Truth 15. Search engine sales versus search engine marketing

Hundreds of thousands of marketers who place Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engine listings on Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and other venues think of themselves as search engine marketers. In fact, they’re not behaving like search engine marketers at all. Most engage in search engine sales, not search engine marketing (SEM).

What’s the difference? “Search engine sales” is a construct we’ll use in this truth. In contrast to true SEM, it’s a narrow-minded process in which all decisions regarding campaign optimization are made with an immediate focus on sales, regardless of other marketing goals.

Search engine sales campaigns ignore the buying cycle. They ignore the fact that some ...

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