In the first installation of our Blog Optimization Series, I went over the basic fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization. It has been some time coming but I’ve spent a good deal of time — researching on the latest on the next installment. The second addition to our series will be Search Engine Marketing.
The back-door into SERPs, maybe? If you have the $$, it’s the easy way to get traffic from Search Engines. If your one of the many, that can throw money for the better of your website — let’s take a look at some of your options and a few pointers on the sidelines too…
Search Engine Marketing
If you’ve been following this series, you might remember in the first post — I went over why people optimize their blogs for Search Engines. This is a long and strenuous process, that can never be completely done — because not matter how well you optimize your blog; there will always be something more you can do (even add another inbound link.)
So, is there any hope for those that are not consistent? Perhaps not so much of a solution but an alternative to gradual SEO would be to throw money at SEM. Search Engine Marketing is utilizing the services provided by big-named companies, to sell ad-space.
Google Adwords or Facebook Ads just might ring a bell in your mind, but what differentiates a SEM campaign from a good SEM campaign? It’s about planning, managing and knowing not one, not two but as many of your options as possible. Let’s break it down to a simpler format.
Designing the Campaign
Just like any other project — a design sketch of the campaign is required. Before you start spending money like there’s no tomorrow; it’s absolutely critical that you have a basic idea of the concept of SEM and also a definite plan.
Your plan should include aspects of your campaign such as budget, start dates, end dates, minimum expectations, PPC (price per click). A campaign without a design usually runs into trouble sooner or later because many people overlook the simple things.
Managing the Campaign
Once you have a design, traffic won’t start flowing in. You have to keep a constant eye on how the statistics are performing, and which areas needs your attention/supervision. Many people assume that SEM is a “do once and forget” technique to conquer the SERPs but they couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just like SEO is a constantly updated process — SEM requires an ever watchful eye; to pick up on trends and assign profitable PPC rates for specific keywords. The design + management of SEM campaigns can be out-sourced to the millions of SEO Companies out there — but there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it yourself? Save money, and you know what exactly what is going on within the campaign itself.
Google Adwords
Google Adwords is the big-daddy of all PPC Advertising program. One of the most significant earners for the multi-billion dollar company and a program that offers a lot for the little guy. We haven’t been exploring the possibilities and features of Adwords here @Blogussion but there’s so much to it — that I won’t be able to cover it in one post.
So, going by a generalization that we all have heard about Google Adwords — I would encourage you to take it for a spin. Learn as much as you can about the program from as many useful sources of information as you can find, then play around with it a little while. For some people Google Adwords is their key to success, for other’s nothing more than a waste of time.
Yahoo Search Marketing / Microsoft adCenter
Almost the counter-parts of Google Adwords, these two programs are the closest competition to it. On a personal level, I haven’t explored their full functionality but on a search engine basis — they won’t be that dissimilar to Google Adwords. Depending on the Search Engine that best suits your interest, the three services will provide a range of options and features to help you rake in the targeted traffic from around the SERPs.
Social Media Ad Networks
If your site is so more socially-orientated - you might find advertising on social media networks; such as Facebook to be a gold mine. Obviously, you won’t appear on the front pages of these media networks, but you’ll reach a fairly high percentage of users with the correct research + PPC rates.
It’s important that you target your site to specific social media networks. For example, advertising your blog about penicillin on Myspace wouldn’t be your best bet. Search around niche-specific media networks that offer paid advertising and you’ll be raking in some very loyal readers.
Stay Tuned!
Search Engine Marketing is a very broad topic with many outward branches, but hopefully this can give you a little bit of intuition of what it is — and how people can manipulate it for their own benefit. Websites such as SearchEngineWatch, come up with some nice tips and tricks when it comes to SEW — something we can all learn from.
Stay tuned for the next and final installment in the Blog Promotion Series : Social Media Optimization!
18 Discussions
Thanks for sharing Social media marketing tricks. I will start using them in coming days in order to make my blog popular.
Ricky Peterson’s last blog post..Tips for Writing Great Headlines
Thank you for dropping by Ricky. Hopefully these Search ENGINE marketing techniques will help you
I think designing the campaign is the most important part. Planning is very important.
teenwebguru’s last blog post..Are You Obsessed?
