SEARCH ENGINE STRATEGIES: Put your web site to work! Presented by: Avery Cohen - Metrist Partners September 10, 2008

Overview Trend: Increasing interest in search strategies from consumer and B2B companies Trend: Online marketing is expanding More integrated campaigns Increased use of Web to find local service providers Internet and search strategies are a cost-effective way to expand reach Provides valuable buying stage information

Trend: Increasing interest in search strategies from consumer and B2B companies

Trend: Online marketing is expanding

More integrated campaigns

Increased use of Web to find local service providers

Internet and search strategies are a cost-effective way to expand reach

Provides valuable buying stage information

Definitions Website Optimization Creating a user-friendly Website with good, high-quality content to serve the visitor Testing alternatives to achieve a desired objective with more of your site visitors Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Improving the volume and quality of traffic to a site from search engines via “natural” search for targeted key words Search Engine Marketing (SEM) SEO techniques including paid placement and pay-per-click (PPC) programs, often called search engine advertising

Website Optimization

Creating a user-friendly Website with good, high-quality content to serve the visitor

Testing alternatives to achieve a desired objective with more of your site visitors

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Improving the volume and quality of traffic to a site from search engines via “natural” search for targeted key words

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

SEO techniques including paid placement and pay-per-click (PPC) programs, often called search engine advertising

Search Engine Strategies Presented by: Avery J. Cohen Put Your Website to Work!

Search Engine Strategies

Presented by: Avery J. Cohen

Do I Need a Search Strategy? Direct Product Sales Generate more leads Requests for information Phone call or contact form Email opt-in Set the stage for warmer sales calls Knowledgeable customers Support complex sales That have multiple touch points

Direct Product Sales

Generate more leads

Requests for information

Phone call or contact form

Email opt-in

Set the stage for warmer sales calls

Knowledgeable customers

Support complex sales

That have multiple touch points

Elements of a Search Strategy Set Goals Optimize the Site Optimize for “conversions” Optimize for search “ Pull” Traffic Linking strategy & PR Advertising, including paid search Email Measure and Adapt Constantly changing environment

Set Goals

Optimize the Site

Optimize for “conversions”

Optimize for search

“ Pull” Traffic

Linking strategy & PR

Advertising, including paid search

Email

Measure and Adapt

Constantly changing environment

Why SEO? SEO makes the whole world-wide web better Following SEO best practices… Provides a better customer experience Drives brand consistency Makes you more connected Brings in more customers

SEO makes the whole world-wide web better

Following SEO best practices…

Provides a better customer experience

Drives brand consistency

Makes you more connected

Brings in more customers

Pursuing the “Holy Grail” Three questions to ask when considering Search Engine Optimization

Three questions to ask when considering Search Engine Optimization

Pursuing the “Holy Grail” What are your goals? What do you want to be known for? What do your customers want?

What are your goals?

What do you want to be known for?

What do your customers want?

Google Knows People Estimated at 40 billion searches per month Primary income from pay-per-click advertising Makes more money from advertising than the top 4 TV networks combined

Estimated at 40 billion searches per month

Primary income from pay-per-click advertising

Makes more money from advertising than the top 4 TV networks combined

Google Knows What People Want People tell Google what they want. dog walkers

People tell Google what they want.

Google Knows What People Want When people click on an entry, they are telling Google what looks right.

When people click on an entry, they are telling Google what looks right.

Google Knows What People Want People link to good content.

People link to good content.

How Do Sites Get on Google? The “Spider” or “Googlebot” Follows links on the Internet Catalogs Keywords and Key Phrases Calculates Relevance You can talk to the spider Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml Submit on webmaster.google.com The Search Engine Presents relevant pages to searchers Profiles items people select Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

The “Spider” or “Googlebot”

Follows links on the Internet

Catalogs Keywords and Key Phrases

Calculates Relevance

You can talk to the spider

Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml

Submit on webmaster.google.com

The Search Engine

Presents relevant pages to searchers

Profiles items people select

Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

Care and Feeding of the Google Spider High quality inbound links Relevant to keywords Internal linking Strong internal linking on keywords High quality external links Keyword density Early and often Between 5% and 8% Likes fresh content

High quality inbound links

Relevant to keywords

Internal linking

Strong internal linking on keywords

High quality external links

Keyword density

Early and often

Between 5% and 8%

Likes fresh content

Two Sides to SEO: Marketing & IT

Marketer’s Roadmap Keyword selection Writing for SEO Linking strategy Fresh content strategy

Keyword selection

Writing for SEO

Linking strategy

Fresh content strategy

Developer’s Roadmap Site structure Page structure Search Vendor Relationship Analytics Infrastructure

