Search Marketing
Wikipedia – What is search engine marketing?
Wikipedia – What is pay per click?
Search Engine Guide – The small business guide to search marketing
Groundswell – winning in a world transformed by social technologies
