Have you ever wondered why your competitor’s information is showing up in search engines results page instead of yours? The answer could be that they are using SEM to increase their visibility in search. Although anyone can gain exposure through SEM, many people don’t realize how they can use it.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) consists of different marketing strategies to increase your website’s visibility on various search engine platforms like Yahoo and Google. “Micro moments” happen every day when costumers search and compare different products and services online. During these micro moments, customers are guided to businesses with the most relevant information related to the search. Businesses that take advantage of SEM are taking active steps to answer their customer’s questions.
SEM uses paid services to drive potential customers to your website. If your website has certain keywords that your customers are searching for, these specific keywords will help your advertisement show customers exactly where the product they’re looking for is located. Not every keyword is a great keyword. Keywords with poor quality scores (relevance to your ad) will not show to potential customers when they search for your services.
SEM Strategy
An effective SEM strategy can mean the difference between a boom or bust for your business. A large part of that strategy is having ads that mold with your business objectives. These ads can have different messages depending on what you want them to say. It would be a best practice technique to have something generic that explains what your business is, and one that explains what you have for sale. However, you can have as many ads as you want. It’s not unusual to have more than one campaign going at the same time; as long as they both have different goals so they don’t compete against each other.
In order to effectively measure a campaigns performance, it’ll take time to build-up enough data to measure the results. After some time has passed, you can compare the results and make a decision on which ad performed the best by comparing different statistics. So it’s important to know the basics on how to measure performance. There are a lot of key performance indicators you can look at within your campaign to measure the success of your advertisement.
A few of them are:
- Click Through Rate – Measures the average rate a potential customer sees and clicks your ad.
- Clicks – Measures how many times potential customers click your ads.
- Impressions – Measures how many times your ad is seen.
- Conversions – Measures how many site visitors have become customers.
So, you have a website for your business – great! You’re already off to a good start. However, in order to maximize your business site’s potential, your website should be one of your main lead generators for your company. It will have a hard time succeeding if no potential customers can find it. SEM works as a map to help your potential customers find what they’re looking for… Your business.
Don’t forget to subscribe for our monthly newsletter!