August 19th, 2009
Some of you are sighing in relief. The last entry to the Top Ten Search Tips. Tip #10! I’ll keep this short: I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you in your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #10 – Market, Market, Market – When all is said and done with respects to making a website as shiny as possible, there’s still work to be done in order to promote it. Just like traditional marketing is a never-ending cycle, so goes internet marketing. It has rapidly become an integrated and necessary channel of an organization’s overall marketing plan.
Every opportunity to promote a company’s URL – just like handing out a business card – should be taken advantage of. Basic opportunities are:
- Email Marketing – Generating a regular and readable newsletter keeps the company and the company’s website top-of-mind. If it’s the regular writing that gets in the way of publishing a newsletter, find someone to do it. Shameless plug – Alpine Technical Group is managing more and more internet marketing campaigns including the writing of regular newsletter articles.
- Blog – The same content created for the email newsletter can be published on a blog.
- Facebook – Create a group on Facebook for your company and publish the first snippet of the newsletter content. Entice readers to “read more”.
- Twitter – Tweet the substance of your Blog article and point to it. Actually when set up correctly, Twitter will feed your Facebook page.
- Yelp – We mentioned this before. Ensure your organization is well represented on Yelp. If it’s appropriate, beg customers to provide reviews on Yelp, Google, Bing etc. Remember though, it’s inappropriate (and usually apparent) for companies to review themselves.
All of these activities are work. But the dividends paid include keeping you top-of-mind with clients and prospects AND establishing you as a subject matter expert (SME) in your field. All of those links back to your website are great for achieving Tip #9
Measurement is difficult to come by in terms of ROI for internet marketing as well. One of the best ways to measure is to see what kind of website activity is generated before and after a particular event. Success comes from website visitors actually performing a task on your site. If it’s visiting a thank-you page after purchasing a product or filling out a form, those activities can be measured and attributable to internet marketing activities.
Also, the ever-pervasive “How did you hear about us?” is a perfect and immediate way to get marketing feedback.
Hopefully everyone has gained some sort of insight from these tips. Granted, they are pretty basic instructions but, if followed, they can produce great results.
Good Luck and Happy Webbing!
Tags: Search Engine Optimization, Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, SEO, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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August 10th, 2009
OMG – this article is the next to last in the Top 10 Search Tips! I’ll keep this short: I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you in your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #9 – Do What Google Recommends. Sorry if that sounds too apparent but it’s true. I’ve been on consulting engagements where the client regularly tests, adjusts, measures, budjets, uses analysis websites and utilizes all the scientific and advanced forms of SEO while their image tags remain blank and the titles to all of their pages are exactly the same. I’m not saying they’re anything less than great people and do an awesome job at their work. It’s just that sometimes, in the rush to the finish line, some of the basics can get overlooked.
Relevance – Again, not to beat one word into anyone’s head but the relevance of your website in relation to your keywords is important. This might also sound pretty basic but keep it top of mind whenever there’s copy to be written for the web. Keyword inclusion should come right after grammar and getting the point across.
Sitemap – Submit a sitemap for your website and update it regularly. There are a slew of free sitemap generators out there – just google “sitemap generator” and voila, choices galore. Make sure the sitemap is in XML format, upload to the root of your website and let the search engines know it’s there (google “submit sitemap google“, “submit sitemap bing“, “submit sitemap yahoo” for instructions).
Web Page Structure – This may be over the technical heads of some people in terms of remedying this issue but the basics remain the same:
- Make sure title, description, keyword and image tags are populated
- Ensure title and description are at the top of the page and definitely above any scripting
- Keep words per page between 300 and 600
- Make sure all links are active and point to something real (Googlebots HATE 404 errors)
- Make sure each page links back to your main menu pages (home, about, contact us, products, services)
Submit Website – All search engines have a way to submit your site for crawling. Chances are excellent they will find your site anyway but this is a good excercise to ensure they find it sooner than later. Each time you update your sitemap is a good time to resubmit.
Analytics – Take your pick but Google is the 800 pound Gorilla as of this writing. Unless there’s a serious upheaval in the search world, this trend should continue for the foreseeable future. If it’s not installed already, get it. If it’s installed, it doesn’t work unless it’s checked regularly and analyzed.
404 Pages – Don’t let your browser take control when there’s a broken link – incoming or from within your site. Make sure the site has it’s own 404 page and that it works.
