SEM (Search Engine Marketing) is arguably
the most effective and powerful way to successfully drive website visits, carry
out conversions, gain more leads, and many more. However, despite its potency,
there appears to be certain confusion with regard to what exactly does SEM
encompass. While the phrase appears basic, it is understandable why some
individuals are unclear with the term: the expression has been used very often
to effectively encompass other principals, including SEO. While SEO can be a
major factor to SEM, the core of SEM is extremely straightforward. Google
defines SEM as the usage of online advertising on SERPs (search engine results
pages) to assist visitors in locating your website. SEM frequently uses PPC
(pay-per-click), which is a bidding model that charges advertisers only when
any searcher clicks on the advertisement. This aspect is also called CPC
(cost-per-click).
While comprehending the process and
learning how to leverage it in meaningful ways may sound intimidating, it can
be extremely simple if you comprehend the present-day best practices. Once you
have this as your foundation, you can eventually dig deeper and delve into the
nitty-gritty of SEM. Let us take a closer look at some of the simplest yet most
effective ways for implementing SEM techniques.
PPC
Advertising
PPC or pay-per-click advertising is
arguably the most popular form of SEM. With PPC,
advertisers place bids on placement of
their ads in the section of sponsored ads on the search engine results pages. As
mentioned earlier, advertisers will be charged only when the ads are eventually
clicked. The bidding is based on several keywords that are effectively targeted
toward specific queries. If you offer gardening services, you may bid on
keywords such as “lawn care services” or “landscaping.” The total amount of the
keyword bid will ultimately decide the charges for each click-through.
The most well-known and popular form of PPC
advertisements is Google AdWords. However, remember that Google is a highly
competitive platform to achieve rankings; therefore, smaller businesses may opt
for Bing or Yahoo.
To run a successful PPC campaign, you need
to select the most accurate keywords. Choosing extremely sought-after keywords
will surely burn a hole in your pocket, while gaining minimal impressions. Your
best bet is targeting long-tailed keywords. There are scores of longer and
extremely precise phrases and keywords that are more affordable and less
cutthroat. What’s more, these keywords are beginning to account for the
majority of online searches as cell phone use and voice-to-text queries
continue to surge in popularity. The Google AdWords Keyword Planner can be your
ideal friend when it comes to making the right choices.
Ad
Content
After you have selected your keywords to rank for, creation of compelling advertising copies is of extreme importance. If your ads do not entice searchers to click through, your campaign will turn out to be unsuccessful. While creating ad content, ensure that you:
- Cover pain-points of the consumers that you can eventually address
- Effectively highlight the advantages offered by you
- Make sure that your ad is extremely relevant to the set of chosen keywords
Further, your advertisements should
eventually drive visitors to the correct landing page. This needs to be deep
within your website and extremely close to the point of purchase. Consumers do
not like to dig through your website to seek what your ad is effectively
promoting, and if it does not take them precisely to the product or service
that they are seeking, they will promptly move to a competitor’s website. When
it comes to the landing page, relevancy is the key for transforming that click
into an eventual sale.
Let
your Campaign Expand beyond the SERP
While PPC is a great way to acquire higher site visits and eventual conversions, your SEM campaign needs to encompass several other Google initiatives to effectively obtain the competitive edge. Gmail Ads are one effective technique to achieve this goal.
With the help of AdWords, Gmail Ads can now be successfully created and managed to target consumers directly in their inboxes. Numerous customizable templates can be availed to help create the inbox advertisements to effectively suit the needs of your company. Other ways to target audiences are YouTube shopping advertisements, TrueView advertisements, as well as SMS text message remarketing.
By effectively embracing all the offerings of Google, you are successfully expanding the potential reach of your ads, enhancing your brand presence and assisting in supporting other advertisements that already in place.
Carry
out Tracking, Testing, and Adjusting
This eventually lies at the heart of most
marketing campaigns. Without tracking, testing, and coming up with ways to
improve your efforts, your marketing campaigns will fail to reach their peak
potential. If you truly want your SEM campaign to deliver phenomenal ROI, it is
vital to test the effectiveness of your ads.
Paid search is a great avenue for
continually trying out novel approaches. Its prompt response structure allows
for a humungous amount of useful data to be gathered in a short duration.
Thanks to PPC, it is now possible to analyze thousands of clicks and
impressions in only a few days; therefore, continuous testing should be carried
out. You may upload your advertisements, allow them to successfully run for a
couple of days, eventually pull the results, and successfully upload your
improvements later that day.
Test keywords, ad copies, CTAs, landing
pages, and all requisite elements. A/B test to check which ads are successfully
producing a higher CTR (click-through-rate) and the highest conversions. If all
these tasks seem overwhelming, some of the key metrics to track include the
following:
- Ranking on search engines
- Traffic, conversions, and sales from every search platform
- Conversions driven by several keywords, categories, and landing pages
SEM is quite a challenging field to handle.
However, if you know the basics well in addition to the direction that the
consumers and markets are heading, you may obtain an awesome boost in traffic,
sales, and SERP ranking. This is, however, just the foundation because SEM is a
much deeper process. Similar to other practices, the more you gain knowledge
about it, the more efficient you will turn out to be. Take maximum advantage of
the diverse online resources and obtain some hands-on experience. No amount of
reading can replace the act of getting your hands dirty.
Have you given a shot to paid search
campaigns? What were your biggest successes and pain-points? Let us know.
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