What this means for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and your internet search results

Millions of people use the internet everyday to do research, find products or services to buy, or look for something local.  Approximately 80% of consumers research a product or service online before choosing to make a purchase offline from a local business and 84% of all internet traffic is referred through search engines.  We type the keywords we are looking for into a search engine, like Google, and select websites from the list given.  Why some sites are displayed before others is merely an afterthought to many web users.  For internet marketers, search engine optimization is a service provided to their business customers who want to increase internet presence and turn site traffic into sales.  In 2009, Google will change the way we search by personalizing results for each person based on their location and search history.

Google’s search results are based on continuously changing algorithms that rank sites based on keywords and link building.  The new personalized search results will be different- they will be based on the behavior and the intent of the individual web user.  Each person will end up with different search results based on their prior search history and their physical location.  Google gets your information through cookies left on your computer after visiting a site and from your local IP address.  The information allows Google to make assumptions about your search.

At PubCon 2008, the Webmaster’s World Search and Internet Marketing Conference held in Las Vegas November 11-14, industry experts spoke about the future of Google and search engine optimization (SEO).  Matt Cutts, a software engineer for Google, spoke about the future of search engine optimization and personalization of search results in 2009.  When he was asked if site ranking is dead, Cutts said, “I’m not sure I would say ranking is dead but it’s not as important as it used to be.  The fact is the smart SEOs are not just necessarily looking at the rankings.  They are looking at conversion, they are looking at their server log.  It’s great if you’re ranking for a phrase but unless that leads to sales that doesn’t help you very much.  The challenge is not to pay so much attention to ranking, pay attention to traffic, pay attention to conversions and keep building good content and don’t worry about ‘can I show people that I rank number one for my trophy phrase.’ ”

Ranking may not be dead, but it will be considered less important.  The most important way to measure your site’s success will be focusing on site traffic, conversion, and bounce rates rather than where your site shows up in the rankings for specific keywords.  Search personalization will make site traffic more qualified, and although your overall site traffic may decrease, overall sales will increase.  Rich media content will be vital and websites with compelling content and relevant keywords, images, voice, video, and other interactive functions will succeed. 

So what does this mean for internet marketers, business owners, and individual search experience in general?  For internet marketers, this may mean a change in the way success is measured for customers.  It will require better definitions of the ideal website visitor- based on quality, rich media content, and a specific call-to-action to keep visitors on your site and coming back.  The internet is constantly changing and internet marketers have to be prepared to adapt to the changing technology to stay competitive. 

For business owners, this means more qualified site visitors with an improved ratio between traffic and conversion to sales.  The local impact of search personalization will help drive sales to local businesses that otherwise would not have been able to compete with national companies and spammer sites that dominated the rankings for industry keywords. 

The overall search engine experience will improve because we will no longer need to sift through countless websites until we find what we are actually looking for.  Overall website quality will improve as companies will enhance their websites to include more media content and interactive functions to improve visitor experience. 

Google’s personalization should motivate us all to evaluate our existing web sites and make sure:

• content provides the information that the target customer is looking for and is up-to-date.
• the site offers interactive features and different types of media that customers would find interesting.
• the site is easy to navigate and has a call-to-action to turn visitors into sales. 

Taking these steps now will ensure that you are prepared for the new era of information search.

Is Your Website Just an Electronic Billboard?

If the majority of your visitors are unique and from direct traffic, it means your present customers and word-of-mouth prospective clients are the majority of your visitors and they don’t have many reasons to return to your site.

I’m inferring that your present customers are only coming to your site once in their entire relationship with you. Maybe a few times later, to get your business phone number or email, but that is the extent of their browsing at your site. They have no reason to come back. They read the brochure in the beginning…and that’s all the website really acts as.

Your Site Should Be a Commerce/Living/ Entertainment/Industry/Business – Workspace!

Looking to the future, you need to incorporate the tools and attractions that can keep customers coming back and drawing in prospective clients.

Offering tools, information, and an open communication portal to your business can increase revenue. Revenue is available from both sides: existing customers and prospective clients, and your site should cater to the needs of both. However, as it is at least half the cost to keep a customer than to sign a new one, it is a better investment to make your existing customers your primary target.

