eMarketing Blog

Search Engine Management (SEM) is a collective approach of integrated solutions ranging from natural listings to trusted feeds. Starting out, one method may be more dominant. Often PPC is employed for new campaigns, then gradually reduced as the dependency on PPC is shared with more cost-effective natural options, such as the Search Engine Optimistation (SEO) element of SEM. The type of product or service offered has a bearing to. A spend on affiliate marketing or trusted feeds may be more suitable, particularly with E-commerce websites.

There’s more than one front.

• Natural Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Affiliate Marketing
• Banner Ads
• Trusted Feeds

Natural Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Unlike PPC, SEO listings are not budget-dependent and therefore do not expire when budget is unavailable.
 
This is the process of optimising a web site so that it is ranked as highly as possible in the natural listings of a search results page. Search engines send out ’spiders’ to score web pages based on content; this is stored in an index. When a user conducts a search, the engine matches that term against the index and displays the listing in accordance with its score.  

Relevancy: search engine algorithms are designed to prioritise natural search results based on relevance to a user search. As a result, traffic from natural listings tends to be of a higher quality.
 
Longevity: once a site is correctly indexed and optimised, the listings are there ‘permanently’. Natural SEO therefore provides long-term exposure of your web offering.

Self-perpetuating: a correctly optimised site structure will facilitate ongoing indexing of existing and new pages in your site over the long-term.

Cost-efficiency: SEO can be the most cost-effective and highest returning form of online marketing.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Paid Search is where the advertiser pays to appear within the major search engines under targeted search terms. The payment model is Cost Per Click (CPC); you only pay when a consumer identifies your listing and clicks through to your site. Its quick to get started and often is a must for new campaigns.

Here’s a few things to think that campaign managers need to consider.

• Keyphrase analysis and search term targeting
• Copywriting and creative for ad listings
• Campaign setup: ad group creation; deep-linking specification; engine submission
• Bid strategy: setting optimum CPC targets and bid rules for each ad listing
• Bid management and monitoring: optimising your ad listings throughout the campaign to maximise
• ROI                                        

Affiliate Marketing

What is it?

Revenue sharing between one site called the affiliate which features an Ad or content designed to drive to another site know as the merchant or seller.

Advantage: It’s a pay for peformance model, so no payment is due to an affiliate until results are realised.

Banner Ads

How does it work?

Having created a stylish and captivating banner to twinkle the eye it’s time to optimise your coverage. webAdLink places your banners on premium websites within a network of over 5 million visitors per month. Weatheronline.co.uk, Virtualtrader.co.uk, glass.co.uk, scoot.co.uk, Adtrader.co.uk are a few example of high-traffic websites participating in the webAdLink advertising programme. In addition to giving you access to a broad audience, the weAdLink Advertising programme allows you to precisely focus on your target market.

Your banners are placed exactly where your potential customers are, by selecting your banner placement according to location or business sector, for example Automotive, Cinema, Travel, Xmas Shopping, Real Estate. Measured in Page Impressions (PI).

With goBilly webAdLink you can participate in one of the largest banner advertising networks.

Final thought 

As with all successful marketing, with SEM its a collective and integrated approach to reach your target audience that will otpimise your campaign results. 

The good old days of laissez-faire marketing would appear to have gone forever. Like it or not, marketing is now a highly-regulated part of business life. The question is not so much “What can we do about it?” as “How do we live with it? There are currently 10 new bills that will affect marketers before parliament. They won’t be the last.

‘Marketing compliance is a duty not an option’

Ignorance of the Law is no defence, so burying your head in the sand isn’t a realistic option either.

In the past, self-regulation has been the basis for marketing’s relationship with governments. But this self-regulatory framework is being written with legislation. In the UK, 21 new ACTS, regulations or amandments affecting marketers have been passed in the last year.

Did you know?

• Global laws - Internet law, such as COPPA. Recent US law that forbids companies, whether in US or overseas, from collecting personal data about minors (defined as children under 13).
• Olympic Bill - It is illegal to combine words like ‘games’, ‘medals’, ‘gold’, ’sponsors’, or ’summer’ in any form of advertising. More..
• Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) - e.g. companies required to provide ‘opt-in’ boxes for unsolicited electronic mail, rather than the ‘opt-out’ boxes which are still prevalent.
• The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 - Did you know, it just doesn’t cover the accessibility of your physical premises; it covers your virtual presence as well. Your website is leaglly required to be accessible to anyone with a disability. 81% of websites failed to meet basic criteria. More..

‘1 in 4 advertisements for private home mortgages were non-compliant with FSA (Financial Services Authority)’

Survey by Mortgages Plc (May 2005)..

..Courtesy of David Thorp (Head Insights) 

Hot Source - hungry for more..

“It’s not about compliance with legislation, it’s about building a business case around compliance” Duncan at www.icompli.co.uk

Search Engine Submission software automates the search engine submission process, and provides insight into search engine optimisation (SEO) to help you achieve better rankings in the top search engines.

However be aware:

• Its not instant and can take up to 6 months.
• No guarantee for your search words.
• Relies on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of your web site.
• Search Engines such as Google and Yahoo, keep changing the rules.

Here’s a few suggestions to help with SEO.

• Submission of your Web site to national and local search engines and directories

• Expert analysis of your Web site for factors that together increase the chances that your Web site will be indexed by search engines

• Expert analysis search engine optimisation recommended

• Search Engine Optimization tools, including:
  • Link Popularity Tool
  • Meta Tag Generator
  • Search Results Ranking
  • Keyword Suggestion Tool
  • HTML Analysis
  • Web site Uptime

• In-depth Web site visitor and traffic analysis, including:
  • Page Views
  • Unique Visitors
  • Referrers
  • Visitor Detail
  • Search Engine Referrals
  • Search Engine Keywords

• Setup and configuration of reports by a search engine marketing expert

For instant campaign driven promotions it’s not always the ticket, but in the long term it can pay rewards that is until the rules change.

webAds origins from frustrated campaigners, wanting instant results, guarantee and flexible listing with numerous keywords and phrases utilises the fatsest growing advertsing media on the net, sponsored links or pay-per-click PPC. Even accounts for more advertising than radio and is competing for the top spot with TV advertising. Find out more..

Let’s start off by reviewing the formal definitions of each and then I’ll go into the explanation of how marketing and advertising differ from one another:

Advertising: The paid, public, non-personal announcement of a persuasive message by an identified sponsor; the non-personal presentation or promotion by a company of its products to its existing and potential customers.

Marketing: The systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products.

The best way to distinguish between advertising and marketing is to think of marketing as a pie, inside that pie you have slices of advertising, market research, media planning, public relations, product pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. Advertising only equals one piece of the pie in the strategy. All of these elements must not only work independently but they also must work together towards the bigger goal. Marketing is a process that takes time and can involve hours of research for a marketing plan to be effective. Think of marketing as everything that an organisation does to facilitate an exchange between company and consumer.

Courtesy of