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Published
Article
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| Winning
the Search Engine Wars!
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Creating and building
effective Search Engine marketing campaigns is like trying to
nail jello to the wall! The challenge can be daunting to many,
requiring very specialized knowledge of process that must be
blended with unique and disparate technology. Here is some insight
gained from years of experience providing these services to
clients.
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SE
marketing is very effective in driving qualified traffic
to a web site. Over 85% of global surfers utilize Search
Engines to find goods and services.
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What can
you expect for Search Engine ranking via back-end conversions
or desired responses? There is no "silver bullet"
answer to this question; we've seen results vary from
a low of 1.4% to a high of 22%. You'll make a dangerous
assumption if you measure results purely by focusing solely
on SE marketing. Your back-end response mechanisms (sales
rep interaction, e-commerce fulfillment, newsletter signup,
web site, etc.) will greatly affect the ROI. Assess and
critique from a holistic perspective.
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It's a zero
sum game if you use any of the low cost "we submit
to thousands" of search engines service companies.
These submissions do very little to drive viable rankings.
If you aren't achieving rankings in the top 20-30 (page
1-3) listings then you're wasting marketing resources.
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Don't make
the mistake of focusing solely on Search Engine marketing
to drive market awareness (online branding) and revenue.
Develop mutually reinforcing processes that are synergistic
by utilizing Directory submissions, Usenet/Newsgroup seeding,
Newsletter sponsorships, Opt-in e-mail, PR and other offline
marketing processes.
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Stringent
keyword analysis for HTML text is one of the underlying
foundations of a successful Search Engine Ranking campaign.
It's analogous to the importance of ad copy for a conventional
print campaign. Most good SE firms use a commercial database
service like WordTracker which enable them to analyze
the relative popularity of keywords and then build a submissions
and optimization process around the selected keywords.
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The
actual Title for your Index and Interior pages will also
have a significant impact on whether or not a campaign
works. It needs to be the right length, typically 10-20
words, have no hyperbole and pique a searcher's curiosity.
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Contrary
to endless marketing hype, there are no quick solutions
in this form of interactive marketing. It will take at
least 1-2 months before you see any immediate results.
And for significant results; i.e., page 1-3 listings via
top tier engines add another 2-3 months on top of this
on average.
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Web site
content development impacts good SE rankings - the more
the better. Develop content which is relevant to keywords.
We use linguistic analysis software for our clients and
then build a standalone "stealth web site" which
has content expressly designed for SE spiders (bots).
This level of sophistication and proprietary process is
expensive and time-consuming but very effective.
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Remember
the Armand Hammer quote about Russia? "An enigma
wrapped inside a box buried deep in the ocean." This
is apropos to the Search Engine world, as the top tier
SE's all change their submission rules and algorithms
on a regular basis. So hire a SE firm that understands
the market - or be prepared to invest a great deal of
time to achieve tangible results.
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Lee Traupel has 20 plus years of marketing experience.
He is the co-founder of a Northern California and Brussels
Belgium based, privately held, Marketing Services and
Software Company, Intelective Communications, Inc., http://www.intelective.com.
Intelective focuses exclusively on providing services
to small-to-medium-sized companies that need strategic
and tactical marketing services. He can be reached at
Lee@intelective.com.
Please click here to Contact us or call toll free 530.432.8764
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"Working with Intelective Communications
is pure joy and enlightenment. They are so much at the leading edge that it's
inspiring to be connected with them in any way."
-Jay Conrad Levinson, Author of Guerrilla Marketing
book series and Marketing Pioneer |
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