Search Engine Marketing

From Website Traffic to Actual Business
Search Engine Marketing (or SEM) includes optimizing your site, submitting your site to directories, getting your site indexed by search engines, managing pay-per-click campaigns, writing and distributing optimized press releases and articles, using blogs and RSS, marketing via an affiliate program, driving traffic via social networks and much more. Today, Johnny Website can help you get more website traffic and convert those visitors into your customers with the right combination of copywriting, SEO, online marketing and website design. All of the above contribute (one way or another) to better listings for your site.

When I originally wrote this SEM page for The Web Mark back in 2005, I discussed how clients would often confuse the "optimization" of their site with the "submission" of their site to the various engines and directories. Back then, they said, "our website designers offered us that before and it didn't work -- nobody can find us still." Today, clients ask me about having a presence in the search engine results for various keywords and search phrases, but they also want me to help them make sense of social networks and how they can be used to drive traffic to their sites.

Submitting is not Enough
Building a Web site and submitting it to the directories and search engines does not mean your site will rank well for a specific category or search term. It's one part of a bigger menu of online marketing.

If it were that easy, I wouldn't be here. Still.

Optimizing your site is the first and most important step to starting a successful search engine marketing campaign. An optimized site addresses the same elements as a search engine spider would. In other words, it has the content, code, links, and other factors that help improve search engine ranking. Submitting the site to directories is a great way to build up new traffic, however, there are certainly more options and definitely more ways to drive traffic, so you have to consider a well-rounded traffic-building strategy.

Plan a Campaign
Regardless of the size and scope, a solid search engine marketing plan can help drive traffic to your website. The fact is that people use the Web as a first step before making a purchase -- from reading reviews of a book or movie, figuring out the best lawn mower to buy, choosing a veterinarian or for selecting the right vacation destination before making a purchase.

This is good news for businesses of any size because it is an affordable way to help increase site traffic, which translates into paying customers. Part of a good campaign is taking advantage of all the low-cost ways of advertising online (and even offline). The cost of good Web site optimization alone is usually well worth it in the long run.

Let the World See You
With the right search engine marketing plan, you can help put your Web site where the people can see it. Most people don't go past the first few results of a search engine query simply because there are too many options -- or distractions -- that prevent them from looking further.

If your site is one that sells product in a highly competitive online category, a good search engine marketing campaign is essential to success. This type of campaign usually involves a combination of link-building, social media, pay-per-click advertising and other elements.

A good search engine marketing campaign does not have to be an expensive endeavor -- and it starts with having the right content in a site designed with search engine marketing in mind.

To find out more about marketing your site, contact me today so we can discuss your specific situation and help you get more traffic to your site.