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Internet Marketing Comparison by SharpNET
There are many different ways to market your company on the internet. It is important for companies new to internet marketing to understand the difference between the various internet marketing media channels. The information below provides an internet marketing comparison between popular internet marketing choices.
Search engine optimization (SEO) - more info
Search engine optimization, or SEO, refers to the pursuit of obtaining well-ranked search engine listings for relevant key words. Non-paid search engine listings are called "natural" or "organic" rankings. When performed competently, search engine optimization generates the highest return on investment (ROI) vs. all other internet marketing media. High sales conversions can be attained because the people visiting your website are actively searching for your products and services. Search engine optimization is limited by the search demand for your products, and your ability to rank competitively on the search engines. US Based search engines produce 6 billion searches per month. SEO costs vary considerably from company to company. Low-end SEO firms that do nothing more than website submissions and META tag manipulation may be as low as $100 per month. High-end SEO services that dive deep into social media may be over $2,000 per month, but are usually way over priced for the impact they make.
Pay per Click (PPC) - more info
Pay per Click search engine marketing, or PPC, refers to the practice of paying a per-click bounty to a search engine for listing or sponsoring your website for a predetermined keyword. Pay per click campaigns are typically centered around a bidding system, where the highest per-click bidder will rank the highest and receive the most search engine traffic. Like SEO, PPC generates very high quality web traffic because it is search-based. PPC can generate more search engine traffic than SEO, and it is also more flexible and precise. However, PPC is typically much more expensive than SEO, when SEO is performed competently. Through PPC, you can adjust your marketing budget on the fly to accommodate business growth, newly introduced products, or shutting down for the holidays. Performance tracking is superior to any other marketing method, allowing for campaign optimization. Unfortunately PPC can be fiercely competitive, and cannot be taken lightly without risking your marketing budget. Most companies struggle with managing high-level PPC campaigns profitably. PPC is a great start-up online marketing channel when managed conservatively, and like SEO it should be considered an online marketing staple. PPC management services generally run from 12% to 25% of the monthly PPC expenditure.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) - more info
Search engine marketing, or SEM, is the practice of utilizing the resources available from the search engines to drive traffic to a website. The two primary SEM traffic channels are SEO and PPC (read above), which are keyword based. When performed competently, PPC and SEO can work together cooperatively, ensuring a maximum search engine exposure for a minimum expense. High sales conversions can be gained through SEM because the people visiting your website are actively searching for your products and services. SEM is limited by the search demand for your products, and your ability to be seen on the search engines for relevant keyword phrases. SEM costs vary based on the overall SEM strategy, and should fall in line with the combined pricing structure mentioned above for SEO and PPC, plus any additional SEM activities.
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Internet Marketing Progression
Internet marketing comparison costs and media impact analysis: SEO and PPC tend to be the lowest-risk and highest-performance internet marketing media, and should be considered your first-step. More risky internet marketing media should be considered only after you gain some SEM experience and demonstrate success.
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Air National Guard
Johnson & Johnson
U-Save Auto Rental
Video Professor
Hewlett Packard
Insurance Only
Cheap Trips
Steamboat Springs
Chamber of Commerce
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3rd Party Sales Lead Generation - more info
While sales leads can be generated on your own website, many established niche lead generation websites may be able to generate high quality sales leads at a competitive price. The quality of the sales lead can vary greatly and you need to track lead quality closely, including your ROI. Most 3rd party sales lead sources will be sub-par, however sales can explode when you find a high volume quality lead source. Do not commit to a large volume of leads until the lead source has been thoroughly tested. Also keep in mind that lead quality can change in mid-campaign, so do not let your guard down. Two important SharpNET articles are recommended before you consider acquiring third party sales lead generation services. Lead generation costs and ROI are all over the chart, varying greatly between the lead quality, industry, and the amount of information collected.
1) Pros and Cons of Third Party Sales Leads.
