Search Engine Marketing Services: What You Need to Know Now

1Copyright 2006, [email protected] 1

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Marketing on the Internetvia Search Engine Marketing:

What You Need to Know Now

Leslie CarruthersPresident / CEOThe Search Guru


Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

Your Objectives

TSG Background / Philosophy

It’s all about your Business

Search Engine Optimization 101

Organic Search Do’s and Don’ts

Pay Per Click Search

Local Search


What do you want from today?What do you want from today?

?


Today’s Presenter: Leslie CarruthersToday’s Presenter: Leslie Carruthers

Ten years in Internet marketing, six years of Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Trained by Heather Lloyd-Martin, pioneer of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) copywriting, and Detlev Johnson, a world-leading SEO technologist.

A skilled Webmaster and web developer

President of The Search Guru


The Search Guru: Our Philosophy and The Search Guru: Our Philosophy and ApproachApproach

Vision: To help people grow their businesses, be successful and make a difference.

Mission & Core Values

Understanding your business


The Search GuruThe Search Guru

Partial Client List:


What is possible for your business:What is possible for your business:

Brookstone.com: conversion rates doubled in a key product category through copywriting over baseline data

ROI of 269% produced via natural/organic search campaign

81% increase in total monthly visitors over baseline data

72% increase in monthly search engine referrals over baseline data

1600% increase in visibility over baseline data 153% increase in inbound links over baseline

data


Bottom Line: How often does your website Bottom Line: How often does your website enable a profitable interaction?enable a profitable interaction?

get people to call, or

send an email, or

request a quote/proposal.


Is your website working for you? Is your website working for you?

Success factors for online marketing:

more traffic and

higher conversion.

Success metrics for websites:

making money and

saving money.


What is important for websites now?What is important for websites now?

It is all about visibility and how to be found.

Search engines will control national and global marketing access.

Products and services will mainly be exposed by our websites.

Not on the first few pages?

Then no one will find you.


Leaving sales on the table…Leaving sales on the table…

Each time a search is performed in a major engine there are two possible outcomes:

The searcher finds you or

the searcher finds your competitor.

Google alone fields over 91 million searches each day.

March 2006, based on comScore data


Spidering Search EnginesSpidering Search Engines


1. Always start with your business objectives.1. Always start with your business objectives.

SEO as a marketing strategy only works if it helps your business meet its objectives.


1. Always start with your business objectives.1. Always start with your business objectives.

Protect your domain - follow best practices

Improve your firm’s visibility on the internet

Protect / enhance your brand

Increased traffic to your website, increased sales and market share

Turn your web-site into a highly productive sales channel


2. Assessing your website2. Assessing your website

Age of your domain Size of the site Conversion flow Usability Accessibility Technical issues Products or lead generation


3. Set benchmarks3. Set benchmarks

What are you tracking now? Benchmark reporting of current data Identify your success metrics Set budgets


4. Identify your keyphrases4. Identify your keyphrases Set a strong foundation for your SEO efforts Don’t assume you know the language of

your prospects Keyphrase Research provides market

research you can apply to other areas of your business

Perform keyphrase research at last once a year


5. Tactical level: implementing your SEO / SEM 5. Tactical level: implementing your SEO / SEM efforteffort

Natural / Organic optimization (SEO)

Pay Per Click campaigns (SEM)

Pay for Inclusion

Buzz Marketing


Paid Listings

Organic Listings


5. Tactical level: implementing your Organic 5. Tactical level: implementing your Organic SEO effortSEO effort

Making your website relevant for your prospects as well as the search engine spiders

Search engines respond to your efforts – traffic not immediate


5. Tactical level: implementing your SEO 5. Tactical level: implementing your SEO efforteffort

On page and off page factors are considered: Keyphrases in title tag

Keyphrase use and placement in copy

Domain name & site architecture

html tags

Inbound links

Internal linking strategy

Navigation

Code development

Anchor text

History


5. Tactical level: implementing your 5. Tactical level: implementing your SEM effortSEM effort

Immediate source of traffic

Pay only when someone clicks on your ad

Set budget by day, week and month

Highly targeted

Geo targeting (choose the cities / states that will see your ads)

Detailed ROI (Return on Investment) reporting by keyphrase


Blogging:Blogging:

Develop a corporate personality Start a conversation with your audiences More and more journalists use blogs /

RSS (really simple syndication) when researching stories

Provide timely / cutting edge information Grow your website Blogs are Google’s golden child now Blog postings rank!


Buzz Marketing:Buzz Marketing: Get others talking about you = inbound

links Online Public Relations – develop

relationships with influencers in your space

Attract the attention of media, prospects, influencers and more

Creates additional front doors to your web site

Helps drown out any possible negative press


Conquering SEO scams - what not to doConquering SEO scams - what not to do

Beware, bad SEO can get you in trouble

Submit your site to 1,000 search engines

Guaranteed rankings

We know the search engine algorithms

We’ll get thousands of people to link to your site

Do-It-Yourself Syndrome


What to focus on:What to focus on: Number of your pages Google, Yahoo!,

MSN, etc. list in their indexes.


