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tools
Web Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
BY LAUREN YANT
I
n an industry where 3D renderings and computer- your site, and what pages they found most useful. It will show you
generated energy modeling are the norm, one how long they stayed on pages within your site and from which
would think that professional services marketing, pages they left it. You can even select date ranges and ask Google
too, would be on the cutting edge of technology. Analytics to tell you how your site is performing month over
Yet, most A/E/C firms view their Web sites as a month. It’s a truly amazing tool.
digital reinterpretation of their print brochures—and
nothing more. Forward-thinking professional services You can even use Google Analytics to measure a traditional media
marketers have the unique opportunity to stop campaign. For example, if you send out a direct-mail piece and ask
making the Web marketing mistakes detailed below recipients to visit a landing page on your site to learn more about
and to start capitalizing on all the Web has to offer. a new service or event, you can then see how many people actually
visit that page as a result of your campaign.
Mistake #1: Not Tracking Your Site
Another great tool that Google offers is Webmaster Tools
Any professional services firm that has a Web site should have
(www.google.com/webmasters/start). It goes farther than the
Google Analytics installed on its site. Yet, after checking out
information Google Analytics offers by showing you how your site
the Web sites of the top 50 design firms in my state, I realized
is performing in Google search results, helping you to troubleshoot
that only two of them had analytics installed on their sites (and
any potential problems on your site, and giving you lists of sites
one of those was my own firm).
that are linking to your site. The setup for Google Webmaster
Even if you aren’t ready to engage in a full-fledged Web marketing Tools is similar to that of Google Analytics, and it’s also free.
plan, go ahead and set up tracking now. This will allow you to
Mistake #2: Not Optimizing Your Site for Search
establish a benchmark upon which your later metrics can be
This second Web marketing mistake comes in many varieties:
compared. And luckily for all of us with tight marketing budgets,
Google Analytics is free. It’s also quick and easy to install as long as designing your entire Web site using Flash in the hope it will
you have access to your company’s site files (or an IT person who look so good that it inevitably drives results
does). Simply go to http://www.google.com/analytics and follow putting a bunch of keywords at the bottom of your homepage
the step-by-step instructions. in the same color as the background (invisible text) in the hope
that the search engines will pick them up as relevant text and
therefore increase your ranking
“Forward-thinking professional services
paying a company that guarantees they can move you into the
marketers should stop making these top three search engine results within a few days
Web marketing mistakes. ”
As you may have guessed, none of the above three strategies will
prove effective. There are, however, several tried-and-true methods
Once you’ve signed up for Google Analytics and inserted the code
of search engine optimization (SEO) that you can implement to
into all your site’s pages, you’ll start receiving reports within 24
help drive more traffic to your site.
hours. You’ll not only be able to see how many people come to
your site and when, but also where they’re from, how they found
Society for Marketing Professional Services

1. Create an information-rich site with relevant information.
Use text and specific words that people would use to search
reach out to potential partners, clients, and employees. Young
people are especially well-known for looking up current employees
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for your site. of firms on Facebook before interviewing just to “get a feel” for
2. Pay attention to your site architecture and make it easy to the culture of a place. It’s best to create your own image rather
navigate. Make sure each page is reachable from another than allowing someone else to create that image for you.
static link on the site.
LinkedIn.com is another great way for your marketing team and
3. Try to use text rather than images or Flash elements to employees to not only network with other professionals but also
display menu items or other links. Search engine crawlers to market your firm. Creating a link to your company allows
cannot “see” images and flash elements. those with whom you are linked to easily find your company on
4. Utilize <title> tags, alt attributes, and description attributes to the Web. By joining relevant groups in the network, you greatly
help search engine crawlers reach and know what’s on your site. expand your network while still keeping it relevant. These are
If you aren’t familiar with these terms, a quick Wikipedia search just two examples of social networks that might work for your
will give you a tutorial. To see if your site is utilizing these ele- company; a quick survey of your staff can yield a list of other
ments, go to your company’s Web site in Internet Explorer and potential avenues for your firm.
click on “View,” then click on “Source” in the browser menu.
Mistake #4: Avoiding the Blogosphere
5. Implement a linking strategy. One of the ways that search
I remember when “blog” was “word of the year” in 2004. Back
engines rank your site is by the number of quality links coming
then, it was a novel idea, but these days, it seems like everybody
into and out of it. The more relevant sites that are directing
has one. The same should be true of your professional services firm.
traffic to you, the better effect it will have on your ranking.
Seek to establish reciprocal links with partners, professional Blogs can be an exciting and effective part of your Web marketing
organizations, industry blogs, and other sites that can send plan for the following reasons.
more people your way. Google Webmaster Tools can generate
a list of your current internal and external links to help you Anyone on the staff can become a contributor if you so choose,
see where you stand and monitor your progress. so everyone feels involved in marketing. This can encourage
word-of-mouth advertising of your blog and a sense of owner-
Mistake #3: Ignoring Social Networking ship among the staff.
