SEM for Startups- Presented at The Werx [A Startup Incubator]. What is Search Engine Marketing, SEO & PPC? What are they and what are the benefits? We discuss how to decide if SEM would be good for your small business and how to do it effectively.
To learn more reach us at:
MarketCrest
9720 Coit Suite 220-174
Plano, TX 75025
972 365-0000
http://www.marketcrest.com
2. HELLO!
Scott Berry
Marketing Mentor at The Werx and founder
of MarketCrest, an online marketing
agency based out of Plano, TX with clients
in TX, IL, TN, NJ & PA
Current Marketing Head for two
companies and previously a multiple time
CS&M Officer of $850 million
corporations
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3. This Talk Is:
For Business Owners, CEOs or Presidents
A no B.S., non technical, executive dialog about fit & ROI
A no risk opportunity to determine if Search Engine
Marketing is for you and your business
A catalyst for those ready to begin (answers what to expect,
where to start, how to budget expenses and who to trust)
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4. Why SEM? Overcome The Cloak of Invisibility:
• When someone types a word into a search engine, sees a
page listed from your site, and clicks through to visit your
site, you have attracted a searcher. If you do nothing at all,
searchers might still find your site.
• To maximize the number of searchers coming to your site,
however, you must intentionally take specific actions to
attract visitors to your site, otherwise you risk invisibility.
• This is, in essence what paid and unpaid SEM is all about-
invisibility insurance ;-)
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5. Seek To Understand, Then Decide If It’s For You:
• Attracting visitors to your site may not, be important to your
revenue stream. Step 1 make that determination.
• Attracting visitors to your site is absolutely possible, but it’s
much harder than you might think (thanks Google) and it
cost time and money.
• As search marketing becomes more and more widespread,
your competition online is increasing every day.
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6. The BENEFITS of SEM (paid & unpaid)
1. Results of PPC & SEO are easy to track and thus
measure ROI.
2. Paid ads have short term benefits and SEO has
long
3. Strategy changes based on results are much
easier to put into action, businesses are able to
stretch money further when digital marketing is
working effectively.
4. Any size business can see revenue increases for a
fraction of traditional advertising budgets.
5. Search engine marketing is a more scalable way
to reach customers than outbound marketing.
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7. What is SEM And What Good Is It?
1. SEM – What is it?
2. PPC – What is it and what are
the benefits?
3. SEO – Ditto
4. Why Use SEM At All?
5
9. WHAT IS IT?
The process of search marketing is called SEM (search engine marketing).
Marketers are concerned with two different types of search.
They are paid search (often called pay per click- PPC), and unpaid search.
Paid First: The process of paying for search involves paying for
advertising that shows up on the top or the side (and sometimes the
bottom) of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
It’s called p a i d s e a r c h because the advertiser pays the website
hosting the advertising (think Google or Adwords) money every time
someone clicks on an advertisement.
< SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING >
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10. Display advertising (banner ads) has been around for ages,
so why has a newcomer such as paid search been
outselling it since 2003?
BECAUSE PAID SEARCH WORKS AND IT’S FAST
Benefits: Paid search ROI is easily trackable; The ROI
depends heavily on: keyword research, Adwords account
mgt; your website’s ability to convert visitors to leads; and
your company’s ability to nurture leads to opportunities and
win them. With paid search, the ROI is either pass/fail.
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PAID SEARCH MARKETING
12. WHAT IS IT?
The unpaid type of search is known as organic or natural search and the
process of getting ranked “naturally” is known as search engine optimization
(SEO). There is both onsite and offsite SEO.
This SEO process involves an understanding of what is known as a search
algorithm. An algorithm helps the search engine decide which pages come
closest to which queries on the Internet.
Note: The natural or organic search results show up, below and to the
left side of the advertisements on the search engine results page.
< SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION >
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13. The BENEFITS of SEO
1. The ability to bring in a significant volume of consumers on a
wide range of search terms at a highly effective cost per visit.
2. Increased traffic to your website helps to build brand awareness.
3. SEO leads have a nearly 15% close rate, while outbound leads
have only 1.7% close rate (Search Engine Journal).
4. As more and more people visit your site, you’ll be able to refine
your sales process and increase your conversion rate.
5. The more prominent your website is, the less prominent your
competitors’ websites will be, as there are a limited number of
spaces on that first page; therefore your share of voice is
increased.
