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January 2013
| Date post: | 29-Nov-2014 |
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Business |
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January 2013
“What would I present if I had an hour to tell some friends about the most exciting current web marketing opportunities?”
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.
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.
Desktop/Laptop
Mobile
Find out mobile search percentages in your vertical prior to crafting a strategy.
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!
Originally published at SearchEngineLand.com (a great resource)
Ad “inventory” is growing way faster on Tablets than phones.
Cost per click is growing much slower.
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.
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.
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).
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).
Google Search
Google Search
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
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...
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 ;-)
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....
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
[email protected] – email me with your questions about online marketing strategy.
