Search engine marketing and the medium of search are extremely powerful in driving branding and awareness. Recent studies by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) confirm this fact, with one recent survey reporting a 27 percent increase in brand awareness from search. [1] Another study performed by Comscore concluded that, in some retail sectors, 92 percent of buyers looking to purchase goods researched the item or service online and subsequently bought offline. [2]

With this info available, search engine marketing and optimization efforts are urged for any organization wanting to drive brand and awareness. As a charitable organization in particular, search engine marketing is very relevant.

Understand that searchers might not know much about your organization’s services or causes. Further, they might not even know that your organization even exists! Searchers researching a cause or topic for the first time might not be aware of any specific organization. They are simply gathering information. If your organization is readily found during this information gathering, traffic to your website and brand awareness will naturally increase. If not, you simply do not exist to the searcher.

For an example, pretend that you are a homeless services organization in Honolulu. Searchers researching keyword terms like, “Hawaii charitable organization”, “Honolulu not for profit”, “donate to Hawaii charity”, “homeless services Oahu”, etc. should be able to find your organization on the first page of a search results listing. If you are not on the first page of the search results , you basically do not exist to the searchers performing these keyword searches. By not being on the first page of the search results, you are missing out on opportunity to spread your message.

These searchers might or might not rally to your cause by becoming members, giving donations, participating in events, or by otherwise helping your organization fight homelessness, but your brand awareness will increase. Further, if they decide to search again, participate or donate in the future to a Hawaii charity, your organization will be in their “consideration set.” That is, you will be you in those searchers’ group of prospective organizations to donate to or otherwise get involved with.

The power of search for branding efforts should not be ignored. If you are not already undertaking search engine optimization and search engine marketing, start now – for your brand, to spread awareness of your cause, and ultimately to help foster the overall success of your organization.

“This unique program is specially designed to equip communications professionals with up-to-date tools and strategies needed to effectively influence Hawaii’s unique culture, employ rapidly changing technology, and transform the economy. Join us for an enriching half-day event and learn from some of the most experienced communicators in our state.”

The theme of Chris’ talk was “how will your site get noticed, and how will it be remembered?” Starting with his experience as project manager of the Honolulu Advertiser Israel Kamakawiwo’ole tribute site, his speech, among other points, outlined some things to consider when starting an online marketing campaign:

• Know the goal and purpose of your website.
• Know your target audience and customers.
• Have a professional, intuitive and aesthetically pleasing design.
• Have an incentive for people to return.
• Work with a team of professionals to assist and guide you.

It is of the utmost importance to have a strategy online. Here are five specific web strategy tips for local businesses looking to increase and improve their presence, traffic and sales online.

1) Undertake continual Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – The single most important piece of strategic advice for any local business with a website: undertake continual search engine optimization. Proper optimization will, among various other benefits, result in more pre-qualified visitors to your site – visitors who are searching for what you have to offer. These are visitors who will become your customer, your subscriber, and your fan … visitors who will increase your bottom line. Very few businesses in Hawaii are doing this properly right now; start today and you’ll be on your way to being far ahead of your competition.

2) Run Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Campaigns and Split test – Paying for clicks is a guaranteed way of getting targeted traffic to your website. With this traffic you will be able to generate more conversions (visitors who turn into sales, leads, phone calls, newsletter subscribers, contact form submissions, etc.).

Split testing sounds fancy, but the concept is simple: take two or more versions of a webpage, or a section of a webpage and split test them to see which of the versions is most effective in causing visitors to do what you want them to do. Split testing can and should be conducted on a continual basis as well, and is very effective in combination with PPC efforts. Spend a minimum amount to send visitors to the alternate version(s), measure the results, and go with the more effective one.

3) Start a Newsletter, Blog or Both – Whatever your business or cause, a newsletter or blog will help your strategic aims immensely. Through both, you get to relate to your visitors, educate them about your products, services or newest promotions. Further, both will bring visitors back to your website and business. By bringing them back, you are increasing the likelihood that they become a client or otherwise convert to your businesses’ causes.

4) Write and market Articles - Article marketing is an awesome way to provide your website with increased targeted traffic and more sales or leads. Articles generate more content for your site and can become new points of entry to your site. Further, placing your articles on other sites can help your SEO efforts by providing valuable one-way links that improve your search engine rankings.

5) Analyze and Track your Stats – If you are not tracking and analyzing the stats generated from your website activity, you are flying in the dark without a compass. Where you currently stand, what has changed, what the trends are … if this data is actionable it is extremely valuable. That is, take action from the data you gather – develop new strategies to increase visitors, tweak your sales process slightly to get them buying more often, add more content to your website to keep your visitors on longer … your website data is power.

The fact that a greater number of companies are shifting a greater proportion of their business online needs no argument. If you are not one of those currently maximizing your online presence, you should already be considering it. Otherwise, your business is at risk for quickly becoming swamped by the competition.

Search engine marketing (SEM) and/or search engine optimization (SEO) companies help businesses and other organizations to reach their clients online. These experts have specific skills that are not typically available in marketing departments. For this reason, SEM/SEO firms are often outsourced, because they can greatly enhance a company’s marketing efforts. Below are three reasons why collaborating with an internet marketing company can be a wise investment for your business.

First, search engine marketing in general is one of the most cost effective means of increasing sales or acquiring leads for your business. For example, comparing the average cost of a lead among various marketing strategies such as email ($0.55 per lead), yellow pages ($1.18), banner ads ($2.00), and direct mail ($9.94), search marketing has been shown to cost much less with an average of only $0.45 per lead (Piper Jaffray, 2003). The possibility of reaching highly targeted customers help to make this an extremely effective and cost efficient strategy. On many other levels, too, SEM and SEO results in great ROI, which is why it needs to be part of the marketing mix, if not the largest part.

Second, with the abundant data available from your website, SEM/SEO efforts are easily tracked, giving quick and accurate data on how successful the project is and how much return it has generated from the investment. For instance, if your business’s goal is improving sales, one indicator you can use from your data is calculated by taking the number of orders and dividing that by the number of visits to the website to determine the average number of orders per visit and whether it is increasing or not. A wealth of other techniques are available for analyzing your marketing efforts and determining the most cost effective approaches. Making valuable use of your data, successful strategies can be developed and unsuccessful ones can be discarded.

If you have already realized the importance of SEM/SEO, the third decision is whether to outsource or hire a professional SEM/SEO staff member. For large companies that do an enormous amount of sales online and demand a lot of attention in managing their online marketing, a dedicated staff member(s) may be appropriate. However, for most businesses or organizations, outsourcing an SEM/SEO company is the sensible way to go.

Average salaries for an SEM/SEO staff can range from $100,000 to $150,000. Alternatively, while there is a broad range of fees when contracting SEM/SEO services out, depending on marketing goals, a business can get involved in a great search marketing program for half the cost or even less. Not only does this save you money, you can get the benefits of a whole team of SEM/SEO experts with their unique knowledge, skills, and personal resources.

Search engine marketing and optimization are critical in today’s virtual world. Besides the fact that businesses need to capture the attention of their clients who are spending more and more time online, SEM and SEO initiatives have added benefits of being cost effective and measurable. Finding an experienced company that can assist with your internet marketing efforts can give you the benefits of a whole team for a great price.