I like to share a funny story about a dear coworker of mine whom
I admire greatly and enjoy working with. She’s on our board of Up-to-the-minute updates about projects in progress, staff news,
directors and has been with our company since the early days, so etc. can be posted quickly and easily.
while she knows everything there is to know about our firm, she Blogs encourage interactivity with their readers by offering com-
has a somewhat antiquated view of technology. After I sent out menting capability, XML feeds, and other user-friendly tools.
an e-mail debuting our new Facebook business page, she came Blogs hosted on your site help your SEO efforts by adding
to me and asked, “What are we doing on a dating site?!” relevant content to your site. Blogs hosted externally
(Wordpress.com, Blogspot.com, etc.) also can help your
I gave her a slightly confused look and explained to her the value
SEO efforts by sending links to your site.
in it (and how Facebook is not a dating site), and we both got a
laugh. It seems that now everyone in my company is on board Depending on how you set them up, blogs can be free and easy.
with my Web marketing strategies, but it definitely took some Check out Blogspot.com or Wordpress.com to get started, and
convincing. Here’s my rationale: As professional marketers, then work with your Web agency or IT group to integrate your
we have four basic target markets—potential clients, partners, blog into your site when you’re ready.
employees, and the media. As it stands, these four groups range
in age from 20-somethings to Baby Boomers. As those at the Mistake #5: Not Buying It
younger end of this spectrum start looking for jobs and even If you’re still skeptical, I challenge you to give just Google
begin entering leadership roles in their companies, it’s becoming Analytics a shot. The beauty of Web marketing is that it’s
more and more important for us to speak to them on their completely trackable. There’s no wondering how you’re going
terms—and in case you didn’t get the e-mail (or IM, or wall to prove to your board of directors that your $6,000 direct-mail
post, or Twitter), they’re all over the Web. campaign worked. There’s no pulling goals out of thin air because
you don’t have any baseline analytics from which to work. With
Having a Facebook business page allows your employees and Web analytics, all those variables are taken out of the equation.
other interested parties to become “fans” of your company. It
also gives you yet another marketing platform from which to continued on page 34
Marketer/April 2009

34 tools
Web Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
continued from page 33
From there, you can start integrating the Web into your other brainstorm ways that you can further harness the power of the
marketing initiatives and tracking the results on a campaign- Web, you won’t need any more convincing. Using the benchmarks
by-campaign basis. you’ve established and the results from your Web marketing cam-
paigns, you’ll convince yourselves (and your company stakeholders)
Optimizing your site for search? Use Google Analytics to of the importance of avoiding these Web marketing mistakes.
see if search engines increase as a traffic source.
Encouraging your staff to get more involved on LinkedIn
and Facebook? Use Google’s Webmaster Tools to see if About the Author
you are getting links from those sites.
Lauren Yant is the marketing director at GSBS
Working with human resources to launch a recruitment Architects (www.gsbsarchitects.com) in Salt
campaign? Check your analytics to see which geographic Lake City, UT. When not directing the company’s
Web marketing strategies, Lauren spends her
regions are generating the most traffic to the Careers time rock climbing, playing the mandolin, and
section on your Web site. entertaining her two cats. She can be reached
at lyant@gsbsarchitects.com or on LinkedIn.
Of course, this is just a sampling of the myriad of marketing This is her first contribution to Marketer.
opportunities for which you can utilize Google Analytics and
Web marketing strategies. As you and your marketing team
business development
Recruiting Rainmakers
continued from page 23
“First, a person who makes a lot of rain at one firm sometimes fails rainmaker search effort. Instead of just finding the business
to realize how much of his or her success depends on the platform you would normally find, you will multiply the overall results
created by that firm,” says Ford Harding. “He or she can find for your practice with the additional contributions of the rain-
it much more difficult to sell the second firm’s services. This is makers you discover and hire. You simply need to think less
especially true if the person moves from a name-brand firm to like a lone wolf. Harding says it is always wise to keep your
a less well-known one. eyes open for potential rainmakers even if you don’t need to
hire one right away, because with this knowledge, you will be
“Second, the person doesn’t really know the new firm’s offerings able to connect much more effectively when you are ready to
(past projects, team credentials, culture, and so on) and so ends expand or fill a rainmaker’s vacancy.
up really selling what the former client offered. This problem is
compounded if the rainmaker is frozen out of the relationships “The best way to recruit rainmakers is to talk to your friends and
and communications needed to promote the new firm, because talk to your network and let them know what you are looking for,”
the others in the studio resent being passed over for promotion says Geier. And “make some phone calls yourself.”
or because the rainmaker doesn’t make sufficient effort to learn
about the new firm and win over new colleagues.
About the Author
“Finally, the market is well aware that the rainmaker was touting
his former employer as the best only last week and may take a wait- Contributing Editor Mark Buckshon is president
of the Construction News and Report Group of
and-see attitude before giving work to the new firm,” Harding says. Companies (www.constructionnrgroup.com), which
publishes regional construction newspapers and
While these risks are significant, if you are a rainmaker principal/ maintains a network of Canadian and U.S. Web
owner, you should also consider the leverage you can achieve sites. Based in Ottawa, Mark can be reached at
buckshon@ccnrgp.com or through his blog, http://
by applying you own business development talents to the www.constructionmarketingideas.blogspot.com.
Society for Marketing Professional Services