Search Engines 101: Paid Vs. Natural Search

Search Engines 101 Paid Vs. Natural Search is written to briefly explain the difference between pay-per-click and natural (organic) search. Both types of results can benefit an online marketing campaign if done correctly.

Paid search

PPC is when your ad shows up at the very top of a Google search or down the right hand side of the results page. These are called "sponsored ads". You pay for those positions. When every you click on one of those ads the owner of the ad pays the search engine. This is also called "pay-per-click". The amount you pay is determined by several factors including what you are willing to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Natural Search

Natural Search is when you type in a "keyword" and a link and a description shows up on left hand side of the search result page. The only way to get on the first page is to have very relevant content on your web site and links to your site from other relevant sites. This is a long process for people in it for the long haul. There are a lot of companies that claim to be able to get you on the first page of Google. That may be true if the "search term" is very specific and no one else would ever search for it but you or they are using a "black hat" method that could get you site banned from the search engine.

Search Engines

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are really just data bases. When you do a Google Search you are not searching the "world wide web" you are searching Google's data base. There are two ways to get in to these databases. One is to submit your site to the different search engines. In about 6 to 9 weeks the search engine will index your site. They have software that comes to your site and index every page and adds it to the database. They come into your main web URL and follow the links to all the pages of your site. They capture key elements from the code on your page to the content. These are then stored in the data base. When someone puts a keyword in the search box the "algorithms" determine the best page or links to the best pages for your search.

The other way to get added to the search engines data base is to have the search engine software find you through a link to your site from another web site back to yours. The software, called "spiders" will periodically comeback and re crawl your site to see if you have updated it.

One important thing to know is that each page on your site is indexed individually and each page stands on its own. The ranking are based upon the combination of correct meta tags, relevant content to the keyword they are trying to get rankings for and link popularity. Mostly one way links back to their site from relevant sites.

As long as the search engine can index the site, clearly read the meta tags and content, the better. The big issues come when a site is built in flash with very little content (search engines cannot read or index "flash" sites. Also, if the bulk of the relevant content is in PDF format this is bad because the search engines cannot read PDF. If the search engines cannot index the relevant text there will be no rankings.

You all ready know this but "sites" are not ranked, individual pages are ranked for specific terms found in the content of that page as well as link popularity, (relevant links pointing back to that specific page) for the term that you are trying to get ranked on.
This is why each page has to be giving very specific attention.

Bottom line: Paid search means you pay for your position. The benefit is, if you have the $$, you will get instant traffic. Stop paying and the traffic goes away. Natural search is free traffic but it is built over time. The advantage is, if done right, it can provide traffic for a long time.

Search traffic (paid or natural) is the BEST traffic to have because you are being found by folks who are specifically looking for what you have. It does not get any better than that.

Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information on Search Engines 101

Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits? Part 1

Paid Search is a fantastic way to drive web traffic to your site from the major search engines. It can also suck your marketing budget dry in just a couple of days if not done properly. The bottom line is someone is going to profit by implementing paid search. The question is, is it going to be you or the search engines? The goal of the search engines (and their strategies) is more clicks. The more people click on your ads the more money the search engines make. Their strategy is to get as many clicks as possible with in your budget and they are willing to do that all day long. This is great for them bad for you.

The real goal should be more conversion with less clicks and lower cost. Let's take a few minutes to look at some strategies that should make a difference in your campaigns. We will get more specific and articles to come.

General strategies

1. Turn off Content Network

In Google when you first set up a campaign there is a default setting that turns the "content match" setting to "on". For now, turn that setting off. What this does is present your ads on websites that are using AdSense. If you go to a website and see "Ads by Google", those ads are coming from Google paid search accounts. Those ads show up on these websites based on the content of the website. At first glance this may look like a good idea and it usually is, for Google. There are two things that you need to consider before turning on the content match. The first is that the website that is hosting your ad gets paid every time someone clicks on your ad. Most of the click fraud that happens is when an owner of a site or so want affiliated with the site clicks on these ads. The second thing is that individuals who click on these ads are not actively seeking what you are offering. These folks are tire kickers. Even though your ad may be presented (number of impressions) to a lot of people, the click through rate and conversion rate is very low. The magic of search engine marketing is that you come in contact with individuals who are actively searching for what you have to offer. Only pay for clicks that come from people in that category.

2. Search Terms.

The more general the term the less qualified to lead (generally speaking). Personally, I am not a big fan of hundreds of key words for paid search. This is a great strategy the search engines and paid search management companies that are paid a percentage of your spend. What I try to figure out is what terms would work in order to get my ideal customer to my site. Remember, you want people to come to your site who are actively searching for what you are offering. For example if you sell "long term care insurance" what type of people do you want clicking on your ads? Of course, you want individuals looking for long term care insurance, not "long term care" or "insurance". You can use these terms if you create a list of "negative" key words. We will talk about that at another time.