Many of the proposals I suggest in the following sections apply to both, existing customers and prospective clients. Some initiatives are available to both sides and some are available only to existing customers, but will be incentives for prospective clients to join you.

Chat Options

This adds a whole new aspect of communication with existing clients and prospective customers. Questions and inquiries can be answered quickly and easily with multiple users. All of your employees can communicate with existing and prospective clients in real time while completing other projects – in other locations. Minor conversations can be done while you are with a client, on the phone with another client, or on a conference call. This service can easily be turned on or off (Chat available/Chat not available) and usually can be used from any remote location (install software). Many business sites offer some form of chat as most people prefer to not get stuck on the phone or wait days for a return email.

Chat options are available from many sources:

• Every Chat
• ParaChat
• Website Alive
• Help On Click

Quote Calculator

Web users are looking for answers - direct answers, quick answers, customized answers. They want prices, processes, and plans all laid out before they give up any money. If your business is based on quote pricing, a basic quote calculator can give prospective customers a feeling of immediacy and an estimate of their cost with you. Many customers have no idea what the cost of your product/service will be or even what they can or should budget for it. This calculator can help customers figure out what they want to pay and what they have to pay. Giving them this information has them trusting you up front and coming back when they are ready.

Existing customers can use different versions of quote calculators to get quotes for added services. Different versions of quote calculators could be provided to provide customized prices of new services and helping the customer decide whether the extra services are necessary and cost effective on your terms.

A lot of web development companies use quote calculators:

• Pink Link
• Buyer Zone
• Pumpkin Pip
• Bjorn Enki

However, tools for creating quote calculators are sparse:

• MovePoint
• Crystal Myst

Forums and B2B Communications

Turning your site into a hub of communication (and therefore information) for businesses (mostly your clients) can bring existing customers and prospective customers together to discuss the business environment in your industry or geographical location. You can provide questions, have businesses discuss their strategies, and argue problems in your industry or geographical region. If you become the hall where the “business club” meets, you help shape its future. Since you have direct communication with all of our clients, you can inform them about its creation and new topics being discussed. This process could easily gain momentum and expand past your clients quickly into your industry or geographical location.

Forum tools are available:

• Ektron
• Near-Time

Client Directory – Extended Beyond

Along the same lines as the forums, an online business directory of your clients could pool more businesses under your roof. Even if your clients only want backlinks and profiles for Search Engine Optimization purposes, you gain by adding their business to your growing index of businesses. As this gains momentum and you offer it beyond your clients, businesses can become part of a categorized directory which connects them to each other, your business, and beyond.

Directory creation scripts are available:

• CreaScripts
• Big WebMaster

Company Growth, Confirmation, and Security

With the incredible saturation of spammers on the web today, web users’ trust is strained and their skepticism is at its summit. You need to provide users with concrete information instead of the phrase, “…and much, much more!”

Variable tickers of how many clients your business services could be made available on your site easily (I’m not talking about a visitor counter; it’s something you can control and add or subtract from). Maybe a map of your state or country where all your clients are located would work.

Certifications in different technologies and companies can be obtained cheaply and predominantly displayed on the site.

Testimonials from clients should be pasted all over. Right now, there is no proof that your site is not a spamming site with nothing to show other than a few products and an About Us page. Are you hiding your past? Have you pleased no one with your work?

Actual interview ready Résumés should be provided. It’s great to have bios of employees, but people looking to hire you want résumé type information, like what previous experience your staff has had, not necessarily that you’re just good people. This shows professionalism and makes users’ lives easier when they can print a Résumé, show it to their boss, and hire your business.

Client counters and/or maps:

• No examples found of actual client counter (not visitor counter)
• HooYou Client map
• Cindy Collier Client Map

Web Developer Certifications:

• HTML Writer’s Guild
• Certified Internet Web Professional Program

Site/Business Verification:

• Trust Guard
• Trust Seals
• Better Business Bureau
• Truste

Customer testimonials:

• Inventive Designers Customer Quotes
• Step Two Client Testimonials

Résumés provided on site:

• CDC Studios Résumé(s)

Web Tools

Users are constantly looking for tools and sites that make web life easier and provide more information. Offering sites and tools to existing and prospective clients can help open the doors of communication and knowledge. People are becoming more web savvy and willing to try new sites and tools to see if they provide the information and functions they want. A collection of the best sites and tools on the web related to your industry can be provided on your website in a couple hours. This tool also creates a gateway to further collections, articles, and E-Books (possibly) you could offer. If the 1st tool collection is free and they like it, they may buy a collection of articles put into an E-Book for $30. If they’ll buy the book, maybe they’ll join a 3 hour seminar (webinar, etc…) for $100 – the list goes on. If you are either the only or easiest connection to a great site or tool, people will use your site as a portal.

