This is the second annual instalment of our January "success" seminar. I came up with the idea last year when I wanted to do something a little different in a seminar and asked myself the question "If I had an hour to tell some friends about the best current opportunities in web marketing, what would I talk about?" We had great feedback at the Seminar and if I can find the time I'll create a screencast of the slides and put the whole presentation online. These slides are not "complete" without the presentation, but you may find them of interest if you're interested in seeing what sort of opportunities excite someone who's now been in the industry for 12 years!

1. January 2013

2.  “What would I present if I had an hour to tell some
friends about the most exciting current web
marketing opportunities?”

3.  Identify great opportunities for 2013.
 Spark some energy.
 Give you some ideas to implement and/or
some areas to research further for your own
efforts.

4.  A tongue in cheek title, but for 10+ years
experts have predicted mobile traffic will
overtake desktop.
 In 2013, mobile still hasn’t overtaken, but
it’s getting closer. i.e. A couple mobile-
relevant examples:
◦ January 2012: 18% of searches for “car batteries”
and 30% for “tow truck” in Canada from Mobile.
◦ January 2013: 23% of searches for “car batteries”
and 40% for “tow truck” in Canada from Mobile.

5.  Desktop/Laptop
 Mobile
 Find out mobile search percentages in your
vertical prior to crafting a strategy.

6. This is important as:
 Android users can be different
than iOS (what’s a BlackBerry?).
 Tablet vs Phone vs Desktop –
different use cases?
 First Gen vs 5th Gen iPhone?
 Wifi vs 3G/4G? Big difference
in user goals when surfing!

7.  Ad “inventory”
is growing
way faster on
Tablets than
phones.
 Cost per click
is growing
much slower.
Originally published at SearchEngineLand.com (a great resource)

8.  Smart site owners have great opportunity
to be way more effective by breaking out
advertising according to device use-case.
 Too big to be ignored (but most companies
are!) and growing fast.
 Great ad values on phones AND tablets.

9.  There are usually a few no-brainer
campaigns that every company
should run.
 Getting more competitive, but CPC
(cost per click) ads can still be very
profitable IF done strategically.
 Most companies are not good at it,
presenting opportunity to “win” for
those willing to take the time.

10. 1. Fill in the blanks:
I would definitely pay for an ad to people who live
in ______ to visit my website if they were
searching for ________________.
2. Fill in the blanks:
I would definitely pay for an ad to people who live
in _____, who are _____ years old, who are of the
____ sex and are interested in _______ (plus
education level, relationship status, etc).
3. Fill in the blanks:
I wish I could advertise to people who work in the
_____ department at __________ (company name).

11. Google Search
1. Fill in the blanks:
I would definitely pay for an ad to people who live
in ______ to visit my website if they were
searching for ________________.
Facebook
2. Fill in the blanks:
I would definitely pay for an ad to people who live
in _____, who are _____ years old, who are of the
____ sex and are interested in _______ (plus
education level, relationship status, etc).
3. Fill in the blanks: Linkedin
I wish I could advertise to people who work in the
_____ department at __________ (company name).

12. Linkedin
Google Search
Facebook

13.  They will if you do the work that many advertisers
DON’T...
 Answer the following questions (for every ad or
target):
◦ In the ad, what benefit do I need to convey to get
someone to click?
◦ What do visitors (each different type) need to see on
my “landing page” to take the next step with my
company?
 Then apply and test your answers and you’re on your
way to a successful campaign.

14.  This exercise will likely result in some fairly small
campaigns, but also some very low cost and low
risk ones.
 If at first you don’t succeed, employ some cost-
effective testing and tweaking.
Also, get an “outsider” to review your ads/landing
pages.
 Once you have success on this front, you’re
exponentially more likely to succeed with broader
online advertising efforts.

15.  We’ve lately been seeing
more and more smaller
sites bubbling up in first
page search results.
 The opportunity: smaller
sites can compete with
larger sites IF they publish
great, properly organized
and optimized content.

