internet marketing blog

Conversion Rates and Pay Per Click Accounts

2006-10-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I originally learned this, but I am sure I read it somewhere. But this month, Planet Ocean Communications concurred with a long standing belief of mine regarding conversion rates in pay per click campaigns.

In general a conversion rate of 2% to 3% is standard for most products and services. Information products are generally in the 1% range.

Changing your ads and your landing pages from time to time is an excellent way to test your conversion rates and seek higher percentages.

Microsoft is A "Live"

2006-09-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Microsoft announced it's market search product, live.com, and released many of its newer search services from Beta. You can visit the new site, called Windows Live, at www.live.com
The search site offers a clean and sparse home page, ala Google, with the quick ability to search its proprietary search engine, image search, news search, local search and a Question and Answer section (QnA - still in Beta) all from the main search page.

There is the ability to personalize the page with news, weather sports and entertainment listings.

Search results are clean and easy to follow.

Searches that include geographic qualifiers, such as "Chicago pizzeria" include Locall Listings at the top. It is easy to add, remove or update your local business information which is done through localeze.com.

Search results also include sponsored results from Microsoft AdCenter, Microsoft's new pay per click program.

A unique feature to the results is a "Related Searches" listing which allows you to quickly link to related search results, without typing in a new query. For broader searches, this is an excellent mechanism to help end users narrow their search to more targeted results.

Despite Microsoft's low profile in overall search (approximately 12% of all searches), Windows Live Search is an excellent search resource, with highly relevant organic search results and an economical and easy to managed sponsored search package. With the promise to expand its market share and a solid product to boot, advertisers should be certain they are getting in on the ground floor.

Registering Users on Your Web Site Hurts Lead Generation

2006-08-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

A recent article on WebProNews.com states that if you require end users to register for free items such as articles, white papers, or other resources, you may be losing 75% to 80 % of your potential leads!

Landing Pages and Search Engine Marketing

2006-07-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

A 'landing page' is the page you are brought to as a result of clicking on some form of online advertising.

Some landing pages are part of the we web site, others are stand alone. Sometimes a stand alone page is a "part" of the web site's internal navigation, at other times, it is not.

For the purpose of search engine marketing, an end user

Imrpoving landing pages ::

Have the target keywords in a prominent location on the page, such as the page "headline" or "header"
If you are selling a product, include unique product photos
Show offers, such as discounts or free shipping prominently
Provide user testimonials when appropriate
Include a strong call to action statement

Landing pages are most effective in leading customers to action. For e-commerce web sites, it should allow the customer direct ability to add to the cart, or purchase immediately.

For professional service businesses, a strong call to action should be emphasized to encourage end users to take the next step - call, e-mail, complete etc.

Search Engine Statistics and Why We Do, What We Do

2006-07-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

In April, comScore Networks released a montly analysis of search activity in the major search engines. The data reflects searches made in the month of March, 2006.

Google Sites - 42.7%
Yahoo! Sites - 28%
MSN-Microsoft Sites - 13.2
Time Warner Network - 7.6
Ask (Ask Jeeves) - 5.9%

Knowing where the numbers are is important, but knowing how people interact with the search engines is equally critical.

These statics come from The Kelsey Group :

35% of online shoppers reported loyalty to one search engine
53% said that they used two or three search engines
10% percent indicated that they used four or more search engines regularly

In a recent blog, I sited (March 2006), noted the importance of web search in influencing offline purchasing. The statistics (the study was sponsored by Google) looked like this :

25% purchased an item directly reelated to their query
Of those, 37% completed their purchase online
Of the 25% noted above, 63% completed their purchase offline following their search.

It should be noted, that the study was timed for the holiday season of 2005. Overall statistics might alter during other seasons.

We look at search engine marketing like investing in the stock market. You want to make informed decisions, work with a fixed budget, hope for a postitive return on investment, and trust you advisor.

It's a good analagy to point that "turnkey" search marketing initiatives don't work. So why do we do what we do? And what should you do to promote your web site in the major search engines?

Base all marketing decisions on qualified data. Keyword assessments & web analytics are two elements we assess early in a search marketing campaign.
Determine the purpose of your campaign. Direct sales, lead generation, online branding? This will help dictate the best programs to be involved in.
Select appropriate programs. There is a variety of ways to market your business on the Internet. Determine a budget, and seek advice on the best programs to start with.
Track your responses - all of them. The response to search marketing isn't always direct, nor is it always instantaneous. Every entry to your company should be guarded by the words "how did you hear about us?" Spend your budget accordingly.
Get ready for a long haul. Internet marketing is growing at ever increasing rates. Be prepared to learn about this medium so that over time you can participate more in the decision making. For many businesses, marketing budgets are shifing strongly toward the Internet. Learn about the various ways to market your busines, and seek advice how to best invest in this medium.

