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Andrew's Advice grew out of our observation that almost all of the business books
and articles we could find deal more with the big picture than with the day-to-day issues facing small business owners and individuals in the corporate world. The column is intended to answer our readers questions about these
and related subjects along with any other questions you might have about your business, your working environment or your work life in general. Andrew is not a professional counselor, but has over a decade of experience working
in the trenches. In that time he has seen or experienced just about anything anyone can run into in the workplace. Whether it's dealing with a bad boss, how to promote a small business or choosing the right agency for your needs,
chances are he's been there before, feels your pain and understands your frustration.
If you've got a pressing questions about your company, industry, business or workplace, ask Andrew, he'd like to help out as best he can so send him a note, although he can't promise he'll answer each one, he'll do his best. Even if you've only got a comment we'd love the feedback. Andrew can be reached at ahayden@ecstewart.com. ................................................................................................................................................................ Is Search Engine Marketing Right for Your Company? ................................................................................................................................................................ |
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I own a small services company that recently launched its first web site. Since then I have received numerous solicitations from companies offering Search Engine Marketing services. What is it and do I need it? [Updated on February 27, 2003] In theory Search Engine Marketing is the practice of getting a client company placed on as many "search engines" as possible and with the most favorable placement. It is based on the belief that the higher up in a search your company appears, the more likely a person is going to visit your Web site. And the more search engines you appear on the more likely people are to find you when searching. While this may be true in theory, there’s a lot more promise than reality if you ask me. Search Engine Marketing can essentially be broken down into two different categories, simple placement and advertising/sponsored links. The placement firms will make sure that your firm is listed with all of the global and local search engines. Advertisers generally offer these services, but also offer to promote you as a “sponsored” link that will generally appear in the first few positions in a search chain. An example of this is if you’re searching on Google and you see the colored boxes in the right column on the page. These are sponsored links that have been paid for by the company listed. Due to the nature of search engines and the underlying technology, sponsored links are based on key search words and are purchased by a bidding process. For a great example of this type of service go to Overture.com and watch their “How Overture Works” Flash demo. One of the keys to the equation is also understanding how search engines such as Google work. They base their rankings on links, or the number of referring pages that link to your Web site. According to their logic, the more links a page has to it the more visitors it receives. This is done through some very sophisticated formulas that are intended be as objective as possible regarding the search terms that someone inputs. These formulas are supplemented with reviews of included key words and "meta tags." The practice of many search engine placement companies of creating what are known as “Link Farms” is something that the search engine companies have caught onto and developed formulas to counter. Link Farming is the practice of linking multiple sites together with hidden links in order to fool the search engines into giving any single site a higher rank based on the number of links it contains. Usually these links are hidden on other sites or contained in sites that exist solely for this purpose. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal pointed out the dangers of this practice to many small firms who initially grow their business because they appear high in a search result, but subsequently see their business significantly diminished when the search engine changes their formula. Placement firms tend to be a little less sophisticated than the advertising companies, though they generally have technical people who try and stay one step ahead of the search engine companies. They spend much of their time focusing only on getting your company listed on as many Web sites as possible and making sure you have the correct links and meta tags or search terms embedded in your site. Placement agencies also generally offer a flat-fee service rather than one based on "click-throughs" like the advertisers do. Admittedly, placement companies will get your company listed on as many search engines as they claim, but they rarely, if ever are able to guarantee placement in a general search. In other words a search engine marketing company may promise to get your company placed on over 100 Web search engines for only $100, but you have no way of measuring how successful their efforts are. If you’re a small business with a local customer base, I recommend trying to do most of this work yourself. Identifying the search engines is easy and you are probably better able to figure out the most appropriate ones for your business than a company that promises quantity placements. Simply go to Google or one of the other major search engines and type in “Search Engines” and any location or industry specific information that might be relevant. An example of this would be, “search engines in North Carolina for Marketing Consultants” if I’m looking for the right engines on which to place EC Stewart Design and Communications. My opinion is that the key to search engine strategy is quality over quantity. Make sure you’re on the right sites, not just a lot of them. All of the search engines that I know of give you a way to list your site for free through a relatively simple online form. In fact many of the search engines that you want to list with are connected through the DMOZ open directory project. This site, DMOZ.com, allows you to sign up in one place and get your site listed on all of their affiliated search sites. It’s a great tool that gets your listing on all of the big sites such as Google, AltaVista, Yahoo, etc., as well as a host of other smaller ones. It can take a few weeks for your listings to show up since it is volunteer driven, but it’s worth the savings. As for sponsored links and Search Engine Advertising, I don’t recommend it for small companies. It can be very effective for larger companies that have a predictable cash flow from Web business, but since it is based on click-throughs it can become very expensive fast for a small company just looking to increase its market presence. My recommendation for any company, whether it’s just starting out, or simply hitting the Internet for the first time is to make sure you promote your Web site as much as possible through traditional methods. This means putting your Web site address (URL) on everything you send out or distribute from business cards and stationary, to flyers, receipts, trucks, and brochures. Another way to start out promoting your Web site is through links on the established sites of companies where you already have a relationship. If you sell your goods through a retail store, find out what opportunities lay there. If there is a local neighborhood or community site that you can barter to get a link on or even a youth sports league where you sponsor a team. These are just some of the opportunities to promote your Web site that are relatively inexpensive and generally related to the activities you are already engaged in. Is Search Engine Marketing worth the investment? I’d say if you’re a small company owner or manager, take a few hours of your time and see how many search engines you can find and get yourself listed on before putting out the money to have someone else do the same thing. Here are my two rules of thumb when considering a Search Engine marketing Program:
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 If you have any comments about this column, or have a question you'd like answered, you can write to Andrew Hayden. |