16.  Google has always rewarded a
combination of:
◦ Great content.
◦ External recognition (links from other site).
◦ Properly coded and optimized sites.
 However:
◦ We’ve seen a plethora of otherwise meritless tactics to
boost rankings in the past.
◦ Google is now better at crushing these tactics!

17.  Acquiring lots of links, regardless of the quality of
the linking site.
 Posting lame articles or press releases on a regular
schedule (with links to your site).
 Getting any kind of link from a “big” site.
 Using “exact match domains.”
 Creating mini-sites.
 Pumping lots of content (regardless of quality) into
your website.

18.  In 2011, Google made some of their biggest changes
ever to their search algorithm to improve their results.
 This continues to evolve.
 This has worked out really well for:
◦ Google users who now get better quality search results.
◦ Responsible companies who publish great content!
 Formerly the bread and butter of low cost SEO
contractors, 2010’s tactics are not just ineffective, but
dangerous in 2013.
Too bad about
ezinearticles.com

19.  Creating high quality content on your site,
of significant interest to your audience.
 “Earning” links from other high quality,
relevant sites.
 Proper organization and optimization of
your site.
 Other?
◦ Healthy “Social” signal.
◦ Integrated efforts.
◦ Video...

20. Nope – you still must optimize. A healthy approach is to:
 Do keyword research to find out what your audience is
interested in and what language they use to search for
it.
 Make sure you have relevant content, organized
appropriately, in the language of your users.
 Get your content in front of other folks who will like it
enough to link to it and share it (social signal).
◦ To learn how to organize/optimize your content to suit Google, track
down Google’s “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide” or find a
reputable professional to work with ;-)

21. Unless you have an eCommerce site, 99%+ of your
visitors are NOT ready to buy when they first visit.
 Obvious in some ways, but can take a long time to
fully appreciate.
 While closing the sale should be a goal, often the
bigger goal is: “how can I engage with visitors so
my company will still be on their mind when they
DO make a buying decision?”
 Let’s brainstorm for a moment as to how you’d
behave in a traditional retail setting if 99% of
visitors were not ready to buy....

22. Your site must:
 Visually inspire trust and incorporate elements
that make it clear you are competent and
credible.
 Be well written and
clearly communicate
your benefits (in your
customer’s language).
 Take a customer
perspective and
identify what THEY
need on each of your
pages.

23.  Getting the visitor to “connect” so you
can remain in touch (and top of mind)
may be the most profitable goal.
 What can you offer to “engage” visitors
further and gain the ability to
communicate with them?

24.  A great newsletter (one that your
prospects/customers will look forward to) –
note that you need to “sell” this on your site.
 Download of a white paper, case study or
guide with permission to send updates.
 A great blog (ideally
leading to the newsletter
subscription).
 An information session?

25.  An invitation to “ask a question.”
 Social Media Engagement. Following
or liking you and/or your company on
a variety of platforms.
 Combined strategies? How-to video
behind Facebook “Like gate”?
 Remarketing Ads. Not the first choice,
but an option for re-engaging.

26.  These engagement ideas are not new!
 It’s rare to see companies using them as
a strategy rather than standalone tactics
(i.e. the checklist).
 Companies who get good at this have
great sales “levers,” get better marketing
ROI and higher lifetime customer value.

27.  Today’s material
does NOT represent
a complete strategy
but should give
some new perspective!
 Slides will be sent to participants
shortly.
 There may be some “audit” seats available as
we cover more in-depth topics in our Web
Marketing Manager Training Program, starting
this week and running until May.

28.  Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide - Google - SEO,
explained!
 Adwords.google.com/o/KeywordTool – Google’s keyword
research tool (remember to look at phrase match and not just
broad match!)
 www.marketingprofs.com – High quality case studies.
 www.seomoz.org/blog - Very high quality, informative posts.
 http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-resources Great learning
materials.
 http://jumpstartweb.com/blog/ - Our current blog.
 Rob@PlusROI.com – email me with your questions about online
marketing strategy.