The document provides an overview of search engine marketing strategies and tactics. It discusses optimizing websites for search engines through on-page factors like keywords, hyperlinks, page titles and meta tags. It also covers off-page strategies like search engine optimization and paid search marketing. Multivariate testing is presented as a way to optimize website elements and increase conversions.

1. Search Engine Marketing 101 October 2, 2008

2. Internet strategy Website structure A/B, Multivariate Testing Traditional Media Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Web 2.0, Social Media Agenda

3. Your Takeaways Better understanding of the power and potential of the internet to grow your business New internet tactics to grow your business Tools to drive more website traffic covert that traffic to sales Conversion

4. The Inernet The Internet has and is rapidly changing the way we communicate.

5. We Communicate Email Online Newspapers Digital magazines E-newsletters Blogs Video Conferencing Digital Television Social & Web 2.0

6. We Do Business The Internet is changing the way we do business.

7. How We Do Business… How we prospect How we sell How we deliver information How we research How we service customers With whom we work Without borders Shifting work to customers

8. The Internet in Perspective “ 2/3rds of respondents to a recent survey said offline ads such as TV and direct mail drive them to search for a company online” Internet Retailer Magazine

9. “… Officedepot.com conversion rate of 29.6% is more than a fourth larger than No. 2 1-800-flowers.com, at 20.9%” Neilsen Online, July 08

10. “ Web sales account for 36% of total revenue this year, up from 31% for companies that mainly sell through catalogs.” Direct Marketing News

11. Gap Inc. “ Web sales rose 11% while total sales fell by 5.44% and comparative store sales fell by 10%.” Internet Retailer Magazine

12. “ With product videos on www.shoeline.com boosting conversion by 44% in a test, the retailer plans to expand the program this fall.” Internet Retailer Magazine

13. “ Six-Year-Old News Story Causes United Airlines Stock to Plummet” Google placed the wrong date on the news release. The stock plummeted 75% in minutes Sept 7, 2008

14. “ Google recognizes 1 trillion unique URLs and adds more than 2 billion new pages of content every day.” Google Press Release

15. Your Internet Strategy Study internet leaders and innovators Apply tactics to your business Make it easier for customers to do business with you Customer centric Integrate on-line and off-line

16. The Internet is changing our lives more dramatically and faster than virtually any other technology development in the history of the world

17. Where are you going? “ Would you please tell me which way I go from here?” asks Alice to the Cheshire Cat. The Cat grins and answers, “That depends on where you want to get to.” “ I don’t much care where” says the lost Alice. “ Then” says the Cat “it doesn’t matter which way you go.” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

18. Internet Strategy What is your business strategy? How does it relate to the internet? Study internet winners Research your competition Aim to be the best Innovate Integrate with off-line strategy

19. Internet Strategy Your internet strategy defines how you build and manage your website and integrate SEM into your overall MARCOM program.

20. Website Goals Brochure-ware website Leads Sales Cut sales cycle time Cut cost of sales Distribute literature, manuals Make it easier to buy Raise money

21. Traffic Driving Tactics Traditional Media Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Marketing Viral and Gorilla marketing

22. Traditional Media Print advertising Broadcast advertising Direct mail Yellow pages Trade shows There is direct correlation between traditional media advertising and website traffic.

23. Search Engine Optimization SEO is the art and science of designing web pages so search engines can find and rank them, ahead of your competition.

24. Search Engine Optimization SEO is time consuming and requires skill and experience not found in most companies, including web development companies.

25. Search Engine Optimization A well strategized and tactically implemented SEO program will pay for itself many times over.

