Sure, search marketing can help you reach out to potential customers beyond your current opt-in list. It can also serve as an introduction for your brand, and helps build credibility and trust with your target audience.

But for many email marketers, getting started in the world of search marketing can seem to be an overwhelming and monumental task. Never fear - we've put together four can't miss tips on making your search marketing pay off for your email marketing and beyond.

Over the past year, email marketers have been pushed like never before the deliver maximum results on a minimal budget, and 2010 is showing more of the same. Thankfully, integrating your search marketing efforts with your email marketing efforts is likely to raise your ROI for both programs. Here's how it's done:

1. Drive search traffic to email opt-in points.

Take advantage of opportunities to move traffic toward opt-in points, where you're creating a chance to continue communication with the visitor once they've left your site. For example, if you publish a weekly update, monthly e-newsletter, or are currently offering an exclusive white paper for download, these would all be appropriate pages toward which to target your traffic. Ensure that these opt-in points are highly optimized to receive the qualified traffic you're looking for.

Imagine for a moment that you own an online store that sells movie and television DVDs. One page you may want to work hard to optimize is a page that allows visitors to sign up for a weekly email that shows them all of the new releases that will be coming out on DVD that week. By driving interested traffic to this opt-in point, and then delivering valuable content, you're creating a positive experience with your brand and your ongoing communications.

Another thing to think about when it comes to driving search traffic to your email opt-in points is just how powerful search ads can be. Purchasing ads on search engines can be an extremely effective technique for introducing your brand and growing your in-house mailing list. Ensure that you create a campaign that targets potential visitors in the research portion of their experience, when they're in the process of gathering the information that they need.

One example of this would be to publish search ads on 'Movies Your Grandchildren Will Love' with an opt-in to receive a Top 10 list of movies appropriate for children and young adults. By engaging visitors in the research portion of the sales cycle, your brand will be well positioned when the visitor is ready to stop browsing and start buying.

2. Convert opt-ins to sales through ongoing email marketing programs.

Use email to support and nurture the leads on the opt-in list that you've created. These leads are likely to respond positively to special offers that extend a welcome to your company's brand and products, and that offer them a low-risk way to engage. Remember, just like any email marketing campaign, this campaign is one that should aim to gain trust over time rather than pushing for a quick conversion.

For example, in the online movie store I mentioned earlier, your 'new releases' weekly email may include a link to one new release at a special discount price. Alternatively, it could include a call to action to sign up to receive a monthly 'Top New Movies' list so that the recipient can get to know your brand even better.

3. Turn search click and conversion rates into email marketing gold.

If you've ever taken a look at your Web site analytics, it's amazing to see the wide variety of topics, keywords and phrases people use when searching to find your site. But it's worth skimming down past the top keywords that always show up, and taking a closer look at some of the long-tail keyword phrases that may have lower search volumes but are still gaining ground. Pay attention to emerging trends in your internal site search too, as they can help you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to email marketing.

Also note which email calls to action led to higher levels of interest and greater average time on site in addition to which offers or links created the greatest number of conversions. This kind of information will be valuable as you're planning for future email and search marketing campaigns.

Let's go back for a moment to the movie store example we've been using. Imagine that your weekly 'new releases' email prominently features two movies: a new animated feature geared toward families, and an action-thriller. Use your Web analytics data to help you segment those visitors who arrived via the animated movie link versus those who arrived looking for the action-thriller; this segmented list will help you better target email marketing offers in the future.

Or, let's say you notice a search trend on 'horror movies based on true stories'. In this case, you may consider making this topic the focus of one of your future email newsletters or campaigns. Of course, this email topic would be especially appropriate to the 'horror movies' segment of your list that you've been creating over time based on recipients who consistently choose to visit the horror movies section of your site.

4. Track and segment email lists and analyze your CTR by segment.

Smart email marketers understand just how powerful list segmentation can be, especially when it comes to lists created as the result of specific email campaigns or search ad groups. Segmented lists allow you to fine-tune your campaigns and ads to speak directly to the needs, wants and preferences of your audience.

But before you can accurately segment, you have to have the right tracking parameters in place. When it comes to getting the most of your integrated marketing, tracking is the name of the game. Savvy marketers build campaign and ad group data into their email and search marketing offers so that it is easy to identify recipients who convert again. Understanding which email campaigns and search ads lead to repeat business will give you the valuable information you need to groom more customers to visit - and convert - again.

For our movie store, the first step--setting up tracking--would be as simple as using unique landing page URLs with lead source parameters. For example, to track purchase behavior of people who came from the "Drama Movies" vs "Horror Movies" search ads, the landing page URLs could be:

Search ads
www.yourwebsite.com/google_landingpage_1a/?source=gdrama

www.yourwebsite.com /google_landingpage_1b/?source=ghorror

After you've added these parameters to your search ads, you'll be able to better target those visitor segments with email offers relevant to the keywords they originally converted on. You'll also be able to track the behavior of repeat customers to determine the true success of your combined search and email marketing campaigns. Check out the examples below to see a sample of how the lead source parameters continue from the search ad and on through the email marketing campaigns:

Email Marketing Offer #1
(segment list by which search ad they converted on and target with relevant offer)
www.yourwebsite.com/email_landingpage_1a/?source=gedrama1

www.yourwebsite.com/email_landingpage_1b/?source=gehorror1

Follow Up Email Marketing Offer (#2)
www.yourwebsite.com/email_landingpage_2a/?source=gedrama2

www.yourwebsite.com/email_landingpage_2b/?source=gehorror2

Search and Email Marketing Synergy

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