Two High-ROI Methods for Increasing Your Brand’s Visibility on the Web
by Veronica Fielding
Therewas a time you could expect your brand’s site to appear in the topposition for at least its own name on any search engine. But even that isn’t a guaranteeanymore as competition for precious Top 5 positions becomes fiercer.
Wonder why some companies—even small ones--are making it intothe Top 5 positions, and others are not?
Search engine marketing isan emerging area that consistently delivers quantum leaps in leads, sales, andawareness when effectively implemented. In a recent survey, Jupiter Research found that more than 75% ofexecutives who used search engine marketing found it to be more effective thanbanner advertising, and 66% expected to increase their use of it.
Yet many companies think their site is optimized because someoneprogrammed 15 or so keyword phrases into the site’s source code a whileback. They are surprised to findthat this approach is quite outdated. Companies that are consistently in the Top 5 positions on the searchengines for the search terms important to their brands usually have committedto the active optimization of theirsites to retain that visibility.
Real optimization involves studying your target audiences’search behaviors and uniting them with information about your brand, yourcustomers, and their preferences. It involves changes to the design, copy, and programming of your site tomake it more attractive to both customers and search engines.
Awell optimized site will have a genuine balance between what a human needs tosee on the site to have a good brand experience and what the search enginesneed to “see” on the site to draw searchers to it.
Typically, search engines like to see good use of title tags, textincluding the search terms in some degree of frequency, and in-bound links fromquality sites, along with clean coding.
Another avenue to increase your brand’s online visibility is searchengine advertising (referred to as‘pay-per-click’ advertising). This involves buying search terms on Google (Google AdWordsprogram), Overture, LookSmart, and other ad networks and creating ads thatappear whenever people enter those keywords as search terms on the search enginenetwork.
The ads are ‘bought’ via a bidding system, whereby theadvertisers that want their ads to appear when someone enters a particularsearch term bid against each other. The advertiser pays the search engine every time someone clicks on thead. It is important to understandthe value of each visitor so you can create an expectation for results and ROI.
Managing these pay-per-click ads requires active monitoring andexpertise. If your bid/advertisingfalls below the 3rd or 5th position (depending on thenetwork), your ad won’t appear across the entire network, just on thesearch engine itself. Bid too highand you’re spending money needlessly to be in the #1 slot (if slots 1-3are always seen, why pay extra to be in the #1 position?); bid too low and risklosing exposure.
Pay-per-click costs range from as little as $.10 (10 cents) perclick to more than $10.00 per click for very competitive target words, And keepin mind, that’s just for 1 network, just for one term—not for all of the terms you’d need to buyto reach your audiences. That’s why companies with mission-critical websites tend to investin site optimization and use search engine advertising to complement, notsubstitute, for natural listings.
Veronica"Niki" Fielding is the president of Digital Brand Expressions, aKingston-based interactive consultancy helping clients increase sales throughbrand alignment, advanced site optimization, visitor optimization, ande-marketing. For more information,visit www.digitalbrandexpressions.com.
| DISCLAIMER: The content provided in this article is not warranted or guaranteed by Developer Shed, Inc. The content provided is intended for entertainment and/or educational purposes in order to introduce to the reader key ideas, concepts, and/or product reviews. As such it is incumbent upon the reader to employ real-world tactics for security and implementation of best practices. We are not liable for any negative consequences that may result from implementing any information covered in our articles or tutorials. If this is a hardware review, it is not recommended to open and/or modify your hardware. |
 developerWorks - FREE Tools!
|
<a href="http://zeus.developershed.com/shonuff.php?blackbird=3853&zoneid=442&source=&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibm.com%2Fdeveloperworks%2Fspaces%2Fjazz%3FS_TACT%3D105AGY31%26S_CMP%3DDEVSHED&ismap="><img src="http://images.devshed.com/corp/img/news/jazz01.gif" alt="developerWorks Jazz space" align="left"></a>You've heard the buzz about Jazz... want to know more about it from a developer's perspective? Check out the Jazz space on developerWorks. This space is an up-to-date resource for developers, including technical information about Jazz and products built on Jazz, like Rational Team Concert Express. The Jazz space includes content from a wide variety of sources, including links, feeds, and comments from experts.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Hear how IBM Rational Project and Portfolio Management integrated solutions help teams put the right tools and processes in place to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of project teams and ensure that the business vision is being executed correctly. Learn how to automate and integrate requirements prioritization, top-down project planning, communications and controls, and methodology deployment to keep your scope, costs, and schedules under control. Tackle with an end-to-end approach the management of scope and scope changes, usage of methodology to control and empower project teams, and optimization of resources to align activity costs with the overall project plan.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Effective governance for lean development isn’t about command and control. Instead, the focus is on enabling the right behaviors and practices through collaborative and supportive techniques. Hear from Scott Ambler on how it is far more effective to motivate people to do the right thing than it is to force them to do so. Learn how to form a lightweight, collaboration-based framework that reflects the realities of modern IT organizations.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
This whitepaper presents the benefits of successfully introducing static analysis into your organization using IBM Rational Software Analyzer. Additionally, it identifies some common pitfalls that can hinder the effective use of static analysis tooling as well as presents 10 simple strategies designed to help you quickly realize the value of static analysis using Rational Software Analyzer.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Download a free trial version of IBM Rational Software Analyzer Developer Edition V7.0 to identify bug defects earlier in the software development cycle. Rational Software Analyzer is an extensible software development solution that reduces the expense of bug-fixes by enabling static analysis code reviews and bug identification very early in the development cycle.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
In this tutorial, you can learn how to install and configure the IBM Rational Asset Manager Eclipse client, explore the different views in the Asset Management perspective, learn various search techniques, work with existing assets, and submit a new asset.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
XML has become a common way of storing business data as flat files and many data server vendors including IBM have provided ways to store this data within relational database systems. Increasingly collections of XML files are accessed like databases using an xQuery and other XML standard mechanisms. Businesses find the need to combine the traditional tabular structured data with XML formatted data. In this webcast, you’ll learn about IBM’s WebSphere Federation Server technology, which provides users with the ability to integrate these two data formats.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Rational Modeling Extension for Microsoft .NET enhances usability for code generation supporting a more intelligent refactoring. The latest enhancements enable organizations with Java and .NET systems and software development maintain architectural integrity across heterogeneous platforms.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Get a free trial download of the latest version of IBM Rational Performance Tester V7.0.1, a load and performance testing solution for teams concerned about the scalability of their Web-based applications. Combining multiple ease-of-use features with granular detail, Rational Performance Tester simplifies the test-creation, load-generation and data-collection processes that help teams ensure the ability of their applications to accommodate required user loads.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
Visit IBM developerWorks to try the IBM SOA Sandbox for process. The SOA Sandbox for process focuses on providing a trial environment with the necessary tooling and components required to gain a better understanding of business processes and how to best improve existing business processes to derive value quickly.
FREE! Go There Now!
|
|
|
|
All FREE IBM® developerWorks Tools!
|
