You are already late in the game. But all’s not lost. If you wish to play the search engine advertising game to target last-minute Christmas shoppers, here are a few handy hints to ensure that you don’t spend an arm and a leg to get your products visible on Google and Yahoo!
- Don’t bother with search engine optimisation right now. It will take too long to come into effect. you’re better off concentrating on generating an immediate cash flow through paid search advertising.
- Set up a PPC campaign on both Google AdWords and Overture / Yahoo! Search Marketing
- Do not start by aiming for the Number 1 position – it is usually too expensive and not worth it
- Target specific keyphrases even part numbers, specific brands and model numbers
- Avoid too generic key phrases, and one-word keywords since you are too late in the cycle to try to attract a large volume of browsers
- Ensure that you have dedicated landing pages for your campaigns and products
- Bring your click-through visitors to the deepest level page that is most relevant to their search query
- Target mis-spellings of your popular keywords – they usually tend to be cheaper and are very common when many people are hurrying to buy gifts
- Once the christmas season is over, don’t rest on your laurels. Start a search engine optimisation campaign so that you don’t have to scramble for positioning next christmas
Remember, planning is always helpful, even in the online world of search engine marketing. You could save yourself a lot of money and headaches by starting to optimise your site long before the rush season. Keep in mind that Google’s current ageing delays cause some sites to take as long as 9 months to rank for any competitive keywords.
