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Derek Gehl
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Marketing Tips Newsletter
March 7, 2007 -- Issue 141
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This issue includes...
1 ) "Search Marketing 101: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at 2007's Hottest
-- and Most Essential -- Internet Marketing Strategy!"
2 ) "Inside the Search Marketing Lab forum"
3 ) "Get FREE Tickets to My Exclusive Two-Day 'Wealth-Building Workshop'
Coming Soon to YOUR City!"
4 ) "Free Content for Your Web Site or E-zine"
5 ) "Visit Our Newsletter Archives"
6 ) "Visit Derek's Blog!"
7 ) "Tell Us What You Think!"
For those of you who prefer the HTML version of our
newsletter, you can still read it in this format at:
www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters
==================== FEATURE EDITORIAL ====================
"Search Marketing 101: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at 2007's Hottest -- and Most Essential -- Internet Marketing Strategy!"
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How do you look for information these days?
You search the Internet, right?
You're not alone. More than 6 BILLION Internet searches are done every month in the U.S. alone!
According to MarketingSherpa, almost 134 million people in the U.S. regularly use search engines when looking for information online. And of that number, 63% look ONLY at the first page of results -- at most!
In fact, almost 25% of all American searchers look only at the first few listings then completely ignore the rest.
That means if YOU'RE not listed in the first results page for your top-performing keywords, then 84 million people aren't going to have any idea that your business even exists!
In this issue, I'm going to look at the family of strategies called "search marketing"… and show why it's more important than ever before to put solid search marketing techniques to use for your business.
I've written in detail about a lot of these techniques in this newsletter. But from the questions my team and I get at seminars and in our forums, we notice that a lot of people aren't clear on how they all fit together. It's as if they've got the jigsaw puzzle pieces, but not the picture on the box.
I'll put it into perspective by answering questions like...
- What are SEO and PPC? Do I need to do both?
- Will using search marketing strategies with my website cost me a ton of money?
- Why does search marketing work?
- What are the hottest techniques to focus on right now?
Read on to get the big picture on search marketing and where it fits into your Internet marketing strategy.
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What IS search marketing, anyway?
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Search marketing is a catch-all term that refers to two major online marketing techniques:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
But it's easy to get confused about which strategy is which. Let's break them both down.
Search engine optimization -- how to rate HIGH in the free listings
Search engine optimization is the umbrella term for all the different strategies website owners use to try to earn top rankings in the listings of the free search engines like Google and Yahoo.
These are called "organic" or "natural" listings because the search engines set their own criteria for ranking websites. A website's position in the search results depends on how well the site meets those criteria.
To make SEO work for you, it's important to pay close attention to how search engine spiders (www.MarketingTips.com/glossary/#searchenginespiders) index or list web sites, and then use that information to direct the way the search engine indexes YOUR web site.
The goal is to "optimize" your site so the search engines will consider it relevant -- in other words, so your website shows up high in the results when people are searching online for your product or service.
When you're just getting started with SEO, it can seem a little overwhelming to know where to begin. Here are some of the key strategies that we recommend to all our customers...
- Find the hottest keywords for your market/website: Choosing effective keywords MUST be the starting point for any SEO or PPC campaigns you work on with your website.
To learn everything you need to know about researching and choosing keywords for your search marketing projects, check out Marketing Tips Issue #139 (www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_february07).
- Plug keywords into the right locations in your copy and code: Give the search engines the information they need in all the right places.
Your website is full of "hotspots" the spiders check regularly for keywords.
Make sure you check out that same keywords article (www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_february07) to get all the details on the prime locations for your keywords.
- Always ensure that your content relates to the keywords you're using: If you sprinkle keywords like "guaranteed weight loss" through your site but your site sells shoes, you definitely won't be helping yourself.
Even if your keywords are all over the site, the search engines won't rank you for those words because the rest of the content on the site has nothing to do with the subject.
If you offer a number of products, try creating different keyword-rich pages for specific items you have for sale.
