10 Truths You Should Know About Search Marketing, Part 2

October 23, 2008 By Paul Miller

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In a session at the Search Marketing Expo East conference held Oct. 6-8 in New York, a five-member panel explored "The Ten Truths Every CMO Must Know About Search Marketing." Last week we recapped the group's first three truths. This week we look into four more and next week, the final three.

(For Part 1 with truths 1-3, click here.)

4. Both paid and natural SEO are crucial. A total of 54 percent of Hat World & Lids' revenue comes from organic searches and 46 percent from paid. "Having both increases our brand awareness," said Jennifer Doss, e-commerce marketing manager for the Indianapolis-based online seller of sports-themed head gear. "In paid, we can control our ad copy; not so much as with organic."

In addition, Hat World can control its landing page to promote special sales or offers with paid searches. "We like having more control with paid listings," Doss said. "And I recommend you find the funds so you can test what both paid and organic can do for you."

Michelle Stern, client services director for Watertown, Mass.-based search engine marketing firm iProspect, which sponsored the session, explained that, on average, 70 percent of consumers will click on organic search ads, 30 percent on paid. "So you have different types of people on both, and when you occupy more real estate on the page, you have more chances that that search will end up on your site."

5. Customers hear their language, not yours. Willie Fernandez, director of marketing for World Travel Holdings, said his company was finding bouncebacks were "through the roof and we couldn't understand why, because they were so full of content," he said. So the company conducted a quick focus group and found that the consumers in that group were frequently asking, "What does this mean?"

Turned out, World Travel executives were "talking amongst ourselves and not enough to our visitors," Fernandez said. "So we toned it down into plain English."

6. Web pages aren't the only assets you need to optimize. Optimize metadata, such as press releases, blog content and video, said Jen Miller, manager of Delta.com's onsite content and marketing unit. "Don't tell anyone [internally] you have to write for SEO pages," she said, "but try to link over to the Web site so people can learn more about that site. Get people to make SEO part of their writing strategy."

7. Integration is a must. Marketers responsible for media plans have to communicate that to search marketers, said iProspect's Stern. This way, the marketers can be prepared for demand.

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