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14. You Know What,
Now WHY SEM?3
(972) 365-0000 | | 9720 Coit Rd. Suite 220-174 Plano, TX 75025-5833
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15. SEM & The Online Marketing Landscape
• Search engines typically represent the largest opportunity for finding
qualified users in your target audience
• Search engine ranking algorithms are becoming increasingly complex,
representing both a challenge and an opportunity
• User engagement metrics are critical factors in how search engines decide
to rank, therefore user experience & quality content are key
• Offsite presence and activity on prominent and niche platforms like
business directories, social media and content sharing platforms are
becoming increasingly important factors in ranking
• Quality & quantity of relevant content is the central force in
establishing on-site & off-site signals that trigger search rankings
16. Example: Search Engine Results Page
Related Search Traffic in TN & Surrounding States
• Identified 382 aligned keywords and regional traffic
• Estimate ~4,140 aligned regional searches per month
• Regional visibility low, hyper local is decent
• Most queries included paid ads
• Most queries included local map pack
• Many queries also displayed directories on first page
Keyword(Groups #(KWs #(Searches( %(Comp $(Avg(Bid
Injection(Molding 101 1,360 35% $4.76
Plastic(Molding 89 1,030 45% $3.51
Plastic(Injection(Molding 99 930 27% $4.25
Injection(Molding(Company 27 240 38% $5.97
Plastic(Molding(Company 23 230 43% $7.13
Plastic(Injection(Molding(Company 21 180 37% $6.18
Plastic(Injection 18 140 23% $2.56
Plastic(Injection(Company 4 30 0% $4.20
Grand(Total 382 4,140 35% $4.53
17. Example: Local Search Engine Results Page
(SERP)
Local Map Listings
Brand News Article
Niche Directories
General Directory
Paid Search Ads
Ex: “Plastic injection molding
companies in Tennessee”
• 11 competitor ad spots
• 3 competitor map listings
• 2 niche directory pages
• 1 industry job listing
• 4 general directory listings
• 3 competitor web pages
Other typical results include:
• YouTube videos
• Blog Articles
• Social Media Posts
18. Example: Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
YouTube Video
AutoDesk Knowledgebase Article
Multipart Blog Article
Images
PDF White Paper
Industry Website Article
Depending on the query, Google may also
rank social media posts (Google+), blog
content, slideshares, directory listings
(local search)
19. Example: SEM Projected Results & Estimated
ROI
Performance Metric Baseline Metrics Improvement Goals*
New Website Visitors 300 per month +500 per month
Website Conversions 4 per month +8 per month
Estimated Sales Impact
5+ new
customers
Projected Ad Spend
(paid directly to Google via CC)
--
$1,500 per
month
Campaign Management Fees
(includes labor, software & services)
--
$1,000 per
month
Annual ROI -- 7X+
*Traffic will build over 6-12 month period, with short term increases driven
primarily by paid ads while you build up organic search and referral traffic
20. Consumer readiness to buy is one of the most basic reasons to spend your scarce marketing budget on
search: 89% of those online, use search engines to look for information about brands and products.
Lest you think that not enough people are online for search marketing to be worth your while, note that
total Internet users passed the seven billion mark worldwide in 2012.
As simple as it sounds, your customers are online, and they use search to buy.
Make no mistake, if your business needs online leads to survive or grow…your site must be
found by these searchers who are ready to buy.
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21. The Wrap Up
Decide if your business requires new
online leads and wins
• Note: SEO (SEM) leads have a
nearly 15% close rate, while
outbound leads have only 1.7%
close rate (Search Engine Journal).
• Inbound leads are less expensive
than outbound sales
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22. The Wrap Up
Remember: “PPC” is paid search
ads and SEO is unpaid search
ranking
• With both, hire a pro and someone
you know and trust explicitly (they
are investing/spending/wasting
your money)
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23. The Wrap Up
Remember: PPC is like a “quick hit” and
SEO is a longer term investment
• Expect to spend a minimum of $1-2k per
month in ad spend for a 6 month period, if
you are going to try PPC. Management fees
are in addition to ads.
• Expect to spend $750-1000 per month in
SEO fees if you want to accomplish anything
material in a reasonable amount of time
• For $1k a month a trusted SEM expert can do
your SEO AND PPC!
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24. The Wrap Up
Allow 4-6 months to fully
evaluate PPC & SEO program
effectiveness; demand full
metrics monthly and shoot for a
2 to 5x ROI on paid ads (mgt fees
and ads)
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25. The Wrap Up
Factors in Your PPC Success
• Strategy & expertise
• Your ability to collaborate/tweak/
strategize with your ad manager
• Price of keywords selected
• Quality of ads, website landing
pages and your sales team
• Avg profit of a “win” or sale
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26. The Wrap Up
Progress with Paid Ads Means
• You are very close to breaking even
with full ROI (mgt fees and ad
spend) and headed toward a 2x+
return.
• So, $2,500 per month in fees
and ad spend is driving at least
$2,500-5,000 in trackable new
revenue
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27. The Wrap Up
Factors in Your SEO Success
• The quality and quantity of
your website content and social
media signals
• The combination of On Site and
Off Site SEO tactics
• Your monthly time and $
investment (speed of results)
• Your SEO manager
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28. The Wrap Up
Progress with SEO Means
• Monthly/constant improvement in your:
• Quality score
• Authority score
• Trust score
• #Website Pages
• # and quality of backlinks
• # of citations
• # and quality of directories
• Non spam website traffic & key GA metrics
• Arrival in the map pack
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29. THANK YOU!
(972) 365-0000 | | 9720 Coit Rd. Suite 220-174 Plano, TX 75025-5833
Contact Scott at scottberry@marketcrest.com for follow up questions
or catch him every other Thursday morning
during mentor hours at The Werx 9:30am to noon. Extra resources linked below.
http://marketcrest.com/what-is-sem/
http://marketcrest.com/seo-verses-content-marketing/
http://marketcrest.com/wp-content/uploads/MC-Infographic-SEO-SEM.pdf