- Keep the "spiders" coming back with frequent new or updated content: The more fresh, relevant content they find, the higher the spiders are likely to rank your site. How do you keep them interested?
Keep all the copy on your pages current, including any changes or updates to your business or products. Make sure to archive any newsletters or bulletins you send out on your site.
For even more "spider food", try starting a blog or forum on your website to keep traffic heading back for daily updates and discussion. For an article about how a blog can boost your ratings, see Marketing Tips Issue #120 (www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_march06).
- Fine-tune your keyword density: How often should you use your keywords in your copy and code? Finding the perfect balance is key. In your body copy, we recommend 4% to 8%.
Make sure you integrate your keywords as naturally as possible into your copy... you won't keep your visitors' attention if all the text on your website is just a jumbled bunch of keywords!
- Collect links from other sites that are considered reputable and relevant: Natural, relevant inbound links are the exactly the kind search engines like.
If you really want to improve your results, you'll want to avoid "link farms" and bought links, and instead focus your strategy on politely requesting one-way links from sites with high natural ranking in the search engines.
Distributing free articles and press releases is also a great way of gaining quality inbound links to your site. We show you how in Marketing Tips Issue #129 (www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_august06b).
And don't forget the power of social networking! By taking part in online communities or uploading your video to a site like YouTube (www.youtube.com), you can not only drive new traffic to your website, you can get new sites linking to yours.
For more details on social networking tips and tricks, check out Marketing Tips issue #131 (www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters/?article=art_september06b).
- Use a sitemap to boost your ranking in Google, Yahoo, AND Windows Live Search: Sitemaps help the spiders find their way through all your pages.
And with the new sitemaps (www.sitemaps.org) formatting protocol, these three search titans are giving website owners more clues than ever before how to help the spiders index their sites. SEO should be at the core of your overall Internet marketing strategy. It's one of the most inexpensive and effective approaches available to website owners. In fact, much of what you can do to optimize your web site for the organic search engines is totally FREE.
However, it can be slow. When you're starting out, you'll probably have to wait a while before you show up on the search results.
But you can drive traffic quickly with another search marketing strategy: pay-per-click advertising.
Pay-per-click advertising -- how to spend a little and get a LOT of targeted traffic
Do a search on Google or Yahoo, and you'll notice a different type of listings set around the organic results. These "sponsored results" are paid ads that appear when people search using the keywords in the ads.
There are also special search engines, like Miva (www.miva.com), Enhance (www.enhance.com) , and GoClick (www.goclick.com), where all the listings are paid, rather than organic.
As with SEO, PPC advertisers look for keywords that they believe their target market uses to search for them online. Then they bid on those keywords with PPC programs, like Google AdWords (http://adwords.google.com), Yahoo Search Marketing (http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com), and MSN AdCenter (https://adcenter.microsoft.com).
In many free search engines like Google and Yahoo, the position of the ad in the sponsored listings depends on two factors:
- The amount bid for the keyword
- The ad's relevance to the keyword searched (ads with more click-throughs are considered more relevant and rise in the listings)
In others, and the paid search engines, the bid price alone determines the ranking in the listings.
The pay structure is what makes PPC so effective for small businesses. With PPC you pay only for results. No matter how many times your ad is displayed, you pay only when someone clicks on it. And by watching your results carefully, you can determine how well each ad is converting and if it's worth continuing.
PPC ads show up immediately, so you can drive traffic to your site right away, even if you haven't been indexed by the search engines yet.
Test your keywords and use the best ones to boost your organic search results. PPC is a great testing tool because you can run several ads simultaneously. If you run identical ads for different keywords, you'll see very quickly which keywords work best.
You can then use them to beef up your website for the organic search engines!
In fact, you can use PPC to test everything from your product offerings and price points, to your ad headlines and salescopy... and find out exactly how to appeal to your target market.
However, keyword bids have been rising every year because competition for the top continues to heat up, especially as more large businesses and corporations get into the game. In fact, according to DoubleClick, spending on PPC campaigns went up 37% between Q1 2005 and Q1 2006!
