The goal of Search Engine Marketing is to promote a corporation’s products and services through the use of strategically placed positions on the Internet Search Engines. In order to properly promote a company’s products and services and see a substantial return on investment, a corporation must make sure that they take full advantage of any Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts performed by a Search Engine Optimization Specialist. Let’s examine the typical search engine user experience and suggest ways that a corporation can make sure that it’s receiving the highest ROI possible.
When someone has determined that they have a need for a particular product or service, they usually turn to the Internet to perform research. Let’s call this person a user. (This is a key starting point in the Business to Business Sales Cycle, discussed later in the section titled “Business to Business Sales Cycle”.) They turn to their favorite search engine and perform a search. The search engine presents them with a list of results. Typically, sponsored listings and advertisements are shown first (companies who paid to have their website listed) and then the free listings are shown. If the user finds a listing (sponsored or not) that appears to be what they’re looking for, they click on the listing and go to the website. If, after reading the information presented to them is what they’re looking for, they will make a determination whether to contact this corporation or not. If that corporation’s website includes contact information or an incentive for that user to contact the corporation, and it’s easy for that user do so, then a contact is made and this user becomes a potential sales lead. This is an example of successful search engine marketing.
Too many corporations do not realize that if their products and services are not listed at the top of the search results they will lose out on valuable sales leads; and typically these leads are a lot cheaper to acquire through search engine marketing techniques than through other traditional marketing techniques.