 |
Handpicked News For Internet Developers - Since 1999 |
« Customers Are Color Blind | Main | Intranets: strategy first, usability second »
March 07, 2005
Branding via Search Marketing
The concept of branding via search does not lend itself easily to working with the engines whose goal is to get a user off their site as fast as possible and to the most relevant site. Throughout the short life span of paid advertising companies haven't been able to express themselves fully, with the use superlatives forbidden (e.g. 'the best' or 'the greatest') and in being instructed to make every effort to increase the click through rate (CTR) from one site to another for fear of penalty with disabled terms demonstrating poor click performance. Additionally, companies have never been able to multiply listings on the same term and for those making the most of the ancillary benefit of affiliates bidding on the same term, Google's early 2005 decision to limit the exposure of an AdWords listing to one per domain removed any possibility of taking advantage of doubling up a listing.
If an engine is being used for branding one month and then sales the next then it is important to ensure that the short term gain of having listings with impressions and no clicks doesn't hinder a larger scale campaign by having terms disabled. It is also essential to budget accordingly for a branding campaign through search as the most searched for terms often have the highest premium and the results of the traffic shouldn't be compared against strict ROI goals as in essence the campaign may not succeed. Finally the bidding process requires prominent position of terms, listings need be in the top spots for syndication, but it is advised that careful bid management is used, preferably through a technology, to ensure that market conditions (bid prices) are controlled as cost effectively as possible. The reason for this is the long term, once again, as if the objective for search changes then these terms may be more useful as cost effective vehicles for driving sales.
Posted by Don at March 7, 2005 07:45 AM
|
Web Professional Proposal Kits - Accurately quote your projects, multiply your profitability, brand yourself as a top professional and close the sale. ProposalKit helps you demonstrate that you are the right professional for your customers. It's mission-critical, easy, customizable, accurate and immediately downloadable.
|
