SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING BOOSTS RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR WEB SITES

Many Business-to-Business web sites don't bother with search engine marketing, and that's an expensive -- and possibly fatal mistake.

The basic underlying question is: Is search marketing really cost effective for Business’s seeking to connect with other Business’s, and will it drive sales?

Business people are looking for solutions to problems, and they use search engines for answers. When a company's name appears on the search engine results page, it gains perceived status and top of mind awareness.

Search marketing makes you a player in the new media, no matter what goods or services you offer, or who you’re seeking to communicate with.

Using Search Marketing as a Strategy

Is a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy important for overall marketing success?

When you consider the advantages of branding, visibility, interactivity with people looking for what you do, tracking, immediacy, focused marketing, viability, and potential revenue; This cannot be five percent of someone's job.

If you really want ROI, you need to look at it on a strategic level. You have to look at your SEO as a strategic partner, not as a vendor. "Don't change a page without telling your SEO partner about it. Every time you take a business turn, you should ask your SEO how to proceed with your initiative as it relates to your Web presence in order to maximize the changes.

Training sales people to ask their leads how they heard about the company also helps companies to track their search marketing effectiveness.

If you want to measure the results, you have to track it back. Train your staff that it's not enough to hear 'I found you on the Web.' Learn to ask, 'Did you find us on a search engine? Which one? What were you searching for specifically?

You have to use every available tool to get in front of people. The more people you can engage once they hit your Web site, the more you can remarket to them. You can gain mindshare if you take the time to do it right. If someone is searching for your goods/services today, doesn’t it stand to reason that you’d want to engage them long term?