A well-executed search engine marketing initiative will increase a website’s visibility in the result pages of search engines; this is done by employing various techniques, including pay per click placement, SEO, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

Paid inclusion is where the search engine charges a fee to include a company in a search result. This is usually where the website will be placed in a “featured” or “recommended” results area. Often websites appearing in these areas will be highlighted in some way, using boldface type or placing in a box at the top of the search engine result page.

Pay per click is a different take. Pay per click placement allows advertisers to pay the host site depending on the links that visitor’s click.

Contextual advertising consists of inserting targeted adverts on behalf of clients on other websites that have similar content. One of the major providers of contextual advertising is Google’s Ad Sense program – a staple in most Internet Marketing programs.

The most common form, however, is SEO. In general, consumers will be more likely to click on a result that appears earlier, or higher up, in a results page. SEO takes into account how search engines work and the keywords people choose when performing an internet search, and attempts to ensure a website will be ranked highly on the results page. SEO is often incorporated at the design and development stage of creating a website because it often requires editing the HTML code of a website and sometimes even the site’s content in order to make it more “search engine friendly.” However, it can be (and often is) added retrospectively. Some businesses employ an in-house optimizer as part of their web staff, but more often the task is outsourced to professional SEO consultants.

It is important for companies to plan strategies in order to decide which techniques will be of the most benefit for their own needs. While SEO is highly popular, search engines do frequently change their search algorithms, meaning that a site can lose its position on the results page depending on different factors. For this reason, it is important to regularly update a website in order to maximize optimization. However, this lack of certainty can result in major losses if a website relies too heavily on traffic generated techniques, and this is why many websites will employ various techniques rather than depending on one specific technique.

By: Karen Barney

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One of the most important and, at the same time, difficult parts of maintaining and opening a business is marketing. Business marking is very important because it is what drives new customers in and retains old customers. With a good marketing plan, a business can really boom. However, if your business lacks a good marketing plan, you can’t expect your businesses’ lifespan to be very long. That is how important marketing is. A very interesting business industry to market is beauty. Beauty salons can be very easy to run, but without the proper salon marketing plan, things could fall out really fast.

A good beauty salon marketing plan is made up of several components: The internal; the external; and the in between. The internal represents how organized your business is. In order to please patrons, you would have to perform very well. Give your patrons a good face and show them that you can give 100% in everything you do. If they are pleased with your performance, they will come back for your services 100%. If you want to fix your internals, make sure your people are good. Make sure they are friendly to your customers. After all, men and women go to the salon to relax; not to get stressed. The external is how you market your business to new comers. External marketing is basically what you do to lure newbie in. For example, you can offer promos for salon first timers. You can throw in free trials or major discounts for those who are interested. In these special services, show them what you got and they will surely come in for a fully-paid treatment.

“In between” salon marketing techniques are the intangibles that give you business an edge over the competition. Basically these are the things that make you stand out. For example, you can offer a free back rub for patrons under treatment. You can chat up patrons waiting in line so that their wait won’t seem too long. In a nutshell, the in between part is all about showing your customers how they matter to you.

By: John D. Edwards

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