Make Your SEM Click

Published In The September Issue Of Target Marketing Magazine
Written By NETexponent CEO, Peter Figueredo

Proven SEM Tactics

It is no secret that search engine marketing (SEM) is an effective online marketing tool. Unfortunately, it is not an easy practice to master. Here are 6 proven tactics that can help an advertiser increase the ROI from pay-per-click search engine marketing.

1. Choose your weapon

What keyword selection strategy will help you to hit your SEM goals, the shotgun, the laser, or a hybrid? Practitioners of the shotgun approach start their SEM campaign with a wide variety of keywords across multiple categories (a large budget) and narrow it down based on performance. This approach can be good for advertisers who have aggressive goals and short timeframe. The shotgun method will make keyword bid management an arduous task and may warrant the added cost of a bid management system such as GoToast or Did-it.

In contrast, the laser approach begins with very few keywords and gradually expands. This approach is the "slow and steady" method and is ideal for small budgets and risk adverse advertisers. Many times a hybrid approach works well. With a hybrid approach, an advertiser may choose one category of keywords and purchase a wide variety within that category. Once they have narrowed the category down to keywords generating their target ROI they move on to the next category and repeat.

2. Track ROI

As a direct response marketer it amazes me when I come across advertisers who do not track the ROI of their search marketing buys. Proper ROI tracking is critical to developing a successful SEM campaign. Advertisers can track ROI with a variety of tools; DoubleClick DART, Atlas DMT, Commission Junction, LinkShare, Direct Track, My Affiliate Program and more. Larger search engines such as Google even offer an ROI tracking component. You may even have an internal tracking system that can help you track ROI from keyword buys. The point is you cannot effectively optimize these efforts if you don't know ROI by keyword, by search engine, etc.

3. Watch the headlines

Keeping current on world events will make you a smarter search marketer. When a major news event occurs, search engines see spikes in traffic to related keywords. This could be good or bad for an advertiser bidding on those related keywords. Deciding on the value of that traffic is important. For example, immediately after 9/11 search engines saw spikes on New York related keywords such as "World Trade Center". This was a keyword that we were bidding on for our client The New York Times Store. However, our goal was to sell expensive photo quality prints of WTC pictures. It is safe to say that users searching at that time were less interested in this offer than information on the buildings history, location, etc. We had to cut this keyword because we suddenly saw a rise in clicks and decrease in conversion rate. If we had not acted quickly, situations like this could have prematurely depleted our ad budget. On the other hand, if the Yankees win the World Series it could increase the demand for nostalgic Yankees photographs and justify an increased spend.

4. Think like your customers

When selecting keywords many advertisers make the mistake of choosing words they think their customers are searching for. Often times their customers have a completely different mind set when searching online. One example that comes to mind is of a bank who was bidding on the term "lending institution". When they ran a report of what terms their customers were inputting into search engines they found that most traffic was going to the term "borrowing money". A good tool for this type of research is Word Tracker (www.wordtracker.com). This tool will provide a report of keywords and how many searches are done on each word and their misspellings. Put yourself in your customers' shoes and choose keywords that they use even if it is not what you would use to search. Remember to use colloquial language as opposed to corporate speak.

5. Search your own site for clues

Another useful tactic to help you select the best keywords is to use your website's own search engine. If your website has a search box then a report of frequent keywords searched should yield some insight into what keywords you should be buying.

6. Be on guard

A recent issue known as "click fraud" has emerged, where paid search listings are clicked in order to drive up click revenue for engines and affiliates or raise campaign costs for competitors. Software programs or teams of people are usually responsible for generating the clicks. Industry experts speculate that this type of fraud can be found in 10% - 20% of all search listings and can account for 10% - 20% of the clicks on those search links. Google and Overture are proactively trying to address this problem but it is obviously important for search marketers to be on guard for suspicious activity.

Learning about industry changes quickly can give you a valuable edge on your competition. SearchEngineWatch.com is a great resource for learning about emerging trends in this field of online marketing. These tactics should help advertisers maximize their return from paid search engine marketing. However, this industry changes rapidly and effective search marketing experts should have their ear to the ground.

PETER FIGUEREDO is co-founder and CEO of NYC-based NETexponent (www.NETexponent.com), an online direct marketing agency for companies looking to maximize their online customer acquisitions.