Site structure

Page structure

Search Vendor Relationship

Analytics Infrastructure

Marketers: Keyword Selection Be specific “ dog walkers” -- “Chicago dog walkers” “Lincoln Park dog walkers” Be consistent Choose your jargon carefully Add pages for “ Long Tail” searches Specific Products

Be specific

“ dog walkers” -- “Chicago dog walkers” “Lincoln Park dog walkers”

Be consistent

Choose your jargon carefully

Add pages for

“ Long Tail” searches

Specific Products

Keyword Selection: Be Specific

Keyword Selection: Be Specific

Marketers: Tools for Marketers Tools (examples): Finding Keywords: Wordtracker Google AdWords Budgeting Submit to Google Maps Feedburner

Tools (examples):

Finding Keywords: Wordtracker

Google AdWords Budgeting

Submit to Google Maps

Feedburner

Marketers: Writing for SEO 5 – 8% Keyword Density 500 words of content per page Early and often Use section headings Avoid synonyms, euphemisms and implied usage Use your other keywords to create linking opportunities

5 – 8% Keyword Density

500 words of content per page

Early and often

Use section headings

Avoid synonyms, euphemisms and implied usage

Use your other keywords to create linking opportunities

How Does Stuff Get on Google? The “Spider” or “Googlebot” Follows links on the Internet Catalogs keywords and key phrases Calculates relevance You can talk to the spider Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml Submit on webmaster.google.com The Search Engine Profiles items people select Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

The “Spider” or “Googlebot”

Follows links on the Internet

Catalogs keywords and key phrases

Calculates relevance

You can talk to the spider

Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml

Submit on webmaster.google.com

The Search Engine

Profiles items people select

Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

The Googlebot Finds Content for Google The “Googlebot” is a spider-like program Googlebot follows links on the world-wide web Googlebot catalogs keywords and key phrases Googlebot calculates keyword relevance You can talk to the Googlebot Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml Submit on webmaster.google.com The Search Engine works with Googlebot data Profiles items people select Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

The “Googlebot” is a spider-like program

Googlebot follows links on the world-wide web

Googlebot catalogs keywords and key phrases

Googlebot calculates keyword relevance

You can talk to the Googlebot

Robots.txt & Sitemap.xml

Submit on webmaster.google.com

The Search Engine works with Googlebot data

Profiles items people select

Assigns and updates relevance: “Page Rank”

Marketers: Linking Strategy High quality inbound links Solicit links Who would want to link to you? How will linking to you help their audience (your customers)? PR campaigns Stunts: Link bait and stupid Internet tricks High quality outbound links Link to authoritative sources Link to helpful sites

High quality inbound links

Solicit links

Who would want to link to you?

How will linking to you help their audience (your customers)?

PR campaigns

Stunts: Link bait and stupid Internet tricks

High quality outbound links

Link to authoritative sources

Link to helpful sites

Linking Strategy: White Hat vs. Gray Hat Google doesn’t like paid links Access to “link farms” Link exchange networks Fighting Web spam Comments on blogs and forums Blogs now use “no-follow” links

Google doesn’t like paid links

Access to “link farms”

Link exchange networks

Fighting Web spam

Comments on blogs and forums

Blogs now use “no-follow” links

Developers: Site Structure Clear text, keyword-based navigation Human-readable URLs Dogs/Dogwalkers.html Dogs/Dog-walkers.html Avoid duplicate content Forward obsolete pages

Clear text, keyword-based navigation

Human-readable URLs

Dogs/Dogwalkers.html

Dogs/Dog-walkers.html

Avoid duplicate content

Forward obsolete pages

Developers: Page Structure You get points for keywords in these elements Page titles Headings Meta tags Description Keywords ALT tags for non-text content Use CSS and DIV, External JS files Text-to-code ratio Keywords at top of page

You get points for keywords in these elements

Page titles

Headings

Meta tags

Description

Keywords

ALT tags for non-text content

Use CSS and DIV, External JS files

Text-to-code ratio

Keywords at top of page

Search Engine Relations Google Webmaster Tools Yahoo Site Submission Search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html Robots.txt Sitemap.xml

Google Webmaster Tools

Yahoo Site Submission

Search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Robots.txt

Sitemap.xml

Implement Web Analytics Google Analytics It’s free Tracks goals and conversion rates Segments groups of users Poor visit and path analysis

Google Analytics

It’s free

Tracks goals and conversion rates

Segments groups of users

Poor visit and path analysis

Buying Position with SEM Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Pay-per-Click (PPC) model Bid on keywords and key phrases Maximum per-click Daily budget Direct Search and “Content Network” Price & placement based on “Quality Score” Keyword density and SEO Compliance Click-through history

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Pay-per-Click (PPC) model

Bid on keywords and key phrases

Maximum per-click

Daily budget

Direct Search and “Content Network”

Price & placement based on “Quality Score”

