Mont Cessna

June 2018 Search Engine Optimization vs. Search Engine Marketing Search Engine Optimization vs. Search Engine Marketing By Mont Cessna NASE SelfInformed The Importance of SEO and SEM for Your Business Search engine optimization and search engine marketing are two ways by which businesses can draw visitors to their websites and achieve their goals. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process by which a business gets their website to rank higher in unpaid (free) search results for specific keywords. Search engine marketing (SEM) is the process by which a business gets their website to appear as paid results when someone searches for specific keywords. Both SEO and SEM are displayed on the search results page and the person searching must choose which to click on, if any. Small businesses and entrepreneurs can benefit from both SEO and SEM. 2 June 2018 SEO Is based on increasing a domain and individual URLs’ search engine performance— how close to the top of the page a website appears when specific keywords are input through a search engine. Websites such as Google and Bing rank web pages based on their relevancy for particular search keywords, their mobile optimization, the time it takes them to load in a web browser, their organization, how long their domain has been online, and more. SEM is done via an advertising dashboard for the specific search engine in which a business wants their paid search results to appear. Google has its AdWords service and Microsoft has Bing Ads. You can simply signup for an account, enter your business and payment information, and start running SEM ads to your existing website. Connecting with potential customers is essential for any small business owner. It is possible to reach the vast majority of people who are interested in your products or services by both SEO and SEM. This can be especially beneficial for entrepreneurs and micro businesses finding interested customers in niche markets. Who Uses Search? Percent of online adults in each group who use search engines to find information online % of each group who ever use search engines % of each group who use search engines on a typical day 92% 59% Male 93 61 Female 91 57 White 93 60 African American 91 57 Hispanic 87 48 18-29 96 66 30-49 91 64 50-64 91 52 65+ 87 37 Some high school 81 29 High school 88 41 Some college 94 66 College graduate 96 75 < $30,000 90 38 $30,000 –­ $49,999 91 67 $50,000 –­ $74,999 93 66 $75,000+ 98 78 All online adults Gender Race/Ethnicity Age Education Household income Source: The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, April 26-May 22, 2011 tracking survey. N=2,277 adults ages 18 and older. Interviews conducted in English and Spanish. (Via Search Engine Land) NASE SelfInformed 3 June 2018 Understanding the Search Engine Market Where Do Users Search? Search Engine Americans consume ever increasing amounts of time on the Internet. SEO and SEM are highly affected by the search engine market. Ninety-two percent of all online adults in the US use search engines and make up the search engine market, according to the latest Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project research. Google makes up 73% of the personal computer search market and 93% of the mobile search market. Desktop and Laptop PC Market Share Google 73.07% Baidu 10.89% Bing 8.17% Yahoo! 6.36% Yandex 0.69% Ask 0.29% DuckDuckGo 0.18% Naver 0.09% AOL 0.08% Dogpile 0.04% Furthermore, this search market is broken down into percentage of searches that result in clicks on organic or unpaid (SEO) search results compared to paid (SEM) search results. According to Search Engine Journal, 70% of clicks on search results went to unpaid search results compared to 30% on paid search results. Thirty-three percent of clicks on unpaid search results go to the first result (the result at the very top). (Via Search Engine Land) Search Engine Alternatives for SEO and SEM in the Marketing Mix Mobile Market Share Google 93.07% Baidu 3.22% Bing 1.79% Yahoo! 1.29% Yandex 0.17% Dogpile 0.17% Naver 0.1% DuckDuckGo 0.08% Ask 0.05% 7Search 0.04% SEO and SEM make up part of a business’s marketing mix. Marketing is putting the right product or service in the right place, at the right price and promotion. Product, place, price and promotion make up the “Four P’s” of marketing. A fifth “P”—time—is also usually considered as well in the marketing mix. Trying to sell off-season things without the right promotion, such as parkas in July, is an example of a poor time variable in the marketing mix. Both SEO and SEM make up part of the promotion aspect of the marketing mix. Alternatives to SEO and SEM for promotion include print advertisements in newspapers and magazines, display advertisements that appear on websites and smartphone apps, native content advertisements that appear alongside free content on websites and smartphone apps, radio and television ads, direct response mailings, etc. (Via Search Engine Land) NASE SelfInformed 4 June 2018 Primary Information Sought