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According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), advertisers spent $4 billion in 2004 on search marketing programs and are expected to spend 39% more than that this year.

Search engine marketing appears to be a great way to advertise but is it right for you and your business? If you are not already employing search engine marketing(SEM) for you business is there a way to forecast the return should you decide to invest in it? Is there a way to measure the results you are getting if you have already invested in SEM?

The answer is mostly yes. By utilizing data discovered in recently released research surveys and with the help of a few free online tools you can put begin to take some of the guesswork out of search engine marketing ROI. By using Overture’s free keyword suggestion tool (inventory.overture.com) you can get an idea of how many times a keyword is getting searched each month. Another free tool to use is called Good Keywords and can be downloaded from www.goodkeywords.com.

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If AzoogleAds actually engaged in fraudulent online ad practices, as the Florida Attorney General’s office has alleged, the company appears to be turning over a new leaf. In fact, AzoogleAds President Don Mathis seems quite engaged in trying to clean up the mobile content promotions sector.

In fact, he wants to work with Truste to develop a program for officially approving promotions for mobile content.

“We approached Truste to [develop] a real certification program,” Mathis told me earlier today when discussing the Florida AG’s big AT&T score. Check out ClickZ’s coverage. The carrier agreed to pay a total of $3 million and ensure partners that charge consumers via AT&T bills abide by new disclosure guidelines in their online ads.

He also said AzoogleAds has been in talks with the Mobile Marketing Association and carriers to establish best practices for ads and promotions pushing ringtones, wallpapers and other mobile content.

“The goal is ultimately to establish a code of conduct for the industry,” he said, adding that in this case it would “have the teeth of the Attorney General behind it.”

This is the easiest money to be made on the web.  Yesterday I posted about Qassia and how you could use it to generate buzz and valuable links back to your main sites.

What I didn’t talk about is the opportunity -right now while they are in beta and building their membership - to earn Qassia Dollars.

In the first 12 hours after you join (for free) everyone you refer pays you $500 Qassia Dollars.  You can’t spend this money at the Sharper Image.  It is only there to help you rank higher in their directory, sorry.  The more money you generate with referrals AND by posting and screening content, what they call “Intel,” the higher you will rank in their  directory.

The directory is on the way (they need a decent member base first) and once it is up they will probably come out of Beta and it will be much harder to earn Qassia Dollars.  In fact, you won’t ever be able to earn $500 per referral again.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising is a good supplement to natural search engine optimization, IF you keep a few tactics straight.

1. Choose the right search terms.
If you go after the broad phrases and terms, you’ll pay top dollar. Strive for more descriptive and specific search terms that reflect your products or services.

2. Map out a strategy.
Don’t go after every possible keyword or phrase. Target your online ads around business priorities–such as seasonal purchases, your most profitable products and services, etc.

3. Use bid management software.
Software can regulate your bids and turn off keywords. You might be interested in clicks during business hours; you might not want to pay for those clicks at 1 a.m. (There’s less of a chance that it’s a business prospect at that time of night).

4. Write effective ads.
Google, Yahoo! Searching Marketing and other services have limits on characters per line. With Google, it’s tough not to push the limits because space is so narrow. With Yahoo! Searching Marketing, focus on getting your message across without consuming every character. Long ads may discourage people from reading them.

Earlier this week, when comScore set off a GOOG selling frenzy on Wall Steet with data showing click rate growth had flattened, I called the research firm for comment but to no avail. Amazing what 48 hours can bring. After a continued outcry, comScore has now issued a lengthy statement with additional data and charts (previously unavailable to non-clients) arguing, basically, that everyone should just calm down. Here’s the money quote:

While we do not claim that these concerns are unwarranted, we believe a careful analysis of our search data does not lend them direct support. More specifically, the evidence suggests that the softness in Google’s paid click metrics is primarily a result of Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings and, therefore, the opportunity for paid clicks to occur.

