Search Engine Marketing for small businesses

The advent of technology has seen a decrease in the use of traditional marketing strategies owing to the increase in tech-driven strategies such as Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). SEM is a form of online marketing through which a website visibility is promoted in Search Engine results. It is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach the desired market for all sizes of businesses.

With this is mind, it is important to look at how to ensure efficient spend and business profitability using SEM. Below are some tips that can be applied to achieve this:

1. Know target customers

Just because the business is located in city X does not imply that this is the right target market. Establish your customer base, demographics, interests, and location. SEM can help grab the attention of your target audience just when they are searching for your products or services. Majority of people conducting an online search know exactly what they are looking for; hence, an ad should reach audiences that are actively searching for such. Knowing your audience can also help generate qualified traffic and increase brand awareness.

2. Keyword Research

A keyword search is one of the effective strategies that can help target the right audience online. Through this kind of research, you will become aware of search terms that customers use to search your product of services. AdWords tools like Keyword planner can help a great deal. You can also try to think like a customer and come up with keyword ideas.

3. Competition

How do you ensure that your SEM stands out? Millions of pages, sites and blogs are published every day and they can all be potential competition. Competitors are, nevertheless, relevant sites appearing on the first page on Google. There is need to concentrate on competition so as to ensure that you understand their tactics so that you can come up with winning strategies. Ensure that you stay focused on core strategies.

4. Targeting methods

Targeting is among the most efficient features of SEM. Appropriate targeting options such as audience, interest-based groups, language, device, browser, and geo-targeting are important as they help ensure that the marketing message reaches the right audience. Ad-scheduling helps ensure that the audience is reached at the right time since time, frequency, day, and date are specified.

5. Measure campaign Success

Measurability serves as a striking feature of SEM. You can now how much value you generate from this strategy. Its flexibility allows necessary changes to be made according to the results obtained. This helps optimise keyword lists, ads, and money spent. This feature also helps ensure that more informed decisions are made.

SEM is a perfect business tool that can help increase business reach and relevance online. If a company is yet to integrate SEM, then it is prudent to assume that it is lagging behind its competition.

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