What is SEM? So basically search engine marketing is the method of marketing the business through paid advertisement to appear at the top in the SERP. You might be aware of SEO as it is the long process practice for organic traffic and organic appearance in the SERP.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a highly efficient way to attract more customers and increase your business. In an extremely competitive marketplace where everyone is aggressively competing to secure a spot on the first page of Google search engine results, it’s crucial to use paid and organic search strategies. Organic strategies definitely draw traffic in the long run but paid search efforts definitely give you an added edge.
Here are the 7 Step Strategies you should imply in SEM
1. Pick your potential keywords carefully
Your chosen keywords form the foundation of your campaign because they influence your target customer base’s accessibility and ad relevance to searchers. Some keywords will be more high-performing depending on their pay-per-click scheme and competitors’ bidding rates. Continually upgrade your keywords and optimization to ensure your continued success.
Select keywords based on which level of the sales funnel users are in. A sales funnel is similar in a sense, to the Chemistry laboratory glass funnel. In a physical funnel, a substance is added to the funnel’s mouth and then filtered downwards.
In digital marketing, a similar phenomenon occurs. the uppermost section of the funnel, there are people who gain awareness of your business. Unlike a physical funnel, not everyone who goes into the sales funnel continues till the end aka buying your services or products. When you improve your sales funnel, the number of people who proceed through it from beginning to end increases because you address their needs.
According to MarketingSherpa’s study, 79% of promotional leads never convert into customers. To prevent this occurrence you need to know prospective customers’ thoughts at every level of their sales journey. For instance, if someone wishes to buy a laptop, he will search for the best laptops, reviews for HP, Lenovo or Apple products and processor type in the top funnel stage (i.e. exploring options). If he proceeds to the mid funnel stage (obtaining price information) he’ll look for ongoing sales or discounts. If he reaches the lower funnel stage (making a purchase) he’ll search for a specific model, for example, the Dell XPS 13 2020. The image below clearly illustrates keywords used at various funnel levels.
Patel, N. (2020, January 23). The Keywords to Use for Each Stage of the Funnel. Neil Patel. https://neilpatel.com/blog/keywords-to-use-for-awareness-consideration-decision/
2. Match your ad copy to users’ search intent
After you’ve chosen your target keywords, you must think about how to persuade your audience. The user’s first impression of a search advertisement is based on the copy.
Ensure your copy is in tune with the keyword/s. When people seek information on search engines, they instantly ignore ads that don’t interest them at the time. This could happen to you if your copy isn’t in sync with people’s search intent.
3. Employ relevant factors in SEM ads
Target keywords influence the display of your ads. With SEM targeting, you can show your ads to people on the basis of the following aspects:
i) Demographic targeting displays ads to people based on their gender and age.
ii) Ad schedule targeting shows ads at specific times during the day or certain days of the week.
iii) Device targeting shows ads to people only when they’re using certain gadgets such as laptops, tablets or smartphones.
iv) Location targeting shows ads to people present in a certain geographic region or even a specific ZIP code.
4. Design a fabulous landing page
You should design a landing page which is optimized and attracts users. Your ad’s text is the initial bait and your landing page’s text is what will reel people in.
If a search ad directs a user to your website, you’ve been charged for the click already. All you need to do is transform that click into a conversion. View the image below to get a clearer grasp of the fundamental parts of a fantastic landing page.
Aside from these elements, you must limit any distractions which could draw your user away from the call to action.
5. Strategies for keyword bidding
Based on your campaign’s objective you could pick a bidding method to increase impressions, conversions, or clicks.
You could start with manual keyword bidding if you’re not proficient in SEM yet. This type of bidding also permits you to test and grow your strategy gradually to increase effectiveness.
For others, who have adequate information from prior search ad campaigns, it’s possible to opt for automated bidding which uses your past conversion information to optimize bids for conversions.
6. Structure and budget your SEM account
The setup of your SEM account will influence the display of your ads and your campaign’s overall effectiveness. You should structure and budget your account with precision right from the start.
Select the appropriate kind of campaign to inform the ad platform about high priority users and elements for optimization. There should also be an organized arrangement at the keyword, group and campaign levels to aid with enhanced internal processing.
Your next consideration is your SEM budget. Don’t allocate a huge monetary sum for unproven ad campaigns. Make test ads and assess their returns. If they’re significant you could expand your budget and broaden conversion volume.
7. Measuring SEM Campaign Performance
Track your SEM campaign results. Just like other marketing strategies, SEM requires planning, execution, reviewing and optimization. Tracking a campaign’s performance is necessary for PPC initiatives because otherwise it could become an underperforming cash vacuum.
Efficiently measuring the performance of your campaign usually involves the following metrics:
- CTR (Click Through Rate) - What’s the percentage of people who click on your advertisement?
- Quality score- What is the quality of your landing page or ad which affects your cost per click price?
- CPA (Cost Per Action) - What’s the standard cost of each ad related action?
- Conversion rate- What’s the percentage of people who convert on the website landing page?
Remember that you can upgrade strategies for maximum impact!
