s

SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

A DISSERTATION ON

INTERNET MARKETING -

MARKETING OF THE FUTURE

Name Roll No. Class Semester Submission Date Grade Comments

: Mandhir Singh : 25 :2A Batch: 2008-10

: IV
: 04/03/10 : :

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INDEX

S.No

DESCRIPTION

PAGE No

Acknowledgements

Abstract

Introduction

Literature Review

Introduction to Search Engine Marketing

10

Natural SEM

14

Companies which use SEM

22

Mobile web

26

Research methodology

29

10

Conclusion References And Bibliography

36

11

37

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dissertation is meant to provide students with opportunity to integrate the knowledge and skills gained from their taught program with real problems. Dissertation on INTERNET MARKETING, done at Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies provided me with a lot of knowledge & exposure. I have gained immensely from my research in terms of experience and expertise. I take this opportunity to extend warm thanks to all those people who have devoted their valuable time and extended support as and when called for. First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof Pravin Kumar for his expert guidance and who has been the perfect guiding force and source of inspiration throughout the tenure of the project. Without his constant guidance and feedback, I would not have been able to put in my best into the research.

Mandhir Singh SIMS, Pune

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INTERNET MARKETING

ABSTRACT The introduction of the internet has reshaped the world scenario in many respects. Now, there is hardly a section of life that could be named which has not been revolutionized by the internet. In the field of commerce and industry, the internet has played even the most significant role. It has made possible what was just a dream, a few decades ago Internet marketing or SEM search engine marketing is very important as a company has to maintain its niche in the market and not get driven away by tough marketplace competition, it needs to have a solution to address its Search Engine Strategy. It is with respect to all these factors that SEARCH has been chosen as the topic for this dissertation.

This report will try to highlight that how effective is internet marketing, which all companies use it and what is the rate of return for the same.

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Introduction
Internet Marketing is more than simple linking or search engine optimization, which are way too often unquantifiable. Internet Marketing in itself MUST be measurable And it must be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.

It's all about Marketing Whether you are promoting yourself, social ideas, products or services you want to be found and get established as a trusted advisor. In its broadest sense this is marketing and it has the following goals: visibility (business promotion) inquiries (leads) involvement (sales) Friendship (repeat business)

In the business world, the advent of Internet has increased the fear of competition, which opened companies to the idea of moving from traditional Marketing techniques to new Online Marketing techniques.

Traditional Marketing methods Inside sales Telemarketing Tradeshows and Seminars Print Advertising Direct mail and E-mail

Online Marketing methods Search engine optimization (SEO) Pay per click (PPC) advertising Leveraging Blogging & Social Media Landing pages targeted for lead conversion Google Analytics to track your marketing efforts

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Search engine optimization is many things, it's an art and it's a science. SEO is creative and it's technical. It's logical, parasitic and opportunistic. The aim of SEO is to maximize targeted types of valuable traffic to a website from search engines by improving the visibility of said website in Google organic or unpaid SERPS. Traditionally, this has meant aiming for no1, or top ten positions in Google but SEO has evolved and now a SEO needs to be more a marketer than just a tech geek. A SEO needs to be concerned, not just with high positions in Google for relevant keywords, but with analyzing competition, traffic and analytics, and converting traffic to leads and sales

The goal of all SEO is to achieve Keyword Dominance in the mind of search engines. To do this, we have three areas of concern:

On-page Optimization

Refers to the keyword optimizations you make in your web page code. This has fairly little SEO importance but is easy to control. Keep in mind that eye-tracking visualization research finds users read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern. Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar. Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F's lower bar. Finally, users scan the content's left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eye-tracking heat-map. Site-wide Optimization The navigation and linking structure you use across your site. This is very important and within your control.

Off-site Optimization The links coming into your site. This is extremely important but very difficult to control. It is important to inform the World about your content in order to acquire quality inbound keyword links.

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Fortunately, the Social components of modern website like RSS feeds, Blogs, Forums, Comments, Polls, Voting are becoming a commodity as they are built into every modern CMS (e.g. WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal). The question is no longer how to code this functionality, but how to promote it online. The bare minimum to improve website visibility & credibility is to: Create & submit your XML Sitemap to search engines Create & promote your RSS Feeds Submit your site to DMOZ.org Open Directory Project

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LITERATURE REVIEW

There is a vast array of literature available which covers the topic of Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, Mobile Search and also the branding aspect of Search.

Principally this research is based upon the findings and the experiences of US & UK based companies which have experimented with and fine-tuned their Search Marketing efforts.

Companies like OneUpWeb, WebOptimiser. 6s Marketing, Marketleap.com and Click-z are highly rated companies which offer Search Engine Optimisation and Marketing solutions. Companies like Pinstorm, Hungama, Ebrandz and IndBazaar offer similar services in India. Learnings have been taken from campaigns carried out by these companies.