26. Search Engine % of Market Google, Yahoo and MSN make up the lion’s share of the daily search volume. Google 56.5% US share of search volume Yahoo 23.3% US share of search volume MSN 11.3% US share of search volume AOL 4.5% US share of search volume 95.6%

27. In Google We Trust Google is the number one ranked trusted company in the US 2008 Edelman Trust Barometer Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient Survey July 08 – Google recognizes 1 trillion unique urls and is adding several billion new pages per day Google was incorporated on Sept 4, 1998

28. SEO – On Page Factors Website platform Website design & content Meta keywords Website description Page titles Alt tags Same site hyperlinks Site map

29. SEO – Website Platform Website Platform ASP.Net, PHP, HTML SEO friendly Flash, ColdFusion… not SEO friendly Must be linear Must be scalable Content Managed System (CMS) SEO-able w3c standards

30. SEO - Website Design Targeted to audience Different design rules than print media Key information above-the-fold Easy to navigate- user friendly Fast loading Minimal clicks Consider using video

31. SEO – Website Design 2 Creates an overall feel without calling too much attention to itself Enables visitors to easily perform tasks Reinforce your brand without seeming like an ad

32. Pay attention to keywords Use consistent wording Use benefit text and offers Use call-to-action (CTA) verbs Use logical, CTA page conclusions Place CTA’s where eye-path ends SEO - Content

33. SEO Content 2 Make CTA balloons jump off-the-page Be tasteful Use text hyperlinks Keep it clean – don’t overdo hyperlinks Use Ariel or other “web safe” typeface y Print writing rules do not apply Content is why visitors are coming to your website

34. Multivariate Split Testing Simultaneously test multiple variables for highest response. The test tool automates the process by auto swapping each option and tracks results.

35. Multivariate Website Testing Can simultaneously test web page factors to boost sales, leads, opt-ins. Makes use of statistical Taguchi methods to accelerate the test results. Let the market decide your best web page options. No need for guesswork. Click traffic can be expensive. Make the most of your website by boosting conversion. Can be used to test off-line advertising before going to print.

36. Test Elements Headlines Sub-headlines Offers Body Copy Bullets Guarantees Lead Forms Calls to Action Order Pages Testimonials Price Bonuses Images Graphics Video Audio Fonts Colors

37. Statistics Identify Winners Track confidence intervals and conversion percentage to find best options.

38. Multivariate Test Case Study Project Goal: Perform multivariate split testing to boost the web lead conversion rate for client website landing pages. Increase the lead conversion rate from less than 3% to 6% to 10% through text and graphics changes to optimized landing pages.

39. Actual MV Test Results Click to Lead Conversion rates Before After City/website A 3.19% 6.53% City/website B 4.06% 6.52% City/website C 2.42% 5.58% City/website D 3.92% 10.35%

40. Actual MV Test Results Time Period 1/1 – 8/6 8/8 – 9/28 Clicks 22,179 4,992 Leads 707 326 Conv. Ratio 3.19% 6.53% Cost/Lead $49.80 $23.77 Lead costs decreased by 52.27%

41. SEO - Meta Keywords Use them in text Use multiple words for the same product, e.g. pants, trousers, slacks, breeches… Devote page to high traffic keywords Don’t make keyword assumptions Research keywords Code keywords properly

42. Developing Keywords Words that describe your business, products & services General vs. specific Short and Long tail Study competitor websites Use keyword search tools http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

43. Phrase Match Keywords Phrase Match keywords will trigger your ad for any query that includes your keyword or phrase in the exact sequence you specify. Example: “used book” – will appear with “used book dealer” query but not “used paperback book”

44. Exact Match Keywords Exact Match is the most precise method for targeting keywords. Queries have to precisely match your keyword.

45. Negative Match Keywords Negative Match keywords prevent your listing from appearing when a search includes a keyword that you don’t want and is not relevant to your business.

46. Embedded Match Keywords Embedded Match is a sophisticated form of keyword matching that allows you to prevent your ad from appearing in relation to certain phrases or exact matches. Example: When an advertiser sells merchandise related to a movie or book but not the actual book or movie.

47. Broad Match Keywords Broad Match is the default setting for your keywords. This means that your word will appear when other words are included in the query. Example: used book will show up in “buy used book”, “used and rare book” etc. searches.

