Search Marketing ROI

OK,  so over the next several months, we will be exploring (exploding?) the following 7 misconceptions we encounter over and over again when we speak to both agencies and advertisers.

Top 7 Paid Search Marketing Misconceptions:

1. You can’t brand or raise awareness with Paid Search  - it’s strictly for direct marketing. 

2. Our site comes up just fine when we search for our name - we don’t need to take out paid search ads against our brand.

3. Its illegal and/or immoral to take our paid search ads against competitors’ names.

4. We’ve tried paid search and ”it just doesn’t seem to convert for us.”  

5. Our lead gen partners are providing us with better cost per lead results.

6. Its best to let an SEO firm do our SEO, and have a paid search firm do our PPC.  

7. If we just invest in some really expensive bid management software we should be all set with paid search.

An October 2004 MarketingSherpa study of b-to-b buyers reports that nearly 64% of b-to-b businesspeople said search engines are the first place they look when they are online researching a major purchase. This makes perfect sense since we’ve found exceptionally high click-through rates (2-15%, depending on the key phrase) and conversion stats for B2B campaigns in the following industries: storage(hardware and/or software), CRM software, financial services, and legal services.  

Though a numbers of research reports by various research firms have been projecting huge growth for search expenditures, it always seemed like it would happen ”in 5 years”.  Well, 2 years from now Piper Jaffray predicts we are looking at Paid Search as an increasingly mainstream advertising medium, with $33 Billion in ad spend by 2010. 

What’s interesting about these types of analysis is the wide array of methdologies each firm uses to project things, as well as their biases and (potential) conflicts since many of their clients are players in the search space.

For example, the Kelsey group has been working with and studying local search as an extension of its work with the yellow Pages industry.

However, regardless of what firm or estimate you want to go with, all research firms predict contnued growth in search spend for the next 5  years.

For many years, clients, friends, and family have all experienced my propensity for Search Turrets, where I spontaneously break out in search-related oratory at appropriate (and inappropriate) moments. 

All 3 of the above groups have recently asked me to put my thoughts in writing. It is debatable whether they are motivated by a genuine thirst for search wisdom, or just hoping to give me a place to park my thoughts so I don’t bother them any more.    

Regardless, it looks like I’m taking their advice and starting to blog. The main topics I’ll be covering will include: 

paid search marketing tactics, keyword research, the business of search engine marketing and search engine consulting, search engine optimization tactics, using search to brand, conversion strategies, and local search marketing.