SEMPO Search Engine Marketing Professional Organisation, is a non-profit professional organization that works worldwide to increase awareness and promote the value of Search Engine Marketing worldwide. Data from their primary research archives have been used in this research. The 13 pillars of internet marketing Book by David bain The 13 Pillars of Internet Marketing offers a broad introduction to internet marketing methods for people like you for marketing managers, business owners and entrepreneurs.It has been written to help you build your overall online marketing knowledge, explaining a wide variety of internet marketing activities or pillars. Few businesses understand the technical aspects of internet marketing. I strongly believe that companies need to have some understanding of internet marketing methods in-house, so that they can understand why things need to be done. Businesses can then make the decision to either do everything in-house, or manage the process and outsource the technical side to a good search engine optimization firm. Search engine optimization firms are good technicians, but they dont necessarily understand how to portray your business online. They will do what they are told to do, or they will tend to do a very good job of just certain aspects of search engine optimization. However, you know your businesses best and thats why its important for you to understand what you can and can not do, or should or should not do, from an internet marketing perspective. 14 May 2009, 1023 hrs IST, Chanchal Pal Chauhan , ET Bureau Maruti claims over a lakh cars it sold last year originated from digital marketing initiatives while Tata Motors saw 4,000 customers booking its low-cost car Nano over the internet. Other automakers are also witnessing a similar response on their digital platforms. Mandhir Singh_2a_25 Page 8

Hondas third generation of flagship car, City, regained its leadership position in the mid-size car segment in the first month of its launch in November on the back of strong digital interface with customers. Not to be left behind, Volkswagen is using Net and mobile to tap the 2.5-lakh strong customer base in India, owning cars over Rs 10 lakh, for its Jetta and Passat premium sedans. Around 17-18 % of our sales now are estimated to originate from digital marketing from mere 23 % in 2005, MSI chief general manager (marketing) Shashank Srivastava said. Other carmakers are also actively tapping the interactive social networking sites and blogs on the web advertising space.

29 Oct 2009, 0305 hrs IST, ET Bureau The common theme among the speakers at the summit was: adopt internet marketing to sell your products and go after the value buyers. Internet marketing is also emerging as a key enabler for small product companies as it lowers costs and gives them an extended reach The Indian product companies saw early genesis of the likes of iflex and Finacle which were backed by larger parents. Later, there was a rush of VC-funded companies, but in the third wave are companies who are actually the ones using the internet as a platform of growth. The product conclave also showcased enough examples of the Indian product companies having carved a niche for themselves globally. Examples of these are the likes of Fusionchart, Sourcebits and Zoho, who have built applications having a strong customer base. Subhash Menon, CEO, Subex, participating in one of the sessions, felt that there is still a huge room for growth among the Indian IT product companies. He said, Entrepreneurs need to have the passion and strong commitment in growing the business.

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Introduction to Internet banking / Search Engine Marketing

What is Search Engine Marketing
SEM is the active practice of optimizing a web site by improving internal and external aspects in order to increase the traffic the site receives from search engines. Firms that practice SEO can vary; some have a highly specialized focus while others take a more broad and general approach. Optimizing a web site for search engines can require looking at so many unique elements that many practitioners of SEO (SEOs) consider themselves to be in the broad field of website optimization.

Why SEM

The majority of web traffic is driven by the major commercial search engines - Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves (although AOL gets nearly 10% of searches, their engine is powered by Google's results). If a site cannot be found by search engines or the content cannot be put into their databases, you miss out on the incredible opportunities available to websites provided via search - people who want what you have visiting your site. Whether your site provides content, services, products or information, search engines are a primary method of navigation for almost all Internet users. Search queries, the words that users type into the search box which contain terms and phrases best suited to your site carry extraordinary value. Experience has shown that search engine traffic can make (or break) an organization's success. Targeted visitors to a website can provide publicity, revenue and exposure like no other. Investing in SEO, whether through time or finances, can have an exceptional rate of return.

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Why can't the search engines figure out my site without SEM help? Search engines are always working towards improving their technology to crawl the web more deeply and return increasingly relevant results to users. However, there is and will always be a limit to how search engines can operate. Whereas the right moves can net you thousands of visitors and attention, the wrong moves can hide or bury your site deep in the search results where visibility is minimal. In addition to making content available to search engines, SEM can also help boost rankings, so that content that has been found will be placed where searchers will more readily see it. The online environment is becoming increasingly competitive and those companies who perform SEM will have a decided advantage in visitors and customers.

How Search Engines Operate Search engines have a short list of critical operations that allows them to provide relevant web results when searchers use their system to find information. 1. Crawling the Web Search engines run automated programs, called "bots" or "spiders" that use the hyperlink structure of the web to "crawl" the pages and documents that make up the World Wide Web. Estimates are that of the approximately 20 billion existing pages, search engines have crawled between 8 and 10 billion. 2. Indexing Documents Once a page has been crawled, it's contents can be "indexed" - stored in a giant database of documents that makes up a search engine's "index". This index needs to be tightly managed, so that requests which must search and sort billions of documents can be completed in fractions of a second. 3. Processing Queries When a request for information comes into the search engine (hundreds of millions do each day), the engine retrieves from its index all the document that match the query. A match is determined if the terms or phrase is found on the page in the manner specified by the user. For example, a search for car and driver magazine at Google returns 8.25 million results, but a search for the same phrase in quotes ("car and driver magazine") returns only 166 thousand results. In the first system, commonly called "Findall" mode, Google returned all documents which had the terms "car" "driver" and "magazine" (they ignore the term "and" because it's not useful to narrowing the results), while in the second search, only those pages with the exact phrase "car and driver magazine" were returned. Other advanced operators can change which results a search engine will consider a match for a given query. 4. Ranking Results Once the search engine has determined which results are a match for the query, the engine's algorithm (a mathematical equation commonly used for sorting) runs calculations on each of the results to determine which is most relevant to the given query. They sort these on the results pages in order from most relevant to least so that users can make a choice about which to select. Mandhir Singh_2a_25 Page 11

Although a search engine's operations are not particularly lengthy, systems like Google, Yahoo!, AskJeeves and MSN are among the most complex, processing-intensive computers in the world, managing millions of calculations each second and funneling demands for information to an enormous group of users.

"Organic" search engine marketing (Organic Listings) combines the best practices of technology, usability, copy/linguistics and online PR. This is because many search engines base their relevancy algorithms on a combination of the text they see on a page or site, combined with external elements such as links and user behaviors/preferences.

