For businesses looking to gain momentum quickly and reach the top of search engine results pages, the concept of search engine marketing can be extremely appealing. But before you go any further, it’s important to understand the very basics of what it can offer you and how it helps your business.
What are the benefits of SEM?
The benefits of a search engine marketing strategy are plentiful, but to narrow it down into what the immediate benefits are when it comes to the basics, you can expect to see fast results that allow fast shifts in optimisation if you’re not getting the desired results.
You can also expect to appear at the top of the search engines you’re targeting, which will give you those all-important clicks from potential customers. This provides you with more brand recognition and exposure too. You can also drive warmer leads to your business based on the accuracy of the chosen terms you’re using.
Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects of using the basics of SEM is that you’ll have complete autonomy over your budget and expenditure. In other words, the ads you make will run for as long as you’re willing to spend the money. Of course, that limited spending can affect the success of your campaigns, but for businesses on a budget, it’s beneficial to know that you’re in control.
And finally, all of the above means you’re likely to gain more conversions.
How should I attempt SEM?
While there are far more components and moving parts involved, the main basics of search engine marketing revolve around 3 of the following key areas.
First of all, you’ll need to be able to pinpoint the best relevant keywords for your ad campaigns. You’re ideally looking for ones that contain 3 or more words, known as ‘long tail keywords’.
Secondly, the next step in your SEM strategy is to bid on those particular keywords. Most marketing keyword tools will have a breakdown of what the average cost per click is for your chosen keywords. The amount you may have to bid depends on its popularity and the competition to get it. This may require you to increase bids for the more popular keywords.
And the final component of a basic SEM plan is figuring out the ad copy you’ll be creating around this keyword. There’s a fine art to this part, where you’ll need to cultivate engaging ad, blog and social media content that’s not only relevant to your keyword but also solves a common problem or has a unique perspective.
SEM and your business
Understanding the basics of search engine marketing can be a difficult task, and it’s barely scratching the surface of the other aspects you’ll need to stay on top of in order to succeed and accomplish your goals. With such a huge potential for return on your investment, it makes sense that it’s not going to be a cakewalk.
Instead of using all of your resources and energy to attempt this alone, it’s always best to enlist the help of a search marketing agency to help cultivate the content for you and guide you from the basics of SEM to the top of the search engine rankings.