9 E-Mail Marketing Tips / Suggestions

2006-07-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

Only send emails to persons who have requested them.
Only send messages relevant to the type of content the person has requested.
Be consistent with your sending frequency. Pick a schedule, and send messages on a regular basis
In most cases it is best to send business to business emails Tuesday through Thursday. Studies indicate that the best times of the day to send are just after the start of the day around 9:30am or just after lunch around 1:30pm.
In most cases it is best to send business to consumer emails either between 5pm and 8pm Tuesday through Thursday or between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Make the From Name for your messages either your company name or the name of a person at your company. Once you choose a From Name, keep it consistent. During the split second decision subscribers make whether to open your email, the most important factor in their decision is whether the From Name is familiar to them.
Send messages in both plain text and HTML versions. Many e-mail messaging systems will automatically detect which subscribers can view the HTML message versus those that can only see the plain text message. If you don’t include a plain text message, approximately 8% of your recipients will not receive the message in a readable format.
Don’t use all caps or multiple exclamation marks within your subject line or body. Doing this may trigger spam filters.

Microsoft AdCenter - New Pay Per Click Program

2006-07-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Microsoft AdCenter is Microsoft's new pay per click program. It is important to note that Microsoft is no longer using Yahoo! Sponsored Search results. If you are running pay per click accounts, and you are not running a Microsoft AdCenter account, you are not advertising on MSN Search. MSN Search is currrently the third most popular search engine on the market.

Copy Writing for Web Sites - Internet Marketing in General

2006-06-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Copy writing is critical to the success of your web site and other Internet marketing ventures.

Unless you are representing a powerful brand, with instant recognition by consumers, your web site, online press release and e-newsletters need to be written with both the consumer and the search engines in mind.

If there is any similarity between a brochure and a web site, it is the fact the both need a system of delivery.

Would you pay thousands of dollars to print a brochure and never mail it out?

Why pay thousands of dollars for a web site and never push it through search?

Search is easy, inexpensive and trackable.

If you are going to drive traffic through search, copy is critical to your success.

Think outside of the business, think like a customer. Use keyword tools and user testing to get a strong idea of how consumers interact with the search engines to find a business like you. Incorporate those ideas into your web site's structure and copy.

Ironically we still see that a majority of our clients don't interact with a search engine marketing firm until after a web site has been completed. In truth, it is better to consult with a search marketing firm first, and design around the data and recommendations they provide.

Rarely does a week go buy when a customer asks why they are not ranked for a particular term - even though that term isn't present in their page copy! It is critical to understand what the search engines want. Search engines want to display the most relevant results for a search query, therefore the goal of your Internet marketing initiative should be to develop the most relevant page for that particular topic. Relevancy starts with page copy.

To summarize, put yourself in the mind of your audience, don't get cute with content. Use the words your audience might use to seek your business, then use the language your target audience will be searching with.

Search and Online Consumer Purchasing

2006-03-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

A recent study, sponsored by Google, entitled “The Role of Search in Consumer Buying” analyzed the impact of web search on consumers’ holiday-related purchases completed online and offline during November and December 2005, across 11 product categories. The study assessed the searching behavior of 83 million Americans who conducted more than 552 million searches in the categories analyzed using one or more of the 24 leading search engines.

The results confirm the importance of search in influencing offline buying, confirming that 25 percent of searchers purchased an item directly related to their query, and that of those buyers, 37 percent completed their purchase online. An even greater 63 percent completed a purchase offline following their search activity.

This research should have impact on how brick and mortar shops draft their web pages, and should encourage store owners that also offer e-commerce capabilities to combine emphasis on both online and offline purchasing. This is another boon in the rising "local Internet marketing" market which has been growing leaps and bounds with numerous new web sites encouraging such services.

Internet marketing : shop first, buy later

2006-03-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

A recent stody by comScore looked at the online holiday shopping trends. The study showed that 56% of consumers' online holiday buying actually happened in subsequent Internet sessions.

How Google Works

2005-12-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

Google Engineer, Matt Cutts, recently wrote for an article for "Google's Newsletter for Librarians." The article, entitled, "How does Google collect and rank results?" offers an excellent outline of Google's methodologies which are similar, in fact, to the methodologies of other major search engines.

