How Search Marketing Attracts Leads

How Search Marketing Attracts Leads

November 5, 2015 by Holly Rollins

search-marketingSearch marketing is an important way to target your advertising to your most likely customers. By purchasing ads on popular search engines such as Google or Bing, you are directly advertising to web users who are searching for exactly what you are selling. According to Forbes, 54 percent of the American shopping public uses Internet and local search to find businesses and services. There are a few things to keep in mind before launching your search campaign:

Search Marketing In-Depth

Every business, whether small or large, can benefit from a search marketing campaign but it’s important to understand how it works.

“Search marketing campaigns are built on an auction system – in general, the advertiser willing to pay the most money (usually per click) gets their ad displayed instead of other advertisers. You have to be willing to pay about the same amount per click as your competitors are, or your ad simply won’t display,” explains Adam Thompson, 10x digital Director of Digital Strategies

Evaluate Your Budget

Although search marketing is very important, it is more important to make a profit from it. According to Manta, every business should know and understand how much money they can afford to pay for conversions and still make a profit. They explain the first month may be more expensive, while you are determining which leads work and which don’t. “The single most important financial number related to your search campaign is your cost per acquisition (or CPA). Your CPA is the amount you spend in ad costs for each acquisition (typically a lead, phone call or ecommerce purchase). You need to know how much you can spend per acquisition and still remain profitable,” said Thompson.  Just like any other business strategy, if you are not making long-term returns on your investments for your campaign, it’s time to reevaluate your budget.

Monitor the Campaign

It’s important to remember a successful search marketing campaign doesn’t stop after launching it. Thompson advises investing significant resources into maximizing conversion rates and close rates because your competitors will be trying to outbid you and capture a larger market share. Forbes warns businesses against blowing through search marketing budgets with nothing to show for it. They suggest you may save money by hiring outside professionals to design and monitor these campaigns rather than attempting in-house. Make sure to do your research in order to decide what works best for your business.

“To make your search campaign profitable, plan for it to take at least a month or two to sufficiently optimize your ad campaigns for maximum efficiency, your website for maximum conversions and your sales process for maximum close rates,” said Thompson.

Just like other marketing strategies, closely monitor your campaign and be willing to adjust your efforts, budgets or resources if necessary.