Search Engine Marketing for Business Growth

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be a very effective advertising vehicle for businesses. SEM, not to be confused with search engine optimization (SEO), is any form of pay-per-click advertising that appears in search engine results. The dominant platforms are Google Ads and Bing Ads, which power 99% of search advertising in the United States.  Popular ad formats include:

  • Text ads (the oldest and most popular format)
  • Shopping ads (products only, shown with images, pricing and more)
  • Local search ads (promotes local businesses for “near me” searches)
  • Local Services ads (a newer lead gen ad format from Google)

Proven Results

Ally Marketing, a Google Partner agency and a Microsoft Advertising Partner, has helped many businesses leverage search ads for business growth, including colleges and universities, industrial suppliers, professional service businesses (attorneys, home improvement contractors, etc.) and retailers.

We helped one of our clients, a producer of gourmet food products, generate $91,000 in gross revenue — with a return-on-ad-spend of $4.33-to-$1 — using Google and Microsoft Ads in a 12-month period. Feel free to view the case study for details.

Comprehensive Approach

Effective SEM requires a combination of activities in order to maximize effectiveness and return-on-investment. These activities include:

Keyword Research

Identifying and selecting target keywords after evaluating searcher intent, popularity and cost-per-click data.

Competitor Analysis

Evaluating competitor webpage content, UX, and unique selling proposition(s).

Content Evaluation and Revision

Improving content and UX on the desired product or service landing pages.

Conversion Optimization

Testing new forms of user engagement and revising lead capture forms.

Active Campaign Management

Regular adjustments to keywords, ads, keyword bidding, negative keywords, and more.

Performance Reporting

Regular review of sales revenue, leads generated, cost per lead/sale, and more.

Pricing

Our SEM services and expertise are very affordable, whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise. Our pricing structure involves three elements:

Keyword Research – This is a fundamental step in the work. This identifies the most relevant and profitable keyword opportunities, along with keywords we need to avoid. Skipping this step can put campaign success at great risk. This step requires a one-time fee starting at $1,000.

Content Evaluation & Revision – Next, we evaluate competitor product/service offerings and either create or revise our client’s intended “landing pages” of the campaign (where ad clicks point to). This step improves advertising and lead generation/sales performance. We typically charge a one-time fee starting at $250 per product or service page.

Campaign Management & Report – And finally, we actively manage and optimize campaigns once the advertising is launched. This ensures optimal performance and return-on-ad-spend over the life of the campaign. We also provide performance reporting with recommendations on a monthly (or bi-weekly) basis for clients. This ongoing (monthly) fee starts at $500/month, and can be higher depending on the number of campaigns being managed concurrently. Note:

Unlike other ad agencies, we do NOT charge a media commission, or percentage based fee on the total advertising budget. You only compensate us for our expertise and time.