That's why it's getting tougher every year to run an effective PPC campaign. But if you know the right strategies, you can still keep your costs down and your conversion rates UP!
Keep PPC costs low by bidding smart:
- Know how much a single visitor is worth to you and keep that in mind when you're setting your bid
- Bid on lots of cheaper, highly targeted keywords and phrases, and don't forget misspellings!
- Go for second or third place instead of first. First place is often much more expensive.
- Test ads on the smaller search engines where the cost per click is lower. Some good engines to try include: LookSmart.com (http://search.looksmart.com), Kanoodle (www.kanoodle.com), Search123 (www.search123.com), and 7Search (www.payperranking.com)
- Check the specialty PPC search engines that cater to specific markets at www.PayPerClickSearchEngines.com
With a combination of PPC and SEO you can make sure your target market will find you.
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Why is search marketing suddenly so hot... and why will it have such a
dramatic impact on your traffic?
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In a recent poll of online advertisers conducted by MarketingSherpa, 49% of the respondents indicated that PPC was their most successful Internet marketing strategy in 2006.
In addition, 45% indicated that search engine optimization was one of their best internet marketing strategies.
So why ARE online advertisers putting so much time and energy -- not to mention BIG bucks -- running extensive search marketing campaigns?
- Search marketing is right for EVERY business: It doesn't matter whether your business is purely online or your website supports your brick-and-mortar operation -- search marketing is right for you.
A study by JupiterResearch indicated that 62% of Internet shoppers used general search engines to research products online -- whether they intended to buy on the Internet or not!
Search marketing offers all the keys to connect you with people who want to know more about your product or service.
- Search marketing is the best way to get TARGETED traffic: People who find your site through the search engines are already looking for what you offer.... or at least information about what you offer.
That's right... since they've found you using the keywords you've used for your SEO and PPC campaigns, it's no accident that they're there. You've got the solution or product they've been searching for!
According to Enquiro Search solutions, about 55% of all purchases made over the Internet are a result of people finding products or services via the search engines. That's more than half of all online sales!
If your traffic is effectively targeted through search marketing, you'll be able take advantage of this huge audience -- and watch your conversion rates and revenues going through the roof!
- Search marketing offers NEW opportunities to boost your search engine rankings all the time: Because search marketing is such a rapidly changing area of Internet marketing, there are always new strategies you can try out before the competition catches on. And you never know what might be the technique or trick that sends your traffic skyrocketing!
They key is to stay on top of the latest strategies... what works AND what doesn't work anymore. That's right... the search engines make changes all the time, and techniques that used to work can suddenly turn useless.
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What should I be focusing on in search marketing right now?
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Search engines are constantly tweaking the way they rank sites. An Internet marketing strategy that worked like wildfire before can suddenly go cold as the search engines stomp it out.
In fact, 2007 is shaping up to be one of the most dramatic years for search marketing yet. The changes promise to increase the importance of some strategies… and blow others away completely.
Here are some new ideas to explore...
- Local search strategies: If you've got a brick-and-mortar business that you're looking to promote within your own community, don't think that you can get the job done without a website!
SEO and PPC strategies involving sites like Google Local (http://local.google.com), Yahoo Local (http://local.yahoo.com), and Live Local (http://maps.live.com) -- not to mention old offline standby Yellow Pages (www.yellowpages.com) -- can help potential customers looking for businesses in your area connect directly with your business... and then print out directions to get there!
The rise of mobile phone marketing technology is putting local search strategies on the map, too. And there's more happening every day!
- Social bookmarking and community websites: "Community" is the big buzzword in search marketing right now. People are hanging out and socializing online like never before! Sites like Del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us), Digg (www.digg.com) YouTube (www.youtube.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com) -- not to mention the huge boom in blogging and podcasting -- are changing the way people connect online today.
In fact, a study by Nielsen NetRatings in 2006 found that the top 10 social networking sites on the web had seen a 47% average increase in traffic in the space of only a year -- with a 367% increase for MySpace!