3. Keyword "types"

There are three types of keywords "Broad", "Phrase" and "Exact". Do not use "broad match" except for phrases with four or more words. For example, long term care insurance quote. The rule of thumb that I use is: for single word phrases, I use exact match and for search phrases that are two to three words, I used "phrase matching". I am also experimenting with using "exact" matching for these terms as well. Remember the more specific the search term is to what you are offering and who your ideal client is, the more qualified to lead will be. Better a small number of qualified leads than a large number of leads that waste your time and ultimately cost a lot more money.

In Part 2 we will discuss Ad Copy, Landing Pages and Tracking.

Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits

Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits? Part 2 By Terry Stanfield

As I mentioned in the first article, Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits? Part 1, Pay-per-click is a fantastic way to drive web traffic to your site from the major search engines. It can also deplete your marketing budget just a couple of days if not done properly. In this article we will talk about the importance of Ad Copy, Landing Pages and Tracking.

4. Ad Copy

Just a couple thoughts on writing ads. When you write your ads put the following in your "headline" box: {keyword: "your main keyword}. This will put your keyword phrase into the headline. This is very important for a lot of reasons that we will get into at another time. Your ad should be specific enough to attract only your ideal client (someone who is looking for exactly what you have to offer). Your ad contained at least one of your "unique selling propositions". This can be very challenging because of the space limitations. Rule of thumb, find out what your competitors are doing and do something different. For example, if everyone is offering free shipping, use one of your other unique selling propositions.

5. Landing Pages

You need to put a lot of thought to your landing pages. Your landing page has to do one thing that is answer the questions are up that the searcher had in mind when he typed in his key words. The searcher type in his search terms because he has a problem, needs a solution and is in some kind of "pain". You have about two seconds to convince him that you understand what he is going through and what he needs. It does not matter if you are selling hammers, insurance or investment products. The last thing a searcher wants to see is that you can jump higher, run faster and do it better than the competition. He just doesn't care. Besides, 99% of the websites that he visited probably stated that they do that. You must show him that you have the answers to his needs. Do not just send him to your home page unless your home page can accomplish the above. Once you connect with your searcher you must have a call to action. It can be a "buy now", "for more information contact us", "contact us for a free evaluation" or "consultation". You must be very specific and clear about your next steps. Have your phone number or contact us button on every page.

6. Tracking

Finally, track everything. Paid search is not an exact science. It takes time to set up and optimized your campaigns to get the results that you are looking for. You must monitor your campaigns at the least weekly in order to catch market changes. Unless you have a time of venture capital money laying around, paid search is not something you turn on and forget about. Google, Yahoo and MSN have free tracking tools that work great.

Pay-per-click is a great marketing tool, if used correctly. It can also, as stated earlier, suck your marketing budget dry in a heartbeat. It is a lot cheaper to find someone who knows what they are doing and does this day in and day out to help you than it is to lose thousands of dollars trying to figure it out yourself.

Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits

Mechanics of Writing And Publishing Articles for the Internet By Terry Stanfield

A lot of people are beginning to see the importance of mechanics of writing and publishing articles on the internet as part of their SEM marketing campaign. This is also a great way to improve the link popularity of your website as part of your SEO efforts...

A lot of people are beginning to see the importance of mechanics of writing and publishing articles on the internet as part of their SEM marketing campaign. This is also a great way to improve the link popularity of your website as part of your SEO efforts, showcase your expertise and be seen as an expert in your field, not to mention drive traffic to your site. A lot of us know more about our field and how our product or service can help people than anybody else in the world. The challenge is where to start. I wrote this article to give us a starting point so that we can get some of our own ideas and solutions published.

Publishing your content online

Here is just a sampling of the hundreds of websites that allow you to publish articles online:

ArticleCentral
Web Articles
Ezine Articles
Power Publish Directory
1 Million Articles
1Line Articles

Some of the above sites require that you register with them and have a username and password every time you publish. My suggestion would be that you use the same username and password with each publication website. This makes things just a little easier. I would also create a template in Notepad so that when you are ready to entering in your articles you will have everything in one place.

Use the following as an outline for your template:

The following template outline and tips come from having several articles rejected. That's no fun.

Article title
This is the title for your article, make sure that you have your main keyword phrase in this title.

Author bio
200 characters some allow more, but I think shorter is better. Add at least, one link to your website in the bio. The ideal is to have the link pointing back to the page on your site where the article is sitting. Almost all the article directories do not allow you to have a link to your website in the content of the article. If you are allowed two links, make one to the page with the article and the other to your homepage.

Sample Bio: Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: http://www.clickadvant.com/se101.htm

In some article directories, they do not have a place for a box for your bio. In those cases, you can put your short bio at the and of your content. Remember, in most cases, the only place that points back to your website or the particular page of the article is the bio section. Make sure that you look for this box, and if you can't find it put your information at the end of your content.

