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Search Engine Visibility

Search engine visibility is the controlled presentation of marketing content on search engine results pages. It is arguably of foremost importance to any internet marketing strategy, and its tactics have significant, cost-effective potential for increasing traffic and driving qualified website visitors. Google is by far the dominant force in technology related search, often accounting for 80% or more of a website’s “organic” traffic.

Search engine optimization configures website content and coding in an effort to boost search engine results rankings and upgrade search engine results displays (a controlled description can show instead of the default text snippet). The practice is proven and acceptable by all major search engines, and its elements are incorporated into existing and new website designs.

Website architectures are optimized by improving “crawlable” target keyword content (since mid-2008 search engines can crawl text content in Flash), page headers, title tags, addresses, meta “description" contents and "alt" image tags, direct to search engine XML sitemap submissions, etc. All site pages may or may not warrant full unique optimization, but should be minimally treated to enhance search engine indexing and improve displayed results.

Web page ranks are largely based on relevancy of content to the query, and their comparative importance over similar competitor page content. The more common the keyword query, the more important are inbound links in good rankings (they indicate "popularity"). An excellent way to build relevant incoming links is directory listings with trade associations and trade publications. PR is superb for link building for this reason - quality links from publication sites that cover the story. Good details at seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors.

Paid placement, or pay-per-click advertising, keyword targets ads to appear on search engines and third-party websites. Usually a bidding system ranks ad position. The more an advertiser is willing to pay per click, the higher up on the page listing the ad will show. Many placement targeted content sites now charge a fixed price per click, and the cost-per-acquisition model is gaining some favor. Ad “quality score” of keyword query relevance is another determining factor in ad position and cost.

Pay-per-click ads show when a keyword query matches an advertiser's keyword list, or a selected content site displays relevant content. Much control can be applied to pay-per-click campaigns, including geographical targeting, day part scheduling, special keyword match types, set daily budgets, and more.

It is recommended that the content network option be disabled when first setting up a paid search marketing campaign. Content networks campaigns are a form of contextual advertising which will distribute your ads initially to what the search engine company by default considers relevant sites. High click-through rates and low quality clicks are the costly outcome without specific site exclusions and targeted placements selectivity to determine where ads will show, so step in slowly, and you won't blow your budget on worthless paid traffic.

Now a word about click fraud. Click fraudsters (and their scripted attacks) click paid ads to rack up advertiser fees. Affiliate fraud is perpetrated to increase content network clicks, and thus the affliiate's revenue stream. Competitor fraud pushes competitors out of placement rankings by depleting budgets. Click fraud on search engines is slightly under 15% now, and up to double that on content networks. Fraudulent click detection is improving, and though likely impossible to completely eliminate, click fraud can be severely limited by implementing proper controls.

You will want to know all you can about website visitor behavior, where they came from to your site, what pages they visited, and other crucial “metrics” that will help with fine tuning website content and to track and modify online advertising campaigns for the strongest possible ROI. For monitoring site activity, the free and thorough Google Analytics and its associated Webmaster Tools are in many cases more than sufficiently empowering, abundant with revealing drill-down details.

The utility of Google Analytics is the subject of our next entry, Google Analytics Tutorial.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications, based in Santa Cruz, California, provides a diversified range of PR, advertising and new media services to primarily Silicon Valley enterprises. We are eager, creative and resourceful, with the highest quality of service.

Standout publicity. Outstanding creative. Ask for testimonials.


Bob Lamonica, CruzExpo
831-466-0500
bob@cruzexpo.com

Target Marketing

Target marketing is the delivery of advertising to predisposed recipients. It is prospect-driven in that recipients themselves have opted to receive chosen content. Target marketing approaches one-to-one content distribution by segmenting audiences further into distinct messaging subsets.

The tools needed to execute performance-based target marketing campaigns came together with the emergence of highly selective databases and sophisticated tracking analytics. New content distribution technologies are affordable and efficient opportunities to reach prospects more effectively, with a stronger than ever return on investment result.

