Building a High-Impact SEM Strategy: A Step-by-Step Approach

Building a High-Impact SEM Strategy: A Step-by-Step Approach

SEM or Search Engine Marketing refers to the process of getting traffic from search engines through paid ads. The objective is simple – gain traction from a search engine like Google, Bing, or even Yahoo (seriously, who uses that in 2024 anyway?). 

ADVERTISEMENT

So that people look for something, these ads would address what they’re searching for, they click on an ad, and end up visiting your website. 

You might be thinking this somewhat like SEO, people put their queries in a search bar and the relevant results pull up. 

Then… 

Image Source

How on Earth is SEM Different from SEO?

The answer is fairly simple. Yes, both SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM focus on increasing your brand’s presence on any search engine. However, there’s a key difference. 

SEO’s aim is to put your website in front of people organically, without spending a dime in ads. While SEM does more or less the same thing but by purchasing ads. 

Now it raises another question. 

If both offer similar results…

…Then Why Should I Pay for SEM?

Because it gives you better results in less time

Let me elaborate. 

Google being the #1 search engine in the world dominates with 90% share of the market. That explains the tough competition to rank on the first page of Google search results. 

With hundreds of thousands of people competing for the same position, it’s getting harder and harder for businesses to reach that level. 

All the sites you see on the first page of any search engine underwent months or even years of consistent hard work and technical optimization. 

Chances are, you’re going to have to match their efforts to pull it off. And after all that, if you can get 50-100 buyers a day from organic search, good for you. 

However, paid ads can give you immediate results and have been known to give businesses 100, 200, or 300 customers per day depending on how user-friendly their website is, how much they’re spending on ads, and how simple the buying process is.  

That said, the need for SEM is established so let’s get to the juicy part. 

How to Build a Result-Driven SEM Strategy?

Everything is laid out step-by-step for you in this guide. All you have to do is follow the process and you’re good to go. 

  • Set Clear Objectives 

Image Source

First thing first, you should set clear and realistic objectives before you take the first step. Some of the common goals most successful businesses set include getting a certain percentage of traffic, lead generation, conversion rate, etc. 

You should also set your eyes on how much of an AOV (average order value) would be a good starting point and how to increase it over time.

Having well-defined goals will serve as an anchor to build a high-performing marketing strategy and will allow you to get the desired outcome. Here are a few KPIs (key performance indicators) that will help you pull it off. 

  • Cost Per Click (CPC): The amount of money you spend on an ad divided by the number of people who click it. 
  • Click-Through Rate (CTR): Number of users who click on your ad. They are known as visitors. 
  • Conversion Rate: Percentage of visitors who take your desired action, for example, buy your product or fill out a form, etc. 
  • Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. For example, if you spent $100 on Google ads and made $500 back, your ROAS is 1:5 or 5x.  
  • Quality Score: A metric that a search engine uses to determine the quality and relevance of your ads, keywords, and landing pages (a page where a visitor lands after clicking a link on your ad).
  • Know Your Audience Inside Out

Image Source

If you don’t understand your audience’s pain points, they won’t even read what you have to say.   

Why?

The last thing you’d want is to highlight the pain of dealing with acne to people seeking relief from aching joints. 

No thanks, Karen! I don’t need that.

So, not knowing your prospects is one of the main reasons why your marketing won’t convert.

ADVERTISEMENT

To sell a product to people, find the answers to the following questions: 

  • What keeps your audience up at night? 
  • What frustrations do they feel every day? 
  • What are their top desires?
  • What outcome are they looking for?

This tailored approach will increase the likelihood of converting prospects into paying customers.

  • Competitor Analysis

Image Source

Knowing your audience like the back of your hand is only half the battle. Studying your competition just as well, finding gaps in their approach, and filling those gaps with your product is winning the battle. 

Besides, competitor analysis is one of the effective ways to spot market trends and figure out prior hit and failed campaigns. It will also offer you insights into the areas you should improve in terms of what keywords you should use for maximum impact. Tools like Ahrefs, SpyFu, and SEMrush can give you an overview of your competitor’s performance. 

  • Identify Relevant Keywords

Image Source

Keyword research plays the most fundamental role in an effective SEM strategy. It’s about finding the most searched words used by your potential customers when looking for a perfect product or service to solve an issue. A few examples of keywords are:

  • Back pain
  • Reduce back pain
  • Overcome back pain
  • Walk with less back pain
  • Supplements for back pain
  • Best chiropractor for back pain near me

Getting it?

These are the keywords that an average Joe would use to seek a solution for their back pain. Now it’s up to a business how they put together a marketing strategy around these keywords in order to attract maximum consumers. 

  • Creating Compelling Ad Copy

The primary purpose of an ad is to capture your prospect’s attention by calling out their pain points, promising a solution, or telling an emotional story. 

An ad’s headline, on the other hand, pulls the trigger and helps people decide if they want to click on your ad to find out more or move on with their lives. 

Examples of High-Performing Ad Headlines

  • The “Secret” Way to retire early
  • Never cook or wash dishes again! 
  • I went from “alone” to “loved” with THIS
  • How to relieve back pain & sciatica – no surgery 
  • Get dental patients the RIGHT way | 4-Step Process
  • Optimizing Landing Pages

Image Source

Now that your ad is all done and set, it’s time to optimize your landing page – a page where people land from your ad.

The most important thing that many businesses overlook is that a landing page should be congruent with the messaging of your ad. Meaning, your ad is putting people in a certain frame of mind. And if your landing page doesn’t continue from where they left off, their brains will feel a disconnect and they’ll most likely leave your page immediately.

Moreover, it should be user-friendly and quick to load (within 5 or 10 seconds). Slow pages can deter users and will negatively impact the conversion rate. 

Besides, poorly designed pages will break the trans your ad puts your audience in and they’ll most probably bounce off the page resulting in wasted ad spend. 

Plus, the CTA (call to action) should be compelling and prominent so that people know how to buy your product. For example:

  • Click Here
  • Order Now
  • Add to Cart
  • Learn More
  • Unlock your Special Discount
  • Schedule a Free Consultation
  • Tracking Performance

Tools like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and third-party analytics platforms, such as Hotjar offer insights into how your ad is performing and how users are reacting to your landing page. 

That’s why all world-class marketers regularly review their performance data and make changes according to that. 

  • Continuous Testing

There’s a concept in marketing called A/B testing. It essentially compares two versions of the same thing with a little difference to see how one performs against the other. Key differences would involve changing the headline, tweaking ad copy, moving the design elements, images, and CTA (call to action), etc. 

There are so many ways to go about it. 

You can test two different ads against the same landing page or one ad against two landing pages. Whichever ad or page converts better is called a “winner.” We highly recommend exerting your energy and money in finding a winner and then doubling down on that to generate more revenue. 

Final Words

Building a high-converting marketing strategy involves proper planning, research, and setting reasonable objectives. Following the above guide, you can create effective SEM campaigns to drive more traffic to your website and make more money. 

Want to add anything to this guide? Help your fellow readers out by dropping that in the comments below.

Comments

No comments yet. Why don’t you start the discussion?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *