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The Opposite and Equally Powerful Forces of Search Marketing

Posted by Jason Swartz on July 26, 2007 at July 26, 2007 11:39 AM

If you think of your Web site as a planet (after all, it is out there in cyberspace), you may begin to see it as one part of a much larger galaxy, comprised of billions of other sites. Each has it's own gravitational pull, in turn affected by the push and pull of other systems. In the case of Web marketing & PR, the “pull” refers to your site's ability to attract other search engines and links from other sites and the “push” refers to all of your out-bound marketing efforts. Together, this push/pull can create a very powerful centrifugal force of growing influence on the Web space.

Push – The combination of your marketing efforts are like probes giving you reach into the depths of cyber space.

• Publicity - search marketing experts know that the success of their programs rely heavily on effective PR. Your press releases and articles land on other sites and attract the search engines and, directly and indirectly, pull traffic to your site.
• Pay-Per-Click Ads - paid ads on Google, Yahoo! and other PPC engines draw users to your site and only charge you if people actually stop by for a visit.
• Link Building - search engines give you credit if other sites think you're important enough to point Web travelers in your direction. This is influenced by publicity and also by a concerted effort to get into the directories and ask for links from other sites.
• Content Targeted Ads - other Web sites run Google ads, specific to the type of site a user is visiting, extending your reach into other systems.
• E-mail – e-newsletters are push-pull content engines in their own right, not only increasing the keyword density of your site (pull), but also making sure the content reaches individuals and drives them directly back to your site.
• Offline marketing - from billboards to bus wraps, offline marketing can increase your overall reach and rocket your site into other worlds.

Pull– Content, together with search engine optimization (SEO), creates gravitational pull by attracting the search engines. The initial challenge however, is creating great content, a task often left to a general search marketer. The problem is that content creation and optimization is not the realm of geeks, because keywords cannot be taken out of the scope of your communications strategies. In fact, it’s your communications efforts that create the nuances of unique keywords. Search marketers need to truly comprehend the language of your market first and not just the mechanics of search engines.

If executed correctly, the opposite, but equally important forces of push and pull can be used to give your site a strong influence in cyberspace.

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