on Local Search Based on Last Local Search 27% PC/Laptop Mobile Phone Tablet 22% 20% 17% 14% 16% 16% 15% 15% 15% 12% 11% 10% Find a business with the products/ services needed Phone number 10% 12% 7% 6% Address/ Location 13% 7% 8% 8% 5% Research products/ services Hours of operation Get driving directions Find coupons/ special offers 7% 5% Read ratings and reviews Category of Local Search Based on Last Local Search 3% 4% 4% 13% 5% 4% 11% 4% 4% 5% 8% 15% 21% 11% 21% 28% 33% 30% 28% Mobile Phone Tablet Financial Travel Entertainment Health/Fitness Services Shops Restaurants 23% 24% PC/Laptop (Via Search Engine Land) Understanding Local and Social SEO more that is then used to generate both paid and unpaid search results that include maps, additional information and ratings. There are also geographic considerations for small business owners to consider with both SEO and SEM. Advertising to outside of the physical area where the business can profitably operate does not contribute to sales or the bottom line. A business not appearing in local search results on major search engines and social media platforms is easily correctable but can be costly. Both Google and Facebook offer free tools to “verify” small businesses and allow them to post contact information like website URL, physical address, email address, hours of operation and NASE SelfInformed Local SEO is particularly important for small businesses that serve local customers. According to Google’s own research “50% of consumers who conducted a local search on their smartphone visited a store within a day, and 34% who searched on computer/tablet did the same.” Furthermore, a whopping 18% of local searches on mobile devices lead to a sale within one day. 5 June 2018 Is SEO or SEM Right for You? SEO may be a good fit if: ƒƒ You have an existing website that describes your business, products or services, and how to contact you ƒƒ You are willing to invest time or resources in content creation for your website ƒƒ You want your local business to appear in unpaid search results as a business listing SEM may be a good fit if: ƒƒ You are willing to spend money on paid search results ƒƒ You have an existing website that has a clear call-to-action for your product or service ƒƒ You have identified keywords that your business fits for search results ƒƒ You are already doing SEO Conclusions and Next Steps Two tools that are invaluable for both SEO and SEM are Google Analytics and Google Search Console Both SEO and SEM are valuable tools for entrepreneurs and small business owners to increase sales, develop a brand name, and satisfy the promotion part of the marketing mix. An important part of the SEO and SEM process is tracking results. Good results need to be replicable and that necessitates analytics tools and return on investment (ROI) tracking with a simple profit and loss spreadsheet that attributes sales to advertisement. Two tools that are invaluable for both SEO and SEM are Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Google Analytics places a tracking code on your website that tells you how many website visitors you have each day, where on your website they went, how they got to your website, how much time they spent on your website, and some simple demographics information on your visitors. Google Search Console tells Google information about your website such as where it can find your sitemap (an index of all the public URLs on your website) and tells you what errors and warnings Google has when it indexes your website to appear in its search results. Both tools are free to use. verified with Google+ and Facebook. Create content that you think your existing and potential customers want to see and can interact with. Identify keywords that identify your business and make sure to include them in the content you create. SEM works very quickly but needs to be carefully monitored and researched. Writing good ad copy and properly targeting the right people with your ads is important as well. Start with ad small budget (as low as $5 per day even) and figure out what works and gives you the biggest ROI. Once you can consistently and profitably drive visitors to your website with SEM and make sales from those visitors, then you can start to increase your ad budget. SEO takes times to see real results. Track progress in months and quarters, not days and weeks. First review your website structure then make sure your business’s social media profiles are up-to-date and NASE SelfInformed 6 June 2018 N ! ew Member Benefits Visit NASE.org to learn more about the following benefits! HIRE YOUR KID AND REDUCE YOUR TAXABLE INCOME BY $12,000 Why should you Hire Your Kid? Creating a job for your child can be a rewarding experience for both you and the child. A job can promote maturity, understanding, a sense of pride and self worth. However, creating this new job will do one thing for sure, and that is save you thousands of dollars in taxes. Explore Frequently Asked Questions about Hire your Kid EXPERT IT SUPPORT 24/7 