Who is using search engines? Well, everyone. A significant amount of all Web
traffic to Web sites comes from search engines. Unless you are a household
name like eBay or Amazon, chances are people won’t know where you are
unless they turn to a search engine and hunt you down. In fact, even the big
brands get most of their traffic from search engines. Search engines are the
biggest driver of traffic on the Web and their influence only continues to
grow.
traffic to Web sites comes from search engines. Unless you are a household
name like eBay or Amazon, chances are people won’t know where you are
unless they turn to a search engine and hunt you down. In fact, even the big
brands get most of their traffic from search engines. Search engines are the
biggest driver of traffic on the Web and their influence only continues to
grow.
But although search engines drive traffic to Web sites, you have to remember
that your Web site is only one of several and a half trillion other Web
sites out there. Chances are, if someone does a search, even for a product
that you sell, your Web site won’t automatically pop up in the first page of
results. If you’re lucky and the query is targeted enough, you might end up
somewhere in the top 100 of the millions of results returned. That might be
okay if you’re only trying to share your vacation photos with your family,
but if you need to sell a product, you need to appear higher in the results. In
most cases, you want the number one spot on the first page because that’s
the site everyone looks at and that most people click.
that your Web site is only one of several and a half trillion other Web
sites out there. Chances are, if someone does a search, even for a product
that you sell, your Web site won’t automatically pop up in the first page of
results. If you’re lucky and the query is targeted enough, you might end up
somewhere in the top 100 of the millions of results returned. That might be
okay if you’re only trying to share your vacation photos with your family,
but if you need to sell a product, you need to appear higher in the results. In
most cases, you want the number one spot on the first page because that’s
the site everyone looks at and that most people click.
In this section, you find out a bit more about the audience available to you
and how to narrow down how to reach them.
and how to narrow down how to reach them.
Figuring out how much people spend
The fact of the matter is that people spend money on the Internet. It’s frightfully
easy: All you need is a credit card, a computer with an Internet connection,
and something that you’ve been thinking about buying. E-commerce
in the United States reached $34.7 billion in the third quarter of 2007 alone.
Some project that e-commerce could reach $1 trillion a year by 2012.
Combine that with the fact that most Americans spend an average of 24
minutes a day shopping online, not including the time they spend actually
getting to the Web site (19 minutes), and you’re looking at a viable means of
moving your product. To put it simply, “There’s gold in them thar hills!”
The fact of the matter is that people spend money on the Internet. It’s frightfully
easy: All you need is a credit card, a computer with an Internet connection,
and something that you’ve been thinking about buying. E-commerce
in the United States reached $34.7 billion in the third quarter of 2007 alone.
Some project that e-commerce could reach $1 trillion a year by 2012.
Combine that with the fact that most Americans spend an average of 24
minutes a day shopping online, not including the time they spend actually
getting to the Web site (19 minutes), and you’re looking at a viable means of
moving your product. To put it simply, “There’s gold in them thar hills!”
So, now you need to get people to your Web site. In real estate, the most
important thing is location, location, location, and the same is true of the
Internet. On the Web, however, instead of having a prime piece of property,
you need a high listing on the search engine results page (SERP). Your placement
in these results is referred to as your ranking. You have a few options
when it comes to achieving that. One, you can make your page the best it
can be and hope that people will find you, or two, you can pay for one of the
few advertising slots. More than $12 billion was spent in 2007 on the North
American search marketing industry alone. Eighty-eight percent of that was
spent on pay per click (PPC) advertising, in which you pay to have search
important thing is location, location, location, and the same is true of the
Internet. On the Web, however, instead of having a prime piece of property,
you need a high listing on the search engine results page (SERP). Your placement
in these results is referred to as your ranking. You have a few options
when it comes to achieving that. One, you can make your page the best it
can be and hope that people will find you, or two, you can pay for one of the
few advertising slots. More than $12 billion was spent in 2007 on the North
American search marketing industry alone. Eighty-eight percent of that was
spent on pay per click (PPC) advertising, in which you pay to have search
engines display your ad. The other 12 percent goes to search engine optimization
(SEO). SEO, when properly done, helps you to design your Web site
in such a way that when a user is doing a search, your pages appear on the
first page of returned results, hopefully in the top spot. Your main focus in
this book is finding out about SEO, but because they overlap somewhat, you
pick up a bit of PPC knowledge here and there along the way.
(SEO). SEO, when properly done, helps you to design your Web site
in such a way that when a user is doing a search, your pages appear on the
first page of returned results, hopefully in the top spot. Your main focus in
this book is finding out about SEO, but because they overlap somewhat, you
pick up a bit of PPC knowledge here and there along the way.
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