Marketers can buy text-link search results on all of the top 15 search sites as ranked by Media Metrix and NetRatings. That's quite a change from 1998 or before, when none of the major search engines included paid listings within the search results. The explosion in popularity of paid search results advertising can be attributed to the search engines' need for alternative revenue sources, marketers' increasing requests for search results traffic, and the high value of the traffic generated through search results. Unpaid (otherwise known as organic or algorithmic) search engine traffic was once fairly easy to garner - before there were 3 billion documents competing for attention in the search engine databases. Some marketers believe that there are "tricks" that will improve the relevancy of sites within the search engines that are spider (crawler) based. Not only do some of these tricks not work, many of them can result in negative relevance penalties as the engines take measures to punish search marketers who seek to manipulate ranking and relevance. That said, there are still compelling reasons to put legitimate efforts behind organic SEO optimization, particularly efforts in site design, HTML formatting, copy optimization and server platform adjustments. Within the last several years, paid listings have played an ever-increasing role in most marketers' minds, due to their increasing screen real estate (some engines now display more paid listings than free!).

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The following types of paid listings are most common: Paid Placement This is an advertising program where listings are guaranteed to appear in response to particular search terms, with higher ranking typically obtained by paying more than other advertisers. Paid placement listings can be purchased from a portal or a search network. Search networks are often set up in an auction environment where keywords and phrases are associated with a costper-click (CPC) fee. Overture and Google are the largest networks, but MSN and other portals sometimes sell paid placement listings directly as well. Portal sponsorships are also a type of paid placement.

Directory Paid Inclusion Advertising program where pages are guaranteed to be included in a search engine's index in exchange for payment, though no guarantee of ranking well is typically given. For example, Looksmart is a directory that lists pages and sites, not based on position but based on relevance. Marketers pay to be included in the directory, on a CPC basis or per-URL fee basis, with no guarantee of specific placement. XML (Per-URL) Paid Inclusion This is a form of paid inclusion where a search engine is "fed" information about pages via XML, rather than gathering that information through crawling actual pages. Marketers can pay to have their pages included in a spider based search index either annually per URL or on a CPC basis based on an XML document representing each page on the client site. New media types are being introduced into paid inclusion, including graphics, video, audio, and rich media. Shopping Search Shopping search engines allow shoppers to look for products and prices in a search environment. Premium placement can be purchased on some shopping search indices. Graphical (Rich Media) Search Inventory This includes banners and other types of advertising units, which can be synchronized to search keywords, including pop-ups, browser toolbars and rich media.

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NATURAL SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING

Which keywords bring in the most sales? Develop website content to capitalize on the most profitable keywords Develop additional sales materials on profitable keywords Optimize website title & meta tags to capitalize on most profitable keywords. Develop website linking strategies to support profitable keywords Train sales and service teams to recognize those keywords in customer queries Develop public relations campaigns around profitable keywords.

What new keywords are customers using? Develop content and optimize pages for new keywords Investigate new products and services to meet unfulfilled customer demand Revise key messages used in advertising and collateral to match customer language.

What keywords are most popular? Learn what issues challenge your customers and develop products or services to solve those issues. Prioritize your services or competitive differences based on customer mindset Develop marketing activities including research, webinars, brochures based on customer challenges.

Which landing pages are popular? Continue to keep popular pages fresh with ongoing content updates Realign content or navigation to quickly direct customers to conversion pages from popular landing pages.

What is the average sale per visitor? Share increases in average sales per visitor with marketing team to demonstrate value of search engine optimization and other marketing efforts If averages drop, determine if

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competitors entered a market, pricing is appropriate, and the site structure encourages sales actions, etc. Learn more about your customers.

PAID SEARCH MARKETING

Which keywords bring in the most sales? Buy pay-per-click ads using the most profitable keywords Allow competitors to have higher PPC positions on low-performing words Use most profitable keywords in traditional advertising and public relations.

Do east coast customers search differently than west coast? Adapt your traditional advertising language geographically Daypart PPC ad keywords based on peak time zones Develop targeted landing pages and test using A/B testing.

Which email campaign worked best? Test lists and leverage performance in list buys. Test creative and promotional offers.

Which banner ads bring in the most customers? Leverage performance in media negotiations Test creative sizes, messages and placement.

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Usability Usability represents the ease-of-use inherent in your site's design, navigation, architecture and functionality. The idea behind the practice is to make your site intuitive so that visitors will have the best possible experience on the site. A whole host of features figure into usability, including:

Design The graphical elements and layout of website have a strong influence on how easily usable the site is. Standards like blue, underlined links, top and side menu bars, logos in the top, left-hand corner may seem like rules that can be bent, but adherence to these elements (with which web users are already familiar) will help to make a site usable. Design also encompasses important topics like visibility & contrast, affecting how easy it is for users to interest the text and image elements of the site. Separation of unique sections like navigation, advertising, content, search bars, etc. is also critical as users follow design cues to help them understand a page's content. A final consideration would also take into account the importance of ensuring that critical elements in a site's design (like menus, logos, colors and layout) were used consistently throughout the site.

Information Architecture The organizational hierarchy of a site can also strongly affect usability. Topics and categorization impact the ease with which a user can find the information they need on your site. While an intuitive, intelligently designed structure will seamlessly guide the user to their goals, a complex, obfuscated hierarchy can make finding information on a site disturbingly frustrating.

Navigation A navigation system that guides users easily through both top-level and deep pages and makes a high percentage of the site easily accessible is critical to good usability. Since navigation is one of a website's primary functions, provide users with obvious navigation systems: breadcrumbs, alt tags for image links, and well written anchor text that clearly describes what the user will get if they click a link. Navigation standards like these can drastically improve usability performance.