Google happily suggests about a billion other areas to attend to in order to keep site structure up to par. It’s a never ending job but one that pays dividends when done right.
Good Luck and Happy Webbing.
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Search Marketing Testing, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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August 2nd, 2009
Screaming forward in this top 10 search tip extravaganza, here’s #8! I’ll keep this short: I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you in your search efforts.
Links - get them.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #8 – Links! Imagine a playground where all the children, and even some teachers, are pointing (in a friendly way) at one child. If the principal walked onto this scene, chances are excellent she would take a look where everyone was pointing. While potentially uncomfortable for the child, there’s going to be a lot of eyes on him. The principal might also make a mental note: “Hmm, I’ll have to remember little Billy, that kid’s garnering a lot of attention.”
Think of little Billy as your website, the other children as other websites, the teachers as really popular websites (say www.amazon.com or www.yahoo.com), and the Principal as a search engine. All those pointing fingers are links to your website. The Principal, noticing that even teachers are pointing at Billy, notices Billy much more than if he were just wandering around in a crowd of kids.
Aren’t analogies fun?! No?!
Long story longer: Search Engines pay more respect to websites that have more incoming links from other websites. The more popular the referring website (yahoo, amazon), the bigger the boost to your site. Google calls this Page Rank, Bing calls this Page Score and Yahoo, well, they’re probably keeping the name internal (or will make you pay to learn it’s name).
“So, Mr. SmartyPants, just how exactly do I go about getting links to my site?” I’ll only tell you a few and you can start to understand the myriad ways to get backlinks.
- Search Engines – If you’re a local business, set up your local business listing in each of the search engines. Those backlinks are valuable.
- Yelp.com – Get reviewed on Yelp and make sure your business info is accurate. Bing ranks Yelp highly.
- Yellow Pages – Most Yellow Page companies have a robust web operations group. If you have a Yellow Pages ad, make sure you have your business listed at their .com site. It’s typically a very small amount to add .com listing to an existing ad.
- Friends, Blogs, Friend’s Blogs, Associations, Chambers of Commerce, Partners – You get the picture, wherever you can leave your mark, try to get it there.
One more thing, I need to leave a link: website design and search marketing by Alpine Technical Group
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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July 10th, 2009
The Long Tail - A Highly Targeted Audience
Barrelling forward in this top 10 search tip extravaganza, here’s #7! I’ll keep this short: I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you in your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #7 – The Long Tail. The traditional definition of the long tail refers to the idea that businesses selling many items to niche markets can do as well or better than business selling a smaller amount of popular items to a broader market. The graph that represents this concept is denoted by a steep and high area of uptake from the most popular items with the “uptake” line descending and leveling or “tailing” off. The rise of Amazon.com and the myriad items you can find to purchase there is a poster child of long tail retail.
This same concept can be applied to many life principles: “If I take a lot of different toys to school, say hotwheels, legos AND a few pokemon cards, I’ll attract more friends than if I just take the hotwheels”.
The one we’ll talk about here won’t be toy selection (at least not any more). Instead it is, naturally, web search and keywords. Once a regular, successful search program is established and a baseline recording of activity is available, it’s time to consider what an organizations strong points are and start a “tail” program identifying and promoting those points. An example would be an accounting firm that specializes in accounting for law firms. The tail would be the niche program of selecting keywords and launching ad campaigns for “accounting for law firms”. If other specialties exist, those can be a separate and measurable campaign. Fun!
The best part about long tail marketing is the leads. Those leads are much more targeted than a typicaly broad search lead. Someone googling for “accounting for attorneys” is a LOT more likely to click on an ad that states “We specialize in Accounting for Attorneys and Law Firms”. Long tail pays great dividends when applied correctly.
Tags: Search Marketing, The Long Tail, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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July 2nd, 2009
Streaming forward in this top 10 search tip extravaganza, here’s #6! I’ll keep this short: I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you in your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #6 – Four Seconds. This tip builds on the previous tips. If you’re reading from top-down the way it’s presented on the blog site, bear with me.
Four Seconds - Use it Wisely
Research has determined, through eye-tracking analysis, that the typical web searcher spends four seconds or less reading the top three to four search results on a search results page. They spend even less time on results further down the page. This means that in order to catch a reader’s attention, search result copy must be highly compelling. Since search results can be paid ad copy or a website description, a lot of care needs to go into what’s being said. I find myself spending a LOT more time working to perfect copy than twiddling with the newest web tool or extension. It’s just that important to get results.
