Mastering SEM: A Comprehensive Guide to Search Engine Marketing

Mastering SEM: A Comprehensive Guide to Search Engine Marketing

SEM or Search Engine Marketing is the type of digital marketing that has been adopted by many big corporations seeking to improve their online presence. And eventually, attract qualified leads to their website to convert them into customers. 

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With SEM, it’s possible to attract potential customers at all stages of their journey. It means that whether they’re learning more about a product or exploring different vendors to get the best deal, SEM has got your back. 

How’s that? 

Let’s find out in this guide. 

But before that, allow me to clear some fundamental concepts. 

Difference Between SEO & SEM? 

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SEO or Search Engine Optimization improves your website’s visibility in Google ranking, which in turn, puts you in front of more people. 

SEM does pretty much the same thing, that is, it brings more eyeballs to your website. The difference, however, lies in how you get that traction in the first place. 

SEO is all organic. You don’t have to spend money to build your online presence, whereas, SEM involves spending money on ads to increase your brand’s viability. 

A great upside to SEM is that it’s more effective than SEO and that too, in less time. 

You set up a Google ad, run it, and if the rest of your marketing is on-point, you’ll have plenty of sales by the end of the day (in an ideal case). 

However, it’s not the case with SEO. It takes Google months or even years to crawl your website and rank it higher in SERPs (search engine result pages). And rightfully so, because Google eats the biggest pie – about 90% – of market share. 

Considering the fierce competition you’re going to face in digital marketing, you’re better off getting immediate results with SEM instead of having to wait for years for your turn. 

That said, let’s get to the nitty-gritty of how to master SEM and implement it strategically for optimum results. 

What is…How to…I Need Help Coming Up with a High-Converting SEM Strategy

Don’t fret. 

I’m going to share everything you need to do in easy-to-understand and actionable steps.

  • Crystal Clear Expectations 

If you’re going into this without setting clear goals in terms of what you’re going to achieve, then prepare yourself for a massive headache and never-ending frustration. 

Sorry to pop your bubble. But I’m here to give you need, not what you want to hear. 

And that’ll take some cold, hard truths. 

So, the first thing you should do is hire an experienced marketer to get their consultation on what you should expect from an SEM campaign. 

Here are a few marketing terms that you should know. 

  • CTR (Click-Through Rate) – Number of people who click on an ad. 
  • CPC (Cost Per Click) – Money you spend on an ad divided by total impressions (number of users who see it)
  • CVR (Conversation Rate) – Number of viewers who click on your ad and do what you want them to do. For example, make a purchase, sign up, etc. 
  • ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) – Your return against every dollar you spend on ads. 

Jot down whatever questions you might have, such as:

  • How much CTR would be reasonable in the beginning? 
  • How much of an AOV should I aim for?
  • How to increase AOV over time? 
  • How much should you spend on ads?

A marketer worth their salt will analyze your unique situation and will help you set clear expectations. 

This will allow you to build a killer marketing strategy to eventually get your desired results

  • Know Your Audience Like the Back of Your Hand

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But why? 

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Simply because humans buy from those who understand their pains. Who they think can solve their problems. 

And for you to get money out of your prospects, you’ve to know them on a much deeper level than all your competitors combined. 

If you won’t listen to their utmost desires to get rid of something or to gain something, they’ll go to someone else, most likely your competitors, who will pay attention to them.

To know your audience like the back of your hand, ask yourself the following questions. 

  • What frustrates them the most in everyday life?
  • Does it keep them up at night as well?
  • What are their hidden desires related to your product? 
  • How can your product solve that pressing problem for them? 

Answering these questions will give you a pretty solid idea of who your audience is and how to talk to them with a punch-in-the-gut statement. 

  • Rigorously Study Your Competition

This real-world data will be one of the biggest deciding factors in the success of your Search Engine Marketing campaigns. 

The reason being, it’s always a smart move to learn from other people’s mistakes. 

This means, when you study your competitors in your industry, you’ll see what worked for them and what didn’t….

…What brought them more revenue versus what cost them loads of money…

…Which campaigns were successful and which ones failed and what were the contributing factors in each one of those? 

Competitors’ analysis will give you a pretty solid idea of what to do and more importantly, what NOT to do.. 

  • Search Relevant Keywords

Now it is time to put in the reps and do work and it starts with researching the keywords you should target. 

Keywords are the phrases that people use to look for something in a search engine. For example, if you want to buy Nike shoes, you’d pull up Google and type in ‘Best Nike shoes.’ 

This short phrase is a keyword.

That said, keyword research is one of the most important things to do to make an SEM strategy highly effective. You’d want to find keywords that your particular audience is using to look things up.

Tip: It’s highly recommended to target keywords that have higher search volumes but have less competition. It’ll help you avoid competition and you’ll be able to rank better in a search engine. 

Tools for Keyword Research

Below are the most popular tools for keyword research. 

  • Ubersuggest: Provides insight into your competitor’s highest-performing keywords. 
  • Answer the Public: Generates keywords and questions based on what people have been asking about a certain topic. 
  • Google Keyword Planner: Gives data on your competition and search volume (the number of times a specific keyword has been used to search something).
  • Write Compelling Ads

Writing an ad is the beginning of Search Engine Marketing in action. 

The main objective of an ad is to get someone’s attention either by calling out their pressing pain points or by promising them a solution to get rid of a problem. 

The first line of your ad should signal who it is for and what it’s about. 

The rest of the ad should convey their pain points (what they don’t want) and the benefits of your product (what they really want), and then use social proof or testimonials to build credibility. 

You can also invoke curiosity so they go into the “tell me more” mindset and continue reading.

  • Optimizing a Landing Page

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A landing page is where a viewer lands after they click on an ad. This page does the heavy lifting of selling a product, while an ad is just a teaser for a movie. 

A majority of businesses tend to forget a very important optimization strategy. 

Your landing page should be the continuity of your ad – it should carry forward the conversation that started with an ad. 

If it’s incongruent, people cannot relate the two. 

In addition, fast loading time (5-10 seconds) significantly impacts the conversion rate. Slow speed agitates people and deters them from finishing off what they initially came for. 

Plus, the importance of a clear CTA (call-to-action) can never be overestimated. It tells a prospect how and where to pull the trigger. 

Some examples of a clear and compelling CTA are:

  • Learn More 
  • Buy Now
  • Add to Cart
  • Click Here to Do XYZ
  • Choosing the Right SEM Platforms

You can choose all of the following platforms to generate leads. However, when you’re starting and have a tight budget, it’s important to test the waters before taking a full dive. 

Below are a few SEM platforms you can explore. 

Google Ads

Google is the most popular search engine marketing platform offering a variety of ads, such as display ads, search ads, video ads, and shopping ads. 

Bing Ads  

Microsoft Bing offers Bing ads as a good alternative to Google ads, helping businesses reach out to potential consumers who use Bing as a search engine. The downside of Bing ads is that your ads won’t be seen by the bigger chunk of the audience. 

Because Google has 1 billion daily users compared to Bing’s 100 million daily active users. 

However, the upside of Bing ads is having lesser CPC (cost-per-click) and lower competition than Google ads, making them ideal if money is tight. So, which platform is right for you depends largely on your budget and the type of audience you’re after. 

Final Words

Mastering Search Engine Marketing isn’t hard once you fully grasp the fundamentals and then the rest is achievable. Execute the strategies mentioned in this guide and let us know if you’d like to learn more. 

In the meantime, feel free to share your takeaways in the comments below. 

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