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Title:
Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the Top to Increase Sales
Review:
Search engines have been a hot topic in the press; Google's IPO has
happened (with a few hiccups along the way), Lycos US has been sold
and MSN are developing their own search technology. But starting a
search engine marketing (SEM) campaign can still be daunting and
potentially expensive. But if executed correctly a SEM campaign can be
a vital source of new customers and offer a high return on investment.
How do you learn how to plan, implement, measure and improve search
engine campaigns? What different types of campaign are available?
Catherine Seda's "Search Engine Advertising: Buying Your Way to the
Top to Increase Sales" offers answers to these questions and more. She
starts with the basics - what is a search engine marketing campaign -
and progresses through the different types of campaign available, how
to implement them, how to measure success and how to improve
performance.
The main topics in the chapters are: planning campaigns, pay per click
(a.k.a. pay for placement) campaigns, paid inclusion (PFI) programs,
advertising on shopping search engines, visitor statistics, and two of
the most contentious topics in the industry: click fraud and trademark
infringement.
The text is clearly written and easy to follow - perfect for a
beginner in search marketing. It is also suitable for anybody with
experience of search marketing; I've worked in the industry for four
years and found that the book made me think and consolidate knowledge
I've acquired over time. Concept and techniques are accompanied by
examples and real-world screenshots as appropriate.
A few minor details are out of date - MSN no longer shows paid
inclusion result and Espotting no longer provides PPC results to
Yahoo! Europe - but these minor inaccuracies can be forgiven, given
the fast pace of change in the search industry. The author has
worked in online marketing since 1995 and now runs her own agency in
California - so the facts and techniques in the book come from
experience gained from hard work with a variety of campaigns.
There is a chapter on implementing an international campaign (i.e.
outside of the US) which provides useful tips and makes the crucial
point of emphasising the cultural differences between the US and other
countries as well as the obvious linguistic ones; for example what is
persuasive sales copy in the US may be viewed as over-aggressive by
consumers elsewhere. However this chapter is only an introduction to
international campaigns and you will need to research options in your
country.
There is also a useful glossary of terms and a list of useful
websites. The book ends with an extract from a related title about
search engine optimisation (SEO), the art of getting your site in a
high position in the "normal" unpaid search results. It's important to
note here that SEO requires a separate book of its own, although it
is covered in relation to paid inclusion in this title. This is an
easy to read, easy to follow book which I recommend to anybody
considering a search engine marketing campaign.
FreePint Reviewer:
Duncan Parry is the Creative Director of Position Driver
<http://www.positiondriver.co.uk/>, a UK-based PPC management agency.
He is responsible for overseeing the creation of campaigns for clients
operating in a range of industries. Previously he worked at Espotting,
a leading European pay per click advertising engine, and UK search
engine Lycos. You can contact him via <http://www.duncanparry.co.uk>.
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