>
Oh, and there were also speakers! Elliot Christenson, Co-Founder Green Bay Net; Jordan Heider, Interactive Media Director, The Karma Group; and Mark Lezotte, Director of Online Marketing Services for Skyline Technologies all shared some wisdom with us.
Like that delightful omelet I had, a lot of ingredients go into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
Mark Lezotte talked to us about organic (unpaid) search results. Why make sure your page title, links and copy are filled with keywords? Quite simply, to increase traffic. You’ll convert users into buyers and demonstrate your relevance in the market. Someone’s looking for farm-fresh eggs for a morning omelet? Be there at the top of Google’s search results.
If you have competitors in the marketplace, you have competitors for relevant keywords. Lezotte says you may want to target keywords that have a lower demand, so it’s easier to compete. Try more specific terms.
Surround your keywords with good content. This will also help when you try to get other “authoritative” sites to link back to you… helping you rank higher.
SEO and Google AdWords seem to be the right recipe for Jordan Heider’s clients. They compete for keywords to show up in Sponsored Links results. Bid for keywords and pay per click. Heider says you first need to identify your client’s goals, such as increasing brand visibility. Then it’s time to talk budget. You can find out your return on investment pretty easily, so it may be easier to justify spending money.
Next is the keyword list. Expand on your SEO list and include some very specific words, since customers close to buying will search for the exact item they’re thinking of buying.
Start small. You can always expand. You know, as the demand for omelets grows. It’s easy to measure your results. If it’s working, increase your budget.
As our panel continued, my thoughts went to Facebook. (As the Social Media Specialist, that’s not uncommon.) How does Google feel about social networking sites? Is it important to give your Facebook page the SEO treatment? Or are you just splitting attention and taking the focus off your main website?
The short answer: that’s still evolving. (Sort of like the omelet metaphor in the blog post. Who knows where it’s going?)
Now it’s time for you to get cooking. How important are keywords to you? And what about the role of social media in SEO? Kindly leave your comments below.
Tags: AAF, Google AdWords, omelets, SEM, SEO, social media
>Great recap of the meeting. For adwords, how should you decide when a keyword is just too expensive. In the landscaping industry, the normal consumer doesn't look up brand names of products often. The general keywords can be $5 plus. How should we determine when it is just too pricey per word? Or do we just set our budget and let it go?
>Thanks for the question!
The great thing about Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC) on search engines such as Google, is you can customize your target to be a specific geographic area. So although the cost-per-clicks on specific keywords can be pricey, the targeting allows you to pinpoint a true candidate for your service.
This pinpointing does lower the amount of traffic you would be seeing click on your ad. However, it will help ensure that the clicks you receive are actual prospects for your company.
Adding in the geotargeting can also help lower the cost of the bid; you are no longer bidding against the national companies as much. Instead, you're bidding against other local PPC advertisers- which at this point in our market isn’t too many!
The geotargeting can get very precise as well. For example, one of our clients has three retail locations, so we have a campaign set up to reach users within 35 miles of the exact address of each location. For some industries, such as banking, we would reduce this coverage area to be about five miles within the exact address of the bank. The specifics all depend on your goals, but know that it can work without breaking the bank if it's done correctly.
Hope this helps!