Is Search Engine Marketing Growing by Evolution or Revolution?

You could say that Search Engine Marketing and related Search Engine Optimization efforts have evolved over time into a ubiquitous constant for every serious business-minded website.  Or you could say that the search engines, in particular Google, have caused a violent revolution for web-teams and marketers greatly altering the global landscape at a breathtaking pace where everyone is scrambling just to keep up. 

If you look at the evolution theory, you’ll see that over time, gradual awareness of SERP and the impact it carries for online lead generation and resulting sales has worked its way into the most core fibers of offline as well as online business strategy and marketing.  New information, new tools and new awareness have made it important for management teams to respond and react to changing conditions in their marketing ecosystem.   

On the revolution side of the argument you now see International corporations like HP, RIM and others where corporate titles like VP Search Marketing or Director of Search Marketing and their supporting departments staffed with some of the best and brightest are a new reality for the old org chart. Responsibilities for these newly formed corporate search marketing departments encompass not only generating additional sales and developing leads; but also being actively engaged in projects for brand exposure, trademark protection, HR support, internal communication and corporate reputation management. 

In many firms, protecting brands and properly exposing the very name of the business are essential online missions for a search staff that didn’t even exist just a few years (if not months) ago.  Yet to some companies, this new-age emphasis on search and the required allocation of needed resources for that mission is still as alien to their thinking as opening a branch office on the moon!

Both revolution and evolution advocates could point to the explosion of social marketing and the seemingly instant fame for web celebs.  I like to look at the jobs created for developers, artists, writers and marketers based upon the never ending need for good content and better tools for creation and deployment.  Is it revolution when you have the explosion of new entrepreneurial firms built to capture traffic all vying for attention and sustainability?  Is it revolution when old marketing giants like yellow pages advertising firms and newspapers scramble to develop workable online strategies to avoid being toppled…or… is the natural selection process in action here allowing the extinction of some while opening the door to others?  

 Maybe like the global economy itself, the dominance of search as a major business concern is a massive collision of both, evolution and revolution.  Regardless of the reason my only advice is, “Watch your niche!  You might lose it.”

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Some of the team for The Net Impact is  headed to the airport now.  Six of us responsible for client’s accounts are attending the Search Engine Strategy Conference in San Jose.  In my many years of sales and marketing management, I have never seen an industry where knowledge, and at that “current knowledge”,  is as much the currency of the  business as it is in search engine marketing.  Here, you’d better learn or you’d better go do something else.  In prior lives an entire team of mine has attended trade shows to purchase or sell goods for the next season.  In this business we are investing in what it will take to “purchase” knowledge.  And really not just knowledge but literally “disposable knowledge”.  What we gain from our exposure to other firms and new technologies may have a lasting shelf life, or it could all be worthless in six months.

The hardest aspect of our business to explain to others is this issue of meeting and competing on the web only at the most current level of knowledge and capablility.  The “constantly temporary” or ever-changing aspect of this business means that staying the same means falling behind.  We have several customers who after reaching serp page one have seen their rank under attack by competitors who have copied our approach or found an equally strong way to battle back.  What I love about our team is the, “Bring it on!” attitude they take on when that happens.

That’s really the addictive aspect of this business.  It is a constant competition where you can look at your results every day (if not every second)!   You succeed through effort, skill and “current” knowledge.  So here’s to San Jose.  May there be lot’s of intriguing information that generates new ideas and helps us better drive more business for our clients.  Even if we can throw most of what we learn away in six months.

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Today’s marketing challenges require unique teams of people working together in a way that would have been seen as heresy just a few years ago.  To effectively drive a brand or push for more market share, more and more firms are seeing the need for experts from various marketing disciplines to join forces and accomplish their mission through collaboration.

TNI just minutes ago finished a very interactive conference call with a team of people put together for the express purpose of winning a large multimedia marketing project.  On the call were creative, business development and brand strategy specialists from a major national marketing agency, two industry experts acting as consultants and two representatives from our firm, The Net Impact.  The agency team has their most important role of creating the pitch, coordinating materials and planning all of the off-line events and media placement.  The industry experts bring to the table what their name implies.  The Net Impact was on the call not only because we had worked successfully in the past to support the agency’s efforts, but also because the prospective clients wants to make 2009 the “Year of the Internet” for their marketing push.

To address this challenge, our online marketing team created a strategy to share with the group encompassing SEO, PPC, optimized press releases, advertorials for online media, email-newsletter campaigns and  social marketing all founded upon a web analytics approach that could demonstrate ROI.  We heard from the agency that “measurability” is going to be a key factor for this client.  How perfect for the web!  This client is more than a thousand miles away from our St. Louis home yet we will be as close to their statistics and performance as if we were in their office.   More importantly, our motto of “transparent results” means that the client and our partners in this collaboration will equally be able to measure web results 24/7/365.  You have to be confident in you ability to allow the entire team to grade your performance.