Functionality To create compelling usability, ensure that tools, scripts, images, links, etc., all function as they are intended and don't provide errors to non-standard browsers, alternative operating systems or uninformed users (who often don't know what/where to click).

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Accessibility Accessibility refers primarily to the technical ability of users to access and move through your site, as well as the ability of the site to serve disabled or impaired users. For SEO purposes, the most important aspects are limiting code errors to a minimum and fixing broken links, making sure that content is accessible and visible in all browsers and without special actions.

Content The usability of content itself is often overlooked, but its importance cannot be overstated. The descriptive nature of headlines, the accuracy of information and the quality of content all factor highly into a site's likelihood to retain visitors and gain links.

Overall, usability is about gearing a site towards the potential users. Success in this arena garners increased conversion rates, a higher chance that other sites will link to yours and a better relationship with your users (fewer complaints, lower instance of problems, etc.). For improving your knowledge of usability and the best practices, I recommend Steve Krug's exceptionally impressive book, "Don't Make Me Think"; possibly the best $30 you can spend to improve your website.

Link Bait When attempting to create the most link-worthy content, thinking outside the box and creating a document, tool or service that's truly revolutionary can provide a necessary boost. Even on corporate image or branding sites for small companies, a single, exciting piece of content that gets picked up en masse by your web community is worth a small fortune in public relations and exposure. Better still, the links you earn with an exciting release stay with your site for a long time, providing search visibility long after the event itself has been forgotten. With content that generates links becoming such a valuable commodity, creating solely for the purpose of gaining links has become a popular practice for talented SEOs. In order to capitalize on this phenomenon, it's necessary to brainstorm. Below are some initial ideas that can help you build the content you need to generate great links.

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Free Tools Automated tools that query data sources, combine information or conduct useful calculations are eminently link worthy. Think along the lines of mortgage calculators and site-checking tools, then expand into your particular area of business/operation. Web 2.0 Applications Although the term Web 2.0 is more of a buzzword than a technicality, applications that fit the feature set described by the O'Reilly document do get a fantastic number of links from the web community and followers of this trend. Think mashups, maps, communities, sharing, tagging, RSS and blogs. Collaborative Work Documents Working in concert with others is a good way to produce content more quickly and with generally higher quality. If you can get high-profile insiders or several known persons in an industry to collaborate, your chances for developing "link-bait" substantially increase. Exposes of Nefarious Deeds Writing a journalistic-style expos detailing the misdeeds of others (be they organizations, websites, individuals or companies) can generate a lot of links and traffic if done in a professional manner (and before anyone else). Make sure you're very careful with these types of actions, however, as the backlash can be worse than the benefit if your actions provoke the wrong type of response. Top 10 Lists Numbered lists (of tips, links, resources, etc.), particularly those that rank items, can be a great way to generate buzz. These lists often promote discussion and thus, referencing. Industry-Related Humor Even the most serious of industries can use a bit of humor now and again. As with exposs, be cautious not to offend (although that too can merit mentions) - use your knowledge of stereotypes and history inside your market to get topical laughs and the links will be yours. Reviews of Events Industry gatherings, from pubcrawls to conferences to speeches and seminars, can all garner great links with a well-done review. Write professionally, as a journalist, and attempt to use as many full names as possible. It's also wise to link out to all the folks you mention, as they will see the links in their referral logs and come check you out. Interviews with Well-Known Insiders Anyone inside an industry whose name frequently appears in that industry's internal press is a great candidate for an interview. Even if it's a few short questions over email, a revealing interview can be a great source of links and esteemed professionals are likely to answer requests even from smaller sources as they can benefit from the attention, too. Surveys or Collections of Data Offering large collections of industry data culled from polling individuals, an online survey or simply researching and aggregating data can provide a very link-worthy resource. Page 18

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Film or Animation Particularly in industries where video clips or animations are rare (i.e. Geology, not Movie Reviews), a high quality, entertaining or informative video or animation can get more than a few folks interested. Charts, Graphs or Spreadsheets These standard business graphics should certainly include analysis and dissection, but can provide a good source of links if promoted and built properly. High Profile Criticism Similar to the expos system, well-written critiques of popular products, companies, sites or individuals in a sector have the ability to pull in quite a few links from folks who agree and disagree. Contests, Giveaways and Competitions Giving away prizes or public awards (even if they're just website graphics) can get a lot of online folks interested and linking. Trend-Spotting Identifying a story ahead of the crowd is commonly called "scooping" in journalism. Do this online, and all (or many) blog posts on the subject will reference your site as the first to "call it." Advice from Multiple Experts If you're creating an article that offers advice, pulling opinions from the well-known experts in the industry is a great way to make sure links flow your way. The experts themselves will often be inclined to link.

There are dozens of other great ways to get bloggers, writers and website editors in your field to add links to your site. Imagine yourself as an industry blogger, seeking to cover the most exciting, unique trends and pages in the sector. If this individual stumbled across your content, would they be likely to write about it? If the answer is yes, it qualifies as link-bait.

Growing a Site's Popularity

While developing a great website is half of the SEO equation, the other half is promotion. Search engines are very particular about growing their ability to detect artificial manipulation and link spam, so effective SEOs who want to promote sites to the fullest extent must use natural, organic link building processes in order to have success. The techniques and approaches described below are all ultimately designed to improve search engine rankings by growing the number and quality of links that point to a website. However, each also offers natural growth of your user base and provides visitors that come through systems other than search engines. Strangely, although the goal of SEO is better search rankings, the best sites in each industry often receive 50% or fewer of their total visitors from search engine. Why? Because if thousands of visitors are anxiously visiting your site via bookmarks, links and direct type-ins at the address bar, you've achieved the content and status necessary to not only be ranked exceptionally well, but have visitors that know your site and Mandhir Singh_2a_25 Page 19

want to visit, no matter what the search engines say. This methodology is particularly valuable because a site that doesn't rely entirely on search engines for traffic, ironically, has a far better chance of getting visitors through them.

