Searching for Customers Searching for You
Searching for Customers Searching for You
By Ann Meyer
Stuart Larkins, vice president of partner services for Chicago-based marketing services provider Performics, sums up the benefits of search engine marketing this way: “Search is the only marketing arm where customers are raising their hands and saying, `I want information on this product,’”
A February study by Performics and information provider ComScore indicated that roughly half of all online purchasers used search to make a purchase, with some of the searches going back as far as 12 weeks prior to the sale. What’s more, brand names of online retailers were in the minority for the searches made during consumers’ shopping research periods, with most brand-name search occurring only immediately before the purchase. Prior to that, however, shoppers were more likely to search using a generic term such as “running shoes.”
As further evidence that search marketing is quite capable of pulling in customers who haven’t previously seen your print catalog, consider the success of pure-play Web merchants.
Luminous Chao, which operates gardening supplies and furniture Websites felcostore.com, ironfurniturestore.com, and orchardsedge.com, considered launching a print catalog to prospect but nixed the idea because of the cost. Ditto for space advertising, publicity, and just about every other approach.
What’s proven most cost-effective is buying keywords online. “All our money is spent on Google and Yahoo!’s Overture venues, and a few other more targeted opportunities, such as garden-related directories,” says Marcia DiVerde, founder of the Elk Grove Village, IL-based online-only merchant.
Besides pay-per-click keyword buys, many marketers have gained new customers and new business via natural search, also known as search optimization. Catalogers need to make sure their Website is search-engine-friendly, so that the engines’ “spiders” can crawl through the site easily and understand what it’s about, says Jody Hartwig, chief executive of Netconcepts, a Madison, WI-based Internet consulting and development firm. Beyond that, she says, “if you provide content that includes the keywords you want to target and you do it in a structured way, you’re going to do better overall.”
While marketers might see paid keyword advertising as a straighter path to getting visibility on the search engines than optimization, you should consider using both techniques, experts say, especially as the cost of getting your paid keyword positioned in a top ranking continues to escalate. If the cost of buying an important keyword exceeds your budget, focus your efforts on natural search for those keywords and spend your dollars to buy more-specific terms, which generally cost less “It’s definitely advantageous to be in top 10 naturally, because you’re not paying for that over and over again,” Hartwig says.
But optimization is an ongoing job. “It’s something you have to tweak and stay on top of over time. If you don’t, you’re likely to see a decline in your rankings,” Hartwig notes. “Search engines change their algorithms, and other competitors are optimizing at the same time.”
Optimization also requires an understanding of how the search engines determine the rankings, says Heather Lloyd-Martin, director of search strategies at Morrisville, NC-based WebSourced. For instance, you can pay Yahoo! on a cost-per-click basis to guarantee an important page is included in the index, she explains, but you can’t influence what rank the listing will be given. Google’s natural listings, on the other hand, can’t be purchased. “There aren’t ways to guarantee it’s in Google, but there are certain things you can do with your architecture to make it easier for Google” to spot your Web pages and include them, Lloyd-Martin says. “The words on the page are tremendously important for search engine spiders. They are using that data as part of their positioning determinations.”
Related Articles:
- Right Place, Right Time, Right Keyword
- Searching for Customers Searching for You
- Case Study: Redcats USA
