ux of search workshop isite design_feb2012

Search, Analytics, and UX

Prepared for University of Oregon, School of JournalismFebruary 2012

1

Intro

Goals

Hi!

1. Identify user experience factors influencing the success of an SEO and/or SEM campaign

2. Identify keyword research tools and techniques3. Identify metrics and analytics best practices

2

Agenda

3

Agenda • How do you get started? Creating and maintaining a campaign

• Designing for effectiveness• How do you know it works? Measuring what matters.

4

How do you get started?

6

How do you get started?

CX

AnalyticsBrand

Who is the customer?

Business Goals

Audience Research

Keywords/Analytics

CX – Business Goals

CX – Audience Research

Audience Segmentation

CX – Keywords & Analytics

Brand and Competition

Competitor Research

Brand Research

Gap Analysis

Competitor Research

Online

Real World

Competitor Research

© DC Comics

http://keywordcompetitor.com/newDesignImages/features/OnlineKeywordResearch.png

Gap Analysis and Brand Research

http://blog.roymatheson.com/Portals/85919/images/grand-canyon1.jpg

Keyword Research

Keyword Research

VS

http://www.westchestermagazine.com/images/2011/BLOGS/June/EDP/6-20/Blog_Generic-beer-can.jpg

http://www.boozingear.com/media/catalog/product/Pabst-Pabst-Blue-Ribbon-Beer-Diversion-Can-Safe.jpg

Keyword Research

Keyword Research• Use research tools to explore

variations– Consider relevancy, search

volume, and competition• Avoid the “black hole”. Stick to

your categories.• Narrow down list to focus on

the most relevant and goal oriented terms

• Perform search queries to confirm search engine results are in-line with company’s content and/or offerings

Keyword Research – Organic vs. Paid

Organic vs. Paid Performance

Analytics

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Keyword Analysis

Campaign Goals

Align Business Goals & Key Performance Indicators

Current Analytics – Start High Level

Current Analytics – Dig Into Details

Current Analytics – Estimate ROI

Current(Jan 2012)

Target(Month)

Annual Lift (12 mos)

PPC traffic 12,000 12,000 144,000

Conversion rate* 3% 4% 4%

Leads 365 480 1,380

Value per lead $700 $700 $700

Overall value $255,500 $336,000 $966,000

Activity: Research and Planning

28

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveog/129202092/

Designing for Effectiveness

29

Designing for effectiveness

• Digital Experience Framework• Planning the campaign• Sketching the story arc• Landing Pages• Design Principles• Stand out in SERPs• Activity

Digital Experience FrameworkLifecycle Customer Action

DiscoverHear aboutSee an ad forSee a commercial for

ConsiderLearn aboutCompare toAsk a friend aboutThink aboutRead about

DecideConcludeMake up my mindForm an opinion

JoinRegister for/Apply/EnrollBuyVote forVisit

EnjoyUseShareStayRenewRecommend

What are my Busines

s Objecti

ves?

• What are the needs and goals of my department/company• What are the short term objectives?• What are the on-going initiatives?

A campai

gn is Born

• What type of campaign do I need for this initiative?• Brand Awareness• Lead Generation• Sales

Who can I

reach?

• Who am I targeting with this campaign?• What is the specific target market?• What is the demographic?

What type

of medi

a?

• What mediums will best engage the target market?• The Internet (Banner Ads or Articles and Paid Search)• Radio• Television• Billboards• Magazines (Ads or Articles)

Which

specific

places?

• Where do I place my Ads or Content that will get the best response?• Facebook• Affiliate Advertisers• Paid Search

What actio

n?

• What is the call-to-action?• What is the story I want to tell that will compel my audience to engage with the ad?

Where do I send my

audience?

• What web content should my audience see now?• Do they need a customized landing page?• How do I know when they come to the website?

Now what

do they need

to do?

• Once my audience has come to the website, what is the hook?• Sign up for something?• Download something?• Read something?• Search for something?

How did this

campaign do?

• How many people were exposed to the campaign?• How many people engaged with the campaign?• How many people acted on the campaign?• How did my campaign results compare to my goal?