Implementing an SEO Strategy

The process of SEO is not easy to tackle, largely because so many pieces of a site factor into the final results. Promoting a site that writers on the web are unlikely to link to is as deadly as creating a fantastic website no one will see. SEO is also a long-term process, both in application and results - those who expect quick rankings after completing a few suggestions in this guide will be deeply disappointed. Search engines can often be frustratingly slow to respond to improvements that will eventually garner significant boosts in traffic. Patience is not the only virtue that should be used for successful SEO. The strategy itself must have a strong foundation in order to succeed. The best site's adhere strictly to these guidelines: 1. Unique Content - Something that has never before been offered on the web in terms of depth, quality or presentation (i.e. a unique value proposition) 2. Access to an Adoptive Community - Connections or alliances with people/websites in an existing online community that is ready to accept, visit and promote your offering 3. Link-Friendly Formatting - Even the best content may be unlikely to be linked to if it displays ads, particularly those that break up the page content or pop-up when a visitor comes to the site. Use discretion in presenting your material and remember that links are one of the most valuable commodities a site/page can get and they'll last far longer than a pop-up ad's revenue. 4. Monetization Plan - Intelligent systems for monetizing powerful content must exist, or bandwidth, hosting and development costs will eventually overrun your budget. 5. Market Awareness - If your site is targeting highly competitive terms you should make available, an online marketing budget, including funds for link buying, and hire or consult with someone experienced in bringing newer sites to the top of the SERPs.

Measuring Success: Website and Ranking Metrics to Watch

One of the most valuable sources for data, analysis and refinement in an SEO campaign is in the statistics available via website tracking and measuring programs. A good analytics program can provide an incredible amount of data that can be used to track your visitors and make decisions about who to target in the future and how to do it. Below is a short list of the most valuable elements in visitor tracking:

Campaign Tracking - The ability to put specific URLs or referrer strings onto ads, emails or links and track their success. Page 20

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Action Tracking - Adding the ability to track certain actions on a site like form submission, newsletter signups, add to cart buttons, checkout or transaction completions and tying them together with campaigns and keyword tracking so you know what ads, links, terms and campaigns are bringing you the best visitors. Search Engine Referral Tracking - Seeing which search engines sent which visitors over time and tracking the terms and phrases they used to reach your site. Combined with action tracking, this can help you determine which terms are most valuable to target. Referring URLs & Domain Tracking - This allows you to see what URLs and domains are responsible for sending you traffic. By tracking these individually, you can see where your most valuable links are coming from. First-Time vs. Return Visitors - Find out what percentage of your visitors are coming back each day/week/month. This can help you to figure out how "sticky" and consistently interesting your site is. Entry Pages - Which pages are attracting the most visitors and which are converting them. You can also see pages that have a very high rate of loss - those pages which don't do a good job pulling people into the site. Visitor Demographics - Where are your visitors coming from, what browsers are they using, what time do they visit? All these questions and many more can be answered with demographics. Click Path Analysis - What paths do your visitors follow when they get to your site? This data can help you make more logical streams of pages for visitors to use as they navigate your site, attempting to find information or complete a task. Popular Pages - Which pages get the most visitors and which are neglected? Use this data to help improve low popularity pages and emulate highly trafficked ones. Page Views per Session - This data can tell you how many pages each visitor to your site is viewing - another metric used to measure "stickiness."

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Various Companies Which Use SEM

Cases by ebrandz ICICI BANK (SEO) ICICI Bank is India's second-largest bank with total assets of Rs. 3,446.58 billion (US$ 79 billion) at March 31, 2007 and profit after tax of Rs. 31.10 billion for fiscal 2007. ICICI Bank is the most valuable bank in India in terms of Market capitalization and is ranked third amongst all the companies listed on the Indian stock exchanges in terms of free float market capitalization. The Bank has a network of about 950 branches and 3,300 ATMs in India and presence in 17 countries.. Challenge: We were approached to work on personal loans and NRI division of ICICI Bank in 2003. At that time, very few companies in India were aware of search engine optimization. The internal project managers at ICICI bank for both these division had no control over ICICIBank.com website. Our initial brief was to do our work without touching the website. Another problem was that home page of ICICIBank.com was redirecting to an internal page. This was also affecting Google PageRank of the website.

Solutions: We realized that this was not a typical run of a mill SEO project. We were dealing with one of the biggest corporate company in India. So we had to figure out how to work on this project without doing many changes on the website. First off, we talked with the internal project manager and subsequently to the webmaster team at ICICI Bank. We asked them to remove the redirect from their home page. Next off, we suggested a sitemap for easy crawling of some of the internal pages. The next on our to do list was of course Keyword research and Title and Meta Tags. Luckily for us, since the Title and Meta tags do not affect visual element of the website, those changes were accepted. We kept our fingers crossed. We also asked them to start maintaining server log files. Results: After five to six months of constant work, we were able to see both the NRI and Personal Loans division of ICICI Bank ranking well in Google and Yahoo (MSN was using Yahoo results at that time). According to Chetan Asher who was the project co ordinator, We have worked with several solution providers including SEO firms to meet our client's objectives, but none had the spirit and passion to partner our clients and give them an optimum solution. But with eBrandz, we were pleasantly surprised. They went that extra mile to ensure our clients were satisfied Mandhir Singh_2a_25 Page 22

and results were delivered. We would like to thank Milind and eBrandz team for great work and support, which played a vital role in cementing our relationship with our clients for long term business