Between tweaking split ads and landing page copy, not to mention seeing what the competition is saying, I find there’s always something that can be improved. I also like to see search results for the same industry from different areas of the country: from metropolises like New York, LA or Chicago to smaller cities like Boise, Little Rock or Ventura. By always trolling and testing, that four seconds can reap a lot of rewards.
Upward!
Tags: Search Marketing, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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June 25th, 2009
Swarming ahead in my top 10 search tips, here’s #5! In brief, again, once more, to re-reiterate, I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you with your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #5 – Always be Testing. This tip dovetails with tip #3: Paranoia. If you think you’re by youself competing for specific popular search terms, think again. Just like any other marketing effort, your competition is always working to get their share – and that share is coming from your pie! The competition for eyes is fierce – especially in popular markets.
Part of “always be testing” has to do with split ads. There’s still debate whether split ads are really effective but anytime you can get measurable response to ad copy, I say do it. Split ads provide the ability to test two different ad copies for the same search term. Such as:
Sample Split Ad
These two ads discuss the same theme but are relatively different. By tracking these two ads over time – say a month – you can get an idea of which ad gets clicked on more. Even though Google/Bing might not display them equally, you can still get the clickthrough ratio and determine which ad is performing better.
Once you have an idea of the better performing ad, split that ad, suspend the other one and modify the new ad slightly. Maybe a stronger call to action or a more compelling pitch. I always find that the current state of affairs helps with my ad copy. Whether it’s the econonmy, the weather or something related to your field, keeping ads current always helps. Rinse and repeat this exercise once a month (or more frequently for high traffic sites) for the rest of your website’s life.
Another area to tune-up is landing page copy. Once eyes get to your website, you still need them to pick up the phone or fill out the form. Make sure it resonates with the reader and gets them to do something. AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire & Action – the four states your reader should go through while reading your copy.
Onward!
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Testing, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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June 17th, 2009
Steamrolling ahead, here’s #4! In brief, again, to re-reiterate, I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you with your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #4 – Do Something, Anything. 
I used to call this tip “Don’t SCI Corp”. I can’t remember from where I learned about SCI Corp but I do remember the impact it had on me. Hopefully they’ve mended their ways by the time you read this but, for now, if you type “funeral and cemetary services” into your favorite search (or “decisioning” as MS calls Bing) engine, you won’t see SCI Corp anywhere in the first three pages of results. This is true even though, if SCI’s marketing copy is to be believed, they are one of the largest providers of funeral and cemetary services in the US. If you go to www.sci-corp.com and take a peek at the source code for the site, you’ll notice the basics of search, much less any structure, is breathtakingly absent. Maybe they don’t want the home website to result as well as their individual locations or brands.
Whatever the reason for the absence of search optimization, it’s a great example of what not to do if you want any results from search. At the very least, populate Title (for every page) and Description (for the home page) tags. While it’s not supposed to matter, go ahead and complete a keyword list as well. The only way it can hurt is that your competition can see exactly what keywords you’re supposedly targeting.
And to the webmaster for SCI-Corp, sorry if I rained on your party over there. But, really, populate some tags!
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Search Marketing Testing, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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June 10th, 2009
We’re on a roll! Here’s #3! In brief, I’ve provided these search tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you with your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #3 – Paranoia
Search Tip #3 - Paranoia
Just like any marketing strategy, internet or traditional, a healthy sense of paranoia goes a long way in terms of motivation. Don’t for a second think your competition rests on their laurels at any time. Especially with the dynamic nature of an internet marketing campaign, improvement opportunities are infinite – and your competition is busy at work making ongoing improvements to their campaigns.
A website isn’t static, neither is the search optimization facets of that website. AND neither is the paid advertising for that website. Several activities are required on an ongoing basis in order to maximize investment and results. A few suggestions:
- Ad Testing – Split Ads is a proven method of increasing clickthroughs and conversions. The more compelling, inviting and relevant the ad is, the more attention it will receive. By testing split ads, keeping the best and improving upon it, you will inevitably see better results.