Just like in anything else, you need to have a plan
But you quite right on how important it is – that is VERY!
The Key to successfully running a PPC campaign is split testing.
As for social media advertising on Facebook, I have yet to see someone with positive feedback. I’ve been using them in the past, and I recommend to use the lowest bid possible because you’ll just get more clicks. No matter how low your bids, (strangely) Facebook will max out your daily limit budget! The conversion rate I got from there were terrible. Definitely a no no for me; I won’t advertise again on Facebook.
Nicolas Prudhon’s last blog post..Migrating to WordPress
Check out some articles on http://bryn.me/ – he seems to do pretty well with Facebook; gives some heads up on what to and not to do.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..May Top Commenter Contest Begins – April Winners Announced!
Thanks Dennis, I went to see his site.
Facebook has been blowing away about $1,000 daily within minutes for me in the past, with no results, as I told Bryn, I ain’t going to take a chance by offering 100K to Facebook!
Facebook will surely give you traffic (at least hits, I’m still skeptical as the real human nature of the visitors…) but when it comes to conversion…
Even if it’s tricky, I much prefer Adwords where I get much more better results.and worth for my money.
Nicolas Prudhon’s last blog post..Migrating to WordPress
Nicolas,
Adwords is definitely better especially when you want clicks on an exact key phrase that you want people to find your site.
Kai Lo’s last blog post..SEO Or Social Network Traffic: Which Is Better For Your Blog?
Thanks for the Dennis, I’ve just skimmed over a couple of the articles – and it’s good stuff! I’ve subscribed myself
I’ve heard quite a fair bit of spilt testing, but haven’t used it personally myself. Seems a lot of data/stats to keep track of – so I resort to SEO over SEM any-day. However might have to take a closer look in the future
I should’ve included that point too Nicholas, when it comes to Facebook – giving it the lowest CPC will be the most profitable for you. It has been the better “technique” for me, but I’ve had more days than not – that Facebook doesnt even get close to my daily limit.
This was back in the day, when TeenProBlogger was still my main blog. Not sure about it now, maybe it’s changed. When did you try out Facebook adverts?
That was last year in 2008, and in not in a very popular niche (origami/paper crafts) This is why it was really scary!
I just saw $30,000 going to smoke… not again… ever.
Split testing is very important in PPC it is the key to running a profitable campaign or not.
Nicolas Prudhon’s last blog post..Self-hosted WordPress on a Shoestring Budget
“The design + management of SEM campaigns can be out-sourced to the millions of SEO Companies out there – but there’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t be able to do it yourself?”
If you do decide to outsource, may I STRONGLY suggest going with a fellow blogger/marketer that you’ve already come to know and trust that is already doing what you seek…vs any of the “SEO companies” and their off the wall claims.
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..May Top Commenter Contest Begins – April Winners Announced!
I should’ve been clearer on that point, but your quite right Dennis! By no means was I encouraging hiring a random SEO firm – just pointed out that there’s heaps of them out there.
Selecting one from the many is something else and I agree with the fact, that you should always go by recommendations
“Heaps” is my point and a big problem. It always cracks me up to see, “we can get everyone a #1 spot for there keyword”
Suddenly they get 432, 568 emails for the keyword “make money online”….anyone else see the mathematical problem here?
Dennis Edell’s last blog post..Article Marketing Made Easy
Search Engine Marketing is not utilised by many of the “small-time” webmasters mainly because there’s real money at stake.
Just reading to as what Nicholas also said, if you don’t really know what you are doing – money can be easily be put to waste. Just like every newbie, I’ve had my fair share of loss in search engine marketing “experiments” back in the day
Very Excellent information provided.Thanks a lot.
Thanks for sharing this information. I am looking forward to read part three now
Volksphone´s last blog ..Usability-Schnelltest für die eigene Firmenwebsite
Search optimization is a hyper-competitive endeavor that requires intense
focus and a thorough, up-to-date understanding of how the search engine
algorithms and robots operate.
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kevin
SEO
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