SEASONS Seasons is an online shopping portal for Indian women. The portal is online version of the Seasons fashion house which is located in Santacruz in Mumbai. The website sells ethnic Indian garments for women and is a hot favorite among Non Resident Indians as well as the rich and mighty in Mumbai western suburb. Challenge: Besides the challenge of selling women garments online (where touch and feel is pretty important), there was a problem in the website programming which made it difficult for search engines to access internal web pages on seasons website. Also there was a lot of content on the website but most of the pages had no title or Meta tags. Solution: After a few initial consultations, it was decided that there was a need to change programming logic. This helped search engines to properly access internal web pages within the Season website. eBrandz team also started working on various sections and sub sections within Seasons portal. By giving them logical titles eBrandz made it easier for search engines to identify and rank pages within the website. After understanding and analyzing their need, team of SEO at eBrandz dedicatedly worked on the project to fetch remarkable results. The outcome of the efforts is depicted below. Results: The results started showing within two months and there was a big increase in website traffic. From 30,000 unique visitors per month, traffic jumped to 250,000 unique visitors per month. This had a very significant impact on total online sales of Seasons. Not only that, it also helped Seasons establish itself as a leading online player in Indian Fashion. According to Mr Kalpesh Patel, CEO of Seasons India Pvt Ltd, "We have had a very positive and fruitful experience working with eBrandz. The quality of their efforts into our project was and is simply amazing." Seasonindia.com is recurrently attracting 6000 unique visitors on its web based women portal. Full fledged SEO services have helped their portal to gain higher rankings on major search engines like Yahoo, Google & MSN.

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Kamasutra
J. K. Ansell Ltd (JKAL), the manufacturers and marketers of KamaSutra condoms is a 50:50 joint venture between Raymond and Ansell International, a USD 1 billion company. Challenge: www.ksontheweb.com had lot of good content on their website. However most of this content was behind password protected pages. Hence search engines could not access these pages. Another problem was that the pages on the website were using ".ift" extension. Due to this, search engines were not able to recognize these pages. Client wanted to be visible on certain very important and competitive One word keywords which was a very difficult task. Solution: After consulting with client, some of the pages which were stored behind password protected pages were brought out in the public domain. Also search engines were contacted and told that there was a problem due to which search engines were not able to recognize the extension of web pages. Thankfully search engines responded to our concerns and the extension was then recognized by search engines. eBrandz team also started working on page titles and Meta Tags based on keyword research which was conducted jointly with the client. Results: According to Mr. Vinayak Sukthankar, Director, Sales and Marketing, "We started seeing improvements in traffic and rankings in about 4 months. Our traffic has not only increased by 40 % but it has boosted our sales as well. Certain single keywords which we intended to target were listed on the 1st page of major search engines."

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INDIA PROPERTIES.COM
IndiaProperties.com is Indias largest and most comprehensive Property Listing Company. Through its easy-to-use Listing Services, Indiaproperties assists individual customers and real estate industry professionals in the sale purchase and leasing of all types of property located across the length and breadth of India. Indiaproperties leverages technology extensively to offer the most effective and efficient medium that also provides the best value for money. Challenge: When Indiaproperties approached eBrandz, their objective was not only to drive traffic but to increase number of property listings which were happening on the website. The target audience was well to do Indians who owned properties and wanted to sell these properties. The whole point of the internet marketing campaign was to get these people list their property on Indiaproperties.com website. Targeting this small group of people was the biggest challenge. Non Resident Indians were also target audience. And in middle of all this, Indiaproperties wanted to do a technology upgrade. This technology upgrade was threatening to hit natural traffic from search engines. Solution: After having numerous discussions with client, eBrandz came up with an internet marketing strategy which involved Search Engine Optimization, Pay per click campaigns with Google Adwords &Yahoo as well as banner advertising with Rediff and MSN. Budgets were spread across months based on seasonal nature of real estate industry in India. As for the technology upgrade, based on numerous brainstorming sessions with client, eBrandz came up with a solution which helped Indiaproperties migrate their back end MIS and reporting to a new system. The solution also allowed Indiaproperties to change their website look and feel. And the migration was planned in such a way that it would not hit existing rankings of IndiaProperties.com Results: According to Mr. Naresh Malkani, CEO of IndiaProperties.com, The entire eBrandz team right from Upper Management to Lower Management has taken full responsibility of all our promotions and are doing an excellent job! eBrandz has not only help increase my business but has got me thinking that there is so much more I can do with my business. The success of the campaigns has clearly given a new direction to the Company. In fact they saved me my business. Based on their internal recommendations and advice I did some technology enhancements that saved me millions of dollars.

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SEARCHING THE MOBILE WEB

Mobile search used to consist solely of SMS (Short Message Service), which provides simple information on weather, flights, stock quotes, etc. based on text message requests. Similarly, MMS (Multimedia Message Service) provides ringtones, wallpapers, animated icons, and small videos upon request. Now, mobile search results are collected from numerous databases and indices, which are generated by spiders that crawl the mobile web. These collections consist of WAP sites with content similar to SMS and MMS services, or are filtered from www-centric realtime feeds, like Google and Yahoo!, drawing upon their huge database of local search webpages.

Searching the mobile web returns only WAP pages. Although Japan and western Europe have well developed mobile web indices, the world is short of quality WAP sites in general. Most WAP sites are poorly designed, underused, unstable and limited in their content and service.

There are WAP search engines that index the mobile web (a list of WAP search engines can be found in Appendix A). Most dont work well due to the volatile nature of the current mobile webthere are many outdated and dead links. And most WAP site crawling technologies are underdeveloped. Almost all search engines that index the mobile web rely on manual submissions to build their databases. There are some new WAP site search solutions being developed, which we will discuss in reference to the SEM opportunities.

SEARCH ENGINES AND MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS: STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

There are three primary marketing arrangements that determine how internet content is delivered to mobile device users: carriers working alone, search engines working alone, and mobile carriers partnering with search engines.

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The first arrangement is the least practical and the least common because mobile carriers do not have search engines that can rival Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. A carriers effort to prepare such a database for its own purposes cannot compare to the volume of resources already available the web. Although many carriers now have directory services, Sprints partnership with Yahoo! indicates that even a very successful carrier benefits from a search engine partner.

Google is an example of a search engine that, up to this point, has practiced the second model: search engines working alone. Because so many people turn to Google anyway, there is little incentive to split the potential profits with mobile carriers. However, it is possible that mobile users could be required to go through their carriers portal before accessing the web. Carriers may also institute higher charges for surfing outside their own network of content.

Thus the third arrangement seems to be the choice of most carriers. By teaming up with a search engine, mobile carriers can leverage the engines preexisting resources and technology. Search engines can also benefit by securing unfettered access to large carriers subscription bases. One such arrangement is the partnership between Yahoo! and mobile carriers Cingular Media Net, Cingular mMode, Sprint PCS and T-Mobile.

As discussed earlier, Yahoo!s mobile-accessible content consists primarily of traditional WAP sites. Yahoo! also features mobile search interfaces specific to its carrier partners.

Another important partnership is between MSN and Verizon. MSN Mobile has a robust, user-friendly directory of WAP content. As of publication, MSN is still experimenting with its local search and has not yet provided a local search interface for mobile users. Although Verizon is the biggest carrier in the U.S. (it has 25 percent of the current market share of mobile users, according to Dominion Bond Rating Service) its partner, MSN is just now testing its local search services, behind other industry giants Google, Yahoo! and AOL.

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ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF MOBILE INTERNET CONTENT (AND ADVERTISING) In the United States, WAP sites and the major search engines mobile interfaces are far from satisfactory. The mobile web space is currently much more developed in Western Europe and Japan. The following three solutions may provide examples of how the U.S. mobile search market will develop.

FAST mSEARCH: FAST mSearch is a Norway-based company that provides a platform for carriers and content providers worldwide. FAST mSearch and transfer technologies have powered many companies, including AOL, AT&T, IBM, LexisNexis, and Overture. The FAST mSearch product is an extension of the FAST ESP technology platform, which delivers multilingual online directory services.

FAST mSearch caters to the carriers need to deliver a consistent brand look and feel, and it offers a depth of relevant content. It aggregates carriers own portal content with content from the online world at large. This includes formally structured data held in FAST databases, and unstructured information held in webpages, documents, multimedia, and the like.

FAST mSearch enables personalized search based on the individual, location, and time. Mobile carriers have the opportunity to learn a lot about their customers: who they are, their usage history and preferences, and increasingly, their mobile shopping habits. With this history, FAST mSearch can push highly relevant content to requesting mobile users and that content could include advertising. Through technologies like FAST mSearch, marketers will be able to target mobile users based on extraordinarily in-depth user profiles.

MOTIONBRIDGE: The France-based MotionBridge calls itself the only search engine truly designed for mobile devices. Its users subscribe to major wireless carriers throughout Europe, such as Orange, O2, T-Mobile, and Alcatel. Its major benefit is that it provides a unified, functional search interface instead of traditional directory browsing. When users input a brand name, common noun, or a URL, MotionBridge returns a short list of relevant, organized links under pre-defined categories, such as ringtones, wallpapers, local results, and news. Mandhir Singh_2a_25 Page 28

This solution alleviates the cumbersome task of browsing unorganized search results lists, enabling users to access content quickly. It also enables marketers to target mobile search users through its Sponsored Links program, which is based on a Pay-Per-Click model (similar to Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing).

ALATTO TRIBES: Tribes is a product of Alatto.com that helps mobile carriers and content portals to increase revenues they earn from their existing content. It incorporates the ideas of viral sharing and peer recommendations. By pushing targeted sites to mobile users based on their personal preferences, Tribes allows users to share or recommend sites to others via SMS or email.

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Research Methodology

RESEARCH APPROACH

FIELD RESEARCH Talking 1 o 1 with respondents to get their insights on SEM DESK RESEARCH Companies following it and the cost incurred by them MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES Administering questionnaire and in depth interviews will be the two things which will be used to obtain and measure the data. The questions asked will be Direct as if the respondent knows the purpose of research; he will be able to answer better. The questions asked will be Structured as otherwise it will be time consuming & may not lead to accurate information. The questions asked will be Close Ended as it will be easy & quick for the respondents to answer the questions.

SAMPLING Population : Every internet user Element answers to questions in the questionnaire Extent Kirkee area in Pune city Time 4th Feb to 4th March 2010 Sampling method simple random sampling, using first index point as 1 and gap as 5. Sample size 50 customers Sample unit all the customers who have an internet connection Sample plan questionnaire would be administered personally and telephonically during office hours and in the evenings until 7:30 pm to maximize response efficiency. TIME REQUIREMENTS Schedule sequence : 4 weeks 4th Feb. 6th Feb. Brainstorming and questionnaire Design 7th Feb. 14 Feb. Primary Survey 15th Feb. 17th feb analysis of survey 18th Feb. 21st Feb. secondary research 22nd Feb. 25th Feb Analysis 26nd Feb 27th Feb Report Formation 28 Feb Report Submission

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Analysis and observations Question 1 How often do you use internet to search for anything of your desire? o o o o Always Most of the times Sometimes Never

Analysis To determine the usage of search engine

Chart Title
5%

15% ALWAYS MOST OF THE TIMES 15% 65% SOMETIMES NEVER

Observations It was observed that most of the people today use search engines today in order to find out about anything of their desire. 95% of the people always use internet search engines to find out about things which they need to know.