- AIDA – Attract Attention, Increase Interest, Elicit Desire and Call for Action – you can perform all three of these required marketing steps in the measly 3 lines of text given to you in an adwords banner. And you can improve upon it both in the Ad and on the landing page for that ad – whether it’s your home page or a specific page dedicated to that search term. Which brings me to:
- Landing Pages – Make ‘em and use ‘em. I’ve seen websites that do a poor job at providing keyword-specific landing pages and wallow in the cesspool of 2nd and 3rd page results. I’ve seen others who provide relevant, user-focused landing pages and reap the rewards.
- Copy – Websites are similar to hardcopy brochures with the main difference being you can change them anytime you want (that and the fact that there’s a plethora of functionality that you can add to the website to increase positive user experience). Take the time and make those positive changes to your site. Search engines like to see dynamics.
I think you get the picture: always assume that your competition is working tirelessly to get above your site in terms of search results. The above suggestions only scratch the surface in terms of search marketing activities. Social marketing and email marketing are other activities (actually the list is endless). One aspect of my job I enjoy the most is helping people make sense of the forest of options and enact a plan that gets the most eyes (and buys) for the buck.
Good Luck!
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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June 7th, 2009
Moving on with my Top Ten Search Tips Series. In brief, I’ve provided these tips during some recent presentations and they were well-received by the participants. I thought it would be beneficial to post them here. I hope they’re able to help you with your search efforts.
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #2 – Persistence
Persistence - Tip Number 2
My second tip, Persistence, builds on the first tip in that, along with patience, a persistent strategy of ongoing regular improvements to your website and search activities is important to gain upper placements. An important piece of advice to remember is DON’T, PLEASE DON’T whitewash your search efforts if you don’t see results in the first weeks of a strategy. By “whitewash” I mean completely remove or radically change your titles, descriptions, adwords etc. This radical type of change can very well place you back in rankings the same as a new website starts out low in results. There is a lot of debate around the “sandbox” effect but it makes sense in terms of relevance.
And remember, it’s all about relevance. Suppose a brand new website is created, perfect in every way, with pristine descriptions and title pages, all SEO is performed to the maximus and there are even inboud links created in order to bump Page Rank. Why should Google / Bing promote this site to the top of the results when there’s no track record of the website? Of course no search engine worth it’s salt is going to divulge a sandbox algorithm, it makes sense that there would be a “cooling off” period to ensure the relevance and assurdness of such a new website.
To coin a phrase: slow and steady wins the race. With persistence comes reward, especially in the search results arena.
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Search Marketing Testing, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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June 1st, 2009
I’ve performed a few Internet Marketing presentations for local business organizations recently. While I went into them with a bit of trepidation (public speaking is not on MY top ten list), they turned out to be great experiences: the more the audience responds to whats being presented, the more fun it is! There were lots of nodding heads at the presentations.
The main content of the presentation is a list of my Top 10 Search Optimization Tips. The tips are geared towards both people who manage their own search programs AND people who have their search programs managed for them. Since people seem to get so much out of the presentations, I thought I would post the list here. Without further ado: (Oh Yeah, real quick, while I speak of Google in my presentations, the same thoughts can be utilized for Yahoo and (what is now) Bing) NOW, without any further ado:
Top 10 Search Tips – Tip #1 – Patience
My first tip, Patience, speaks to the fact that, although you have done all the right things to make the search engines happy and should be receiving top-of-first-page results in response to your perfect search efforts, search engines take more into account than just a perfectly-tuned website. Nothing happens instantaneously on search engines (except payments, of course) RELEVANCE plays a huge role in search results and, to an extent, the tenure of a website is factored into it’s relevance. This doesn’t mean that new websites can’t rank as well as old websites, it means that a site needs to “season” a little before results start to appear. When speaking of Google, it’s called the “sandbox”: a site, after being newly created or undergoing a major change, sits in a sandbox for a while (up to 2 months?) before real results start to appear.
Again, relevance: just because a brand new site is set up perfectly doesn’t mean it’s relevant. People get caught up in programmatic response – the idea that since Search is an application or program, results should happen instantaneously as a result of the input. Google’s algorithms take into account longevity as a factor of relevance – and not just “time online”. Good activity, ongoing site improvements, backward links (factoring Page Rank) and patience are all required to make for good search results. A lot of frustration on the part of search program managers (and clients) can be thwarted if patience is taken into account. It’s difficult to wait – and some people even think it’s not true, even after it’s proven!
Tags: Search Marketing, Search Marketing Activity, Top Ten Search Marketing Tips
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