Search engines are something most of us take for granted, they seemingly know what we want and sometimes it seems before we even know we want it ourselves. But what is a search as a marketing channel and how can businesses of any size, in any sector use them to drive lead generation, sales and revenue?
Search engines have been around for decades, since the early 1990's when they were very basic platforms which displayed information about the web pages they linked to. Since then they have created a completely new form of maketing, Search Marketing (sometimes called Search Engine Marketing or SEM), as businesses seek to acquire new customers and audiences who use search engines.
There are two main ways to market to audiences who use search engines, paid search, where companies pay for their advert to appear at the top of search results and search engine optimisation where websites are altered to meet the needs of users and search engine. Both of these methods have their nuances, benefits and drawbacks however there is one fundamental to be aware of from the start, both of these options require investment to make them work.
SEM or SEO Which is Right For my Business?
Not every business will benefit from SEM and SEO as part of a combined strategy, sometimes this depends on the sector or industry, others on the maturity of the business and whether the objectives are short or long term. Paid search is a great channel to drive traffic to a specific destination quickly, organic search engine optimisation on the other hand is usually more of a long term strategy though there can be instances where short term opportunities are realised.
Before deciding which route to go down, it's highly advisable to speak to a digital marketeer about your requirements as they should be able to understand your needs, budgets, restrictions and other factors to recommend the best route. You may think paid search is best because you want quick results, but if you don't have the media spend to back it up you might not get the quality or quatity of traffic resulting in low take up.
It's also worth thinking about your objective, you may be seeking to build trust and engagement with your audience and SEO ties really neatly with a rock solid content strategy here.
Getting Started With Search
Getting started with SEO or paid search advertising doesn't have to be complicated, think about what the audience you're targeting would want to see and do. Putting the user at the centre of your objectives will help you build a better strategy, if your audience want information, give them clear, digestable information; if they want to checkout quickly, let them do that,
Also be sure you do your reading, simple mistakes can cost you a lot of money if your PPC targeting isn't set up properly, potentially you could accidentally spend your months PPC budget in a day, by accident. Here's a list of great articles to get you started:
