TABLE OF CONTENTS With all of the components of a successful search engine marketing (SEM) plan now outlined, this chapter will address formulating all said components into a logical plan that complements a marketing plan, the eventual business plan and corporate objective(s). This chapter studies the internal and external aspects of search planning and determines how best to select, implement and measure the right strategy for optimal achievement of objectives.
When planning any type of marketing activity it is important to ensure that an accurate portrayal of the market and industry in which a plan is going to be implemented is made. In classic marketing plans this is determined as the situational analysis and, for the development of a search plan, it is highly relevant based upon the relative infancy of the search market and the limited knowledge available on the benefits thereof.
The issue also exists with planning that more time can be spent preparing a plan than actually implementing it, so the following variables within a situational analysis for search focus on the market, related to search engine marketing, making the assumption that a larger analysis of the corporate market has been determined.
As has been previously highlighted within this book, one of the major reasons for a poorly performing SEM campaign is failure to allocate enough resource to it. As a result, the internal assessment of a campaign should focus heavily...
