Great Primer on Setting up Your SEM Program

Search Engine Marketing Article: SEM: In-House vs. Outsourced - Courtesy of SEMPO


If you have run up against the ceiling of plain vanilla Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or if you've heard about SEO but haven't yet given it a try, you'll find this article invaluable in helping you craft your strategy, and make decisions regarding outsourcing relationships.


Search Engine Management is the next generation of SEO, the progeny of Search Engine Optimization and Customer Relationship Management. One of the evolutions in the thought processes of SEO v. SEM is the strategy of looking at search engine traffic with the goal of creating more types of actions by the customer.


Traditionally, SEO looks for purchases, site registration and activation of permission-based subscriptions as key success metrics in terms of conversions from SEO click-thrus. Other goals that are addressed by SEM relate to different stages of the purchasing process. Recognizing that customers use search engine information as part of a research process, SEM seeks to integrate relevant messaging into the search results for terms used at different stages of the purchasing process and to serve appropriate content to customer's stage in the purchase life cycle.



One of the most valuable tools in the article is a series of questions that you use to identify the key requirements of the role and evaluate your options in filling it. Another metric that I found interesting, was that, according to the article:
"Contrary to what many SEM firms say, 95% or SEO (not including Paid Placement) is done once and needs little ongoing tweaking, if it is done right and if--big if here--nobody screws up the SEO after it is implemented."

The promise of SEM is much like the promise of event-triggered communications. When relevant business rules are created, monitored, and used, these programs create a perpetual pipeline of sales leads and direct sales results.

Cool Hacks for eBay Buyers and Sellers

At O'Reilly Network: eBay [Sep. 09, 2003] you'll find a wealth of tools that can help you apply big company strategy to your eBay storefront without spending big bucks on analytics tools. The site is a companion to the O'Reilly-published book, eBay Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips and Tools.

In this case, the hacks aren't sinister, just quick and simple solutions to eBay challenges that use less than elegant interfaces to accomplish the goal. In her review of the book on AuctionBytes, Ina Steiner also mentions a very important additional value of the book, that it helps sellers see the eBay transaction from the buyers' perspective as well as their own. This is a very important competitive edge that many sellers not only ignore, but even work against with their copy and terms.

The big news here is the interface to the eBay API for sellers. eBay formerly had an API just for developers, and the barriers to using it were pretty steep for the average seller. Using this API, you can automate re-listing, mass-update your listings, automatically leave reciprocal feedback and much more.

Using Customer Experience Data Effectively

Targeted communications are a good opportunity in times of budget cuts, because they are measurable and thus easier to justify with positive ROI.

One of the benefits of using customer behavior observations about our best customers is that it gives us the ability to define what our best customers' characteristics so that we can use highly targeted tactics to reach others like them.

Last weekend, I read an interesting article called "Joining Strategy and Usability: Defining the Customer Experience Methodology", by Mark Hurst (www.creativegood.com) that talked about defining a Customer Experience Model (CEM) which, although defined in terms of electronic experience, could be applied to all customer "touchpoints."

Using a CEM, organizations can evaluate the strategies and tools that customers and prospects use by looking at their behavior, they can manage the times and places at which they communicate with customers. Then, using CEM findings, can target appropriate messaging for each stage of the purchase process.

Powerful stuff!

Cool idea

Insights - Trends: What Could You Buy With $25K From eBay?


As noted a few months ago, eBay has expanded beyond collectively and into a B2B focus that is targeted primarily at small businesses (starting with its sellers.) eBay is savvy in that it long ago recognized that as individual sellers began to succeed in their efforts to sell online, they would develop into businesses that needed the products and services necessary to grow their enterprises.



This is to me an indication of an upstart market that is a function of supply and demand. Trust for large companies has diminished due to corporate scandal and escalating costs. There is even backlash on a local level. Check out Arizona Chain Reaction to see an example of budding backlash against the so-called "big box" retailers. With an uncertain economy, self-reliance is increasingly important to many, and this organization believes in supporting the local economy by patronizing locally-owned businesses.

eBay's B2B focus complements its B2C roots in much the same way. By patronizing other eBay merchants for their business equipment needs, business buyers who are also sellers are validating the model and providing themselves with more reasons to generate positive Word of Mouth for the eBay experience.

BTW, there is a contest opportunity in the Trends article that you might find interesting if you're interested in growing your small business.

Practice Safe Computing

My system was hit
last week by a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/virus/virusrat.asp">
RAT (Remote Access Trojan) ;that actually pretended it was my virus protection software, giving me the impression that the virus definitions were current
and my system was clean.

Viruses can happen to virtually anyone now, even those who don't download attachments. (I've been involved in
selling anti-virus software since 1991, so if it can happen to me...)  I
would also add that if anyone is using Microsoft Windows, please download the href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-039.asp">new
security patch to avoid having your system accessed remotely.  These
newer viruses are especially scary. I know of one that can even hit Linux,
and others that you can pick up by simply visiting an infected Web page. 

These unwelcome visitors are promulgating at rates that are unprecedented. Visit Symantec's Security Response Center for a list of new threats and the tools to get rid of them!
Better safe than sorry!