Search Marketing Secrets for Technology Marketers

Thu, Nov 5, 2009

Conversion Rates, Traffic

   Written by: Susan Tatum

Search Marketing Secrets for Technology Marketers
Today, by popular request, I’m starting a series of posts looking at ways you technology marketers can use search engine marketing tactics to generate leads by driving more traffic to your website.
Let’s start by looking at what we mean by “search engine marketing” and why – as a technology marketer – you should care. If you’re already clued into these topics, then check back tomorrow when we’ll start looking at the secrets.
Search engine marketing – no surprise here – refers to efforts you take to make it easy for prospects to find you on their search engine of choice. It’s often called SEM and I’m going to use that term from here on out because I’m already tired of typing “search engine marketing”.  Get ready. This topic is full of acronyms.
Essentially, there are two types of SEM – paid and non-paid. Paid SEM includes advertising tactics such as pay-per-click (PPC) and pay-per-impression (CPM). With pay-per-click you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. With CPM (literally, “cost per thousand”) you pay to be exposed to a certain number of searchers regardless of whether they click or not.
The second type of SEM – non-paid – is generally called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). To call it “non-paid” is a little misleading because truly effective SEO requires a lot of time – and usually money. The purpose of SEO is to get high natural rankings on search engines – primarily Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Why should you care about SEM?
Any growing business needs leads – most of you want MORE leads of higher quality. And you want them faster. If you’re selling a business technology product or service, the fastest path to growth is online visibility. Your future new customers are looking for you there – and they’re using search engines to do it.
What can be better than putting your message in front of qualified prospects at the exact moment they are looking for you?! That’s the beauty of search engine marketing.
What if you use your site for lead generation and not e-commerce?
It doesn’t matter. Your prospects are still using search engines to find and connect with you. Even the most sought after C-Level executives are searching for solutions online.
Be visible.
Be even more visible.
Tomorrow I’ll start looking at ways to do this.

This article was first published July 9, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog

Today, by popular request, I’m starting a series of posts looking at ways you technology marketers can use search engine marketing tactics to generate leads by driving more traffic to your website.

Let’s start by looking at what we mean by “search engine marketing” and why – as a technology marketer – you should care. If you’re already clued into these topics, then check back tomorrow when we’ll start looking at the secrets.

Search engine marketing – no surprise here – refers to efforts you take to make it easy for prospects to find you on their search engine of choice. It’s often called SEM and I’m going to use that term from here on out because I’m already tired of typing “search engine marketing”.  Get ready. This topic is full of acronyms.

Essentially, there are two types of SEM – paid and non-paid. Paid SEM includes advertising tactics such as pay-per-click (PPC) and pay-per-impression (CPM). With pay-per-click you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. With CPM (literally, “cost per thousand”) you pay to be exposed to a certain number of searchers regardless of whether they click or not.

The second type of SEM – non-paid – is generally called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). To call it “non-paid” is a little misleading because truly effective SEO requires a lot of time – and usually money. The purpose of SEO is to get high natural rankings on search engines – primarily Google, Yahoo and MSN.

Why should you care about SEM?

Any growing business needs leads – most of you want MORE leads of higher quality. And you want them faster. If you’re selling a business technology product or service, the fastest path to growth is online visibility. Your future new customers are looking for you there – and they’re using search engines to do it.

What can be better than putting your message in front of qualified prospects at the exact moment they are looking for you?! That’s the beauty of search engine marketing.

What if you use your site for lead generation and not e-commerce?

It doesn’t matter. Your prospects are still using search engines to find and connect with you. Even the most sought after C-Level executives are searching for solutions online.

Be visible.

Be even more visible.

Tomorrow I’ll start looking at ways to do this.

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