It pays to be specific when purchasing keywords for search engine marketing (SEM), according to Mark Lee, vice president of sales and marketing for International Auto Parts.
Terms like "Jeep Cherokee floor mats" work much better than "floor mats," said Lee, noting his company pays for more than 800 terms. "Let the big guys keep the general terms," which can be more expensive anyway.
SEM is one area where smart small companies can beat the larger competition, said Alan Rimm-Kaufman, president of The Rimm-Kaufman Group LLC and former vice president of marketing for Crutchfield Corp.
The basics of direct marketing apply in search, he said. Test copy and track your results. For companies like Crutchfield, which sells electronics, big vendor brand keywords may work well – but you will pay more for them. If they're not generating revenue, turn them off.
He advised looking for "crumbs" that search engine spiders can look for: two, three or four word descriptive phrases that well for your particular product. Think like a customer and test things like different combinations and common misspellings.
And copy and content, he said, is king. "Search engine spiders like words. They don't want images. They don't want dancing bears."
Look for inexpensive sources of content for your site, such as testimonials, press releases, newsletters, FAQs and back issue content from enthusiast magazines n your niche. The latter can be particularly timeless he said, noting that for International Auto Sport, an article about winter car care can be relevant, year after year after year.
Lee and Rimm-Kaufman spoke at the New England Mail Order Association Conference in Cambridge, MA, which concludes on Friday.
