Increasing Online Visibility

EPWN Workshop on Web 2.0 e-Identity: Increasing the Visibility of your Web Presence 15 January 2009 Catherine Gray Coppervine BV

Why Coppervine?

About Catherine Gray & Coppervine
Began in 2005
Especially suited to international companies with a presence in the Netherlands
Coppervine’s approach
Begins with understanding business situation and the competitive landscape in order to bring in the right visitors
Works in conjunction with your other marketing efforts
“ White-hat” search engine optimisation
Qualified search marketing professional
Certified Google Adwords Professional
Qualified Yahoo! Ambassador (North America)
Currently consulting for UPC Corporate as their in-house Search Engine Marketing expert
The Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania

EPWN’s Web 2.0 Workshop Series

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 Examples
Web 2.0 websites - blogs, wikis, forums, social networking sites, rich internet applications, syndications, mashups
blogs, discussion forums, wikis, social networking, and media repositories:
Facebook
Bebo
LinkedIn
Twitter
MySpace
Hyves
YouTube
Flickr
Digg
Wikipedia

Yahoo: Then (Web 1.0) & Now (Web 2.0)

Another example: Flickrvision “mashup”

What Web 2.0 Means for Businesses

Web 2.0: Your “Digital Sales Representative”*
“ [Web 2.0] is all about furthering your brand, product and service and getting people to relate to you one-on-one and giving you feedback.”
Andrew DiFiore Jr., Creative Director of answerYES Interactive
“ Digital Sales Representative” is Mr. DiFiore’s description of Web 2.0.

Businesses Have Begun Monitoring Social Media

Why Online Marketing?
Cost-effective lead generation
Reach new markets and new audiences
Create buzz about your product, service, or brand
Many businesses can’t afford not to market online
Source: AMA

Web 2.0 Has Changed the Merchant/Customer Dynamics
Customers can share information with each other about their experiences with companies, brands, products & services
People trust their peers more than they trust official company messages and traditional media channels.
Often, customers use the Web to research products & companies before buying
Customers expect companies to be open & honest
Blogs, social networks, podcasts, and video can engage customers
Online activity is a valuable source of information about customers’ wants, needs, and opinions

Gaming is a Big Influence

The entertainment landscape is changing
Video games are poised to "eclipse" all other forms of entertainment, according to Activision games studio boss Mike Griffith.
BBC News online 10 January 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7821612.stm "Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors."

Video Game Influences on Online Marketing Source: http:// www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command = viewArticleBasic&articleId =9079980
Websites are using game challenges, leader boards, competitions, points and rewards to keep their online users engaged with what they are selling.
Much of the success of Facebook comes from its functioning as "the ultimate trophy room" where users can one-up other members based on the number of friends they have or how many games they have won.
Gaming tactics tap into the fundamental human need for accomplishment.
Bunchball has a demo application on Facebook that provides display icons for people as a reward for playing games. The biggest request from users of that application is for more types of trophy icons .

Gaming for Engagement: “The Office” Contest
In 2007, NBC launched a website for Dunder Mifflin, the fictitious company in the TV show The Office. (http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com/)
Fans of the show can sign up to become Dunder Mifflin employees and socialize with other “employees”.
Content is user-generated. NBC sets competitions to produce a particular type of content and the users are “rewarded” for creating the content, with the best (as voted on by the community) given positions on the leaderboard on the homepage.
NBC is paying their users virtual currency to do real work, and create the content that drives the site.
Source: www.bunchball.com

Example: Whopper Sacrifice
“Mary sacrificed Jane Kaplan for a free WHOPPER®”

Online Reputation Management

When people Google you, what’s the first thing they see?

Example: Ford Motor Company
Ford has a Social Media department.
http://www.fordvehicles.com/thefordstory/ and http://ford.digitalsnippets.com/
A Digital Snippet may take the form of copy, photos, video or audio that is optimized for the Internet and easily reposted on any website

There’s a lot of stuff out there on the web. Search helps people find what they are looking for. Search Engine Marketing can help you get found.

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM is one of the most important sources of online traffic and sales.
SEM covers
Search Engine Optimization (getting traffic from the free (also called “organic”) search results
Search Engine Advertising (advertising in the “Sponsored Links” section of search engines such as Google).
SEM offers the one of the lowest costs per sale of online marketing activities
PAID PAID NOT PAID Get traffic and sales from search engines such as Google. People are searching because they are actively interested in your products.

