WebProNews

Professional search engine marketing folks need to keep several tips and guidelines in mind when working with and keeping their SEM clients.

What has worked best for you in managing SEM campaigns? Tell us your stories at WebProWorld.

Mike McDonald, WebProNews editor, took in the afternoon SEM Campaign & Project Management session at SES Chicago. This one was for the pros, the one's who do SEM as their vocation.

The session started with Harrison Magun from Avenue A | Razorfish laying out four rules for managing paid search. First, define success. Which metrics will the campaign rely on to measure that success?

Direct response metrics deliver the volume of leads and the cost per lead. "Those are the primary metrics for any search campaign," Magun said. To better assess those metrics, managers need to find out what reasonable benchmarks apply and understand what can be accomplished.

SEM pros need to have a plan of action, and take into consideration their bidding strategies for keywords, and keyword expansion and categorization. Ad copy and landing page copy need to be relevant to the searcher, and get them to the right place.

Managers need to build time into the project for testing. Time considerations have to be clarified for SEM projects; "Make sure you're focusing on what needs to happen and by when," Magun said.

Steps three and four - measuring results and getting feedback - have to happen regularly. On no less than a weekly basis, communicate what you have done and why you did it. Ask for feedback even when you already know the answer.

Dave Williams of 360i cited a need for organizational knowledge of SEM projects. "If management is to be expected to invest in something they have to understand it," he said.

Initiatives can't get buy-in from the right people, like marketing, info tech, and management, if they don't understand what is being done and why it is taking place.

Once that knowledge gets shared, search strategies can be integrated into online and offline marketing. With the strategy in place, the more tactical considerations of data optimization can take place.

"Data managment and optimization is the future of search - especially as search develops," Williams said. Statistical modeling, algorithm optimization, and predictive capabilities can help take advantage of the market and give a firm an edge online.

Williams expanded on what predictive capabilities can provide, as they tap data like impressions, click-throughs, cost, and revenue by keyword. Optimization takes place by forming a plan based on that analysis.

"Rather than jumping in and developing keywords, you should develop a strategy that becomes your roadmap for implementation," Williams said. Identify keywords that you always want to be number one for and bucket them, then group competitive terms with perhaps lower ROIs and group them and group your less popular higher ROI terms, he suggested.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.