ComScore also shared the following chart, which demonstrates that click rates declined for much of last year, long before economic fears began bleeding into the nation’s collective consciousness. It also shows how ad coverage, defined as the percentage of queries that display at least one ad, has declined roughly in parallel to click volume growth.

We’ve all seen the iconic imagery of outlaws and lawmen alike, trying to catch some shut-eye with a gun beneath the pillow just in case. One wonders how good that sleep could possibly be.

If it were me in that situation, I think I’d take a different approach.

It seems to me that any intruder might be a little more persuaded to move on if you slept with your gun across your chest, handle firmly in hand. Someone might stop and think about whether you have a gun under the pillow, but a gun across the chest leaves no room for doubt.

A gun across the chest in proactively persuasive.

Now, I’m not all that big a fan of guns myself. But when it comes to shooting down objections, this analogy is pertinent to writing action-oriented copy.

Why? Because when it comes to copy that gets people to take action, you don’t want them to “think about it,” which usually means leaving the page, never to return. You want to proactively address objections right then and there in a way that leaves no room for doubt.

Opt in email marketing is no different than normal direct marketing in that small simple changes will increase your response and success. These tips will help with both plain text and html email:

1. Personalize- “A persons name is still the sweetest sound” Having first name in both the subject of the email, and the body of the message will help your email get read and not just deleted or being mistaken for junk mail.

2. Free- Offer something free: It’s an over used word on the Internet, but it still works, but it must 100% free not an item you have to pay postage and packaging for. If you do this your user who checks out your offer will feel cheated.

3. Tracking- Always track any promotion, which means using tools that will allow you to track responses and conversion of visitors to sales. A good service to use is adminder:

http://www.adminder.com

Tracking also allows you to find out what information is most important to your readers

4. Talk- When you write your email copy, write as if you are having a one-to-one conversation with the recipient. This makes your customer feel like a real person and not a number.

SEO Questions - Why Do I See Different Google Results Than My Clients?
 by: Rob Sullivan

Having been in this industry for as long as I have, I often forget some of the basics. Well, it’s not that I forget, it’s just that I assume that everyone else in the industry has the same knowledge level as I do.

So when I get a �newbie� asking a question like �Why are my Google results different than my clients� I have to take a step back and realize that we aren’t all equal.

Therefore in this article I’m going to answer this one seemingly simple question. While it may be simple to those of us �in the know� this isn’t always the case with others.

One of the scariest things you can do as a new SEO is talk to a client. That’s because you are always worried that they are going to ask you a question that’s over your head. And while you can fake your way through some questions when you are new, there are some that just stump you.

I have been watching a certain blog explode in popularity over the last year. I resist pangs of envy by remembering I have 2 corporations to run, 2 major membership sites, a 2 year old, and a lot of consulting to do. But man it still bugs me that Maki writes as well as he does!

I spend so much time showing people what to do with one site, one blog, and how to put all their time into it with laser focus that I don’t get to write as much and as deeply as I’d like. Not even close.

But if you want proof of just how far you can go in a year’s time by being focused on one property and one product generating pure authority in your niche, DoshDosh.com is a perfect example.

About Maki: “Apart from managing Dosh Dosh, I’m also currently a Political Science and Philosophy student in Toronto, Canada.”

See? Philosophy! This proves he gets to sit around and think a lot about writing killer content! (You know I’m kidding Maki)

Scott Meyer will depart About.com and The New York Times Co. next week after an eight year odyssey with the company. “After discussions with Martin [Nisenholtz, digital chief], we’ve agreed that I’ll be stepping down from my position as President & CEO of the About Group and leaving the Times Company,” Meyer wrote in a note to staff. Nisenholtz and Chief Digital Architect Ron McCoy will manage the group until a replacement CEO is named. A spokesperson said the search for Meyer’s successor will include both internal and external candidates.

“I am incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished together as a team at About. The About Group is in a very strong position,” said Meyer’s memo. “I will miss not being a part of About’s future, but I’m confident that the Group’s best days are ahead.”

Meyer led About for three years. PaidContent.org first reported the departure late Wednesday.