STRATIMIND'S SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING SERVICES

StratiMind's Leading Search Engine Marketing Service Offerings

StratMind offers a comprehensive set of Search Engine Marketing services, including

• SEM analysis and strategy development
• ethical search engine optimization (SEO), including HTML coding and hosting of test pages
• paid search program design (also called pay-per-click, PPC, search engine advertizing and sponsored listings)
• paid search keyword buying and campaign management
• web site architecture optimization
• link popularity program design and implementation
• search engine and directory submission services
• ongoing search position reporting and maintenance programs
• search ad copy design and optimization
• landing page design and development (HTML coding)
• click-through reporting and ROI analysis
• lead conversion analysis, click-path analysis and optimization
• dynamic (database-driven) web site SEO

Why Should I Invest in SEM?

The rapidly evolving field of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is fast becoming the new battleground for customers who research their purchases online. And to the victor go the spoils - in this case its bushels of click-throughs. That translates directly into sales leads. And these are not just your garden-variety sales leads either. Because you can learn what search terms your prospective customers are using, and target only those keywords, most click-throughs are highly qualified before they ever get to your web site.

Bottom line: a well-designed and executed SEM strategy has the potential to give savvy marketers a quantum leap in the flow of qualified sales leads from their web site.

Insights From Recent Research

Led by Google's astounding progress, the search engine technologies have become increasingly sophisticated at delivering "relevant results". When Jupiter Research asked 3,700 online consumers in October of 2004 whether search results have gotten more relevant or less relevant, 67% said they are now more relevant, while only 5% thought they were less relevant.

Nowhere is SEM more important than for companies selling products and services into target customers that are inclined to research the alternative solutions online and/or buy them online. This includes B2B as well as B2C products and services. In fact, according to an Enquiro survey of 1,500 business people in B2B companies, 93% said they begin their buying process online, and 68% said that they start with search engines! Given the complexity of most enterprise software solutions, its no surprise that the hard-to-reach Information Technology (IT) organizations are at the top of this list of search engine users.

Still not convinced? Then take a look at some of the recent research about why SEM is the new marketing imperative. If you would like to understand the implications of the new online buying process in more detail, then check out our learning center article "The Buying Process Has Moved Online".

What it Takes To Get On Google's First Page

The battle for a position on the first page of Google's search results can be a frustrating one without an experienced SEM expert on your team - especially when the search terms in question are highly competitive. To get that choice search position - and stay there - requires a sustained effort by highly skilled specialists. But the SEM return on investment is hard to beat. Check out our back of the envelope example on the ROI of search engine marketing.

Most successful companies turn to top-rated SEM firms like StratiMind for help getting to the top. If you are considering hiring a search engine marketing expert, then you will want to contact StratiMind for a quote.

How to Hire a Search Engine Marketing Firm

Many marketing organizations are unable to stay abreast of the fast-paced search engine marketing space, since it takes a full-time focus. Some larger companies have built their own internal SEM experts, but most companies either can't afford this luxury or they choose to spend their energies on the unique value added that they alone can supply. These latter companies build a partnership with a top search engine marketing firm like StratiMind that specializes in providing a comprehensive set of search engine marketing services. If you are not sure where to start, you can read more about the suggested criteria for selecting a search engine marketing partner.

StratiMind - Your Best Choice for SEM Partner

StrateMind has a deep expertise in search engine marketing, and every day we help our clients quickly build and execute successful SEM strategies. By leveraging our expertise, clients don't have to learn all the intricacies of SEM tools, technologies and techniques, or spend all of their time keeping abreast of the constant advances by the search engines. Instead, our clients can focus on building and executing winning marketing and sales strategies.

When it comes to selecting a search engine marketing partner, StratiMind has what it takes to make you successful:

Comprehensive SEM skill set with experts in all the search engine marketing tools, technologies and techniques.

StratiMind has assembled the best and the brightest in each area of search engine marketing, and search engine marketing has always been our primary focus. Therefore, our success and our reputation depends on our ability to deliver results that consistently delight our clients.

Current knowledge of best SEM practices.

Search engine marketing is our passion at StratiMind. It is truly a unique field which is characterized by constant change. What really makes it special, however, is that the actual search algorithms (the systems of rules that determine how a page will be ranked in the SERPs), are proprietary to the search engines. In order to figure out how to optimize a web site for this complex set of algorithms, the community of SEM professionals has developed an extensive body of empirical knowledge about how these algorithms work. This expert knowledge and the associated search engine optimization techniques and best practices are shared within the SEM consulting community as "secrets of the trade". As active members of the SEM professionals community we are able to use this knowledge to benefit our clients.

