Home > SEM
Search Enginge Marketing
If ever there was a totally pure form of direct marketing, Search Engine Marketing is it. Unlike more traditional approaches where a company incurs an expense for all prospects that it targets, SEM limits both the audience and the costs to individuals who pre-qualify themselves through keyword searches or sites that they visit.
Sem Logics is proficient in each of the SEM arenas and the best ways to integrate client objectives. We devote the time to collaborate on key decisions and establish an ongoing communication structure that allows for efficient management of campaigns.
It is common to hear marketers talk of how pay-per-click advertising is "expensive"... And it can be. Complicating factors include keyword competitiveness and a multitude of variables that need to be tested and managed. Variables include engine / network selection, bid strategy, ad copy and landing pages. There is no straight-line path to a favorable ROI. Instead variables need to be tested in a disciplined and thorough manner, with proper campaign adjustments made continuously.
Managed properly, SEM can expand a company's reach and deliver either a broader or more targeted source of customers than was ever available.
While everyone would like to rely exclusively on Natural search traffic to fuel visits to their sites, that is typically not the best approach. There are compelling reasons to employ SEM for branding purposes, while being mindful of the rules unique to each of the search engines, relative to companies bidding on branded or competitive keywords.
Sem Logics is a recognized leader in SEM program management. We excel at learning about a company's needs and past history and leading a transition to an impressive and ongoing profit center.
Sem Logics is a Google Certified Company, Yahoo Ambassador, MSN Adcenter Excellence member and has close partnerships with ASK, AOL, Superpages, Quigo and others.
Home > SEM > Pay Per Click
Pay-Per-Click Advertising
For most organizations, Pay-per-Click Advertising has become an integral dimension of the overall Online Marketing strategy. The opportunity to consistently drive targeted visitors to a site is unlike any other dimension of Interactive Marketing.
Theoretically, as long as a company is willing to pay for traffic, then it should be relatively simple to utilize the interfaces that each of the engines offers. In practice, the nuances associated with managing a profitable Pay-per-Click program are considerably more complex.
The challenges emanate from the fact there are so many variables to be considered at all phases of a Pay-per-Click campaign. Engine selection is one example. While Google may be the best source for traffic, it's quite possible that other engines may deliver quality visitors as well. Budgets need to be strategically managed between engines to drive the best ROI.
Furthermore, it's no longer the case that the company that is willing to pay the most will be assured a top position in the Pay-per-Click results. The algorithms have advanced to the point that factors other than a marketer's willingness to pay enter into the equation. Additional criteria include the click-thru rate of the ads and the quality of the landing page the traffic is being directed to.
Sem Logics has been managing Pay-per-Click campaigns for clients since the practice began. Our partnerships / levels of accreditation with the engines are the highest that an agency such as ours can have.
Our Client Strategists and Campaign Managers are experts in Pay-per-Click program management along with being Google AdWords Certified. They excel in their ability to understand clients' objectives and customize programs that achieve long-term profitability.
Home > SEM > Local Search
Local Search
For businesses whose best prospects are close to specific locations, Local Search is a cutting edge tool to utilize. Improvements in Local Search now enable marketers to target much more precisely than ever before, thereby increasing the likelihood that marketing funds are being directed toward the most viable prospects.
In the early days of Local Search, a disproportionate percentage of searchers were identified as being from Northern Virginia, because they were coming onto the Internet through AOL, no matter where they were actually located. Today, Local Search marketing angles have blossomed as a result of enhanced technological capabilities to pinpoint the actual locations of searchers.
Managing an effective Local Search program involves both an understanding of the interfaces of the major search engines, as well as a host of other localized engines and yellow page-type directories. For many companies, a blend of Local Search through the traditional engines along with localized directory campaigns is the most effective strategy.
While the growth in Local Search has been tremendous, the pace is getting considerably more heated, in part due to the advancements in Mobile Search. Companies who rely on a local clientele will have a myriad of new opportunities as mobile search continues to gain traction. It is significant that mobile search is endemic to a younger demographic, who are the future of the Internet.
Sem Logics has team members who closely follow the Local Search and Mobile Search markets. We understand the opportunities that currently exist and are very involved in the budding ones as well. Clients engaged in Local Search campaigns are seeing considerable cost savings with their customer acquisition initiatives.
Home > SEM > Paid Inclusion
Paid Inclusion
Paid Inclusion is one of the oldest SEM channels. Its roots are from a company that no longer exists, Inktomi, yet the program still thrives today. Yahoo acquired Inktomi in December 2002.
Paid Inclusion is essentially a hybrid of SEO and SEM. It closely resembles SEM in that the marketer is paying for site visitors on a per-click basis. It differs from traditional SEM in that pricing is category based, not an auction oriented environment.
Like SEO, Paid Inclusion listings appear in the natural results of Yahoo, not the sponsored listings. To a searcher, they are indistinguishable from the rest of the organic results. In addition, Websites have the best opportunities in Paid Inclusion if they are well optimized from a keyword and content standpoint. Paid Inclusion should be viewed as a means for gaining a slight leg-up in Yahoo's Natural results at a reasonable cost, but it is not a fix for sites with keyword / content issues.
The chief benefit of Paid Inclusion is that for most industries it remains a cost-effective channel to drive visitors. The volume is usually not significant (relative to what's available through traditional SEM), but since there isn't a bidding structure to the rankings and the click costs are fixed, it can be managed with lower maintenance.
Sem Logics was one of the earliest firms to be certified for Inktomi's (now Yahoo) Paid Inclusion program. We have maintained our ability to participate by educating our clients on the nuances of the channel and managing in a Best Practices manner.
Home > SEM > Contextual
Contextual Advertising
For most marketers, advertising campaigns in the major search engines are the logical starting place for their online marketing efforts. That doesn't mean, however that funds should be invested exclusively in that direction.
A related channel that deserves consideration is Contextual Advertising, which is also known as Content Targeting. The main difference between Contextual Advertising and traditional SEM is that the searcher has not initiated a "search," but rather is reading an article online about a particular subject. The goal of Contextual Advertising networks is to closely align the ads displayed with the intent of each article. This matching occurs through algorithmic formulas that the individual networks employ.
Each major search engine powers a Contextual Advertising network. For example, ads appearing next to content in the New York Times are generated by Google. There are also a number of ad networks powering major sites that are outside the parameters of the major engines.
While Contextual Advertising traffic tends to be broader and sometimes less-qualified than the traffic generated from pure SEM, the overall pricing structure is lower in most instances. As a result, the engines provide a separate bidding interface for their Contextual Advertising networks.
One of the biggest challenges with Contextual Advertising is knowing which networks to pursue. To complicate matters, certain networks allow the advertiser to actually select the sites they want to have their ads displayed on while others do not.
Sem Logics has a tremendous amount of experience with successfully managing Contextual Advertising campaigns for clients. From budget-allocation decisions to network selection to results tracking, we have a deep knowledge of the space and the best ways to integrate Contextual Advertising into SEM client initiatives.
