"Skunkworks for Search Engine Marketing and Optimization"

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"Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a magical word that everybody is spealing about in the online world. SEO can influence the search engine in order to show your links on the top positions for special keywords."
Source : bwired

Resources Related to “Skunkworks” for Search Engine Marketing and Optimization:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) (Wikipedia)

“Skunkworks” for Search Engine Marketing and Optimization

“SEO and SEM are critical to strategic e-marketing… You wouldn’t expect a new store to bring in business without advertising and promotion, so why would you build a website and expect it to boost business if nobody knows it exists?” – Sam Saltis

Introduction

This article was originally published in 2008 in ADMA magazine. It aims to provide users with advice on the development of an effective SEM process.

1. SEM and SEO

When we talk about search engine marketing (SEM) we’re talking about both push and pull tactics for website promotion - increasing a site’s visibility to Google (and other search engines) and ultimately increasing the site’s prominence in search engine results. We’re talking about pulling visitors through search engine optimisation (SEO) and improved organic listing as well as using paid placement to push visitors to our site.

2. Why SEM?

The recently released results of the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization’s (SEMPO) 2007 survey suggest that the SEM industry is beginning to mature. The key metrics for SEM have remained relatively unchanged since 2005, with traffic, conversion rates, clickthrough, and ROI occupying the top four slots. What has changed is the complexity of successful SEM.

Search engine marketing is a relatively inexpensive marketing channel that delivers results measurable enough for the boardroom. Once it might have been enough to identify a few keywords, plant them throughout your site and pay a nominal price for your sponsored listings. Small business owners had a chance of appearing in search results with industry giants. Now, even for search experts, the magnitude of strategies and opportunities is overwhelming.

Direct marketers are pretty familiar with the essential search process. Knowing your customer, modelling and testing before execution - it’s what direct marketers do best. Add three further conditions (trial, technology and a relevance filter) and you’re on your way to a successful search environment.

3. Trial

Testing online need not be a significant investment of your time or funds. The aim of testing is to learn more about customers and their behaviour.

4. Technology

In order to maximise learning from the trial stage, it’s essential to have a technology structure that allows information collection. If you don’t have some form of analytics running, go and set up Google Analytics (free!) now.

5. Relevance Filter

Whether you’re using Google’s free analytics, or Omniture’s SiteCatalyst, the information means very little until it’s been passed through the ‘my business’ relevance filter. By all means employ SEM experts and be prepared to trial new ideas, but you know your customer best. Some of the most successful results stem from a client’s intimate, quirky knowledge of their customers.

6. Skunkworks

Maybe, if your company has substantial dedicated search resource, you’re happily implementing your new financial year web strategy right now. If not, are you wondering how you’re going to hit your figures in the current, complex searchscape?

No matter what the company size, there’s a place for SEM skunkworks. Skunk Works is a term widely used to describe a team that have a high degree of autonomy, little bureaucracy and work on specific projects. What we’re talking about is an autonomous SEM process that is finite, specific and iterative. Rather than putting all of the available resource into a single, long-term process, SEM skunkworks is about a project style approach to granular-level SEM - reducing trial cycles to 1 or 2 months maximum before assessing and rescoping in pursuit of successively closer approximations of SEM perfection!

Brainstorming is at the core of SEM skunkworks. We’re not looking for one right idea, we’re looking for several approaches to one small, highly targeted, objective. Rapidity is key to trial these approaches, review results, refine and rescope each before we get too deep into the formulation of a single idea. Before we delve into the minefields of localisation, language differences and symbolism as examples, we’ve already tested several approaches and have some preliminary comparative data.

With SEM perfection, or a nearer approximation, in mind, our post attempt review and analysis of performance is all-important. What we’re searching for are clues to customer behaviour, the tiniest corner of vacant search real estate - not just hoping for decent ROI, but actively narrowing down our options and honing in on a well-defined target. Say “No!” to spray and pray. Instead think smaller, act faster and capture your customers with highly specific efforts.

7. Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to fail. SEM skunkworks needs a little bravery for best results. Remember the reasons you’ve chosen search. You have a licence to experiment precisely because search is relatively inexpensive, there’s a potential for budget busting ROI and it’s not a hard copy.