We did not know how important SEO and social media services were until we witnessed the results achieved by Rodney Thompson, CEO/Founder of Cyber Stampede Inc. Prior to working with Rodney, we squandered away thousands of dollars while we aimlessly attempted to get higher search engine rankings."
Posts Tagged ‘SEM’
Which SEM advertising platform is good for you?
Picking the search engine you want to advertise on is often a very difficult choice. Most people will pick by personal preference or by knowledge of current traffic share the search engine holds. Google generally being the most popular. I found after working for a search engine (which I will not name) that most advertisers won’t take into consideration the content networks behind the search engine they’ve chosen. For example the websites I recognize at first glance in the Google platform are:
Some of these sites may not be the best choice for you however the traffic from Google.com may suffice for you and your business; given the fact that there are 3 Google products in the top 5 most visited sites on the internet Google.com being number one. If you are looking for a specific audience then you may want to look into content advertising. This requires very relevant ads, which means you should have an SEO expert hired. I know from personal experience that the advertisements on the Bing.com content ads system require the utmost relevancy. Some people may be weary of the Microsoft adCenter platform because of the lower share in search engine traffic. Keep in mind that it is a fair playing field and each platform has its pros and cons. The adCenter platform serves ads for the Yahoo search engine as well because of an agreement that was made years ago.
Microsoft also paid $240M for a 1.6% share in Facebook which allows them to sell internet ads for Facebook outside the United States as part of the deal. Bing search also provides all search results on Facebook.com as well, apart from this fact they have quite a reputable content network as well which includes:
- Wall Street Journal
- MSNBC
- Fox Sports
- PC World
- Ebay (Yahoo)
View the Microsoft Content Network
You may also find these article of interest:
Rumors of Microsoft purchasing Adobe
Adobe purchase of Omniture (Formerly owned by Yahoo)
Yahoo-Microsoft Search Deal: The Key Facts
Microsoft buys stake in Facebook
List of acquisitions by Google
Alexa Top 500 Sites on the Web
My intention in this brief article is to have no bias, and hope that all the information provided can help you choose the right advertising tactics for your business. If you have any questions please feel free to email me at my website. Here are the links to the advertising platforms discussed in this article:
Is social media right for your company?
A lot of businesses are now taking advantage of the social media market, but does it really provide an advantage for your company? That depends on what you are offering.
“According to Adweek, there is bad news for brands who are rushing to social media sites. Young people don’t want to be friends with you! According to a new report from Forrester Research, just 6% of 12-17-year-olds who use the web want to be friends with a brand on Facebook.
Among Web-connected 18-24-year-olds, that figure doubles, which means that only 12% of 18-24-year-old think is ok to friend a brand. Even scarier for brands: Young people don’t want brands’ friendship, and they think brands should go away.”
“Young consumers are basically telling brands, when I interact with you I want you to listen to me and interact with you. I don’t want to interact (friend) a brand that just engages in a one-way conversation with me.” Social Media Optimization
It’s pretty agreeable that the vast majority of people do not want to be branded, but to simply choose the brand of preference. If you are offering a service, social media is absolutely for you because the product is based on customer interaction. When the customer interacts with your company on a social media network they are sharing the great experience they had, and not endorsing a product. We’re not sales people, but we sure love to tell stories about our life experiences. If you’re selling a product it’s best to stick to SEM or standard marketing techniques to keep the power of choice in the consumers hands. Recently PepsiCo found out the hard way by dropping standard advertising all together, spending at least 50 per cent of its American branding budget on social media.
“Beverage Digest reported last month that the company’s flagship brand, Pepsi, had fallen to third place behind Coke and Diet Coke. Pepsi – known for its Refresh Everything goodwill campaign and a bevy of social media efforts – had ranked second for decades in that sales category. Some considered the slip an indictment of the brand’s embrace of social media and de-emphasis of traditional broadcast advertising – exemplified by its withdrawal from the Super Bowl last year.” Clickz.com
Find more information on Businessdailyafrica.com about PepsiCo and social media marketing.
The bottom line is, if you’re offering a product, social media could be a gamble for you; if it’s a service social media can do wonders for you! If you’re not sure, don’t be scared to talk to us, we’ll help you reach the most accurate demographic.
