Integrated Marketing – Search Engine Marketing as Direct Response.
SEM – Search Engine Marketing is the ongoing process of increasing the quantity and quality of visitors to a website from search engines like Google, by way of sponsored links or pay-per-click ads. Unlike traditional media where cost is based on the number of ad impressions, with SEM, you only pay when your ad is actually clicked by a prospective customer and they visit your site. These highly targeted ads typically appear on the top or the right hand side of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) for any given search query, or appear on the content network next to relevant articles, videos, pictures or blog posts on various third-party sites. The trick is getting to the top position. They are, without a doubt, the purest form of direct response marketing, because they are timely, relevant, targeted and triggered by the user who is expressing a very specific need.
There are numerous factors that contribute to achieving a page 1 and position 1 presence on Google for the keywords associated with your business. Contrary to popular belief, Google Adwords is not based on how much you bid, but rather your Total Score. Total Score is comprised of your Quality Score multiplied by your bid. Quality Score is a Google assigned number from 1 to 10 that’s determined by various elements of your SEM campaign, including keywords, ads, age and click-through history etc, as well as the related [[SEO - Search Engine Optimization]] qualities of the site and page the ads are linking to. The higher your Quality Score, the lower your cost per click and the higher your ad position. Here’s how it works:
Quality Score x $ Bid = Total Score. If your Quality Score is only 2 and you’re willing to spend $2 per click you’d have a Total Score of 4. If you work to improve your Quality Score to 8 and you are only willing to bid $1 per click, you’d have a Total Score of 8. In this scenario, you’d be paying less per click, have a higher ad position and likely get more clicks, which, over time would actually improve your Quality Score even more, allowing you to further reduce your bids. This is what we call the SEM Virtuous Cycle.
At Focus Integrated Marketing, we only work with Google Certified [[SEO - Search Engine Optimization]], SEM – Search Engine Marketing and [[LSEM - Local Search Engine Marketing]] companies, as well as [[SMO - Social Media Optimization]] and PR experts to devise the best integrated marketing strategy to help you achieve your business goals.