Get answers, advice, and tips from our team of professional experts. Ask a question online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. NASE SelfInformed 7 June 2018 N ! ew Member Benefits Visit NASE.org to learn more about the following benefits! WYNDHAM HOTEL GROUP SAVINGS PROGRAM Save 20% off the “Best Available Rate” at participating Wyndham hotels worldwide. If you call the hotel direct, be sure that you give the agent, NASE’s special discount ID number-. Members now save on rooms at over 7,300 participating hotels worldwide. Click here to reserve your room at one of these fine hotels. Or, call- to talk to a customer service professional. Powered by today’s and tomorrow’s industry leading vendors: Packages Starting @ $15/Month! To help your business run smoothly you get a suite of Business Grade Solutions: ● ● ● ● ● Email Spam Filtering Anti Virus Cloud Backup Patch Management installation charges not included Call Xtech Group for pricing today! Interested in VoIP phones or remote camera monitoring? We have affordable solutions to fit your business needs and much, much more. Advanced Business IT Solutions Email - Features include email, calendar, document storage, document creation, video chat, web sites and more. Spam Filtering - Message security includes anti virus, spam analysis, content filtering, end user spam management, whitelists/blacklists, quarantine management, web based GUI and more. Anti Virus - Enterprise quality protection. Server free solution. Protects against viruses, spyware, hackers, cyber criminals, zero day threats, malicious web sites and more. Cloud Backup - Service for desktops and servers. Simple, secure and affordable. Backups can be easily configured and set to run at any time to reduce costly manual oversight. Xtech Group, Inc. – P.O. Box 2050, Keller, TX 76244 - Phone: - Click Here to Get Support NASE SelfInformed 8 June 2018 Let’s Get Social! Connect with NASE on our social platforms As an NASE member, you are the driving force for what we do. Promoting self-employment and providing as many self-employed people as possible with our wide variety of benefits is something we do every day. But is it something you do? A great way for you to show your support for the NASE is to Like, Join and Follow us on our social media channels to help spread awareness. If you haven’t taken the time already, we invite you to do so now with the links to our social media below: Facebook Twitter NASE Minute LinkedIn Instagram Pinterest Google Plus NASE Blog HuffPost YouTube WANT TO BE FEATURED? We are always looking for NASE Members to feature in our monthly spotlights. If you want free publicity for your business and you are an NASE Member, we can help you promote your business! Simply fill out our “Get Publicity!” form here, and you and your business could be featured in an NASE publication, like our monthly member e-newsletter, SelfInformed. Fill out the information in our Publicity form so an NASE representative can reach out to discuss featuring you and your business next! Get Publicity NASE SelfInformed 9 June 2018 NASE Joins Census Business Coalition in Support of the 2020 Census In advance of the 2020 Census, the National Association for the Self-Employed has joined the newly formed Census Business Coalition (CBC) and NASE Vice President of Government Relations and Public Affairs, Katie Vlietstra, will serve as senior advisor to the coalition. The CBC is a nonpartisan coalition comprised of American enterprises, associations, foundations, and business owners who recognize an accurate and secure census as an economic imperative and commit to working together to educate their employees and customers as to the necessity of a successful 2020 Census. the founders of our nation envisioned it as a vehicle for gathering data to guide fair and informed governance. The census is a vital tool for business development and growth. Businesses use data derived from the census and the American Community Survey to guide strategic development, operational decisions, and investment of resources. Acting Census Bureau director Ron Jarmin recently explained: “the business community is by far the largest consumer of census data in the country.” Unreliable data would impact businesses’ ability to make decisions or disrupt their business altogether and make it more difficult for governments to make sound economic policy decisions about hospitals, schools, transportation and other infrastructure. In the coming weeks, NASE will host an education webinar on the importance of the 2020 Census with CDC Executive Director, DeVere Kutscher. Be on the look out for the invitation to join! For more information, please visit the CBC website at www. censusbusinesscoalition.org. Katie Vlietstra is NASE’s Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs; You can contact her at- Why NASE Joined The U.S. Constitution requires the federal government to conduct the census every 10 years to count the nation’s entire population, because NASE SelfInformed 10 June 2018