It’s exciting to be part of a campaign with other experts each sharing their main area of skill and experience in such a manner.  “Collaboration for a win,” where the client benefits and the various players contribute their efforts to the plan is clearly superior to the “Let one firm do it all” approach that most represents the past.  Indeed, why more clients don’t demand that each aspect of their campaign is managed by a recognized authority in that arena is a mystery.  Getting the win for the client is what counts.

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What is your web strategy? Does your site need to generate sales leads? If so, how is it working? Do you know the basic metrics for traffic and conversion? How about more advanced metrics such as conversion by entry page or conversion by search term? How many clicks to conversion? How many bounces off of your “contact us” method without hitting submit? Did you know that all of these metrics can be measured, alternative methods can be tested and you can improve both traffic and conversion?

Start with a Traffic Based Design™

Anyone familiar with The Net Impact knows our approach to building web navigation and thus generating traffic to a site is called Traffic Based Design™.  The very simple principle behind this strategy is the identification of different web audiences that may be interested in your company and then to create a web plan that will lead each segment to the proper page on your website based upon their search.  What they search for is what they want.  So, why not quickly give them what they want?  In a non-lead generating example: posting job openings for your firm on your website is an inexpensive and effective way to generate resumes.  If a viewer is looking for a position with your firm, you want to make the application process easy.  Provide a page devoted to employment opportunities and make it visible and obvious for navigation.  It also might be helpful to allow them to easily print the job description, upload a resume and fill out a contact us form related to the job.  Why not even post a phone number and hours to call for inquires or add the popular “e-mail to a friend” option, especially since the “friend” could be the individual’s personal email address if he or she is searching from a computer at their work.  Makes sense right?  This would be a simple approach, post your jobs, let searchers find them and then make it easy for them to apply.  The information should be obvious and the path for engagement clear.

Making it easy 

If making it easy for the job applicant is the best approach, then shouldn’t making it easy be the general rule for the business prospect as well?

Well, let’s put this plan into action. Say I operate a manufacturing company. What kinds of business needs would I want to satisfy through my website? Here are a few that you might consider:

• Employment opportunities and hiring as we discussed above.
• Upcoming events and trade shows we will attend.
• Company information, press releases and news of interest.
• Product and services, especially new product or service, information.
• White papers and technical information that will help me establish industry authority.
• Case studies or examples of how my product or service solved a problem.
• Location and contact information.
• Client or distribution partner account and service information
• Employee Intranet for private communication.
• Privacy policy….. and oh yeah…
• A way for prospects to contact us.

 All of these are valid uses for your website. Do you notice though how the application of these pages and tools will have unique appeals to different audiences? Your HR communication through an employee Intranet can certainly be enhanced through web-based time keeping, insurance information and company wide information distribution. But this is not where prospective clients will want to go.   Your current client or distribution partner account and service information is a great use for a site, if these viewers are already customers. Finding new employees with on-site employment opportunities also is a great use. But none of these help you generate new leads from new customers.

What pages of your website will generate the most leads?

Highly defined and very specific pages devoted to your products and services (think search terms) that also provide the right amount of technical information, case studies (testimonials) and a very clear cut call to action will undoubtedly bring you the most leads. Notice I did not say your “home page.” The more competitive the search engine marketing world becomes, the more important it is to build individual landing pages that are specific to your individual products and services. Your home page alone cannot compete with your competition’s pages built for product or service specific searches. Your home page is for those customers that already know you, it is built to establish industry authority and display your “trophy case” of awards, successful projects and credentials.  As far as new search engine driven traffic is concerned, only the very broadest of searches on keywords are important. Your other landing pages, built for specific areas of your business, will bring you more raw searches from longer tail search terms and thus, better leads.

What lead generation elements need to be on a page? 

Standards are going to vary from business to business, but think about it this way.  One function your website should serve is as your worldwide 24-7 411.  When you dial 411 what do you want?  A long message?  An ad?  No, you want a phone number!  You need an address!  You are looking for the quickest and easiest way to contact the people you are searching for!  That’s why you dialed 411; you want information you don’t have.  When prospective customers come to your site, how quickly can they get in touch with you?  Is your 800 number at the top right of the page or in another position that is clearly visible?  It should be if you want them to call you.  Is your address easy to find?  It should be if you want them to visit you.  Are your calls to action obvious and working whether they be “contact us,” “click to call” or “quick quote”?  They should be if you want them to contact you.  Again, making it easy works.