Sites offering great tools and/or further information (articles, E-Books, seminars):

• SEO Book
• Recommended Web Tools
• Web Warrior Tools

Members Login

This obviously applies only to your existing clients. Setting up a database of all your clients and providing them with access to their accounts can save you literally hundreds of hours of work that constantly keep bubbling up (and provide you with a database of your clients).

Each account would include:

Account Info

• Business’s (customer) information (name, address, phone)
• Purchased services or products
• Product/Service info like manuals and warranties

Help Desk (Support Tickets)

• Support ticket system would help make sure all clients’ problems are solved completely and in a timely manner.
• Possibly outsource for 24/7 coverage
• Support ticket software: Helpdesk Pilot, Trouble Ticket Express

Bill Pay – saves time, postage and printing money, and will encourage more businesses to pay on time (automated reminders, remove human element)

• Automated billing, plan out billing periods more easily, no more scrambling on the 30th
• Bill pay companies: PayPal, Authorize
• Printable invoices, view invoices over time, no more arguments over costs or price changes

Client Involvement – Helps Them, Helps You

Just as you involve businesses to interact with each other through your site, you should be getting pieces of them as well (for their and your benefit).

• Have clients write articles about your industry and their business. You can feature an ad by them on your site in exchange.
• Written interviews with your clients about the industry and their business and offer a link to them and Press Release of the article.
• Of course, this would be the perfect avenue for Podcasting for your business. Video can be done with any digital camera or you can just use audio. You could have monthly interviews with one of your clients and what the industry is doing for their business and the problems they face. This could make your customers feel cared for and put their name out (along with yours). Prospective clients can see you care about your clients. Takes only about an hour a month and could get the attention of both sides: existing and prospective customers.

Client articles:

• Leo Morgan

Business podcasts:

• Podcast Alley: Business
• Small Biz Pod
• Podtech

Up To The Minute Homepage

Using a Blog like setup with new info on main page at top and build down will help you look like you’re there everyday. An “updated last: date” can really be added anytime and falsified easily. New info added all the time, whether incredibly relevant or not, could really pull you out of what looks like an old website. Haven’t found any sites presently using this outside of blogs and news sites, but if you can explain your business rather succinctly, there is plenty of room on the homepage for updated information to be front and center.

Billboard v. Workspace

If you use your website more like a workspace with your clients, they’ll starting walking in the front door like you have a store front. They’ll see how you work, what you have to offer, and that you can back it up. People walking by will start peering in the windows and coming in to see what you offer and your qualified past. If your site remains a billboard, existing and prospective clients will just drive on by.

Daly Communications Group offers all of these workspace options and more not included here. Contact us for a consultation to make sure your prospective clients aren’t just driving by and your present clients aren’t just driving by once for the phone number.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of internet marketing.  These social media networks involve  interacting with existing or potential customers to promote your brand, website, or business.  Social media networks come in a variety of different applications including social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, business networking sites like LinkedIn and Jigsaw, blog sites like WordPress and Blogger, multimedia sites like YouTube and Flickr, and social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. 

How can Social Media Marketing benefit my business?

Did you know that approximately 80% of consumers research a product or service online before choosing to make a purchase offine from a local business?  You can’t afford not to have an online presence.  During an economic downturn, many companies will cut back on their marketing efforts as a natural reaction, but completely shutting down marketing is not a wise business decision.  Although customers may be holding on to their money a little tighter, there are still those customers out there looking for your products and services and spending money.  If you cut your marketing efforts altogether, how will customers know that you’re there?

When money is tight, maybe you should consider investing more time rather than money into creativity and resourcefulness.  The use of social media marketing can amplify traditional marketing practices, like writing press releases or special promotions and advertising.  For example, if you send a press release about a new product or service that you are offering, distribute the press release as normal, but also write about it on your blog, talk about it on Facebook and Twitter, upload a video to YouTube, etc.  You want to integrate the news across all channels of communication. 