Sketching the story arc

What’s a landing page?

… on sale now, at next tag dot com. Now back …

Why landing pages matter

• First impressions count

• Relationship-building

Image from http://www.fastlife.com/

Types of landing pages

38

Landing page Purpose

Click through Present the offer, but the only action you can take is to go to the main site to complete transaction

Lead capture Gather personal data. Sometimes an offer is available in exchange for the information.

Infomercial Hype and uber-marketing; the Sham Wows of the internet

Viral Build brand awareness. Fun games or funny videos. Requires great content and sharing enablers. Brand/product is subtle.

Microsites Supplementary website, aligned with a specific campaign.

Product detail page Part of the main site, includes many navigation distractions, can be overwhelming.

Home page Serves too many masters, is distracting for a campaign

User-centered design

• Reducing friction (annoyance, a function of difficulty)

• Reducing anxiety (fear and distrust)

www.MarketingExperiments.com

Keys to Success

• Increase specificity• Increase continuity• Increase relevance (to the motivation of the

prospect)

40

Targeting

• Qualifies the lead• Match message to persona• Types

– Geolocation– Time of day– Persona-based– Images– Copy– Language– Offer

41

Design

• Top 3 page objectives

• Controlled eye path• Clarity trumps

persuasion

42

Copy

43

• Message match• Sell value• Ideal amount of copy varies dependent on value/risk of

the offer (to the prospect)

www.MarketingExperiments.com

Website Content Strategy

44

Keyword Mapping

45

Keyword Density

www.SEOMoz.org

On-Page Optimization

Stand Out in SERPs

• Include keywords in key places• Include Call-To-Action or Special Offer

Landing Page Content Strategy

• Content must feature keywords• Focus on 1-2 category terms & 10 keywords

max per page• Think about other content on the site that can

be linked to the page• Remember: You can’t rank for a keyword if

you don’t have content to support it!

Activity: Design a campaign

50

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikett/39962761/

How do you know it worked?

51

Evaluating Success

• Return on investment/return on ad spend• Ad Group• Landing Page• Keyword• Campaign• CTRs• Impression Share• Onsite Searches

Align Key Performance Indicators

• Click Through– How many people see an ad compared to how many people click through to an ad.

• Conversion– How many people visit the landing page compared to how many people complete the

action or goal of the page.

• Bounce Rate– How many people leave the page immediately after landing on it without going to any

other pages in your site

• Revenue– The amount of money that has been brought in from a marketing campaign

• ROI– Revenue compared to how much was spend on the campaign

• Shares, Click-Backs, Newsletter Subscribers, New Visitors– Exposure that your brand received through a campaign

53

Compare To Baseline

Calculating Return

Activity: Create measurement

56

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wausaublog/201256237/

Analysis and Optimization

57

Summary

• Increase simplicity, continuity, relevance

• Clarity trumps persuasion• Alignment is critical

– Campaign goal to type of landing page

– Message to audience – KPIs to goals– Design to campaign

• Test, evaluate, refine

58

Ihttp://www.geocities.com/palsaraptor/CTCronoColor.png

fin

59

Gigantor®, www.gigantor.org

Thank you

60

Amanda Bernard abernard@isitedesign.com @amandabernardBarbara Holmes bholmes@isitedesign.com @volleyballbarbRyan Summers rsummers@isitedesign.com

References

• Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, Malcolm Gladwell, 2005

• http://www.meclabs.com/marketing_experiments• Unbounce Blog http://unbounce.com/blog/• Internet Retailer http://www.internetretailer.com/• The UX of Search http://

www.slideshare.net/gaijinstu/the-ux-of-search-1898939• SEO 2.0 The game has changed. Has your strategy?

http://www.zaaz.com/pdf/seo.pdf • Beyond Search. The Gilbane Group

http://gilbane.com/beyond-search.html

Click Through example

62

Lead Gen example

63

Infomercial example

64

Viral example

65

Microsite example

66

Product Detail example

67

Home Page example

68

Good example

Home page as landing page

69

Back

Example

70

Segmenting technique

71