Search Engine Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses

Search engine marketing  (SEM) represents one of those marketing tools that many small businesses consider foreign and difficult to understand. I own a small business so I know how people, with minimal exposure to the concept, can feel.

Recently, I have been researching and learning from some of the most notable search engine marketing firms. My findings are astounding and I have concluded it makes almost no sense to exclude search engine marketing from general marketing campaigns.

With so many consumers utilizing the Internet today, if your marketing efforts don’t include SEM you are missing out on these eyeballs.

Search Engine Marketing Case Study

Let’s discuss a hypothetical example that explores the power of search engine marketing. This case focuses on the local real estate industry in Los Angeles.

Despite the real estate industries position as a relationship business, consumers will continue to perform their own level of market analysis to ensure they are acquiring the best deals and forming ideal relationships with real estate agents in Los Angeles.

In addition to the Internet, search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo are popular and useful for individuals searching for information concerning homes for rent. These search engines also assist prospective buyers looking for potential agencies to represent them.

Many homeowners are also constantly searching for property management companies to manage homeowners’ properties. If you are in this industry, as a small business owners you should understand:

1. The top keywords searched on Google for the Los Angeles real estate market

2. The competitive landscape of those keywords

3. And where the opportunity exists for your business

Local Search Engine Marketing Example 

First, we will analyze the keyword phrase “Los Angeles homes for rent” as an example, which garners over 27,000 searches a month or 900 searches a day. This keyword costs $0.82 for each time a searcher clicks on an ad that is triggered by this keyword phrase.

Cost per click (CPC) represents an important metric that helps marketers understand the commercial intent for a keyword. If a keyword maintains a low cost per click, it can mean the keyword does not garner significant value for firms that advertise on Google, Bing, Yahoo, or other search engines. However, there are some keywords that advertisers do not think to utilize to market their business. Yet strong demand can exist for people searching for a product or service via that keyword phrase.