Internet marketing and keyword search - why branding should make a difference but isn't

Written by Angelique van Engelen


Continued from page 1

ONE big area where online marketers are not taking enough heed ofrepparttar expertise of their offline peers and where they might loserepparttar 108080 battle, is branding. Too much direct mail-type marketing means that credible, trustworthy branding is unlikely to occur. Type in a generic search term for a product and find yourself amazed atrepparttar 108081 outcome. Readingrepparttar 108082 results, you'd think you'd landed on Mars.

Brandingrepparttar 108083 old fashioned way is a lot more time consuming than any internet marketer will naturally be inclined to think. Branding is an exercise of timing, planning, researching and optimised launches. It takes time before people are used to new products. Psychological studies confirm time and again that we buy what we think is safe, comfy, familiar, nice, soft, handy, easy, whateverrepparttar 108084 word to indicate a certain comfort zone that creates an entry for marketers. It's a known fact that you first need to see a product about umpteen times before it has become a part of your reference frame. If you don't believe this, move to a foreign country, visit a supermarket and try not to feel totally lost. It's impossible.

Only if we are familiar with a product brand, we think that purchasing it will better us. If we don't have at least a vague positive idea when we purchase a product, no brand building has been done or not enough or it has not connected with us.

Although branding of products offered online is something quite new, it is quite amazing that outright stupid mistakes are made here. Where online marketers are often wrong is where they are measuring search engine advertisingrepparttar 108085 way they would direct marketing. True, much of search engine advertising resembles direct marketing, but realistic measurement of people's attitude towardsrepparttar 108086 products advertised, should include more than only whether or not they buy it. Brand measurement takes place when allrepparttar 108087 responses are analysed, even why a product is not purchased or not immediately or not at a specific platform.

In forgetting to measure any customer behavior outsiderepparttar 108088 conversion rate, they completely foregorepparttar 108089 power of branding. They don't realize how much greater click through and conversion rates would be if their brands were recognized and trusted by that same audience.

Here is an example of just how effective a campaign can be when branding's taken seriously. The marketers have got it so right, that their campaigns themselves have become an overnight brand known for controversy. Called Gatoring, afterrepparttar 108090 company that maderepparttar 108091 software enabling it, this advertising has come under scrutiny ofrepparttar 108092 courts. What people are upset with is that popup ads are thrown on competitors' sites. If are looking for a particular brand of car for instance, a popup of a competing brand would pop up. Despite its dubiousness, gatoring shows just how effective online marketing can be - when marketers do their homework.



Angelique van Engelen is a writer at www.contentclix.com, a Netherlands based content writing agency. Email her at AngeliquevanEngelen@contentclix.com


Don Quixote's Post Humous Virtual Expedition - Filling The Black Holes In Cyber Space

Written by Angelique van Engelen


Continued from page 1

It makesrepparttar frantic hype around gettingrepparttar 108079 search engine top rankings on a handful of keywords look a bit expensive. Yet, halfrepparttar 108080 competion battle is won by being somewhere first. So companies, even though they don't know exactly where they are, will monopolise all those keywords they deem useful. Huge portions of marketing budgets are spent onrepparttar 108081 purchase of search keywords.

The result isrepparttar 108082 commercialisation of search engines. This is going on with rapid speed, and they are increasingly seizing significant portions of companies' marketing budgets.

Pay Per Click-only engines are starting to attract large numbers of listings. The main risk is failure of conversion ofrepparttar 108083 increased traffic into sales.

Not everyone is convinced ofrepparttar 108084 merits of Pay Per Click campaigns. Garrick Saito who is one of many small business owners onrepparttar 108085 web says his company Respree.com, selling reprints of art works, largely abandoned his campaign. "I still use Pay Per Click today for a very limited purpose, bidding on terms that I will only pay $.01 per click on. Of course,repparttar 108086 traffic is not nearly as great as if you were to bid $.25 or $.50 per click, but then again,repparttar 108087 advertising dollars don't add up nearly as fast either", he says.

Saito is one of many small business owners that are looking to optimise free organic listings by changing search keywords. It is his experience here that enables him to do that somewhat effectively and withoutrepparttar 108088 help of an outsider. "I am trying to optimise my pages so my products, categories and artists rank well", he says. Saito is not sure if his own company is representative of his branch. "I can see competitors with deeper financial resources spending money (perhaps a lot of money) on PPC campaigns and other placements. However, [...]repparttar 108089 larger players are morerepparttar 108090 exception thanrepparttar 108091 rule," he says.

Sorepparttar 108092 commercialisation of search engines might not necessarily be succeeding in attracting small to medium size businesses,repparttar 108093 vast bulk ofrepparttar 108094 internet population. Butrepparttar 108095 free lunch is probably over very soon come what may. Search Engine Trends reports that demand for free listings has recently risen in relation to whatrepparttar 108096 engines offer; demand for free listings is 80% and what is offered is 75%.

Companies wanting reasonable visibility might soon have to fork out. Further evidence to this point is this; 44% of search engines offers paid listings, whereas demand is merely 4%. Pay Per Click advertising is a similar story with 33% ofrepparttar 108097 engines offering this and demand at 4%. This looks meagre, but if you think of it as a new trend,repparttar 108098 4% is quite convincing.

Meanwhile, one wonders what goodrepparttar 108099 newly emerging order is to customers. How are we going to seerepparttar 108100 forest amidrepparttar 108101 trees? A recent study intorepparttar 108102 various kinds of searches people type into their browsers are indicating consumers still are somewhat overwhelmed by what they are offered, despite some five years or so of experience withrepparttar 108103 medium.

Apparently,repparttar 108104 more questions you type into your browser,repparttar 108105 more autonomous a user you are, according torepparttar 108106 sponsors of one such study, ComScore Media Metrix. So called 'sophisticated' markets include (in descending order)repparttar 108107 UK, Canada,repparttar 108108 US, France and Germany. But even in these countries, people are not overfacing their browsers with innumerable questions. Inrepparttar 108109 UK, people entered on average 40 queries per month. And this isrepparttar 108110 highest scoring country ofrepparttar 108111 list.

Perhaps everyone wonders where to start. Or maybe we've takenrepparttar 108112 web for what it offers with most of our information sources safely bookmarked and ready for use independently fromrepparttar 108113 search engines.

It's another question whether companies are actually ready for intensified relations with their customers. JupiterResearch found that only one out of five companies that have access to statistics on consumer behavior actually also optimise their targeting.

Perhaps Don Quixote was not so totally outlandish, trying to slay windmills - at least he spotted them, went after them and changed his approach rather than gave up when he discovered he was totally mistaken!



Angelique van Engelen is a writer at www.contentclix.com, a Netherlands based content writing agency. Email her at AngeliquevanEngelen@contentclix.com


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