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Wal-Mart offers SEO, SEM & PPC – yes, seriously!

There is much foaming at the mouth in the world of SEO today. The blogs are burning, hair is being torn out, noses are glued into an upright position and huffing noises can be heard the length and breadth of the known SEO universe.

Why? Well, the rumours that started before Christmas have now been confirmed. The mega-structure that is Wal-Mart has entered the fray. Sam’s Club – a cash & carry-style warehouse outlet and Wal-Mart subsidiary – is now offering SEO, SEM & PPC services. Honestly! Yes, I didn’t believe it either. But it’s true! See here.

What does this mean? Well. It means that, as I said last week, SEO is growing up. But more than that it means SEO, SEM and PPC services have officially entered a new era – and, I think that’s a good thing! I can hear rabid coughing, spluttering and spitting out of coffee echoing around the globe!

To explain: The reason I think it’s great is that (if we’re all really, really honest with ourselves) these services have too long been shrouded in a mystique they don’t deserve. They are technical disciplines, yes. But it’s not rocket-science or brain surgery either – is it now? To push SEO and SEM towards the future, help it evolve in a positive way, we need more people to understand what makes SEO & SEM worth doing; what they are and why they work. The industry needs to work harder to explain the benefits and spend less time patting people on the head. If that means letting Wal-Mart help then so be it.

Search Engine Marketing: Happy Birthday!

Search engine marketing has got to that awkward age. It’s 11 this year and being 11 means it’s no longer the little kid squeaking from the back, desperate to be noticed; it’s stopped putting its hand up for every question and is pretty cool about its place in the pack. It’s nearly grown up – it thinks.

In terms of what this loss of innocence means for the rest of us is succinctly put in Matt Greitzer & Co’s Search Insider blog. In his article Search Marketing Strategies For The Next Decade, Matt gently reminds us that the world does not begin and end with landing pages (nice though they are!). In future you need to take it one step further and create a search-focused content strategy – ie. analysing user intent and adjusting the website, its words, taxonomy, structure and navigation to reflect what users expect to see when they get there. This is the future direction of search engine marketing and, as ever, the big boys (aka your competition) are working on it right now – so get with the programme!

For more info see Matt’s blog – you need to register to see all the posts – and you can always talk to us at Edgeworks (I would say that wouldn’t I!).

Copywriting & PPC: Getting ad words that work

Words. Words. Words. Yep. They count. On websites and printed material. But have you ever thought how much they might also count on pay-per-click (PPC) ads? Well, if the top companies are anything to go by, they count big bucks. Which is why more and more of them are turning to professional copywriters to squeeze every last drop of productivity out of the 20 or so words you can cram into your ad.

But it’s about more than clever copy. Gordon Choi, in his PPC Blog gives a great run down of the real reasons it pays to get a professional to write your online ad words. Think click through rate (CTR), conversions, efficiency, scalability, quality score. So. Click here to see Gordon’s advice and remember, if you didn’t already know it, words do count!