« Social Media Twitch on Twitter | Main | Thumbs down on mobile phones aloft »
February 2, 2007
Search Engine Best Practices Coming Round to Traditional Marketing
Search Engine Watch and other search-marketing experts are talking about the growing inflation of pay-per-click costs as marketers have become addicted to what one pundit calls the "search crack pipe."
One article refers to a return to what was once called PR and communications:
Marketing: Formerly known as "link building," in 2007 we will begin to think of this as marketing and promotion
Refering to the waning effectiveness of link campaigns . . .
So what does this mean? It means you have to get your links by different means (in Smith Barney terms you have to "earn it"). Great content. A reputation as an open business that builds relationships with its customers and partners. In short build trust. This is what will get people to link to your site.
We often refer to the push/pull effect of traditional marketing combined with search marketing efforts for greater success. (PR learns what keywords are most effective and search is optimized continually to capitalize on changing messages, news and events.) However when search marketing is seen as the wonder drug, creating "pull" all by itself, and communications and marketing efforts aren't deployed to create valuable content, events, news links, etc. -- the things that really pull people's interests -- then search marketing has less pull and becomes a suck on time and resources.
Posted by Bob Brin at February 2, 2007 7:41 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.psbblog.com/mt-tb.cgi/46
Comments
You have it backwards. SEM tells you what keywords are most effective, not PR. It's hilarious that PR firms are trying to get into search marketing. Ha!
Posted by: Ted Candela at June 25, 2007 7:43 AM
I must've been unclear. What I meant was: "PR learns" from the SEM effort (whether inhouse or from another SEM vendor) and puts that knowlege to work in traditional PR efforts. In turn, the search effort should learn from the PR messaging and success. And just as Web development is no longer solely for Web speciality shops, SEM is one more tool of many ad, PR, marketing, consulting and design agencies. As long as it's attractive for clients to have strategy, content development and SEM under one roof, agencies will add the expertise and talent.
Posted by: Bob Brin at June 25, 2007 3:09 PM