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Search Engine Marketing Consulting

What is SEM?Search Engine Marketing Consulting

SEM is an acronym for “Search Engine Marketing”. So what exactly is search engine marketing? The most widely accepted definition in the search marketing community is all forms of internet marketing aimed at improving the visibility of a web site in the search engines.

Here at TDK, our business first approach leads to a different definition for search engine marketing: the act of improving the search engine related business results of a web site. After all, the point of increasing visibility and traffic to a web site is to deliver improved business results. There are thousands of SEMs who can deliver cheap traffic and visibility to your web site. TDK’s IT experience delivers business results.

What do TDK SEM specialists bring to the table?

In addition to our business first approach, TDK search engine marketers (SEMs) are working daily to stay at the forefront of a constantly changing search engine marketing environment. Variables in constant flux in the search engine marketing world include but aren’t limited to:

  • Search engine algorithms
  • Search user behaviors
  • Web technology
  • The landscape of the internet, e.g. the growing popularity of social media sites
  • Actions of your competitors
  • Search engine marketing strategies and tactics

TDK SEMs don’t settle for merely following search engine trends. We don’t take for granted the often conflicting proclamations of the many self professed SEM gurus. We take a scientific approach to SEM by formulating and testing hypotheses which explain search engine and search user behavior. There is always a lag between SEM efforts and SEM results. Constantly testing our assumptions avoids committing to strategies which might waste weeks or months of valuable resources.

With our broad experience in search marketing, we don’t leave any SEM options off the table. We use search engine optimization (SEO) to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a web site generated via "organic" searches, and ultimately search engine related business results. We can employ paid advertising strategies such as Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising or banner and contextual advertising bought on the basis of impressions (CPM). We also provide Social Media Marketing (SMM) consulting, helping our clients take advantage of the meteoric rise of social media sites. Throughout the SEM process we are also looking to improve the usability of your web site and your conversion funnel.

SEM Process

The foundation of the TDK SEM process is SEO. SEO can build a sustainable and organically growing traffic presence, where continued investment at a fixed level can increase traffic over time. Increasing SEO investment over time can generate even greater growth.

TDK’s SEO process includes the following critical components:

  • Working with web site stakeholders to determine the desired business results
  • Initial web site analysis and search engine optimization baseline analysis
  • Keyword research and refinement
  • HTML tag optimization
  • Content optimization and topic modeling analysis
  • Content creation recommendations
  • Link building and link anchor text optimization
  • Source code / template optimization
  • Information architecture optimization
  • URL, directory and filename normalization
  • Conversion funnel optimization
  • Search listing optimization
  • Web site usability analysis
  • Identifying and tracking important SEO metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)
  • Feedback and control of SEO campaigns based on changes in the search marketing environment, SEO metrics, KPIs and needs of web site stakeholders

TDK SEMs can utilize paid advertising strategies to complement our SEO campaigns. Paid advertising can be a very effective form of marketing, but in contrast to SEO, paid traffic will immediately cease once the campaign is no longer funded. While optimization of PPC campaigns can dramatically improve ROI in the short run, a continued fixed investment in a fully optimized PPC campaign will typically only serve to maintain a fixed traffic level. In an increasingly competitive e-commerce world paid advertising investment can certainly be worthwhile, but at TDK we know paid advertising works best when it is used as a complementary strategy to SEO. Investing in paid advertising can create great short term results while driving long term benefits to your SEO campaign.

TDK’s paid advertising process includes:

  • Initial campaign best practices and baseline analysis
  • Selecting the advertising channels which present the best ROI opportunities
  • Implementing best practices in the PPC and/or CPM campaigns
  • Ad copywriting
  • Graphic and flash advertising design and development
  • A/B tests for advertisements to improve ROI
  • Conversion tracking to determine which ads and ad channels perform best
  • Landing page optimization
  • Feedback and control of paid campaigns

Social Media Marketing (SMM) has a beneficial impact on SEO through link building, referral traffic and building brand authority. SMM also provides the following traditional marketing  benefits:

  • Increasing Engagement: expanding media reach, brand building, enhancing expert authority, influencing purchase behavior.
  • Energizing and Converting: increasing recommendations, referrals, leads, sales, and lifetime value of customers (CLV).
  • Enhancing Business Intelligence: improving knowledge of clients, competitors, industry trends, and brand reputation awareness.

TDK’s SMM process includes:

  • SMM best practices and baseline analysis
  • Target audience and social technology research to determine optimal SMM goals, objectives, strategies and tactics
  • Social media development (e.g. custom facebook pages, profile designs, social app development)
  • Social technology integration (e.g. integrating social technology into your existing web site and marketing efforts)
  • Social media listening and brand monitoring
  • Social media participation
  • Social media content creation
  • Social media buzz generation
  • Feedback and control of SMM campaigns

In the end, all our SEM efforts get back to the bottom line. If you are a company seeking to drive business results through search engine marketing, for a no cost assessment of what TDK can do for you call Charlie Noonan at 314-878-1005 ext 133, or Contact Us Here.