Interactive Marketing Using Search Engines
Source: AICPA CPA Insider
Search engine marketing will help get prospects to your Web site. Here are some definitions of search engine activities you should know:
Search engine optimization (SEO) may be the best long-term initiative. Your objective is to obtain the highest position possible on the search results page. It may take weeks or months to get there, and even then you don’t know if you will stay there. You must continually monitor it and experiment with different key words.
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) includes the links you see at the top right side of the search results page. You decide how much you pay, when your ads appear, and which key words are used. You pay only when there is a click on your ad. The search engines offer the means to help you estimate your costs.
You can also arrange to pay for the number of times your ad is displayed. You can no longer arrange to have a competitor’s product (a well-branded product) appear in your ad so you can redirect readers to your site.
You can have your ad displayed on Web sites related to the key words you are using. This is called “contextual search” and gets exposure to buyers who may be interested in your product in the future.
Local search is similar to the Yellow Pages. It allows people in your area to find out about your firm. It obviates the need to use the Yellow Book.
Marketing with the use of search engines is trackable. You know who clicked on your ad, and you can determine the rate of success in getting them to contact you. You can make revisions to your ad if you see negative trends. There are metric programs that give you information on how people got to your site, how many visited it, how many visited multiple times, etc.
Your minimum objective is to be on the first page of the search results. You can hire specialists to help with this or try it on your own. Visit www.SpencerSEM.com to get more insight into interactive marketing.
(Editor’s note: Interactive marketing seems ideal for promoting specific niche solutions and not so ideal for promoting general accounting services.)
From AICPA CPA Insider, May 21, 2007, www.cpa2biz.com. For the complete article, click here.