When it comes to marketing, the Internet has become an incredible tool that can both build your brand and boost your sales. To do this, you need to take advantage of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). While they may sound complex, both SEO and SEM can be quite straightforward, and are incredibly powerful ways to reach millions of people worldwide.
The first thing you need to do when talking about Search Engine Optimization is to be very judicious about using Flash. All too often I see fancy Flash-based websites with incredible animation and interactivity that, while eye-catching and engaging, can hinder the exposure of your company's brand. The reason is simple: Flash-based sites are graphical, and while a picture might be worth a thousand words, today's search engines aren't quite smart enough (yet) to decode these images. Without a text-driven site, you'll face an uphill battle getting it noticed by the search engines.
Even with a traditional website, there are still numerous SEO tricks to the trade. Vancouver-based 6s Marketing (www.6smarketing.com) are search engine experts, and Director and co-founder Chris Breikss suggests that companies should allocate at least 20 to 25 per cent of their advertising budgets to SEO and SEM initiatives. If you're not prepared to make such a commitment, Breikss still recommends a few free basics.
"Targeting some key phrases in your home page will rank you in the search engines for those phrases naturally" says Breikss. This especially applies if you're a young company that's just starting out, where you want to be sure your site is rich with the sorts of key words and phrases for which your potential customers would likely be searching.
"If you've never had a website before," notes Breikss, "it will take you a minimum of six months to get ranking. These days, it makes sense to register and set up your site sooner rather than later." On the flip side, if you've had your site for a while, Breikss also recommends refreshing your content as often as possible.
"Google recognizes when websites get stale, so fresh content is very important." Even something as simple as a company blog, with the latest entries included on your homepage, should give you the fresh perspective the search engines are looking for.
If you do have some marketing dollars to put toward online advertising, be prepared to familiarize yourself with Google AdWords (adwords.google.com) and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formerly Overture) (searchmarketing.yahoo.com). Both systems allow you to specify keywords that relate to your business, and craft enticing ads. When someone searches for these terms, your ad will likely appear on the first page of search results. It's up to the user to click through, but both Google and Yahoo! only charge for successful clicks, not the mere appearance of the ad.
Providing highly targetted traffic and allowing you specify daily spending limits that fit your budget, paid search can be a very cost-effective way to advertise your business online. With the freedom to determine exactly what words define your business, you can focus on attracting just the potential customers who are looking for exactly what you provide. Yahoo!, for example, will allow you a grace period to test multiple versions of your ads so you can determine which messages work best for your target market. And both Google and Yahoo! provide geo-targeting, if you want to focus your ads to specific regions.
You might also want to familiarize yourself with Google Analytics, a free service that tells you exactly how visitors find you and interact with your site. Google Analytics is also integrated with AdWords, making it a handy tool for tracking the success of your campaigns.
Of course, the Web has a whole host of other options to assist you with your SEO and SEM efforts. How do you find them?
You guessed it: just search for them.
Dave Chalk is an entrepreneur, technology guru, television personality, syndicated columnist and public speaker and the Founder of Chalk Media.
