Today, I’ll start of a series of posts covering search engine marketing techniques in 2007. Together, they’ll form an easy-to-follow guide to some of the best up-to-date resources and advice on the topic.

This course is aimed at those new to search marketing, and will hopefully also provide a refresher for intermediate and experienced search marketers.

What Is Search Marketing?

• Search marketing is a methodology aimed at getting web pages and sites more visibility on search engine results pages, or SERPs.
• There are various means of achieving increased visibility in search engines, which include search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), paid-inclusion and link building/viral marketing techniques.
• The end result of a search marketing methodology should be increased traffic from search engines and/or exposure in search engine listings. In order to achieve this, search marketing campaigns are usually focused on a users search query as a starting point. For example, if a user types “buy cheap soundcards online”, and you sell cheap soundcards online, you’d want that user to find your site, or pages, ahead of other vendors of the same product. “Buy cheap soundcards online” is an example of a keyword term.
• Keyword terms make search marketing a powerful channel. Danny Sullivan, a leading search industry commentator, likens search marketing to a reverse broadcasting network . “In a broadcast system, advertisers spend lots of money to reach a mass audience, hoping to build desire for a product or service. But most of the audience is not interested in their pitches. Search is the reverse. Each search is an expressed desire, something that someone at a particular time actually wants. Advertisers can tune in to the “desire-cast” that’s going on”.
• Once a user arrives on your page, or site, having searched on a keyword term, you can then funnel that visitor to a desired action, such as filling out a form, creating an account or making a purchase. The trick is to get as many qualified users to your site as possible, to take the most number of desired actions, at the least cost per user.
• Discovering what keyword terms users are searching for is a key concept in search marketing.

Tomorrow Part Two: Keyword Research.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2007 at 9:14 pm and is filed under Search Engine Marketing Course, What is Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.