Five “must” guidelines that generate leads from your website:

1. In order to maximize leads, you need to know who you want to bring to the site.
2. You must know how to bring those specific viewers to the site.
   • A great on-site approach includes the right content, keywords, titles, description and other content efforts.
   • It also means information of value, events, tools and industry calendars..literally something of value to the viewer.
   • For off-site efforts that means press releases, PPC, posts to industry blogs and even traditional advertising as examples.
3. Once you bring them to your site, you must provide them with defined paths that lead to conversion (click submit) with as few additional clicks as possible and, very importantly, no dead ends.
4. You must also provide them with very clear and user-friendly calls to action.  What makes a prospect click?
5. You must measure results (web analytics), test new approaches and continuously refine your calls to action.  Constant refinement means constant improvement.

Simple enough to understand right? But the devil, as always, is in the details. Through good advance planning, analysis of your web analytics and a commitment to refine your approach, you can turn your website into a marketing monster.

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“I have a website, now what?”

“I really don’t understand what my website should be doing for me.” This statement, from a successful manufacturing company owner, was made during a recent “Introduction to Web Marketing” seminar held by The Net Impact. “I know it’s up there and I’m proud of it I guess, but what is your website supposed to do for you?” This comment caused a lot of conversation in the room and opened the floodgates to similar comments.

“I have a website.” another business owner said, “I just don’t know if it’s bringing me leads or not.” Another person joined in with, “I seem to be slipping in the rankings as well and I’m not doing anything different. I think this is affecting my lead flow. What can I do about it?”

How many firms have the same questions? From this encounter and similar concerns raised in other seminars, I would have to say quite a few. Most firms we see at our seminars have a website that is three to five years old. Many times this is a second or even third generation site that replaced an older or original site. Interestingly enough, the most often cited reasons for these “next generation” website efforts usually have nothing to do with marketing! Business owners in many cases dramatically change their website or build it all over again mainly because of a change in their core business or because they simply don’t like their old site. With the notable exception of e-commerce sites, sales and lead flow had little to do with their reasons for the creation of a new site or their selection of the web development firm that produced it.

Website cost vs. website return on investment

Many businesses are mistakenly more concerned about the “cost” in building their new site than they are in how they will maximize their ROI from the site after it’s online. The reason behind this is pretty basic. It is almost always easier to control a checking account than it is to develop an effective revenue strategy. Thankfully this, “I got a deal.” approach to evaluating the value of a website has been changing to, “I made a good investment.” Increasingly firms are understanding that their website should perform, it should generate revenue and thus be considered a business expense rather than simply a one-time  outlay of capital.

Over the past two years we have increasingly heard concerns about a site’s marketing impact, lead flow and search engine placement. Why? The old standby methods of generating business and their primary approach to advertising for many of these firms; direct mail, print media and yellow pages ads, are rising in cost while at the same time they decline in effectiveness. Business owners now more than ever realize that their website holds great potential and performance is a necessity. Yet most firms simply put, have a website and are now realizing they need a web strategy! We see this changing environment regularly in our seminars. The main questions business owners ask us as they start to re-evaluate their web approach are:

1) What is my website supposed to be doing for me?

2) How can I tell if it is doing this (in example: providing leads)?

3) What needs to be in place to measure results?

4) What efforts are required to improve performance?

5) How do I determine my return on the investment I have made in my site?

These are all great and common questions that reflect symptoms of not having identified a strong web strategy. In these next few posts we will address these questions starting with, “What is my website supposed to be doing for me?” This leads us into a discussion of differing web strategies.

Determining your “Web Strategy”

Deciding the desired functionality for your website and thus the major part of your web strategy can be challenging. There can be an irresistible urge to “keep up with the Joneses’” or in this case “Joneses.com.” Some firms create sites that are way over the top and overly developed for what are really their genuine business needs. Like office space, an elaborate and expensive website is not always a guarantee of success. We urge clients not to let corporate ego or peer pressure determine their approach to the web. At the same time, without advance planning and market awareness, an underdeveloped site will cost you business and stature. As in most strategic planning, it is best to start with the end in mind.

What do you want your website to do? Not really that tough a question, the tougher question is how to accomplish that.

Today we will start with a most basic use for your site:

Is your web strategy fairly simple? Do you just need your website to reinforce your business card?

You are of course aware that after an introduction at a conference or frequently even prior to a sales call, many prospects will call up your website to learn more about you and your organization. If your business is face-to-face, your approach is personal and your market local, then your website may need to do no more than provide a source of information supportive to the “elevator pitch” you just delivered to that new acquaintance or prospect from the conference or other chance meeting. A site built for this purpose should be simple and informative but also should be authoritative for the decision maker you are about to approach with an idea or service.

If this describes your business, then following these guidelines may be enough.