Keyword density and SEO Compliance

Click-through history

When to Use SEM Buy position on a keyword or phrase Drive traffic directly to a service offering Test new marketing messages

Buy position on a keyword or phrase

Drive traffic directly to a service offering

Test new marketing messages

Creating and Managing SEM Campaign Specific target and purpose Ad Groups Keywords Broad, exact phrase, negative words Ads 25-35-35 + url Auto-adjusts for best variation

Campaign

Specific target and purpose

Ad Groups

Keywords

Broad, exact phrase, negative words

Ads

25-35-35 + url

Auto-adjusts for best variation

Measuring SEM Impressions Clicks Click-through rate Cost-per-click Bounce rate Conversions Conversion rate Cost-per-lead

Impressions

Clicks

Click-through rate

Cost-per-click

Bounce rate

Conversions

Conversion rate

Cost-per-lead

Measuring Your Results All SEO can be measured SEOChat.com (and others) SEO has a cumulative measurable result Contributing to your goals Financial results CRM or SalesForce.com Google Analytics (and others)

All SEO can be measured

SEOChat.com (and others)

SEO has a cumulative measurable result

Contributing to your goals

Financial results

CRM or SalesForce.com

Google Analytics (and others)

Site Optimization Focus on conversions Views more than one page Reaches specific “value-add” content Opts in for email Fills out a “contact” form Makes a phone call Makes a purchase Segment and test

Focus on conversions

Views more than one page

Reaches specific “value-add” content

Opts in for email

Fills out a “contact” form

Makes a phone call

Makes a purchase

Segment and test

Tracking KPIs Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Baseline – previous year ± special events Set goals Track results Evaluate based on goals and trends Take action!

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Baseline – previous year ± special events

Set goals

Track results

Evaluate based on goals and trends

Take action!

Tracking KPIs KPI Jan Goal Jan Actual ±% Total Visits % Paid Visits Email List Opt-In Opt in % Email Unsubscribes Email List Size Whitepaper Downloads Download % Visits Contact Us form start Contact Us complete %

Additional Benefits of SEO SEO makes the whole world-wide web better People read like the spider program People navigate through content links as much as through navigation options Your message will be more clear Measurement techniques lead from Search Optimization to Outcomes Optimization Better “conversion rate” from visits to customers

SEO makes the whole world-wide web better

People read like the spider program

People navigate through content links as much as through navigation options

Your message will be more clear

Measurement techniques lead from Search Optimization to Outcomes Optimization

Better “conversion rate” from visits to customers

Brief “to do” list for the marketing team Tools you can use to evaluate your site site Getting Started

Brief “to do” list for the marketing team

Tools you can use to evaluate your site site

Make SEO Work for You Set goals Audit site content Consider an outsourced evaluation Pay attention to keyword use Searchable, specific External links Get influential sites to link back to you Alliances, sponsorships, news, blogs Internal links Improve the viewing experience and point search engines toward the most important pages Apply intelligence from site statistics Review technology

Set goals

Audit site content

Consider an outsourced evaluation

Pay attention to keyword use

Searchable, specific

External links

Get influential sites to link back to you

Alliances, sponsorships, news, blogs

Internal links

Improve the viewing experience and point search engines toward the most important pages

Apply intelligence from site statistics

Review technology

Technical Considerations Implement Joomla SEF component Implement web analytics Register site with Search Engines Evaluate Page structure keyword usage on the site Internal content linking

Implement Joomla SEF component

Implement web analytics

Register site with Search Engines

Evaluate

Page structure

keyword usage on the site

Internal content linking

Free Tools to Use Wordtracker Keyword suggestions and estimated daily search volume http:// freekeywords.wordtracker.com / Google Tools for smaller businesses and free map listings http:// www.google.com /services/ Google Trends Historic search volume on Google to help you decide on keywords http:// www.google.com /trends Rank Checker Reports rankings on key words http:// tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank -checker SeoQuake Reports on a variety of search factor, good for checking the competition http://seoquake.com SEO Chat Wide variety of tools for Search Optimization http://www.seochat.com/tools

Wordtracker

Keyword suggestions and estimated daily search volume

http:// freekeywords.wordtracker.com /

Google

Tools for smaller businesses and free map listings

http:// www.google.com /services/

Google Trends

Historic search volume on Google to help you decide on keywords

http:// www.google.com /trends

Rank Checker

Reports rankings on key words

http:// tools.seobook.com/firefox/rank -checker

SeoQuake

Reports on a variety of search factor, good for checking the competition

http://seoquake.com

SEO Chat

Wide variety of tools for Search Optimization

http://www.seochat.com/tools

Ask your search questions… Q&A

Ask your search questions…

Contact Information Metrist Partners 2525 N. Elston Ave. Suite D230 Chicago, Illinois 60647 847-926-8280 [email_address] http://www.metristpartners.com