Search Engine Optimisation

How Search Engines Work
They read a page and identify content & links to other pages.
They store text content in their “index”
For most links that they have found, they visit those pages and repeat the process
When a user searches, the search engine decides on the results by looking in the index for pages that fit the query
The search engine ranks the pages based on relevance to the user’s query
Google considers more than a hundred “signals”
Page content
Popularity, as shown by the number and quality of links to the page
Other pages on the same website
Age of the website
Relationships between this website & others
For each listing, the search engine displays a title, a descriptive “snippet” and a URL

Your Influence on the Google Listings
You can influence the way your Google listings appear
Bagels & Beans wrote this Title Bagels & Beans wrote this Description Source code:

Like Choosing a Book
What do you look at when choosing a book from the library or bookstore? Google’s selection process is similar.
Example: “Italian Renaissance Architecture”

SEO in a Nutshell
Getting your website to appear high in the search results so that your target customers will visit it
Tell the search engines that your pages have something important to say about your desired search terms
Encourage others (especially reputable websites that are considered authorities in your field) to recommend your website by linking to it
Unique, engaging content is the ideal way.
People should be motivated to spontaneously share your website with friends & colleagues
NOTES:
Make sure you are targeting the right search terms to attract your desired visitors
Troubleshoot any technical problems keeping Google from understanding what you are saying

What does a search engine understand?
Look at the Google cache – “text-only” version
Random example: http://www.springtime.nl

Webpage Content Basics
Each page should be unique, with something important to say about just a few search terms.
HTML text matters most to search engines, because it lets them understand the significance of the content.
Text in images can’t be seen by Google
Text in Flash can be seen by Google when it decides it’s worth the trouble.
<Title> tag should be unique and contain the relevant keyword(s)
Description metatag should be unique and contain the relevant keyword(s)
It should also inspire the searcher to click when seeing this description in the Google search results

Google Page Rank is a clue
Try not to obsess over it. Focus instead on your website’s content. However, it can indicate technical problems.
Google.com has a PageRank of 10/10 Het Parool has a PageRank of 7/10 Grey Bar can indicate possible technical problems: PageRank = 0/10 PageRank = Grey Bar (PR not yet assigned)

Link Basics
Some links tell Google “I don’t vouch for the quality of this website or webpage”.
“ Links” that are actually JavaScript redirects may not be as helpful as “naked” links.
The anchor text of a link is important.
Anchor text should be meaningful and contain keywords
The text context surrounding the link is important.
DMOZ Open Directory ( www.dmoz.org ) link is good to have.
If you are going to the trouble of requesting (or even paying for*) links, make sure you understand what you’re getting * Any purchased links should conform to the Google guidelines.

Search Engine Advertising (PPC & PPM)

Challenges of Search Engine Advertising
Challenges
Setting up an effective campaign
Defining the best campaign structure
Knowing which keywords to bid on
Writing effective ad text
Managing the campaign in the presence of the ever-changing bid landscape and competition
Keeping your ad in a good position while maintaining a good ROI
Responding to (potentially aggressive) competition
Tracking your campaign’s results and adjusting as necessary
Media planning for site-targeted campaigns
Setting up a Google Adwords campaign is quick and easy. Getting good return on investment is harder.

Content Network Picture Google technology places your ad on the most relevant content pages Your customers see your ad when they visit relevant pages in the Google Network (websites that display Google ads).

Google Adwords Keyword Tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Get an idea of keyword search volume on Google (plus Google’s search partners) for your desired country & language.

Targeting options
Language
Geographical location
Time of Day
Keyword Matching
Negative Keywords
Content Network Placement Targeting
By subject matter, audience demographics, or specific URLs
Dynamic Keyword Insertion
Position Preference

Geographical Targeting
Reach potential customers in your desired locations
Show your ad where it is likely to be clicked on.
Improves Google’s perception of your ad’s quality. High-quality ads can bid less and get higher positions.

Content Network Targeting Options
Placement targeting
Demographics
Age & gender

How to Do It: Principles & Ideas

Web 2.0 Principles for Businesses
Transition from “brochure-ware” to a community gathering
B2C is seeing more dramatic Web 2.0 changes than B2B
Supplement the online corporate voice with deputized bloggers.
Don’t hide all your good content (whitepapers, etc.) behind the requirement that people provide their contact details.
Search engines need to see your content for you to be visible
Sharing is very Web 2.0 and allows you to build a community of interest, including prospective clients
Syndicate your content
Source: http://www.optaros.com/blogs/what-web-20-corporate-website *According to the recent Business to Business 2007 Survey, 72.6% of B2B buyers start their process with a web search

Workshop Exercises

Individual Exercise
List three search terms that you would like visibility for
Download the Google toolbar ( http://toolbar.google.com )
Change your Google search preferences to display 20 results
Search for “site:<your website>”
Record the number of pages indexed by Google
View your site and record the PageRank of homepage
View the Google cache of your homepage (text-only)
Do a Google search each of your three search terms and record the ranking (position in the list) for each.
From the Yahoo Site Explorer ( http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com ), record the number of external links.

Group Exercise
Divide into groups of 5 or 6
Select a website to improve the visibility of
Ideally, choose a website of a member of your group
List steps to take to improve the website’s visibility
What are your target search terms?
How visible is the website currently?
Who is the target audience?
What are they like?
Where do they congregate online?
What changes can be made to the website to improve rankings?
Present your recommendations to the rest of the workshop

Thank You! Catherine Gray Coppervine BV [email_address] http://www.coppervine.com

Increasing Online Visibility

by EPWN on Aug 07, 2009

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