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Internet Marketing Reality Check: Discover the Techniques Proven to Increase Leads

FEBRUARY 6, 2014 | 10:00 – 11:00 AM

Presenter:Chris Behan // Socius Marketing, Tampa, FL

Presentation Overview Search Engine Optimization

Common Misconceptions About SEO

• Blogs

• Link Spam

Social Evidence & Testimonials

Web Design & Conversion Factors

• Ownership & WordPress

• Mobile Design

Pay-Per-Click

• Landing Pages or Mircrosites

Search Engine Optimization

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OrganicOrganic

Pay-Per-ClickPay-Per-Click

When you conduct a search in Google, you’re actually searching saved sets of information vs. the web!

Out of more than 1 trillion pages on the web, Google stores copies of about 47 billion of them.

Did you know?

http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/gallery/#/

Google’s mission is to organize

the world’s information (content)

and make it universally

accessible and useful (relevant).

Google’s Stated Mission

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Cabinet Refacing 90,500

Refacing Cabinets 74,000

Google Search DataMonthly Averages (non-branded):

Kitchen Cabinets 673,000

Kitchen Designs 368,000

Bathroom Remodeling 301,000

Home Remodeling 246,000

Kitchen Remodeling 201,000

Cabinet Refacing 90,500

Cabinet Refinishing 90,500

Total searches for JUST these exact keywords = 2.3 million

Custom Cabinets 74,000

Refacing Cabinets 74,000

Reface Cabinets 60,500

Kitchen Refacing 49,500

Kitchen Refinishing 40,500

Remodeling Company 22,000

Cabinet Resurfacing 18,100

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Content is the key ranking variable!

On a consistent basis, add original (not duplicate) and readable content (not an image) to your site:

• Build each page to work with purpose

• Incorporate variants of keywords = more salespeople online

• Size Matters | Example: Wikipedia

WWW:• Who you are

• What you do

• & most importantly, Where you do it

SEO Facts

Common Misconceptions

about SEO

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When it comes to SEO, results can take time.

Unfortunately, a lot of companies complicate the process by taking shortcuts.

Taking Shortcuts Can Cost You

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2171174/Google-Penguin-Update-5-Types-of-Link-Issues-Harming-Some-Affected-Websites

Most Common Forms of Manipulation:

2011-2014 | Panda Update

Cracked down on duplicate content, thin content, content farms, and a number of other quality issues.

1) Example: Blogs

2011-2014 | Penguin Update

Aimed at decreasing rankings of sites using keyword stuffing, link schemes, duplicate content, etc.

2) Example: Link Spam

Algorithm Chasers Affected

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1) Dispelling a Myth…

Blogs Don’t Rank Well

www.example.com/blogor

blog.example.com/

2) Link Spam

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In the beginning of 2011, Overstock.com & JCPenney were penalized for link Spam.

Google manually adjusted their rankings and the websites fell to an average position of page 70.

Link Spam

Why does Google change its algorithm?

To take out the trash!

Social Evidence & Testimonials

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Social MediaFacebook, Twitter, etc.

Pros

• Social evidence (+)

• Credibility

• Can help with reputation management

• Nice place to showcase products & projects

Cons

• Social evidence (-)

• Doesn’t help much with lead generation

• No appreciable SEO gain

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Traffic in Google AnalyticsOut of 28,046 visitors during this timeframe (July 1st – Dec 1st, 2013)!

Tip: Use testimonials on your site to help with social evidence and/or reputation management

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Web Design & Conversion Factors

Gathering Information& May Buy in the Future

Very Decisive& Will Buy NOW

Considering Options& Going to Buy Soon

Conversion Funnel

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STRANGER DANGER!

Bad CTA’s (In-Home)

• Your website is in an open source CMS (content management system)

- Example:

• You have full access to your website- Easy to edit text, add images/photo galleries,

testimonials, news feeds, calendar of events, etc.

- YOU OWN IT!

• You own your URL & have set up your own hosting- Meaning nobody else has access to change, redirect,

or take down your website

Do You Really Own Your Site?

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Mobile Web Design

Example:

Alure HomeImprovement’sMobile Site

Pay-Per-Click

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OrganicOrganic

Pay-Per-ClickPay-Per-Click

Pros

• Quick to set up & drive traffic

• You can advertise for specific or seasonal services (patios, decking, damage, storms, hail, floods, hurricanes, etc.)

• Geo-targeting should be used to only get customers from the communities you serve

Cons

• Can become costly

• You don’t own it – like a billboard, you have to pay to keep it up and it only works when people see it

• PPC does NOT contribute toward improving your SEO rankings

• Only about 30% of all search traffic clicks on these ads

• Easy to mismanage

Pay-Per-Click

The clicks were too expensive

Which made the CPL (Cost Per Lead) too high

And the quality of the leads wasn’t what you were looking for anyway

When PPC Goes Wrong

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• Low-quality and low-converting keywords

– The keywords you’re spending money on don’t convert or won’t issue

• Negative keywords

– Are you spending money on keywords that you don’t want leads from?

– For example: Cheap, DIY, jobs, or windows (are they car, truck, wood, or Microsoft windows?)

• Geo-Targets

– Residential vs. city

Campaign Mismanagement

Negative Keywords

Bad Ad Copy

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http://www.trulia.com/local/#prices/chicago-il

Residential Geo-Targets

You pay them to manage your budget, not spend your budget!

• Ask your PPC company if they are throttling your campaign to include display (like Fox News or CNN) or extended networks (online directories like Yellow Pages or Yellow Book)

Campaign Mismanagement

Landing Pages or Microsites

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Landing Page

Microsite

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Online Help / Chat Feature

Utilizing microsites helps:

• Increase conversion rates

– We’ve seen CVR’s almost double

• Decrease the cost per lead

– We’ve seen CPL’s go down 40%

Conversion Rates

Full transparency of campaign(s)

• Reports with data about ad groups, keywords, negative keywords, times of day, territories and zip codes, etc.

• Handled by humans, not software managed campaigns

Full budget disclosure

• Money allocated toward the Google AdWords spend should be separate from their monthly management fee. Some companies will lump their 40-100% fees into your monthly spend so you don’t notice it

Exclusivity

• The # of clients they work with in the same area should be limited

How to Choose a PPC Company

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In Closing…

Where Should You Begin?Consider Web Design

• Include multiple CTAs to collect people’s contact info• Make sure to think about what they say & don’t use “In-Home”

Rank Organically - Search Engine Optimization• You should consistently add original CONTENT to your site and have

separate pages for different services & territories• Know where you already rank and what you stand to gain

Be Aware Of…• What Not to do! – Watch out for algorithm chasers• Ownership – Make sure you hold the keys to your website• Analytics – Does it make sense to create a mobile site?

Pay-Per-Click • Make sure you know what your money is being spent on

Chris Behan

813.282.83001.888.876.2487

2701 North Rocky Point Drive Suite # 410Tampa, FL 33607

Speaker Contact Info: