The Search for Results

Marketers are always searching for results. And in today’s Internet dominated environment, that search is both literal and figurative as search engine tactics play an increasingly important role in marketing plans.

This was driven home as I recently read a report from The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO). The group’s sixth annual State of Search Engine Marketing Report estimates that the North American search engine marketing industry will grow 14% from $14.6 billion in 2009 to $16.6 billion by the end of 2010.

Yet despite the increase in spending, the 1,500 client-side marketers and agency respondents noted that measuring the return on investment (ROI) from search engine marketing is still their biggest challenge. Of the three key search tactics covered in the survey - search engine optimization (SEO), paid search and social media marketing – social media is clearly the toughest to measure. Measuring the impact of social media was identified by 63% of the respondents as their toughest task.

So what does all of this mean for marketers? Like most other marketing issues, you need to establish your business objectives for search engine marketing and allocate resources according to your priorities. For instance, SEO is becoming more refined and the right tweaks to your website can produce big results. We recently enhanced the content for one of our client’s sites and it shot up near the top of the search engine rankings in its category.

If you’re conducting a paid search program using Google AdWords or similar tactics, take a careful look at the cost of keywords. The survey indicated that Google keywords have become more expensive over the last year, while fewer respondents noted an increase in Yahoo and Bing keyword costs.

Finally, don’t jump into social media just because everybody else is doing it. B2B applications for social media are increasing, as I noted in a previous blog, but you need to define your objectives and expectations before you start.

SEMPO’s State of Search Engine Marketing Report 2010 can be purchased at http://econsultancy.com/reports/state-of-search. However, if you’d like a free initial consultation on how NM Marketing Communications can help you improve your search engine marketing, give me a call at 847.657.6011.