With Google dominating the search engine market, Microsoft has decided to try and best Google at it’s own game, with “Bing”. Bing is what Microsoft likes to call a “decision engine” rather that a search engine; This is because Bing claims to be the most accurate search engine on the net, advertised that it gives you the results you want with nothing unrelated. I decided that before I could fully trust this, I needed to test it out. After my short time with Bing, I found that it did have a number of helpful features to get what you’re looking for faster. For example, hovering your mouse over the site displayed a short blurb of information about the site, including a summary of it’s contents. Bing doesn’t seem to be anything revolutionary, but it is efficient. The only question now is if it can actually beat Google.

Microsoft’s Game Plan

Microsoft is putting a lot of money into promoting Bing in various forms of media. This means that more people will be aware of it’s existence than any other new niche search engine. Because it is a Microsoft product, any computer that has the default internet explorer homepage and search engine will be forwarded to Bing. Traditionally this has lead to an older and less savvy audience, however with the mix of new and unseen features and large media push it could attract a larger and broader demographic than the previous Live.com had.

What Does That Mean For Us?

In the end we should pay close attention to Bing. Not only does it have potential to capture a large market share from Google, it also will have much better deals and pricing for pay per click as the demand for Bing adverting has not reached that of Google. There may be very qualified traffic searching Bing and it is a relatively open market place for advertising. It would be worth dedicating some time and money to test out a Bing search engine marketing campaign. With the metrics and measurement we can use today it would not take long to get a clear picture of the return on investment possible through the Bing search engine.

Beyond natural and paid search marketing you may also want to pay close attention to what features they are adding to their search. Like Google it seems they are planning to have enhanced results that include a variety of media. This may be Video, flight listings, products, images, etc… all of these areas are an opportunity to start a search campaign.

A common topic of discussion among AdWords users is how Google’s Quality Score effects ad performance. Google assigns quality scores as part of its effort to give users a more enjoyable experience.  A common misconception is that increasing the bid rate will increase the Quality Score.  This is not true.  Google has a complicated algorithm incorporating variables such as click through rate, history, landing page, and numerous other relevancy factors it uses to weed out irrelevant ads.  Someone may pay a higher click fee and see their ad rise in results, but it won’t last.  Google hits the pocketbook until you say “Uncle” and give up.  Optimizing a keyword, AdGroup, ad or landing page is the best way to improve the quality score and in turn lower click costs and improve your overall performance as a Google advertiser.

For more information visit Google’s AdWords Help.

Google is undeniably a ubiquitous part of most of our lives. It is an official word in the Oxford English Dictionary. Additionally, more and more business transactions and dollars are done online and away from Traditional Media: Television, Radio, Print. As a business owner or director of marketing/advertising or a related role, more and more of Business/Marketing individuals must be educated on how to effectively reach the most amount of visitors/users to your website. The key is through Google. Google is a link to many different business websites to potential clients/visitors; who are ready to buy: Internet users already have an intent or need/want for a product of service & their first step is usually through Google.

The following will illustrate and explain the flow of internet traffic to a typical website. In this example we will use Mr. Widgeteer. The owner that sells and buys widgets:

Figure 1. Mr. Widgeteer effectively selects which type of traffic that goes into his website. He doesn’t sell square widgets so he doesn’t want that type of client. Therefore he doesn’t advertise there. On the other hand, he advertises Blue & Fast widgets because he’s most profitable and he continues to like that type of repeat client.

To a certain extent Google becomes the gatekeeper of who gets clients or visitors. As Google’s search engine market share is growing and growing, it holds and dictates the rules of doing business via Search Engine Marketing. One of those rules is to effectively execute your keyword research. You must do your keyword Research!

Why Must You Do Keyword Research? Resources!

Advertising or placement on irrelevant or nonessential keywords can be a waste of time, resources and money! In the aforementioned example, one sees Mr. Widgeteer only sells Blue & Fast widgets. If he’s not selling square widgets he shouldn’t advertise or show internet users. Top search engine placement on the square widgets page would mean lots clicks but none will provide you a return; because you can’t sell them widgets.

Keyword research is very important in finding and qualifying the type of clients/customers that you’re looking for. With the internet, people are overwhelmed with choices. Keyword research can provide business owners with insights on what most average internet users are looking for. Keyword research can provide a wealth of data and statistics about which terms are being searched most and which keywords are currently unmarked territory.

Without using keyword research would amount to selling product x without knowing what demand you’ll receive. A good expert will filter and refine keywords that will be a best fit for your business. Even if you do keyword research the top result may not be something that is a best fit in terms of execution and strategy.

Be sure you contact SAM and discover your Keyword Potential and unlock those new clients that you’ve been looking for.