The difference between SEM and SEO
In the recent past I have run into many encounters where I will offer my SEM services and they will respond to me with questions about my “SEO” services. I personally don’t do SEO, but I do SEM and web design (You can see my site here). For all my SEO needs I go to Cyber Stampede! This lack of understanding the two terms generally causes a lot of frustration on both sides which is unnecessary; this article will hopefully clear up some of that confusion.
To most people SEO and SEM are synonymous or they feel the terms are interchangeable, this is not the case. The key to understanding the difference is knowing the difference between paid and organic listings. Paid listings are seen at the top and right hand side of the main results (3 on top, 5 on the right), the main results are everything else. SEO pertains to organic listings which are the most important because these results are based solely on relevancy as where paid listings (SEM) can shoot to the top with a fat wallet. Sometimes this is not the case, ads that are placed that have high relevancy will sometimes appear in a higher ranked spot because of their relevancy to the keywords they are targeting. If this sounds unfair to those who want to pay their way to the top; in all fairness advertisers want to show the most relevant ads to gain the highest revenue.
That being said you are probably beginning to see where SEO and SEM are similar, but not the same. SEO is actually integral to SEM, but can exist without SEM, in the long run SEM would fail without adequate SEO. Good SEO can save you money, and make you money if it is done right, and will also increase conversion rates (The ratio of customers that visit to the amount that actually make a purchase, or reach the goal point you’ve set). SEO is so important that some SEM ads will actually be rejected because of poor relevancy due to poor or lack of SEO. As the definition below states ” Personally, I would start with SEO and then move onto SEM.”. Here is a quick and easily understandable definition I found on another blog:
“SEO is the act of optimizing the HTML and other content of your website for relevant, targeted key phrases in order to attain higher natural listings than competing websites. SEO provides a cheaper long term solution for increased qualified traffic and generates customer inquiries that ultimately convert to sales. Now SEM is broader than SEO. It includes SEO and other areas to improve a sites visibility in search engine results pages, like paid listings and paid inclusions. You can think of SEM as more expensive and quite possibly more targeted, while SEO is free (not counting your time of course) and its purpose is to obtain better free search listings. Personally, I would start with SEO and then move onto SEM.” PageStrength.com
Be sure to come back on Monday!
The Importance of Search Engine Optimization
Most businesses today have the understanding that online importance is important; however it seems that the effort stops at the point they get online. The online presence is there, but with no organized method you’re just a small being in the large world of the internet. Generally most people have way too much faith in technology and expect to do something once and have it succeed amazingly with no effort. When it comes to designing a website with purpose and power there are a few very important factors:
- The obvious first would be design which comes down to visual appeal and user friendliness.
- Frequency of updated material.
- Backlinks (Sites that link to your site) on relevant sites to yours.
- The relevancy of your material to what your demographic is looking for. (Most shoppers do their research online first.) Wall Street Journal
- Most important of all you want the search engines to understand what you have on your site, where to find it, and what to look for.
“More than half the businesses who responded to a Small Business Search Marking Survey by American Express and SEMPO said they needed help with their campaigns, yet only 25 per cent said they would employ anyone to assist with search engine marketing, MediaPost reported.
Nineteen per cent of those questioned said that although they were planning on spending money on digital advertising this year, they would not put any money into search engine marketing.
The news provider reported that the survey said the confusion could arise from the large number of strategies which small businesses are faced with, and the potential pitfalls they may face along the way.
Almost three-quarters of those questioned said they handled search campaigns internally, despite often having no expertise in the sector.”
We need to remember that no matter how powerful the computer is whether it be a desktop, a Google server, or a super computer its still no human brain. This is what search engine optimization is for — to help the search engine algorithms understand your site better. This will help your site appear more relevant to the keywords you are using to target your audience and get you the most relevant traffic. Relevancy is key in top ranking whether you are talking search engine marketing or optimization (SEM or SEO). Search engine marketing can also help you research your demographic through keyword research tools and trial and error. This will also give you an idea of what the search engine is looking for; this shouldn’t stop at Google, Bing, Yahoo, be sure to include Facebook too. Quality not quantity plays a huge role in top ranking. If you are going to launch a new site a good start is extremely important, not that this means if you were off to a bad start you’ve seen the end of your online presence. Late is better than never, and that’s why Cyber Stampede is here, to help you!