You can generate tons of quality, targeted traffic with effective participation in community sites -- and build credibility and trust with your potential customers along the way. And it's practically free!
- New vertical search engines will give us new options for SEO and PPC and increase your ability to reach out to your ideal customer. Instead of spending all your time and effort trying to stand out in a field of 20 billion results, you can target quality traffic with niche-based search engines.
Some of the up-and-coming vertical search sites include:
Retrevo (www.retrevo.com): A consumer electronics search engine
Wikia (www.wikia.com): A "community-based" search engine
Kosmix (www.kosmix.com): Specialty engines for health, travel, and more
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Final thoughts
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There's no doubt that search marketing is one of the hottest areas in Internet marketing in 2007... and it's getting more exciting every day!
No other set of strategies offers you the ability to dramatically improve your search engine rankings AND direct quality, targeted traffic to your website -- often without spending a single dime!
The main thing to keep in mind is that the search engines are in the business of keeping searchers happy. When people go online to find something, they want to see choices that relate to what they asked for, and not have to wade through hundreds of irrelevant choices.
People are impatient online, and if they have to work too hard they'll go to another search engine. Bad for business!
So YOUR main objective in search marketing -- free or paid -- is to keep those spiders coming back and indexing your site so it will show up in the top results for your keywords.
A lot of the techniques in this overview are basic to the way search engines do business. Just getting those right will give you a competitive advantage.
But some techniques come and go. Discovering a great new search marketing trick could revolutionize how you run your SEO or PPC campaigns -- and seriously boost your bottom line!
As we always tell our clients, one or two effective strategies can sometimes make the difference between an average-performing website and a major success story. It's just a matter of discovering what works for you.
Do the basics, try out the new techniques and strategies, and you'll be where your market can find you -- front and center in the search results.
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2 ) "Inside the Search Marketing Lab forum"
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If you're wondering how you can forecast upcoming trends, changes, and challenges in search marketing... and act on them BEFORE your competition, click to find out more about our Search Marketing Lab (www.MarketingTips.com/deliverresults). We've got experts working EXCLUSIVELY on search marketing, and now their knowledge is available to you. In the Search Marketing Lab forum, members are getting the latest industry scoop from our team of experts -- plus invaluable personalized support for their own search marketing campaigns.
Here's a question from Chet, one of our Search Marketing Lab forum members:
I've hired a new employee to recruit link partners for me part time. He sends out requests to websites in my niche and asks them if they would like to receive a weekly article from me -- to publish on their own sites. I got this idea from you at the second Mastermind Group meeting, and it's working great so far!
I've done like you've said and put keyword-rich anchor text, relating to the article in the footer message of the articles.
My question is this... as I build my network of websites who continue to post to me, to say... 300 websites. What type of anchor text strategies should I use? I'm wondering because different websites, even though they're in my same niche, have different themes that relate to the breed of parrot their website is based on.
This means that if I'm constantly varying the anchor text, they might post articles with anchor text unrelated to their website. Sure it might still be on parrots, but it might be on a different breed of parrot than their site is about. Does this matter?
What types of anchor text strategies can I use if I'm writing articles for a bunch of websites with the same main theme "parrots", but different sub themes "species of parrots"?
Also... should I let the search engines spider my articles before I give them to my network of link partners to post on their websites? Does this hurt me with duplicate content penalties if I do? Is there more benefit in writing articles that I never post on my site, and just let link partners use them?
Thanks for any pointers on this topic,
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And here's the answer from Nicole, one of IMC's top search marketing specialists:
Hey Chet,
Glad that strategy is working out well for you!
First, make sure you are changing the keyword phrases in your anchor regularly, and they point to different pages in your website not just one page so they always mimic natural links.
It is good news you are changing the anchor text, but can you make it more relevant to their audience by using your keyword and also adding the name of that particular species of parrot?