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Question 2 Do you crosscheck the solution of your search from any other source than internet? o o o o Always Most of the times Sometimes Never

ANALYSIS - To understand the amount of trust and authenticity which one has on the results of the search engine.

5%

15% ALWAYS MOST OF THE TIMES

15%
65%

SOMETIMES NEVER

Observations It was understood that almost 80% of the people never check back the results from any other source after looking from the internet. This also means that 20% of the people who use search engines do not trust the results on it blindly, infact they go ahead and look for other results apart from the internet.

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Question 3 How often do you click the 1st (sponsored) link in the search? o o o o Always Most of the times Sometimes Never

Analysis To know the response of the customers and to understand how relevant do the users find that result

5% 15% ALWAYS MOST OF THE TIMES 15% 65% SOMETIMES NEVER

Observation This observation shows that almost 80% of the respondents use the sponsored link sometimes. The users often ignore the 1st link as they think its just an advertisement or any company which is paid. The users usually click on the sponsored links when thy donot have any other link to click on, i.e when they donot find what they are looking for in the next few links. Only 3 % of the users said that they always go for the sponsored links. This shows that the amount of money companies spend on being the 1 st search is not actually worth it.

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Question 4 Are you satisfied with the information provided on the 1 st sponsored link? o o o o Yes always At times Not really Never

Analysis to find out the relevance of the search result on the sponsored link

4%

6%

34%

YES ALWAYS AT TIMES NOT REALLY NEVER 56%

Observation This observation shows that only 56% of the people at times find what they are looking for on the sponsored links. This shows that they are completely not satisfied with the results provided by the sponsored links. Also it means that the search engines who actually place these links on the top are not doing good justice. The relevant information of what the user is actually looking for is not available on the sponsored links. The user usually goes ahead and looks for different links in order to find what he is looking for. Only 6% of the users are happy with the search results of the sponsored links.

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Question 5 Do you think that the sponsored links contain information which is only usable if you pay? o o o o Always Most of the times Sometimes Never

Analysis to understand the users view point of what they think the sponsored links contain

5% 15% ALWAYS MOST OF THE TIMES 15% 65% SOMETIMES NEVER

Observation It was observed that 65% of the users think that the information contained in the sponsored links either has advertisements or if they contain any data they would need to pay to access it. This also means that 35% of the users think differently. The information contained in these links should be beneficial for the user and the search engines should take proper care of the same. They should tap these 35% of the users and try to get their attention as to what they want. Information should be provided to them such that they are happy with the result of the search.

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Question 6 How often do you reuse the sponsored search? o o o o Always Most of the times Sometimes Never

Analysis to understand the loyalty of the user towards the sponsored search results

5% 15% ALWAYS MOST OF THE TIMES 15% 65% SOMETIMES NEVER

Observations It is observed that 12 % of the users like to stick to the results which they get from the sponsored links. They often like what the see and like to use them again. It is observed that these 12% of the users are those who want to purchase anything from the internet. The sponoserd links usually contain matter which they can only use only by paying or registering. But at the same time there are 5% of the users who think that they would never ever use the sponsored link again as they dont contain data/information of what they want to see. The information provided to them is useless as on the sponsored links.

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Conclusion
The learnings which this paper provides us are basically how important is a serach engine in todays world to each and every individual. How each of us are dependent on the internet for any kind of search we want to do. It shows that how each and every user of the internet uses a search engine whenever he comes online. Search engine is the first and foremost the most important tool which every computer user uses. It also tells us how various companies use SEM in order to be successful. It shows how almost all the companies now a days are focusing on the internet to boost their sales. In order to make more revenue, to get more customers, companies these days are using internet marketing. Companies use it as it is one of the most cost efficient ways of spreading the word about the company. Companies even hire an SEM manager whose work would just be to work on how to keep their ranking up in the search engines list. The learnings that this paper offers is that Search Engines today provide an opportunity to bring the company closer to its audiences. As such Search Engine Marketing needs to be necessarily integrated into the overall marketing efforts of every organization. Search engine marketing helps a company:

Identify new opportunities In order to identify any type of new opportunities that the business might be missing on Size up the competition in order to understand the competition, SEM is an important tool Improves creativity in order to target more customers, the company tries to work more and enhances creativity Test before roll-out before the roll out has to happen for any particular product/service, a test has to be done. Maximize response using SEM helps in maximizing the response of the customer base. Optimize the fulfillment using SEM also helps in optimizing the fulfillment of any task which the company performs Enhance and protect your brand if we register the brand online, it will actually enhance and protect the brand Make yourself heard marketing via the internet is a very important tool to be heard globally.hence very beneficial. Gather CRM intelligence customer relationship management can be done more efficiently and effectively by using SEM Account for every rupee spent there can be a proper account of every rupee spent by using SEM

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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY www.13pillars.com (13 pillars .com a webisite by Mr david Bain)

www.ebrandz.com ( an Indian web portal)

Search Engine Watch o www.searchenginewatch.com

Click-Z Internet Marketing Solution o www.clickz.com iProspect o www.iprospect.com Oneupweb o www.oneupweb.com

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