For those who are familiar with the iPhone/iPod game Angry Birds, here is an SEO analogy that relates to the game.
- You have to play to figure out the rules
So many webmasters want to know “the best way” to do this or that – but there rarely is a one-size-fits-all answer. Many times, we simply need to play the game and see what happens, building up the real world knowledge of what is right for OUR situation as we go. - You succeed best when your site’s unique contributions are recognized
Too much energy goes into being “like site X”. Once you’ve got the basics of webmastering down, what’s important is making your site’s unique qualities obvious in the marketplace. - You can’t recover from a really bad start
Sometimes you do need to cut your losses and move on. That’s just the reality of the world. - Different problems require different specialists
Running a website is a diverse project, and you simply cannot know everything required to make the right moves in every situation. Knowing when to bring in outside help or develop a new skill in-house is key. - Blowing something up isn’t necessarily felt everywhere
If you want to make a major change in an established web business, you often need to think holistically, and realize that there are many factors to take into consideration. You can’t just fiddle around without having some idea of how your entire web ecosystem will react to that fiddling – and that includes how it will look to Google. - Most improvements are incremental
Great breakthroughs in search traffic are rare. Mostly it’s just putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again. Google even has safeguards that keep a site from exploding onto the scene too fast. - Just because you’ve mastered one task doesn’t make you master of all
It’s a natural pitfall because webmasters do need to have a lot of diverse skill. But sometimes you need a business plan tune-up, or a conversion optimization, or a usability assessment in order to reach the next level. - You can never do the same thing exactly the same way
And that means you can never do the exactly same thing that someone else did, either. Google moves on, each website exists in a unique larger web presence, and repeating the same patterns over and over will eventually smack you into a brick wall. - Some goals require more “birds”
Sometimes you can make successful changes to a website, only to discover that the business can sustain the new level of success. It’s not just Google that needs to focus on “does this scale.” Webmasters who want major success need to look at that question in advance, too. - There is more than one way to win
Even in SEO this is true. There is more than one keyword or set of keywords that can tap into your audience. There is more than one way to get other sites to link to you. There is more than one way to structure a website. There is more than one way to write HTML, CSS, PHP. etc – even to achieve the same end.
Be Sure to come back Friday for an article on the difference between SEM and SEO.
Get noticed by Google
Lets face it, if you want to be noticed on the web you need to be noticed by Google and have a presence on the most visited site on the web, Facebook.
Top rankings on Google in 2011 will NOT be achieved through traditional methods, here is a list of “MUSTS”:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
No matter the platform SEO will continue to rank #1 as the preferred strategy for all major search engines including Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask. - RSS (Real Simple Syndication)
Because Google rewards “real time media” over static, RSS and consequently Ping services will continue to grow as a leading method of maximizing Google rankings. Services such as Google’s Feedburner can be highly beneficial and is simple to use. - Link Building
In tune with Google’s “L(i)” search algorithm variable, link popularity will maintain a high level of importance to maximize Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask rankings. - Take advantage of Google’s Local Listings
Maximize Google exposure by taking advantage of Google Local which places users more favorably on search result pages. - Create a Facebook page
With Facebook as the most visited site in all the internet, you will need a presence there. Create a page and invite everyone you know, if you have the budget, promote the page with Facebook advertising, a very quickly growing trend. - Sponsored Listings
This can be the quick and easy way to get exposure on the first page of results on Google. Depending on your market this can become costly, but can establish great relevancy statistics with keywords. Tools such as Adwords can help establish statistics on:
- Keyword relevancy in relation to landing pages; Click Through Rate, and Conversions (Know what keywords to include in your articles, and which keywords are creating your desired result.)
- Demographics such as Age, Gender, and Location (Know who, and where to target.)
- When people visit your site. (Publishing new content just before the “Golden Period” will keep your visitors coming.)
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