48. Keyword Matching Options For more information go to: www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter Keyword tools http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal www.wordtracker.com www.vretoolbar.com/keywords

49. Short vs. Long Tail Keywords Short Keyword High search volume Increased visibility Less qualified traffic Lower conversion rate Potential higher cost Long Tail Keyword Highly qualified traffic Higher conversion rate Lower cost Low search volume Identifying right keywords

50. Same-Site Hyperlinking Google believes that when one page links to another page it is effectively casting a vote for the other page. The more votes cast the more relevant a page must be. Use Hyperlinks to: visit other pages, view images, download files, run media, activate Javascripts

51. Hyperlink Tutorial http://www.ironsider.ca/format_text/hyperlinks.htm http – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol WWW – Host name, World Wide Web Ironsider – SLD Second Level Domain .ca – TLD Top Level Domain Descriptive text <ahref=“www.ironsider.ca/format_text/hyperlinks.htm”><Creating Hyperlinks</a>

52. Page Titles Like book chapter titles Help search engines better understand page content Maximum recommended length is 70 characters Title every page for optimal results

53. Font Tags & CSS FT’s not critical for Google Good practice – other search engines Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to separate your website’s content from its appearance

54. Alt Tags Photo and image descriptions Search engines can’t see images Alt Tags assign text to an image Give search engines a way to classify and validate content

55. Site Map Site Map - blueprint of your website. Your developer can create it using a software program Site Map is part of the Google algorithm www.google.com/webmaster/tools/en/sitemap-generator.htm l

56. Blogs Are popular now but are falling in popularity, on B2B sites Costly and time consuming to keep up Most have little readership or participation Blogs help optimization

57. RSS Feed RSS feeds allows users to subscribe to your blog Uses: weather, stock market, commodity prices, sports scores, news events, announcements

58. What Not To Do Don’t use hidden text Don’t use doorway pages, cloaking and deceptive redirects Don’t use automated submissions Don’t use keyword stuffing Don’t use content repetition Don’t join link farms Don’t get blacklisted

59. SEM – Off-Page Factors Inbound links Pay-Per-Click Google Maps Affiliate partners Directories Article syndication E-press releases Banner Ads Blogs Social media

60. Google PageRank (PR) Google uses an extremely sophisticated and ever changing algorithm to rank websites and assign them a PageRank (PR rank) from 1 to 10.

61. Google PageRank (PR) PR 0 – 3: New websites and websites with minimal links PR 4 – 5: Popular websites with a fair amount of inbound links PR 6: Very popular websites with hundreds of quality links PR 7 – 10: You need to be Amazon, Ebay, NY Times

62. Organic Search Traffic Over 70% of B2B buyers use a search engine at the start of their buying process About 75% of B2B prospects click on organic results Less than 19% of B2B buyers click on paid search ads 77% of B2B prospects prefer Google Machine Design Magazine Study

63. Organic Search Placement Organic search clicks by SERPS page placement chart

64. Directories Free and Paid Dmoz.org JoeAnt.com Jayde.com Gimpsy.com Illumirate.com Skaffe.com Xoron.com Somuch.com Websavvy.com Dc2net.com Re-quest.net Netinsert.com Galaxy.com Mavicanet.com Bizweb.com Yeandi.com

65. Inbound Links Search Google for search terms Find your competitor websites\Find websites linking to them www.competitor-domain.com Email them and ask for a reciprocal link exchange

66. Inbound Links cont. How many links do I need? You need to have more inbound links than your competitor websites to outrank them For one client we added more than 30,000 links in 12 months

67. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Sponsored Listings Live Auction Position determined by bid price & number of clicks Set up and manage campaigns Run Google Analytics

68. Geo-Targeting By mile radius By city, county, state By zip code Demographic targeting

69. 3 rd Party Websites Text ads on 3 rd party websites Google 3 rd party ad program No control over where ads appear Lower quality clicks / leads

70. E-press releases Use to build links Must be newsworthy Use digital pr service Which services depends on the release market: financial, sports, manufacturing etc.

71. Syndicated Articles aka article marketing Generic, non-sales articles Published articles create links Traffic generating Helps PR Rank

72. Affiliate Partners Pay partner per click to your website Pay per transaction Examples: Amazon Flowers.com

73. Banner Ads On 3 rd party websites Pop-up ads Pay on a CPM basis Use for reach only Low volume leads Low quality leads

74. Conclusion It takes training, experience and time to do SEM right and to harness the Power of the Internet SEM is part art and part science

75. Conclusion Download the PowerPoint at www.brandspringsolutions.com Contact me: [email_address] Phone: 952-345-7262