Updated November 9, 2019
In order to create a strong search engine marketing (SEM) plan, you don't just have to stick a few SEO articles on a website and then wait for visitors to get in. To rank higher on Google searches, there are a number of key elements that companies should include in their plan and neglect to prevent a project before it even gets going.
To learn more, we YEC members asked the following question:
Calculate an estimated budget and ROI based on your industry and target market. Understand that this is a long-term strategy and commit to it before you start. Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint – especially search engine marketing. Many companies have unusual expectations of overnight success or have heard the wrong messages from unethical marketing companies. Hire a trusted expert. —Angela Delmedico, Elev8 Consulting Group
Companies often approach search engine marketing with a one-and-one mentality – and this costs a company a lot of money. Marketing is extremely powerful and can make the difference between a successful and a failed company. Plan with measurable goals, set timeframes, know your numbers and adjust them if necessary. Someone has to come up with ideas and aggressively push for results. —Ryan Meghdies, Tastic Marketing Inc.
To develop a successful search engine marketing plan, you should rely on intuition data. You may know what is causing your potential customers to convert your website, click through it, and spend more time on it. However, you can only determine which strategy is successful if you test it and save it with data. Test, evaluate and optimize your campaign so that your customers can tell you what works. —Kyle Wiggins, Keteka
By "remember that you are not the customer" I mean that the keywords and terms that you would use to find your business do not match those of the customers. Use tools like the Google Keyword Planner and use your website analysis to find out which keywords and terms your customers actually use in a search. Then use the data to drive your SEM strategy and planning. – Reb Risty, REBL Marketing
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It is easy to believe that your search engine marketing plan is completely unique, but you have to take into account that there is a lot of competition in a given market and you have to make sure that your marketing plan stands out from the competition. Know what competitors are good at and find ways to do it better. Think of the quote: "If I saw further, it was on the shoulders of giants." – Bryan Driscoll, Think Big Marketing, LLC
Define your target audience, identify their needs and what motivates them, and then show how your products can better meet those needs than your competition. Use keywords and expressions that are relevant to your company and are searched by your target group. Think about words and phrases that your target audience might use when you think about your product when it comes to search engine optimization. – Jessica Baker, Aligned Signs
The biggest mistakes I see are not finding target keywords and missing content for each phrase. Make sure that the words you are targeting are actually searched and are not impossible to evaluate. This volume and competition data is available from Google and other tools. When you have found your target words, create a separate content for each word. —Todd Giannattasio, Tresnic Media
If content is the proverbial king, then 80/20 content marketing is the emperor. Create content that focuses on your top ROI products and services, and always link each part to the history of your brand. The more personal the story – one that tells the "why" of your brand – the better. Stories from smaller companies will always appeal more than those from larger companies. – Ron Lieback ContentMender
We have found that search engine optimization marketing begins and ends with the user who defines the needs, goals, and behaviors of your ideal customer. Ask yourself the following questions: Who are you? What do you need to hear? What keywords would you search for? We have found that this works very well for our customers as it is tailor-made SEO marketing. – Uchechi Kalu Linking Arts Web Design & Development
One of the biggest disadvantages for small business owners is the inability to benefit from performance optimizations that require a certain conversion volume. Overcome this by treating an appropriate action along the conversion funnel as a conversion. For example, if you sell something and the number of monthly orders is too small to optimize, you can optimize the number of people who reach the billing page. – Shan Rizvi Just Ads
Use a free tool like Google Keyword Planner and search the monthly search volume for the 100 most important keywords in your industry. Then organize these keywords by volume and cost per click. Look for a high volume, low price imbalance to uncover your search engine marketing or SEO based content marketing opportunities. – Jim Huffman GrowthHit
If you know your business well and what your customers want, blog about it. You can use your Google Webmasters account or the Keyword Planner tool to better understand the keyword sets you're looking for and then create blog topics. Create a blog editorial calendar with eight to ten topics and start creating content. Weekly blog entries help to strengthen your competence and your data traffic. – Ali Pourvasei LAD Solutions
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