Social media marketing is an opportunity to commuicate directly with your target market.  The main difference between social media marketing and other traditional forms of marketing is the tone used to communicate your message.  With SMM, you want to be more conversational and not hit people over the head with over-the-top marketing language.  Think of social media marketing as a conversation between you and your customers in which you share information about your company while connecting with customers and giving them the opportunity to share their comments and opinions with you.  Those comments and opinions are valuable information that you can use to improve your business.

An important thing to note is that social networking is a two-way street.  You need to stay on top of all the comments people are leaving on your blog or anywhere else.  Negative feedback and comments can actually hurt you more than help if they are not addresses properly.  Also, make sure that you take the time to find out if people are discussing your products/services on other blogs, Facebook pages, etc. and try to control the discussion to remain positive in your favor. 

How do I implement a Social Media Marketing Strategy?

Although social media marketing might not be the right fit for every business, there is still some marginal benefit to jumping on the social media bandwagon with a moderate investment in time and money. 

Blogging

One application that can be implemented in a social media marketing strategy is starting a blog.  Blogging offers an outlet for you to communicate with your customers and open up a dialogue about your industry in general, the latest news surrounding your company, and even information about yourself.  Comments are what make blogs important, so write often, respond to customer comments, and make comments on other industry related blogs to really join the conversation.  Most blogs are free to set up, but you can also contact a web developer to set-up a blog for you on your server and make sure the design and set-up is consistent with your company image and current website. 

Marketing Experiments did a 12 month study, in which they compared the effectiveness of a Google Adwords campaign to a social media marketing campaign.  They created several sites in different niches to gather information from.  They compared hiring an employee at $10/hour to blog, create content, and work to drive traffic to the sites to using Google Adwords to drive targeted traffic (they paid up to $0.75/click in their Adwords campaign).  The result: Social Media Optimization campaign yielded 1427% greater return on investment than the pay-per-click campaign. 

Videos and Pictures

Another application you can use in your social media marketing strategy is using video and pictures to your advantage.  You can create how-to videos on using your products, create virtual tours of your facility, etc. and then upload these videos to your website as well as social media sites like YouTube.  Check out a video a customer of ours, BioAxxis-a manufacturer of fingerprint locks, put together about their products.  You can also take quality pictures of your products or services and upload them to sites like Flickr that allow you to add your photos and then join active photo groups and network with others who would be interested.  Check out this helpful blog on How to Market on Flickr for more ideas. 

Networking

There are two different types of networking sites- social and professional networking sites.  Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to link to classmates, friends, family, and other colleagues.  You can list your interests, hobbies, keep everyone updated on what you’re up to, and even upload photos and videos of yourself.  These social networking sites are a mix of a person’s personal and professional image.  You can find your target market on these social sites by joining groups and talking with them directly.  You can also advertise on these sites on a pay-per-click basis.

Professional networking sites like LinkedIn are designed to keep a strictly all-business look and feel.  These sites allow you to build a network of former and current colleagues, clients, partners, and other trusted contacts.  Ultimately through these networks you can find potential clients, service providers, business opportunities, discover inside connections you didn’t know existed, and get introduced to other professionals through the people you know.

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a form of SMM that allows others to “bookmark” your blogs, articles, etc.  This means that others are coming across your site or blog and are saving your links to share with others or remember for the future.  The more social bookmarks your articles and blogs receive, the more people who will read them.  The number one benefit of social bookmarking, like StumbleUpon and Digg, will be increased site traffic.  That means increased awareness, blog readership, feed subscribers, and the like. 

Are you ready for social marketing success?

Do your homework before implementing your social media marketing campaign and you will be successful.  Be thoughtful and put in the time and creativity necessary to reach your goals.  Establish what your SMM goals are first and then decide what social media applications are the right ones to achieve those goals.  Determine what Return on Investment (ROI) is appropriate for your strategy, whether it’s increased sales, increased brand awareness, increased site traffic, etc. and whether it’s worth your time investment.   If your social media goals and ROI appear within reach, then don’t hesitate and get started on your social media marketing strategy today!