SEM

Growth
Pay Per Click
Contextual Advertising

SEM ­ Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is an important part of internet marketing; it strives to drive a target audience to your web site and increases your web sites visibility in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).  By using SEM it will increase traffic to your website; increased traffic translates to more customers and growth in revenue. Internet marketing or online marketing is becoming an increasingly important component of almost every company's marketing efforts. Our staff has many years of experience to ensure your company will get the most out of SEM. We want your website to receive the greatest number of visitors as possible. In order to do this our SEM services may include:

• PPC Campaign Management customized for your special needs.
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Directory Submissions
• Paid Inclusion Management Services
• Search Engine Submissions
• Banner Advertising
• Online Promotions (Press Releases, Blogs, etc.)

In 2006 alone advertisers spent $5.75 billion on search engine marketing (SEM), a 44% increase over the previous year1. SEM is an online advertising strategy that aims to make your company’s website position higher within the search results of the major search engines so that more targeted visitors visit your website.
SEM services such as Pay Per Click search engine advertising or organic SEO have become major categories in online advertising spending in the past five years. Pay Per Click programs account for $4.70 billion, which is 81% of the $5.75 billion spent on SEM last year, even though more companies use organic search engine optimization2. The same report estimates that this year the spending on SEM will reach $7.19 billion and by 2010 we can expect spending to reach at least $11 billion.
Currently, 91% of Internet users report conducting searches daily; making search engines the predominant way to generate traffic to your website.3 Research shows that 85% of all visits to websites originate at the major search engines. If your company’s website does not have a page appearing in the top 10 search engine result positions, the likelihood of a visit to their website decreases dramatically. In fact, 62% of search engine users click on results within the first page, 90% of users click on results within the first three pages and 36% of search engine users believe that the companies with websites listed at the top are the best destination websites for the keyword or keyword phrase they are searching4. This is why we feel that SEM is a crucial step in growing your company and positioning your website.
Internet advertising spending is up over 72% since 2000 and is expected to increase another 13% this year5. Advertisers are recognizing the importance of advertising online and SEM services are the first step to making their online advertising as efficient as possible. Companies everywhere are realizing that without professional help in SEM, their website will not generate the traffic they need and want. That’s where we can help!  
 

1. SEMPO “The State of Search Engine Marketing 2005”
2. SEMPO “The State of Search Engine Marketing 2005”
3. The Pew Internet & American Life Project 2005
4. The iProspect Search Engine User Behavior Study, April 2006
5. TNS Media Intelligence 2004 Report

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Pay Per Click search engine marketing is an online advertising program where an advertiser pays an agreed amount for each click onto a link to their site. The results of a Pay Per Click (PPC) program are immediate, making PPC marketing a solution for a company who wants to receive a short-term increase in traffic from a search engine's websites.

How does Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing Work?
PPC marketing limits an online advertising campaign's keywords to a few very specific terms relevant to your company's website. Unlike Organic SEO, companies then bid on these keywords within an auction mechanism to purchase the keyword or keyword phrases most relevant to your website. The aim of Pay Per Click services is not to drive as much relevant traffic to your website as possible like an organic site listing, but rather to drive a limited amount of very specific traffic that will produce your desired result.

How much does Pay Per Click Marketing Cost?

Of the $5.75 billion spent on search engine marketing in 2005, $4.70 billion or 81% of the total cost, was spent on Pay Per Click marketing programs1.
Cost of Pay Per Click programs varies greatly, as the market controls the cost per click and it changes frequently due to keyword popularity. The initial cost of a Pay Per Click program can be less expensive than that of an organic search engine optimization program but its cost in the long run can be considerably higher because of the increasing popularity of Pay Per Click advertising programs, cost for keyword bids and competition are rising.

Problems with Pay Per Click

Every year the initial cost of paid search marketing rises over 20%. The advertisers who pay for the top don't make their investment back but agree to pay because they need to be there.  80% of searchers report that they don't click on sponsored ads, which means that 4 out of every 5 search engine users will pass by a site if it appears on the paid placement side of the results page. And the final problem to be cautious of with PPC advertising programs is that 15-30% of them are said to be fraudulent.

Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing Services

Professional Pay Per Click advertising management services will help you develop an expert strategy for bid management and evaluate whether you are getting the maximum return on investment. However, most PPC campaigns don’t require professional maintenance, as an in-house staff can handle it.

1 SEMPO "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2005"
2 JupiterMedia 2003

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Contextual Advertising is an online advertising strategy that targets a search engine user visiting a content rich affiliate's site through keywords and keywords phrases. An advertiser's ad is then placed on relevant web pages by Pay Per Click (PPC) search engines. In contextual advertising, a contextual publisher scans a site for keywords and keyword phrases in the text and returns ads to that site. Specific ads are then returned based on the content a search engine user is viewing.

Different Types of Contextual Ads

There are three different types of contextual ads: separate ads that appear in specific areas on a page, inline or in-text contextual ads, or pop-up ads. Some recognizable contextual advertisers are Google's Adsense and Overture's Content Match. Inline contextual advertisers who are willing to pay top dollar for PPC advertising can have their ad placed at the top of the "sponsored listings" section of a search results page. In-text contextual advertisers, advertisements appear in the actual body text of a page and allow users to view the ad if they choose to click on the link.

Benefits

Small to medium business owners can save expenses by using a contextual advertising program because the targets are so specific. Certain sites, like news and publisher sites benefit from contextual advertising because the content on these sites is so specific that the returned ads will be targeted to the search engine user. Directories are also great places to display contextual ads because they are so targeted, the ads that appear in each category will be relevant.

1 "Oneupweb Study”

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