The keywords and phrases used by your target audience groups to search indicate several things:

• Their interests
• Problems they want answers to
• Things they want to buy
• The language they use to refer to all of the above
• Who they are (to some extent)

Once you have grouped your results for easy reference, the next step is to analyze them so that you get the clearest understanding possible of whom you are targeting and why. You are likely to discover that each of your targeted audience groups has different characteristics, different ways of expressing what you offer, and challenges unique to their concerns. You may manufacture boilers for commercial use, for example, but a school district has very different needs and challenges from a privately funded hospital.

Successfully reaching your targeted audience groups requires more than putting your message in front of them: “We make windows. You need windows. So buy our windows.” Okay. Perhaps that example is a little over-simplified but it makes a good point about what NOT to do. To reach your targeted audiences means to engage them on a topic of interest to them. In effect, you want to be seen and heard. And the best way to get a person to engage with you is by being relevant.

Keyword research provides you with the insight you need to understand how to be relevant to those you want to pay attention and take action.

For comprehensive keyword research and analysis services call Industrial Web Solutions at 1-800-399-9859.

It all started with Pay-Pass at the gas pump and convenience stores. Remember the commercial of the guy running in the marathon and he buys a drink while he is running the race using a card he swipes? Well Google has partnered with Sprint, First Data, Citi, and MasterCard to test Google Wallet, a similar type of digital contactless payment option that allows Wallet-enabled Smartphones (right now only the Samsung Nexus S from Sprint) to tap to pay. The application works for both online and offline in-store purchases.

Contactless payments are processed by a special terminal. Only terminals with the universal contactless symbol will work with Google Wallet for in-store purchases. The terminal must be an ISO 14443 or 18092 standard. Merchants interested in getting a contactless terminal can contact First Data at 888-265-8147. To take advantage of Google Wallet, merchants must sign up to become a Google SingleTap Merchant. An additional benefit to you is the free listing you get on Google’s Where it works map. Because the program is still in beta, Google is taking inquiries at wallet-b2b@google.com.

From customer loyalty programs to special promotions, there are lots of opportunities to develop custom marketing programs around Google Wallet to drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar store or to get targeted buyers to take advantage of the convenience it offers them for online purchases. I suggest you also look into another Google program in beta called Google Offers, where Google markets participating businesses’ offers to its registered Offers members (just like Groupon does). If you want more information, about Google Offers, submit an online inquiry here.

Google Wallet is more than just a digital credit card. It is designed to replace the kinds of purchasing items a person may carry in their wallet, such as credit cards, coupons, advertisements, and so forth. The application allows consumers to save offers and apply them when they are ready to make an in-store or online purchase. It saves them the hassle of looking for the right coupon, counting their cash, or even retrieving a credit card. Bottom line for shoppers is Google Wallet is faster and more convenient. So ultimately it offers you a great way to reach out to mobile users and convince them to buy from you. For example, consumers searching for products or services in your area can save your offers in Google Wallet and then redeem them in-store, which allows you to analyze ‘online marketing to in-store purchases.’ It’s a powerful way to ensure you market effectively online to reach your targeted mobile audiences so you can generate sales both online and offline.

To get started with contactless terminal transactions, please contact First Data at 888-265-8147 or visit their site. Send inquiries about Google Wallet to wallet-b2b@google.com.

DeFoy stated to Canada’s Globe and Mail, “Don’t do one general campaign in English, all over the world. It’s easy, but the bidding and the keywords are very different from one country to the other.”

The advice to global marketers is to pick the right platform – the one familiar to and in popular use by the residents of the country and market you are targeting. For example, Friendster is popular in the Philippines; Yandex is popular in Russia; OnYoMo.com is second to Google in India but still very big; and Baidu controls the search market in China above Google!

DeFoy advises to separate your campaigns by countries. This allows you to select the right platform, target your audience by using the language they use to search for what you offer (remember that comprehensive keyword research and development I am always talking about in posts!), target according to cultural customs, which are often very different from that of the US, and finally to track results by country and campaign. DeFoy pointed out the French-Canadian French does not play well in Paris, for example. If you expect to see good results, ads and keyword lists have to be targeted for the customs and language, including dialects, of the country or foreign region you are targeting. That will take some testing, modifying, and good old fashioned trial and error along the way.

Once DeFoy was able to support the different languages he was targeting, he established landing pages and full websites using a domain within the targeted country. For example, use www.yourcompany.uk, if you are targeting customers in Great Britain. The strongest approach, if you have the foreign speaking staff to support it, is to present a landing page and/or website in the native language of each of your targeted groups. If you cannot, DeFoy suggests you keep the English very simple, with the understanding that you are addressing respondents for whom English is a second language.

The goals for search advertising are always the same, regardless of which foreign or domestic regions you target:

• Satisfy the expectations of your targeted respondents
• Satisfy the needs of the search platform by generating response from which they make money so you rank well
• Convert respondents and generate revenue

Get to know the behaviors and needs of your target foreign audience and reach out to them in a way that builds trust and gives them the feeling that you are nearby and able to take care of them.

As a helpful addendum, check out Skype and Google Voice for local calling numbers for the regions you are targeting. If you are new to Global Advertising Online you may wish to get your feet wet using the Google Global Advertiser. Also check out the Google Global Market Finder.

Just like carpentry, the tools of a professional search engine marketer are available to anyone.  However, the skills involved are not readily apparent until you find yourself spending a lot of money and time without achieving your goals. SEM campaigns can get expensive very quickly. There are many tasks and many variables. A professional search engine marketer understands such things as:

• How to set goals – again and again
• Performance-based and branding-based objectives
• How to determine and manage budgets
• How to understand and communicate with audiences
• How to develop keyword lists and use them effectively
• How to write effectively
• The stages of the online/offline buying cycle
• How to guide audiences at each stage
• What the variables are
• What the competition is doing
• How to balance against what the competition is doing
• How to measure and interpret information
• How to test and experiment
• Which tools to use for each task
• When and how to make fixes to improve results
• The importance of foresight and flexibility
• How the various search engine marketing programs and applications work

Like any skill, it takes time to become familiar with all of the items mentioned above. And then it takes more time to hone your skills and get creative. The most successful search engine marketers have developed their skills by putting in lots and lots of hours. The question for you is: do you have that kind of time? If you don’t, you will save yourself a lot of money and frustration by hiring a professional search engine marketer who already has the requisite skill-set to not only help you meet and manage your online marketing and advertising goals but to save you a lot of wasted money and time.

We’re two weeks into 2011 and manufacturing continues to grow, the overall economy continues to grow, the stock market is up – so where are you in all this? What are you doing differently now to take advantage of all this growth that’s going on?

If you still think you can go back to business as usual then you will miss a great opportunity to set your own growth in motion. Find out what your existing and potential buyers are up to? Have they started a new project you can help them with? Are they opening up into new markets? Can you join them?

Stimulate your own growth by being informed about what others are doing so that you can help them. A great way to connect with your target audience is to find out where they are spending time online. Read their posts, comments and queries on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, and blogs, to get insight into their current interests. Share your own comments and questions to start a dialogue.

 The idea is uncover interests so that you can develop your own opportunities. Don’t just wait for sales to pick up, stimulate them but demonstrating your value to your target buyers. Update all your sales and marketing content for online and offline so you are sure to present targeted solutions that are relevant to what’s going on for your buyers right now. Demonstrate to buyers how your solution is the missing piece of the puzzle that helps them to do what they want to do.