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Why Businesses Fear SEOPAGE 1
Copyright © 2009http://wichitainternetmarketing.com/
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WHY BUSINESSES FEAR SEO
WHERE THE FEAR STEMS FROM, WHO THE BAD GUYSREALLY ARE, AND HOW TO SUCCEED WHERE OTHERS FAIL
Provided by http://wichitainternetmarketing.com/
The landscape of Search Marketing is asmysterious and seemingly treacherous tobusiness owners as the farthest reaches of Tibet’s Himalayan Mountains are to theeveryday traveler.However, more and more businesses arerecognizing that –just as the Himalayaspossess the most beautiful treasures in theworld –so too may Search Marketing hold themost rewarding fortunes of internet marketing.
UNDERSTANDINGSEARCH MARKETING
But what exactly is Search Marketing? Alsoknown as Search Engine Optimization, andcommonly referred to as SEO or SEM, SearchMarketing is the practice of offering yourproduct or service to your target audiencewhile they are actively searching for exactlywhat you offer.More specifically, SEO is a system fordeveloping top listings on the front page of theworld’s most popular search engines, such asGoogle, Yahoo!, and MSN
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Search Marketing could also include pay-per-click,however for the purposes of this whitepaper, we willonly discuss organic search engine optimization.
WHY YOUR BUSINESSNEEDS THE BENEFITS SEOPROVIDES
It may very well be that the more you feel youneed SEO, the more distrusting you are of itsability to truly impact your bottom line.
SEO isn’t easy.However, in anadvertisingworld whereveryfew things canbe counted on,SEO is areassuringlysafe investment.
~ Tad Clarke, Editorial Director,Marketing SherpaBut gone are the days when SEO stood on thesidelines, unproven and without substantialreturns. In 2006, researchers discoveredthatSEO provided a far higher rate of return thanany other marketing outreach, including email
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Why Businesses Fear SEOPAGE 2
Copyright © 2009http://wichitainternetmarketing.com/
marketing, direct response, advertising, andpublic relations
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.Search Marketing’s ability to provide such highrates of return lies in its unique industrymakeup.
ART MELDS WITH SCIENCE
SEO must target human individuals with theirmyriad emotions and short attention spanswhile also targeting inhuman search engineswhose intricately complex algorithms call forspecific (though constantly changing) data,forms of presentation, themes, and more.The SEO professional must not only add allnecessary elements to your website that thesearch engines desire –but he or she mustalso craft each element to engage, inform, andpersuade your human visitors to purchaseyour product or take a specific action.Because this double-faceted marketing approach is complex and ever-changing, few of your competitors will likely bother with it,allowing you to dominate your market online.
LISTINGS
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SALES, BRANDING, PR,REPUTATION, & RELATIONSHIPS
Another reason experts believe SEO providessuch a powerful return on investment isbecause each listing earns your business farmore than just visibility.
SALES & LEADS
 
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Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007,
Marketing Sherpa
Obviously, the key area of return we aim for isin sales or hot leads. We want to increase ourwebsite traffic and inspire that traffic to take aspecific action.Traditional marketing interrupts consumers(and executives, in the case of B-to-Bmarketing) and bombards them withmarketing messages they have not asked for.Or they guess at when the consumer wishes toreceive the marketing message and hope tohit their target.SEO has the unique fortune to display yourcompany’s listing (which should, in essence,be your unique marketing proposition) atprecisely themoment your audience issearching for your product, service, orinformation.
BRANDING
When optimizing your website for the searchengines, you want to target those keywordsand keyword phrases that your audiencesearches most often. The result?Besidesmore traffic, you instantly brand yourcompany as the leading resource for youraudience’s query. Because your keywords willnaturally be thematically related, as theprospect continues her research and yourwebsite continues to pop up, you begin tobuilda powerful relationship in her mindbetween your company and the challenge,problem, or question she is researching.That relationship is otherwise known as yourbrand.
 
Why Businesses Fear SEOPAGE 3
Copyright © 2009http://wichitainternetmarketing.com/
PUBLIC RELATIONS
With the advent of the blogosphere and newsaggregators like GoogleNews and Yahoo!News, the consumer can now go anywhere forher current events.Where in the past, press releases only targeted media outlets, now it is quitecommon for consumers to read press releases they find through the search engines.Therefore, adding a bit of the searchmarketer’s touch to your press releases, andcrafting them to engage the consumer directly,will help get your company consistently in thefront-page headlines.
REPUTATION
An integral part of search marketing iscultivating links from reputable, authoritativewebsites in your industry that point to yourwebsite.Not only do these incoming links help your siterise in the search engine rankings, but youraudience will see that other leaders in yourindustry are linking to you –which amounts toa vote of approval, or endorsing you as anexpert.
RELATIONSHIPS
Though often overlooked, we believe thatrelationships are the most valuable return oninvestment your company can receive.Relationships are proven to translate intoincreasedfuture sales through referrals, word-of-mouth buzz, repeat business, and testimonials or endorsements.As consumers and executives grow ever morediscerning in their research before purchase, the emotional buy becomes less of a reality.Our growing aim in marketing is to facilitate the informed and empowered purchase. And the right search marketing strategycompliments this goal beautifully.Instead of trying to pop your marketing message up every place you think your targetaudience
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be, SEO allows you to create the pathways yourself so you can subtly nudgeyour audience into your website from a varietyof places.For example, imagine that a prospect isresearching red widgets on Google. On the firstpage of results, she sees the following:1.Your website2.A wikipedia article mentioning yourwebsite3.A blog post reviewing your red widgets4.An article on another website aboutred widgets, written by your companyInstantly, she gets the impression that yourwebsite is well known, well respected, and nomatter which listing above she chooses to clickon, all roads lead back to your website.Of course, from then on, the quality of yourrelationship with this prospect will depend onyour website content, customer service,product quality, etc.
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