SEM is an acronym for Search Engine Marketing. Many companies in today’s market are feeling the need to develop an SEM strategy for their businesses or brands. There are 227 million Internet users in the US and there are 1.6 billion Internet users worldwide. Companies cannot afford to ignore or merely to just be average in the online market.
So, what are the main elements of SEM and how should you proceed in outsourcing your SEM strategy to a 3rd party provider?
1) SEO (Search Engine Optimization): SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the backbone of Search Engine Marketing. Every company should have an SEO strategy since its long term and the affects can be long lasting. SEO deals with the organic side of SEM which means that a website can get to the top of search engine results pages for specific terms without having to pay for each click. In the long run, it becomes very cost effective to keep getting traffic from search engines and not paying for that traffic through ads. SEO should definitely be the major emphasis or area of specialty for the firm you seek to outsource your SEM to.
2) Link Building: Link building (backlinks) is the backbone of Search Engine Optimization. Therefore, any 3rd party firm should have a proven process to build relevant backlinks for your website. Ask them how they will build popularity to your site and increase the backlinks. Make sure that their plan does not only consist of buying links since Google frowns upon that method.
3) Online Branding: Ask them what other strategies and resources they use to promote your site. Increasing the visibility of your business and your website is essential and using methodologies involving Social Media and Social Bookmarking Marketing should be part of any well coordinated plan. Make sure that the company you plan to hire is proficient in these areas and can deliver.
4) Web Analytics: Analytics is important in any online marketing strategy. Analyzing the user behavior is essential in increasing sales, conversions and ROI. Make sure that the 3rd party can effectively monitor, analyze and improve statistics on your site. Without a strategic approach to stats and ROI, any SEM methodology will fail.
5) Content: This is the most important question. Content is the single most important factor in the success of an SEM Strategy. Without content, the results will be short-lived and poor. Make sure that they understand the significance of content. If they do not even mention content, run away!
6) Conversion Optimization: So, let’s say that this 3rd party vendor did great. They increased traffic. They increased backlinks and the overall visibility. What next? Do they stop or do understand that we are ultimately not successful until we get the actual business we seek from the traffic? Do they do split and multi-variable testing to improve your conversion rate and your leads even more? What other methods do they use to increase business? Conversion Optimization is a big part of SEM and increasing bottom line.
7) Pay for Performance SEM: Can you trust this company and are they willing to share the risk of marketing with you? Are they really confident that they can deliver? Ask the right questions and make sure that they also have some skin in the game.
Most important of all, make sure that they are not only a vendor but also an extension of your internal marketing department. Only then, can they truly excel and provide you with excellent service and results. Of course, we are here to help should you need any assistance.
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