Direct targeted email and postal advertising today engages the power of database selectivity to offer marketers very precise prospect list builds. These may be derived from publication circulations, other aggregated sources, and in-house databases.

And there are newsletters/blogs/social media/etc., with audience profiles for virtually any market. This ability to extremely target prospects and track results has revolutionized direct marketing and reshaped lead generation.

Contextual targeted advertising matches ads with a website publisher’s content. Ads are placed based on page content, topics and/or keywords present. Algorithms look for specified placement criteria relevance to determine where and when ads will show. As always, activity can be monitored with tracking tools provided, in this case by the content source, placement network, or both.

(A note on click fraud: 15% or so click fraud is “normal” on search engine advertising, including competitor click fraud - competitors clicking on your ads. The number doubles to 30% or more on broader placed content network advertising. Be wary, and highly selective where ads are allowed placed.)

Behavioral targeted advertising is enabled by tracking site searches and viewed content to serve up relevant ads. Behavioral targeting analyzes prospect traffic patterns for identity profiling.

IP address identity tracing is about 85% accurate mid-2008, and will doubtless continue to improve. Privacy concerns will likely ease as heuristic, personalized content delivery gains favor. Target marketing thus empowered by audience segmentation, rather than content placement, will explode in the coming years.

Search engine marketing and optimization is usually of foremost importance to any technology marketing strategy, and is the subject of our next entry, search engine visibility.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications

Positioning

Positioning is competitive differentiation exposure. Successful positioning establishes trust, and instills the positive, actionable behavior that leads to sales. Prospects perceive a company, product or service favorably in relation to competitor offerings. In essence, what you have that others don’t, or don’t stress, promoted to your advantage, is positioning.

With attention spans under 2 seconds, Americans are exposed to about 3000 commercial messages a day. To capture interest messages must engage quickly, and this immediate connection must be relevant to pause in order that product, positioning and brand (name, logo, slogan, design scheme, etc.) identifiers are remembered.

Too much thematic abstraction can fail (unless you have an endless saturation budget) because the connection between arresting concept and relevant persuasion is too tedious. The ad may be remembered, but the advertiser is not.

Behavior modification is the goal of all advertising. To change behavior to an inclination for your company’s products or services over another’s is the reason to spend money on advertising. Prospects usually need to be reached multiple times to take action, so all your marketing communications efforts, online and offline, should be complementary to enhance effectiveness and strengthen impact.

Ideally, the targeted prospect is stopped and stays with you long enough to retain some or all key points of the message, namely:

1. Your product or service.
2. Your brand.
3. Your competitive advantage.
4. Your value proposition.
5. Your call to action.

Delivering messages to qualified audiences preferentially disposed to purchase your exact product or service is the subject of our next entry, target marketing.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications

Online Media

Online media is the Internet distribution of content. Content is information available for retrieval. Broadband proliferation has so enabled consumer acceptance of digital content distribution that today, “digital media hubs” with “placeshifting” ability are in demand.

Technology B to B marketing communications has been revolutionized by these recently experimental, now mainstream media platforms. Online budgets are bulging because of the continuing shift of target audiences to online channels.

Online advertising is highly trackable and accountable. Validation by traceable measurement and analysis capabilities, coupled with precise targeting, make online campaigns cost-effective and powerful.

Internet consumption has passed print consumption. The trend favors increased internet usage. The insight is not lost on trade magazine publishers and direct marketing list compilers, who increasingly offer more highly directed content distribution options.

For the comparative cost of a monthly quarter-page trade magazine print ad you can –

1. Increase your budget for paid search engine marketing. Set goals for lead generation, increasing return on investment and reducing customer acquisition costs. Develop relevant landing pages to boost page position, traffic volume and conversion. Track and optimize results with continual testing and monitoring. Refine, customize and modify campaigns for competitive advantage.

2. Get really effective with e-mail. Communicate with existing customers and acquire new customers at low cost. Leverage your
in-house list regularly and research with due diligence for the better targeted list rental sources. Spam and delivery concerns can be largely overcome with proper formatting and well-purged lists. As always, track and optimize results.