Keyword list
It is best to start with one or two keyword phrases. Then think of the questions behind the search than write your article to answer the questions. Make a list of two or three keyword phrases that you want your article to be found on. Make sure that those phrases are in the content of the article. Limit yourself to 2-3 keyword phrase. The keyword phrases should be the core topic of your article. Keeping these terms in the forefront of your mind will keep you on track. In an upcoming article I will talk about "flow charting". This process will help give you great ideas for articles and keep you extremely focused.

Article Content
This is the content of your article. Do not include the title of the article in this box. I suggest that the articles should be about 500 to 550 words. The minimum number of words, allow in the vast majority of the article distribution sites is 500. If you do 550, not including the title, then you will be safe. If you are long-winded and have an article of a thousand words or more make two articles. A "part one" and a "part 2". If you are new to writing articles, let me suggest the following outline:

Introduction:
First one or two sentences introduce the problem that you're going to solve by writing this article. The next sentence states the three areas that you're going to cover or the top five reasons or the five things you should look for or the six misconceptions about… You get the idea.

Meat of the article:

Point1
Two or three sentences

Point2
Two or three sentences

Point3
Two or three sentences

Conclusion:
You might start this paragraph like: "We just looked at three ways around the problem of ... The challenge is, what are you going to do from here." Make some suggestions on what to do next. Invite them to look for up coming articles on this topic or related topics. Very important, in your Bio add that you are experienced in helping people with the specific problem that you write about and for more information go to your website.

Finally

It is importance that you edit your article for spelling and grammar, but most importantly, key words and phrases and their positions in the article. I would also create the meta tags for that article so that you can have them when that page is added to your website. It is best to have the content added to your website and have it on your site for about a week before you publish the article. The reason you want to do this is to establish that your site had the content first.

Once you have used this outline for a while you will become more comfortable. Experiment with other styles. I am often asked where the best place to get ideas for articles. That's a good question, the answer is from questions that your clients are asking. In fact, this article was inspired by a question that a visitor to one of my seminars asked. Whenever I write an e-mail to someone about how to do something or how something works I save the e-mail and use it as the beginning of an new article.

Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: Paid Search: one-way ticket to the poor farm or great profits

Landing pages, Flypaper or Trampoline? By Terry Stanfield

Landing pages have the ability to grab and hold us like fly no-fly paper or repel us like jumping on the trampling. The question is what impact does your landing page have on the people who visit your website. As I talk to people who are just getting into SEO (search engine optimization), all they focus on our rankings in traffic. We have to remember that "rankings" and "traffic" are not the end but a means to the end. That end is visitors to your site that take advantage of the solutions that you offer. We can have a lot of traffic to our website but if no one is sticking around long enough to see if our solutions can solve their problems then that traffic does not mean anything. A lot of thought must go into your landing pages, both from a search engine perspective and from a customer perspective. From a Search Engine perspective: This is covered in Search Engines 101 Paid Vs Natural Search From a Customer Perspective: Your landing page has to do one thing, answer the questions that the searcher had in mind when he typed in his key words. The searcher type in his search terms because he has a problem, needs a solution or is in some kind of "pain". You have about two seconds to convince him that you understand what he is going through and what he needs. The last thing a searcher wants to see is that you can jump higher, run faster and do it better than the competition. He just doesn't care (yet). Besides, most of the websites that he already visited probably stated that they do that. The challenge is to show the searcher that you have the answers to his needs. How do we do that? 1. Think of as many questions as you can that might be on the mind of a visitor to that specific landing page. 2. Choose one of the questions to be the title of that specific landing page. Use the other questions as sub points or topics in the outline of the page. 3. The content underneath each heading will be a description of the problem. It is very important that when you describe the problem you do it from your client's perspective. 4. After describing two or three scenarios that your client may fall into closeout with the paragraph that describes your qualifications for dealing with the above scenarios. This is where you put in how me years of experience, the combined experience of your team or your experience in the marketplace. 5. The last thing is to have a call to action. The idea is that if your client falls into one of the scenarios described it would be natural for them to do the call for action to get help with their problem. For example, if someone is doing a search on long-term care insurance they may only have a general idea of what you're looking for. When they come to a landing page that has a question like "what happens to your nest egg if you suffer an illness or an injury that requires long-term care?" Then in the description of the problem they read that one year of long-term care can cost between $90,000 and $130,000 and as a result of this high costs it will either force you into bankruptcy or dependency on your children or family to take care of you. (Not a pretty picture.) After you add your qualifications, whatever they are, you put in your call to action. It could be something like "for a free quote and help in understanding what your options are fill out form below and one of our experts will contact you within the next 48 hours". So the question remains, are your landing pages flypaper or trampolines? If you are not sure give us a call and we will do a free evaluation of your site. This will help determine whether or not changes or in order. Terry Stanfield is a SEM consultant with over 15 years of sales and marketing experience. His company, Clickadvantage, manages PPC and SEO efforts for his lead generation and ecommerce clients. For more information: Landing pages, Flypaper or Trampoline?