"A very comprehensive, yet light-hearted guide for internet managers that demystifies search engine marketing and provides practical advice for success."

—Piers Dickinson, Global Internet Marketing Manager, BP

"Outlines every one of the major strategic steps to develop your search marketing initiatives. This book teaches Web marketers what to do from the beginning so they can implement a successful search marketing program—the strategic steps to define the scope and cost of your search marketing program, develop a team, create a proposal, get executive approval, manage, and measure your search marketing program. You have to read it to appreciate it!"

—Cynthia Donlevy, Web Marketing & Strategy, Cisco Systems, Inc.

"Getting your site indexed is the most fundamental, yet one of the most challenging, aspects to search engine marketing. Search Engine Marketing Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site is a detailed and comprehensive guide through the pitfalls and opportunities of this complicated subject. I started reading Chapter 10, "Get Your Site Indexed," and haven't really put it down since. It is a wonderfully well-written and detailed reference that you will come back to again and again to get more out of your SEO efforts. From price engines to paid placement, Chapter 14, "Optimize Your Paid Search Program," covers everything you need to know about paid search. I have yet to come across a more useful book for SEM pros. From budgeting to bid strategy and optimization, Mike and Bill take you through the steps to create successful paid search campaigns. Whether you are just starting out in paid search or are already a power player, you will learn something new from this book."

—David Cook, Search Marketing Manager, Buy.com

"This book has no silver bullets or snake-oil potions that will magically propel your site to the top of every search engine. What it offers instead, is the most comprehensive, well-thought-out, and well-motivated treatment to date of all aspects of search engine marketing, from planning to execution to measuring. If you are involved in any way in the economic aspects of Web search technology, you need this book on your shelf."

—Dr. Andrei Broder, IBM Distinguished Engineer & CTO, IBM Research Institute for Search and Text Analysis

"Mike Moran and Bill Hunt have delivered a masterpiece on enterprise search marketing. Both engaging and results-focused, Search Engine Marketing, Inc. guides the marketer through the basics of why search is important and how search engines work to the more challenging organizational tasks of selling a search marketing proposal to executives and executing on a search marketing plan.

Unlike many previous search engine optimization books that have treated search marketing as a guerilla approach disjointed from other organizational needs, Search Engine Marketing, Inc. shows how to incorporate search into the overall marketing mix in order to increase both customer value and business return-on-investment.

Full of real examples from other enterprise search marketing organizations and thoughtful treatment of the business issues surrounding search, this book is the reference volume for bringing a successful search marketing program to fruition in the organization."

—Jeff Watts, Search & Community Manager, National Instruments

"Search Engine Marketing, Inc. is the ultimate source on how to implement a search marketing campaign. The book provides actionable instructions on topics from how to get the finances within your organization to how to make your pages rank well in search engines. Beyond that, the book explains conversion metrics and projecting your succ

About the Authors

Mike Moran is an IBM Distinguished Engineer with more than 20 years experience in search technology working at IBM Research, Lotus, and other IBM software units. He led the product team that developed the first commercial linguistic search engine in 1989, and has been granted four patents in search and retrieval technology. He led the original search marketing strategy for ibm.com, as well as the integration of ibm.com's site search technologies.

Mike has worked on IBM's Web site for the past seven years and is currently the Manager of ibm.com Site Architecture. In addition to his search work, Mike has spearheaded ibm.com projects in Content Management, Personalization, and Web Metrics.

Preface

Search marketing demands a curious mix of business, writing, and technical skills. No matter what skills you have, you probably have some of the skills needed to succeed, but not all of them. This book will fill the gaps.

If you possess marketing skills, or you have a sales or other business background, you will quickly see the ways that search marketing draws upon your previous experience, but you will also learn how it is different. Like any form of marketing, you will focus on the target markets you want to reach—in this case, searchers looking for certain words. You will segment those markets. You will realize that your Web pages are your marketing communications materials. You might see parallels to direct marketing as we relentlessly measure our success, or perhaps you will see the possibilities for search marketing to burnish your brand image. Regardless, like all marketing, you will learn to design your search marketing program to meet your company's larger goals. Unlike other forms of marketing, search marketing is not designed to interrupt people with an advertising message. Successful search marketing meets people at their point of need. When searchers want something, you must be ready to satisfy them with what they want, even if you would prefer to sell them something else.

As critical as marketers are to success, search marketing is, at its core, a writer's medium. Like direct marketing, a well-crafted message is critical to enticing a searcher to click your page. Once at your site, the words on your page also influence whether the prospective customer buys your product or abandons your site. But search marketing relies on skilled writing to an even greater extent, because the search engines choose the pages they show based on words. You will learn how to write the words that your customers and the search engines are looking for. If you are a writer, you will find search marketing a challenge like none you have ever seen, but one that can reward your company richly.

If you have technical skills, you are needed, too. Search marketing depends on your Web site's design and operation. Many commonly used Web technologies stop search marketing cold. You will find that search marketing is similar to other technical projects—you must understand the requirements so that you can develop the solution. You need to develop a business case to see the value so the work can be prioritized and funded for your busy IT team. You will need a project plan to execute on schedule. You will have standards and operational procedures that keep the system running smoothly. If you are a Webmaster, a Web developer, or any kind of technologist, your skills are vital to search marketing success.

If you are looking for a book about the secrets of search marketing, this book does have a few. However, they might be secrets of a surprising kind. Some people think of search marketing as an arcane pursuit where you need to know the "tricks" to get search engines to show your site. But those tricks are not the secrets of search marketing—you do not need tricks to succeed. What you really need is a firm understanding of how search marketing works, a methodology to plan your search marketing program, and the information required to execute it. The biggest secret of search marketing is that knowledge, hard work, and flawless execution are all you need. This book shows you how to get all three.

In Part 1, we cover the basics of search marketing. What is search marketing? Why is it so difficult? How do search engines and search marketing work? And what are searchers looking for anyway? Marketers and writers will learn more about search technology. Technologists will be exposed to the opportunity search marketing offers your company. You w