10

10

5


Key factors:Key factors: Number of your pages Google, Yahoo!, MSN,

etc. list in their indexes.

Quality of listings on the Search Engine Results page (SERP).


The Power of the Title: 1st ConversionThe Power of the Title: 1st Conversion


Taking Title tags to the Next LevelTaking Title tags to the Next Level

Current Title tag:

<title>Positive Perceptions, LLC - Home</title>

Includes branding

Opportunities:

add keyphrases

add call to action

32 characters – 43 more to work with


Taking Title tags to the Next LevelTaking Title tags to the Next Level

Possible Title tag:

<title>Image consultants / personal stylist: choose Positive Perceptions today.</title>

Includes 2 keyphrases

“image consultants” (43 searches / day - Google)

“personal stylist” (12 searches / day - Google)

Includes branding

Includes call to action


Questions?Questions?

What Not to Do

SERP Quantity

SERP Quality

Power of the Title tag

?How are we doing?

What do you see for yourself so far?





Text is important for spiders






Keyphrase use and placement is critical



Content Findings: relevanceContent Findings: relevance

Keyword

No. of searches / 24Hrs in Google

"personal shopping" 139

"image consulting" 45

"image consultants" 43

"personal shopper" 41

"image consultant" 37

"image management approach" 13

"wardrobe consultants for young teens" 13

"personal branding" 12

"personal shoppers" 12

"personal stylist" 12

"fashion consultant" 12

"what does an image consultant do" 12

"color consultant" 9

"personal stylists" 8

"image management" 7

"professional home organizers" 7

"fees for personal shoppers" 7



neworder.vpweb.com

Business Services Individual services

Small Business Services

Home Office Services Other Custom Services

Bill Paying ServicesTailored To Your

Business

Tailored To Your Business

Time Management

Maintenance System Strategies

Computer Training


Filing SystemsQuickBooks,

Peachtree, etc.

Custom Systems

Process Audit

Additional service


neworder.vpweb.com





Business


Time Management


Computer Training



Peachtree, etc.

Custom Systems

Process Audit

Additional service


neworder.vpweb.com





Business


Time Management


Computer Training



Peachtree, etc.

Custom Systems

Process Audit

Additional service


neworder.vpweb.com




Bill Paying Services Custom Systems

Process Audit

Time Management


Computer Training

Additional serviceFiling SystemsQuickBooks,

Peachtree, etc.


Moving down the Sales CycleMoving down the Sales Cycle

Capture traffic from niche keyphrases

Product, market and category pages present tremendous opportunities for increased traffic.

• General: “amish country” (131 searches per day in Google alone)

• Category: “Ohio bed and breakfast" (19 searches per day in Google alone)

• Niche: “cabins in amish country, ohio" (5 searches per day in Google alone)

• Add on sales: “amish country quilts” (5 searches per day in Google alone)


Questions?Questions?

Importance of Text

Choice and Placement of Keyphrases

?

How are we doing?

What do you see for yourself so far?


What is important now:What is important now:

Number of your pages Google, Yahoo!, MSN, etc. list in their indexes.




Inbound links are a key factor


Website.com

non-competing, related website





non-competing, related website non-competing,

related website




Inbound link strategies:Inbound link strategies:

Blogs

Forums

Syndicated Content

Linkbait

Additional benefits:

online reputation management




Anchor Text provides context for the link and is weighted by search engines

Anatomy of a LinkAnatomy of a Link

<a href=“http://www.Forbescom/”>image consulting for corporate executives.</a>

Anchor TextThe Link Address

“Forbes recommends Jill Haney for image consulting for corporate executives on the way up.”


Writing anchor textWriting anchor text

Click here

or

Discover more about image consulting for individuals and corporations.








Best practices code development








Best practices code development

Best practices site architecture


Local Search

Serving the neighborhood, region, Ohio and the Midwest


Serving the Local Market: Local SearchServing the Local Market: Local Search

On every page: Local phone number (area code) Address format

• StreetCity, State Zip+4

Include in copy: Name of City Abbreviated name of state Full name of state Name of county Name of Neighborhood (if applicable)


Serving the Local Market: Local SearchServing the Local Market: Local Search

Add a map and written directions to your location

Register / check your info at InfoUSA, Acxiom, iBegin Source

Submit to local and regional directories http://www.google.com/local/add http://listings.local.yahoo.com


Resources:Resources:

Ask.com guildelines: http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/editorial_guidelines.shtml

Google guidelines: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769

MSN guidelines: http://search.msn.com/docs/siteowner.aspx?t=SEARCH_WEBMASTER_REF_GuidelinesforOptimizingSite.htm

Yahoo! guidelines: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/deletions/deletions-05.html



Adwords blog: http://www.adwords.blogspot.com/

Yahoo! SEM blog: http://www.ysearchblog.com/

MSN SEM blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fadcenter%2fdefault.aspx%2f

Google on SEOs: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291



Yahoo! SEM free keyphrase research tool: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Google Adwords free keyphrase research tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

WordTracker keyphrase research tool: http://www.WordTracker.com

KeyWord Discovery keyphrase research tool: http://www.KeyWordDiscovery.com

Technology

Search Engine Marketing Services: What You Need to Know Now