• Keep the information simple - viewers want information about you and your services. They will go elsewhere for the weather, time, entertainment, inspirational messages or stock quotes. Give them exactly what they want.
• Keep the design basic - no one wants to see marching monkeys, flashing pictures or burning logos. Just because your developer can do something clever, is not a good reason to do that something clever.
• Keep the site current - information must be accurate and up-to-date. As importantly, feature your contact information, phone number included, prominently on the site. Don’t make prospects dig deep to find out how to talk to you. Also, it is very inexpensive, even free, to have an email service provider on board to provide that important stan@stantheexpert.com vs. stantheexpert@hotmail or other less impressive email address. And for all of our sakes, watch it with cutesy email addresses. You really don’t want to be remembered as ladiesman@yahoo or something similarly distracting do you?
• Make sure your site works - How does your site look in Firefox, IE7, Safari or on an iPhone? Do your links work? Is your “contact us” form in good working order? Simple, up-to-date and functional are the basics.
• Don’t be afraid to be authoritative - are you an expert? Tell us! Publish this on your site. “What do you know and how will it help me?” is a question that needs to be answered for a viewer.
• Use web analytics tools - even a simple site should be measured for effectiveness. What pages do viewers visit? How long are they on the site? Where do they come from? All good things to know.

This simple, user-friendly, authority site need not be overly expensive. If you stay local and do not need the search engines to bring traffic to your site, you can make periodic changes to the site as needed for very little expense.

So, let’s put this strategy to the five question test above.

1) What is my website supposed to be doing for me? In this basic case, represent my business in a professional and authoritative manner for prospects and partners who check us out online!

2) How can I tell if it is doing this (in example: show credibility)? Be proud of your site! Ask clients and prospects if they have seen your site. Did they find the information useful? Make your site the springboard for a face-to-face description of products and services.

3) What needs to be in place to measure results? A simple web analytics tool like Google Analytics can be quickly installed for free. Though far from perfect, it will give you general information about your traffic and visitors. It also has great help screens.

4) What efforts are required to improve performance? In this case, very little. Make sure your information is accurate and up-to-date. Keep articles and information on services topical and current.

5) How do I determine the return on my website investment? It is hard to totally evaluate the return in this case on a minimal web investment since you are not trying to generate leads just as it is complicated to determine the cost of not having a website.  Prospects and partners want to find out about your business online. The site then should give you peace of mind that your firm, regardless of size, is well represented online for referrals, prospects and recruiting. Use your online information as a springboard for launching into a sales meeting.

In our next post we will discuss a more complicated strategy.

Generating Leads. Does your website need to do more than support your face-to-face meetings? Do you need to generate leads on a regional or national, even international basis? Does your livelihood depend upon lead flow? Now we are starting to add some traffic-building aspects to the site!

Watch for the next post for a thorough discussion on this strategy, or sign-up for The Net Impact Roadmap and have the most recent posts sent directly to you!�

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“Build it and they will come.” Really?

“Build it and they will come.” is a great movie line. It is also is a recipe for Internet disaster. Replace that phrase with, “Build it, make it informative, make it useful, keep it fresh, help them find it, get others talking about it, keep it interesting, get a lot of high quality links…and they will come. Unless, by the way, some other firm in your market space does all of that better.” Oh and don’t forget, “Building it tomorrow may be different than building it today and will be different than building it next year.”

The same is true for “Marketing it.” Anyone who works in the SEO industry knows that getting the “prime” key words for a site onto page one can be grueling. This is literally the top ten list. Your website earns its placement only by being better than the competition. This top ten list changes constantly as a new savvy player enters the space and old players become complacent. To be on page one for organic search in a competitive marketplace requires consistent thorough competitive research, technical correctness, fresh content, links from other authoritative sources, outbound marketing and market awareness. It’s a full contact sport.

Blogging for Traffic and Internal Benefit

Increasingly that sport includes social network site marketing as well. As an example, over the past six months we have created numerous blogs for our clients. These have been both for integration into their website and stand alone blogs that relate information about their company or a particular aspect of the firm that had its own story to tell. The resulting SEO improvement from the links and fresh optimized content has been consistent. In addition, when done properly, the new blogs will create great enthusiasm and excitement within the organization.

Social Marketing Examples

In another instance a client site has experienced a large increase in links and thus traffic from some effort in working with Del.icio.us and Stumble Upon. Stumble Upon in particular brought in unexpected traffic generated from Western Europe. The truth is, with social marketing, you genuinely do not know what will roll in with the tide of traffic. But through careful web analytics patrol and review, you can discover marketing gems that are delivered to your doorstep to nurture and improve. “Build it and they will come.” I really wish that were so…but then, what fun would that be?

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