Deep knowledge of search engine technologies and web programming

There is no hiding from the technology side of SEM, and at StratiMind, we have world-class software engineers with advanced degrees from MIT and other top-tier technology institutions. We know the search engine technology side of SEM inside and out. In fact, we'll match our technology expertise and track record to any SEM firm in the business. We have successfully completed complex e-commerce web sites, and web-based application development, custom software development, IT system integration and much more.

What this means for you is that we are able to work directly with your web development team and your IT department to customize our services and deliverables to fit into the way you work. More specifically:

• Because we can actually model the PageRank implications associated with your internal linking structure, we can optimize your website to a level that few other SEM firms can approach.
• When it comes to optimizing web pages, we do the HTML programming for you, whereas most SEM firms will hand you a list of recommendations and leave it up to you to figure out how to code them in your web pages.
• Once we hand code the changes ourselves, we then host the optimzed "test" pages on our web site for you to review. This saves you from lengthy delays waiting for your web master or IT department to get around to uploading new pages, and enables rapid iterations to arrive at the best result in the shortest possible time.

Extensive operational experience in senior marketing roles.

If you have worked with Ad and PR agencies before, then you know how different their world is from the realities of your "client-side" marketing organization. Without the ability to understand the subtleties of your whole strategic and operational picture, the contributions that these traditional agenices can make is limited to their specialized domain. In contrast, StratiMind was founded by former VPs of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officers from companies like yours. This gives us a unique understanding of your strategy and goals; we alone can provide the additional value that comes from extensive operational marketing experience - experience for which there is simply no substitute.

Results-oriented, collaborative approach.

From the beginning of our dialog with you, and extending through our engagements, we are constantly focused on your results. We will insist on measuring the progress and contribution of our efforts to your overall goals by establishing metrics for each project and reporting on them regularly. Furthermore, our approach is a highly collaborative one. So, when you partner with StratiMind, we want you to think of us as an extension of your team.

Track record of client success.

StratiMind has a commitment to the success of our clients and we are deeply moved by the enthusiastic endorsements that they give us in return. A number of these clients have given StratiMind special permission to provide their name, title, company, email and phone number to prospective clients so you can speak to them directly. Naturally, we are very protective of this information and do not publish it on our web site out of respect for our clients' privacy.

Elements of Our Search Engine Marketing Consulting Engagements

Our search engine marketing engagements focus on the areas that can have an immediate impact on the flow of qualified leads from client web sites. Our service offerings include some or all of the following elements, depending on the client's needs.

Foundation SEM Consulting Elements

• Keyword research and selection to discover the actual search terms (keywords) used by prospective customers

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Consulting Elements

• Assessment of current position in natural search results for target keywords in each major search engine
• Complete, detailed analysis of the design, coding and structure of client's home page vs. best practices for top-ranked web sites
• Analysis of "Link Popularity", a key metric for establishing the overall importance (PageRank) of client's web site and specific recommended steps to increase the number and quality of inbound links
• Proactive link partner outreach programs to optimize existing linking partners and recruit new ones
• Analysis of indexing frequency and depth by each major search engine
• Analysis of internal linking structure and proposed modifications to maximize PageRank of most important pages
• SEO strategy development, including specific and actionable recommendations for changes to the web site to improve its rank in natural search results
• HTML programming of proposed optimizations in the form of "test" pages for client review
• Hosting of test pages in private client area of the StratiMind web site to enable convenient review of and rapid iterations on optimized test pages
• Design and execution of Link Popularity programs to increase PageRank of client's web site (PageRank = measure of the a site's importance from the search engine's point of view)
• regular submission of client's web site to major directories and for indexing by each major search engine in conformance with best practices and guidelines

Paid Search Consulting Elements

• keyword-specific analysis of paid search opportunities, monthly costs and expected number of click-throughs
• paid search campaign design, keyword buys, and ongoing monitoring, reporting and optimization of paid search programs
• careful experimentation with alternative paid search strategies to find the most optimal ad design, ad parameters and overall ROI for client
• directed experimentation with different offers to find the most cost-effective ones to use in paid search ads and other online marketing programs

Lead Conversion Consulting Elements

• click-path analysis to analyze visitor's experience once they click on the natural or paid search result, from the landing page through to the desired call to action (e.g. completing a form to request a download or an online purchase)
• experimentation with different landing page creative, messaging and offers to find the most effective combination to use to maximize conversion rates

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Ready to talk to the experts? Call or email us to set up an appointment to discuss your specific needs, and join the growing list of satisfied StratiMind clients.