2) Minimize Internet Marketing Risk.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is best used to expand and already-successful SEM campaign. Email marketing is capable of producing significant amounts of traffic very quickly. Email marketing is especially effective when you are selling a product or service that is new or unknown to the public. People cannot search for something on a search engine if they don't know that it exists. Email marketing provides a "push marketing" environment compared to SEM which is "pull marketing." For popular products and services, email marketing typically produces a lower internet marketing ROI in comparison to SEM, and it is also far more risky. One benefit with email marketing is that the costs tend to decrease as your campaign size increase, which is the opposite for PPC. Email marketing media costs typically range from $30 to $100 per 1 million emails distributed for mass-email.
Co-Registration Leads
Co-registration leads are a very low-end version of a true sales lead. While co-registration leads tend to be low quality, they are also extremely cheap, ranging from $0.10 per lead, up to a few dollars, depending on the industry and the amount of information needed to satisfy the lead requirements. Co-registration is much more volatile than 3rd party sales leads, and you will have to keep alert in order to not get ripped off. Co-registration leads are a viable marketing resource for high-volume call centers or to build an email marketing list. Co-registration media costs vary greatly based on the customization of your offer, and the quality of the lead. Very basis non-custom co-registration may be as low as $0.10 per lead, ranging up to highly custom, long forms (such as mortgage leads) exceeding $30 per lead.
Banner Advertising
Banner advertising is generally produces the lowest ROI compared to all other marketing media. We recommend extreme caution when considering a banner campaign. Due to low performance rates, your cost-per-visitor will be higher than most any other media. In addition, visitors from banner ads are far less likely to purchase your products than are search engine visitors. Banner visitors are more like window shoppers, and are following up on interest, rather than "searching" for a solution. Our studies show that it takes from 5 to 10 banner visitors to equal the quality of one search engine visitor. Banner advertising also often requires a high entry-level cost, despite its typical poorer performance levels. We recommend that you avoid banner advertising until you have tried other internet marketing methods first. Banner advertising media costs range from $10 cpm (cost per 1,000 impressions) to $100 cpm.
Affiliate Marketing Programs
Affiliate marketing allows other companies to advertise your products and services on a performance basis (CPA - cost per acquisition). Conceptually they sound great, but there are some caveats that must be considered. The major affiliate program providers are Commission Junction, LinkShare, Azoogle, MediaBreakaway, HydraNetwork and Clickbooth. We strongly recommend that you have a proven website and marketing campaign before trying an affiliate program. As a rule of thumb; if you are selling well, an affiliate campaign will expand sales. If you are not selling well, an affiliate program will continue to sell nothing. We strongly recommend that you review the SharpNET article In's and Out's of Affiliate Network Marketing. You can learn more about affiliate network marketing at Hydra Network.
Internet Marketing Progression
In general, every internet marketing media campaign should start out with search engine marketing (SEO and PPC). In comparison to other internet marketing media, SEO and PPC will be your least risky, and most effective internet marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, brand new websites and companies may struggle with SEO over the first few months, as the search engines penalize new websites simply because they are new. Things will pick up in time. Low-volume PPC should be your first expansion step, followed by moderate to high volume PPC. If high-volume PPC is running successfully, you can consider email marketing or third party sales leads (if you are a service provider). If email marketing is viable on a small level, then it will remain successful in high volume, as email costs decrease per-unit as volume increases. Monitor your ROI for each marketing media channel, and push them as far as you can while still maintaining profitability. By now, you will be a seasoned online company, and further expansion can be considered through co-registration, affiliate campaigns, and other advanced high-sales-volume activities.
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SEO Tip #21: Do not use a pure Flash or graphical home page. Always make sure you have a healthy amount of content and solid navigation.
SEO Tip #22: Don't like begging for inbound links? Try writing articles and submitting them to article submission sites. Target ~450 words.
SEO Tip #23: Implement keyword research when writing articles and newsletters. Host the content on your website with clean navigation.
SEO Tip #24: Regularlly add new content to your website. Blogs, tips and articles work well. Search engines favor frequently updated sites.
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Internet marketing comparison services
by SharpNET Solutions
With over a decade of experience providing professional internet marketing services,
SharpNET is right company for you.
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