Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Search engine marketing (SEM) is the #1 way to help your website find traffic. We can guarantee that your site visitors are using Google, Yahoo!, and Bing to find your competitors – and we want them to find you too!
SEM encompasses two unique marketing techniques, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search (also known as Pay-Per-Click or PPC).
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO), also referred to as natural search optimization, is the process of making improvements to your website content, site architecture, and link building to rank as high as possible in search engines.
- Paid Search (PPC) includes paying for your ads to appear on search engines, where you will be charged a fee for every click on your ad.
The reality is that prominence in both paid and natural search is essential. Abandon either channel, and your business is leaving money on the table. Working in tandem, both paid and natural search will synergistically increase online visibility, click-through rate, and brand recognition. In fact, a recent NYU Stern study in November 2009 showed that advertiser profits increased by at least 6.15% when natural and paid tactics were used together, compared to profits in the absence of either.
Grand River can assist you in an excellent search marketing strategy, combining search engine optimization and paid search, to ensure your search listings are appearing high in results and driving new, qualified visitors to your business.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Also referred to as organic listings, natural search engine listings appear in the central and most visible portion of the page, as opposed to paid search ads along the side and very top. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing employ complex algorithms to determine which websites appear in this area.
Grand River focuses on best-practice SEO strategies that will remain relevant for the long-term, rather than the short-term. By creating a search-friendly website with high-quality content, you will achieve winning results from both the search engines as well as your website visitors.
Search engines rank websites by evaluating three main factors:
- Website Structure
How search-engine friendly is your website? - Website Content
How content-rich is your website? - Domain Authority (Links)
How many sites link to you, and what is the quality of the sites that link to you?
By improving all three factors, our process helps you move to the top of the natural search engine results.
Our SEO services include:
- Existing site evaluation and gap-analysis
- Redesign recommendations
- Keyword research and benchmarking
- Content optimization, including page titles, meta data, category & product copy, and landing pages
- Link Building
- Ongoing Support & Analysis
Paid search (Pay-Per-Click or PPC)
Paid search (Pay-Per-Click or PPC) can be a highly effective and measurable way to achieve instant online traffic as well as revenue. Even in a down economy, the amount of online spend has increased to an estimated $30B in 2009, and is expected to reach over $60B by 2013. Of all the various channels that companies spend online, paid search has been proven to be the most cost effective in acquiring customers (Source: eMarketer.com).
Grand River’s approach to paid search is strategic in every step of the process. We first look at your historical data, specifically your keywords, campaigns, click-through rate (CTR), return on ad spend (ROAS), quality score, and landing page effectiveness. Next, we provide effective paid search placement by carefully selecting keywords for your PPC campaigns in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Once keyword expansion is completed, Grand River researches your competitors, provides creative ad copy, assists you with landing page content, manages your program and bid strategy daily, and reports on results. We continue this process consistently, always looking for ways to expand your keyword list, lower your costs, and drive better ROI on every keyword in your campaign.