Search Marketing is huge, it’s getting bigger and it’s one area of marketing you really, really can’t afford to ignore. Not persuaded? Take a look at these stats, and think again…

• 85% of people in the UK use Search Engines to find products and services
• 82% will search again, if their initial search is unsuccessful
• Global search engine usage grew by 46% in 2009

These are just a handful of what are quite mind-boggling statistics, going into trillions of searches globally - billions in the UK alone - and a prediction that online sales are set to quadruple by 2020.

So can you afford to ignore search engine marketing in 2010? The short answer, if you want to build your business and compete for market share, is no.

So what is Search Marketing?

Put simply, search marketing is about optimising your online presence so that as many people as possible find their way to your site. Unfortunately there isn’t one, simple failsafe method that will rank your site No.1 on Google (what fun would that be?) but several core disciplines from which you can select one – or all – for your online campaign.  These are:

• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) uses targeted keywords and meta data to drive people to your site through the search engines through ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ listings.
• Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC) allows you to ‘bid’ on certain keywords, so you appear as a ‘Sponsored link’ on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
• Social Media Marketing (SMM) is highly interactive and can involve viral campaigns, blogs, competitions, social networking, video-sharing… anything that creates a buzz around your product or service.

Which one should I choose?

Ideally your search marketing strategy would combine two or more of these techniques to get people finding your site, sharing views, news, tips and reviews, and generally telling each other how fantastic you are.

And if all these people are doing all these things, search engines like Google, Bing, Ask and Yahoo will quickly catch on, and start ranking your site accordingly.

It’s a lot to take in. Where do I start?

In the next few weeks we’ll look at each of these Search Marketing techniques individually, dealing first with the biggest, the most important and – perhaps surprisingly – the cheapest of them all: Search Engine Optimisation.

But if you just can’t wait that long, talk to us today. We’d be happy to explain search marketing, and how it could work for you, with no strings attached. Call us on 0845 009 1378.

StormIT is a Kent-based web and graphic design agency specialising in web design and development, graphics and search marketing.