Yes, let the search engines spider your content first as they will cite you as the source of the article and most of your partners will end up in the supplemental index. You can also write a version that's 30%+ different and put that on your website if you want to see if one of your partners can also get ranked for that article.
I look forward to any more questions.
Hope that helps,
Nicole
If you're looking for the hottest, most up-to-the-minute information on EVERY area of the fast-paced search marketing world, connect with our massive team of experts TODAY! For everything you need to know to get started, just go to www.MarketingTips.com/deliverresults!
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3 ) "Get FREE Tickets to My Exclusive Two-Day 'Wealth-Building Workshop'
Coming Soon to YOUR City!"
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Join my team of experts at a FREE inspirational two-day workshop -- coming soon to YOUR city --
and discover how to make an extra $8,750 – $12,500 every month in as little as 10 hours per week!
For two full days in each of the cities listed below, my IMC team will speak live on stage, giving away
the exact step-by-step blueprint you need to grow a lucrative Internet business...
... Using the most current, most advanced Internet marketing secrets, strategies, and technologies
that we've used to generate over $60,000,000 in online sales.
There's no catch... your tickets are 100% FREE!
You can meet my Internet marketing team in:
Detroit, MI -- Mar 10 & 11 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07detroit)
Kansas City, MO -- Mar 10 & 11 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07kansascity)
Denver, CO -- Mar 24 & 25 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07denver)
Chicago, IL -- Mar 24 & 25 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07chicago)
Minneapolis, MN -- Mar 31 & Apr 1 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07minneapolis)
Portland, OR -- Mar 31 & Apr 1 (www.MarketingTips.com/workshop07portland)
To claim your FREE tickets, click on the links above -- or call my team, who will be happy
to answer any of your questions about these exclusive events, at 1-800-595-9855.
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4 ) "Free Content for Your Web Site or E-zine"
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Need some fresh, free content for your web site or e-zine?
You are welcome to reprint this article on your web site
or in your e-zine. We simply ask that you let us know
where the article will be appearing, and include our byline.
To let us know where this article will appear, visit:
www.MarketingTips.com/freecontent
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5 ) "Visit Our Newsletter Archives"
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Did you miss an issue? Want to review an issue you
really enjoyed?
Be sure to check out our back issues at:
www.MarketingTips.com/newsletters
Articles are now organized by TOPIC and DATE, making
it really easy to find the article you're looking for!
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6 ) "Visit Derek's blog!"
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Check out "The Candid Internet Marketer" blog with Derek
Gehl at http://blog.MarketingTips.com/derek
Here Derek shares his thoughts, ideas, insights, and
strategies with you, our customers and subscribers, from
wherever he is in the world -- whether he's on the road or
in the office.
Every week, at least a couple of times a week, Derek shares...
1. Updates from the Internet Marketing Center: What's
happening at IMC? What are we testing? What were the
results? What is NOT working?
2. Cutting-edge industry updates: Every month Derek meets
extremely successful e-business owners who are using the
hottest new moneymaking strategies and industry insights...
and now he'll be sharing them with you.
3. Announcements! Be the first to know about new tools and
resources, sometimes even BEFORE they have been created,
so you can beat your competition to the punch!
4. Derek's personal opinion, thoughts, and insights on
many different e-business topics.
If you want to get to know Derek and what is going on in
the day-to-day workings of a leading Internet marketing
organization, then this is the place to be!
Go to: http://blog.MarketingTips.com/derek
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7 ) "Tell Us What You Think!"
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We'd love to hear what you think of this issue!
Please send your comments, questions, and ideas for
upcoming issues to us at:
newslettersuggestions@marketingtips.com
Your feedback matters to us!
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Copyright 1996-2007 by The Internet Marketing Center.
All rights reserved.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Derek Gehl specializes in teaching real people how to start profitable Internet businesses that make $100,000 to $2.5 Million (or more) per year. To get instant access to all his most profitable marketing campaigns, strategies, tools, and resources that he's used to grow $25 into over $60 Million in online sales, visit: http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html
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