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Search Engine OptimizationDo You Have an SEO Package? Local marketers today have a dizzying menu of new and traditional media to choose from.
The new media bandwagon is a trendy and exciting place to be. Virtually every business has a website today. Websites can post more up to date information and they are cheaper and more accessible than old-fashioned print ads or brochures.
Many businesses hire Search Engine Optimizers, consultants who try to get their webpage to come up on the first page of an online search. Others invest in expensive new software or try to manipulate search engine preference through carefully selected words or phrases to help them appear among the first in their category on Google or Yahoo.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) takes many forms, but is based upon the premise that the earlier a site is presented in search results, or the higher it
‘ranks’, the more searchers will visit that site.
The problem with SEO, is that while a business is trying to get their webpage to come up in the top ten, so are their competitors…it’s a never ending battle.
Amidst all of the glamour and hype for new media, we need to step back for a moment and help our advertisers exercise a little common sense.
Although the technology may be more glamorous, or bewildering, than old yellow directories, or static brochures, the basic human interaction with online directories, websites, searches and ads is really no different.
Like the old yellow directories in the phone book, people search the web for three basic reasons:
1.) To look up a business they already have in mind to learn more about them or find their contact information or address.
or
2.) To find a business in a category where no marketer has effectively established their brand and the consumer could not think of a business in that category.
or
3.) To ‘shop’ the sites in search of the cheapest price or more information.
Intrusive media, like radio or TV, can be the most effective SEO in all three cases:
1.) Creative intrusive campaigns will create an awareness and preference for a particular business and negate the need for a generic search long before a need arises.
2.) Open categories, categories where most consumers have no awareness of or preference for a particular business, are prime categories where intrusive media can easily and inexpensively create a dominant share of mind and share of market for businesses which aim to be that category’s leader.
3.) When prices are virtually comparable, intrusive branding and awareness can be the tie-breaker for your advertisers over their competitors.
Advertisers who rely upon ‘the luck of the draw’ or the premise of first up is first bought are tickling themselves to hear themselves laugh.
Even if a search ranks your site early today, it is a very simple matter for surfers to find and click on your competitor’s sites as well. And generic category searches inevitably reveal a long list of competitors to the web surfer.
Smart marketers today use an integrated media approach, rather than putting all of their eggs in the passive media or online basket.
You need to present your SEO package to every business in your market. Your Search Engine Optimization campaign will persuade consumers to:
1.) Not surf the category, i.e. ‘furniture stores’ , but rather search a particular business name, like NameTown Furniture Mart, thereby minimizing the risk of a search revealing your advertisers’ competitors.
2.) Have a conscious or subconscious preference for your advertisers’ businesses if they do search the category and find a list of competitors.
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