SEM : Competitive on a Budget

Promote content, socialize online and unify with universal search

January 2008 By Lee Odden

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Small marketing budgets don’t necessarily mean small ideas when it comes to search marketing. In fact, it’s the innovative and creative efforts that most often empower companies with the ability to learn and adapt.

Over the past few years the practice of using search engines to market Web sites has progressed from a focus on optimizing text content and acquiring links to the optimization of a variety of searchable digital assets, including: images, audio and video, as well as content delivery formats like RSS and mobile search.

As search engines evolve with features such as personalized, social and unified search, so must marketers—especially those on a budget.

An environment of frequent change plus limited resources and funds can present a formidable challenge for company marketers tasked with improving online profits. Luckily, several creative and effective strategies exist that marketers can employ to get ahead in the search marketing game.

Create a Content Promotion Plan
The sheer abundance of new Web sites, blogs and social media content published daily makes it more difficult than ever to stand out on search engine rankings. Optimizing Web sites with keywords is no doubt a starting point, but relying on the search engines to find, categorize and rank a Web site’s content as the sole method of attracting organic traffic simply isn’t enough to stay competitive.

To be competitive, marketers should view their Web sites as a publication with an editorial and promotion calendar rather than as a static resource of company and product information. Implementing a content promotion plan provides marketers with a strategic guide for content creation, optimization and promotion over time that search engines and users will respond to.

For example, in anticipation of the holidays, online jewelry retailer Adler’s not only made sure its Web pages for holiday ornaments were optimized with keywords, but also ensured its images were scheduled for promotion on image-sharing sites such as Flickr with links back to the product pages. By not relying solely on search engines to send traffic, Adler’s realized more than an additional 750 unique visitors via image search within the first few weeks of implementation.

Make It Easy to Publish and Promote New Content
Most business Web sites are maintained through a content management system, administered by an outside Web design agency or for larger organizations, updated by in-house IT staff. There can be difficulties with all three scenarios when it comes to adding optimized content. One of the easiest ways to publish and promote search engine-friendly content is through blog software. Tools like Blogger.com or WordPress.org offer free methods for marketers to add keyword-rich, useful information to their sites.

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