3. Improve your website. Update with new content, new functionality, downloadable material, video and rich media. If you haven’t done a major revamp in 2 ½ years or so, it may be time. Worth repeating, everything you do sends prospects to your website.

4. Start web conferencing. Web meetings and online events can save time and money while significantly improving sales and marketing efforts. Ease of use has increased as costs have dropped.

True before the ‘net and still true, there are endless ways to spend money on Marcom. Add banner ads, e-newsletter sponsorships, blogs, RSS, podcasts, etc., etc. What’s new is how directed your message can be, and how thorough the traceability is with online media.

All content, online or otherwise, needs to clearly distinguish your company’s offerings from competitive offerings to be most effective. This is positioning, the subject of our next entry.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications

Results

Results are consequences of marketing communications activities. Marketing communications is the media extension of sales, engaged to boost sales. Targeted exposure yields impressions. Results are traceable by the degree impressions can be measured that convert into qualified leads, become sales, and remain customers.

The creative execution of your value proposition, well placed, is the surest path to favorable results. Your value proposition differentiates, or positions, your company’s offerings from competitive offerings. To be most effective with your message, we’ll be looking for the best way possible to present material so that –

1. It is arresting, that is, prospects stop, look and ponder.
2. Your offerings are clearly positioned as the prospect’s best choice.
3. It is customer focused, relevant and useful.
4. There are calls to action in the message.
5. It reaches the target audience directly.

Directing your message to key targets is a matter of reach opportunity and allotted budget. High selectivity is the media sign of the times, circa 2006. From pay-per-click delivery to hard copy trade publications, targeted audiences are nurtured and purged to provide marketers with qualified circulations to reach decision makers with relevant content.

In Marcom, “analytics” is the ability to provide quantitative results assessments, or metrics, on message placements and the behavior of website visitors. The traceability of online communications allows for various levels of tracking to indicate the success, failure or revision necessary. In other media, results and feedback are tracked by the lead generating responses produced. Marketing accountability, quantifying the effectiveness of campaigns, drives the process.

For the majority of B to B companies, everything you do sends prospects to your website, their prime destination to educate, and to facilitate interaction with your sales team. Not to deny the power of “hard copy” communications, collateral, trade shows, and the like as part of your marketing mix, but the ‘net is so ubiquitous and so useful that it has displaced the dominance of pre-internet approaches, and in nearly all cases, your website is referenced in promotional material.

This not-to-be-underestimated migration of prospects to online media is the subject of our next entry.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications

Budget Priorities

Budget priorities are established by ranking the importance of the methods and means available to target prospects. Allocations for production, media and related costs are determined within budgetary limitations, and what, if any, expenses can be negotiated. We strive for excellence within your budget.

“If it works, don’t fix it” certainly holds true for advertising procedures. Best practices to attract, engage and persuade prospects a century and more ago still apply to message development, media strategy and execution today. That’s why they’re called “best practices”.

Yet some experimentation is clearly in order because what has changed big time are the methods and means available to get your message in front of prospects. Public Relations, Advertising and Web Development is a convenient threesome to begin —

Public Relations is the generation of media attention resulting in editorial placements. Application-specific PR can put your content in front of editors that may otherwise not be receptive. Well-crafted, relevant PR does work, getting your story into sources that might be impractical by other means. Feature articles, case studies, news and product releases can extend product and marketing reach powerfully.

Advertising is the paid placement or distribution of a message. This includes trade publication ads, direct mail, data sheets, brochures, trade show communications, video and other media. Online marketing methods like e-mail campaigns, sponsored content and search engine pay-per-click are proven efficient for target audience marketing, and may well already be primary lead generators for your company.

Web Development is the online presentation of information, communication and e-commerce from the Internet. For most companies, advertising and PR efforts drive prospects to their website. The best entice exploration, and make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for. Many are adequate as online brochures, others need search capability, others e-commerce functionality.

Lead development and customer acquisition are the traceable results of a well-targeted, multi-channel campaign. We stress results, the subject of our next entry.

CruzExpo Technology B to B Marketing Communications