Achieve results through search engine marketing

The battle for top search engine listings is getting more intense and costly. With online sales growing at a rapid pace, more and more companies recognize the importance of capturing more "real estate" on the pages of each search engine. Coverage equates to traffic, which is a step toward conversions (sales).

High search engine rankings are proving to be the key to attracting a significant amount of retail or business-to-business customers. When these potential customers turn to the Internet, they are seeking information and heading toward a purchasing decision. Whether a particular searcher ever makes it to your Web site is a function of how much energy and resources you put into a search engine marketing initiative.

Obtaining a high ranking can be accomplished through a variety of methods. But trickery is not a method that will achieve the positive long-term results that will drive sales.

Today there are three accepted submission channels to be included in the major search engines. They are:

• Paid placement
• Paid inclusion programs
• Natural search algorithmic positioning

Paid placement

As a marketer, with paid placement you may decide with pinpoint accuracy how high up you want to be in any search result listing. If the budget is ample, it's perfectly possible to "buy your way to the top." That having been said, the more competitive the keyword, the more costly the exercise.

Top results occur by "bidding top dollar" for any particular word or phrase. The playing field here is not level. Bid prices can range from a nickel to $50, depending on the popularity of the search term, which can amount to a considerable number of "clicks." Those with deeper pockets have a distinct advantage.

Paid inclusion

Paid inclusion is similar to paid placement in that there is a fee charged by the engines, but the pricing model is much different. Instead of an auction-type environment, paid placement fees are derived from a flat-rate cost per click (CPC).

Paid inclusion results are database positions and they will typically appear below the couple of paid positions that are at the top of most search results. It is an excellent way to gain traction within the engines that offer this technology and generate qualified traffic. For the more competitive keywords, this is a proven way to drive traffic that can remain cost effective.

Natural search results

Many engines, most notably Google, still base their database listings on an algorithmic formula. Google's does not have a paid inclusion option. So, in order to make headway within their index, your Web site needs to be designed and positioned in a manner that Google appropriately recognizes. There are two chief objectives:

• Your site needs to be coded in a manner that the Google "spiders" can navigate as they try to capture the content contained in the site. The easier the navigation, the more substantial and deeper the collected content through their "crawling" process.
• Google possesses the ability to measure the degree to which any Web site is populating the Internet in a "relevant" manner. Gaining positions in the other main search engines and directories can be very helpful. This validates the fact that others consider the Web site to be noteworthy. Furthermore, linking to other Web sites that contain content of similar focus, such as industry related portals and online trade journals, is also very valuable.

There is no way to guarantee positions within Google's database as it is a very dynamic environment. Plus, it changes aspects of its ranking algorithm frequently, so that no one becomes complacent.

Evidence abounds that online activities are a burgeoning aspect of the overall business environment. Search engines have carved a niche as the aggregator, organizer and dispenser of data on the Internet. Take stock of your current search engine positioning. Commerce is being consummated every day on the Web. Now is the time to cost-effectively capture your slice of that opportunity.