5 Questions for Search Marketing: Part 1: Why?

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One of the traits needed to be a great search engine marketer is curiosity. With an insatiable appetite for learning and so much to learn about a complex and rapidly changing industry, one of the best ways to quench that thirst for knowledge is by asking simple questions: Why? What? Who? When? Where?

Over my next few blog posts, I will cover each of these questions in more detail and how these specific questions pertain to search engine marketing. In this first installment, let’s ask this basic question. Why?

 Why Search Engine Marketing?

One of the first questions you should ask yourself is why you should consider search engine marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy. Here are some reasons why:

Reach

Every day, millions of people are turning to search engines to research and buy products or services you have to offer. Being atop of those web searches will lead to more qualified leads.

Targeting

With search engine marketing, you can place ads in front of people who are looking for your products and services at the very moment they are searching. Targeting options can be fine tuned by choosing precise keywords and targeting specific locations, languages and devices.

Measurable Results

One of the key benefits of search engine marketing is that results can be measured. By knowing which keywords, ads, landing pages or even demographics are bringing successful results, you can make immediate changes to improve your ROI.

Immediacy

Compared to other forms of advertising, setting up a PPC campaign is relatively quick. In the span of just a few hours, you can have ads appearing in front of potential customers.

Flexibility

With paid search you can set your budget and display ads only when you want. You can also make changes and test variations and find what works for you.

Knowing that search marketing can drive quality visitors to your website, the next question to ask is why do YOU want to attract more visitors? Depending on the client, this answer can vary greatly. Some clients want to create brand awareness. Others have e-commerce sites and want to increase sales or leads. Other reasons could be to sign up for a newsletter or download a brochure. By helping us understand why you want to drive traffic to your website, we are able to set objectives to strive for which can be measured for success.

Another question to ask is why would someone want what you have to offer? Answering this question will reveal benefits about your product or service which is helpful in developing effective ad copy.

As we monitor campaigns on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, we observe certain metrics changing for better or worse. Continuously asking why enables us to get to the root of these changes and learn.

Asking why is the first step in setting measurable objectives and a question worth repeating when analyzing their results. Once objectives have been identified, it is time to ask the next question. What?

Stay tuned

Cheers,

Denis

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