Special Report: Search Engine Marketing

5. Try a keyword advertising program, which is what Newark InOne rolled out last year with Google’s AdWords. “We prefer to be in organic [free] results, but we need a careful balance in both organic and paid search,” Yantis notes.

Lee of Did-it.com says all catalogers should understand what the true ROI of paid search will be. “Every keyword will have a different value — bidding higher to get more volume vs. bidding less and getting a lower search ranking to gain a higher ROI but lower volume.” But b-to-b catalogers using sites such as Google and Yahoo! naturally prefer to attract b-to-b customers buying in bulk rather than consumers searching for single items. For example: B-to-b buyers are more likely to type in “corrugated,” an industry term, while consumers may use “cardboard.”