Below is a snippet of the article that focusses on relevancy and the importance of inbound links ::

Now we have the set of pages that contain the user's query somewhere, and it's time to rank them in terms of relevance. Google uses many factors in ranking. Of these, the PageRank algorithm might be the best known. PageRank evaluates two things: how many links there are to a web page from other pages, and the quality of the linking sites. With PageRank, five or six high-quality links from websites such as www.cnn.com and www.nytimes.com would be valued much more highly than twice as many links from less reputable or established sites. But we use many factors besides PageRank. For example, if a document contains the words "civil" and "war" right next to each other, it might be more relevant than a document discussing the Revolutionary War that happens to use the word "civil" somewhere else on the page. Also, if a page includes the words "civil war" in its title, that's a hint that it might be more relevant than a document with the title "19th Century American Clothing." In the same way, if the words "civil war" appear several times throughout the page, that page is more likely to be about the civil war than if the words only appear once.

As a rule, Google tries to find pages that are both reputable and relevant. If two pages appear to have roughly the same amount of information matching a given query, we'll usually try to pick the page that more trusted websites have chosen to link to. Still, we'll often elevate a page with fewer links or lower PageRank if other signals suggest that the page is more relevant. For example, a web page dedicated entirely to the civil war is often more useful than an article that mentions the civil war in passing, even if the article is part of a reputable site such as Time.com.

Budget for Inbound Links

2005-12-14T15:06:00.000-08:00

When all things are equal, the site with a better structure of quality inbound links will out perform its competition in organic search rankings. With the increasing value of quality inbound links to your web site, it is necessary for marketing professionals to consider a line item for inbound linking in their 2006 Internet marketing budgets.

Quality inbound links give your web site credibility in the eyes of the search engines. The assumption is that if other sites around the Internet are linking to your site, your site must therefore hold value.

The science behind securing inbound links is in determining the value or quality of links. When it comes to inbound links, think quality before quantity.

While there are a variety of ways we do this for our clients, one common method is to use the Free Google Tool Bar available for download @ http://toolbar.google.com/ . The PageRank feature will give you an idea of how a web page is viewed in the eyes of Google. Be careful to understand that each page of a web site has its own value, and when looking at web sites, you should drill down to the page where your link would actually be placed before considering it.

As with any part of a search engine's ranking algorhtym, there are numerous factors to consider when improving your inbound link structure. "Value" of the link page, anchor text, landing page are all elements that reflect how much a search engine will value an inbound link.

New web site? Re-designing in 2006? A well formulated inbound link structure is the fastest way for search engines to find new sites and re-index older ones.

Search Engine Marketing Myth - #1

2005-12-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

Quite often when we propose our services to a potential client, we receive a follow up call to clarify some of our services. Many times we are told that a competitor offers ongoing search engine optimization services that require a monthly retainer. “Where is that in your proposal?” they ask. “Your competitor offers monthly submissions to the search engines?” When we tell them that isn’t necessary, we are often met with skepticism.

There seems to be a misunderstanding about search engine submissions. Though many search engines offer a “Submit URL” and some are free – that doesn’t necessarily mean that your site will be admitted to the engine’s index. Furthermore, if a site is already present in a search engine’s index, there is no need to continually re-submit it! It will NOT increase the frequency of indexing, nor will it help with your rankings.

Let’s look at Google as an example. Google offers a submit URL page at http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl . Google also offers a very hand “Webmaster’s Do’s and Don’ts” section too http://www.google.com/webmasters/ . A particularly interesting section is the “How Do I Get My Site Listed on Google” section.

Here are a few direct quotes from that page ::

“The method by which we find pages and rank them as search results is determined by many different factors”
“Submission isn't necessary and does not guarantee inclusion in our index”
“We DO NOT add all submitted URLs to our index and cannot predict when or if they will appear”
“You can submit your site as often as you like, but multiple submissions won't improve the likelihood of your site being added or accelerate the process.”
"The best way to ensure that Google finds your site is to have pages on other relevant sites to link to yours. Google's robots jump from page to page on the web via hyperlinks, so the more sites that link to your pages, the more likely it is that we'll find them quickly. "

I am the first to promote search optimization as a “process” not a one-time “project.” But I continually warn potential clients to pay for only what they need. In this day and age, quality inbound links play an essential role in search engine success, most notably in the “discovery” process for new web sites. Rather than spend your money on a monthly retainer to “re-submit” your web site to the same search engines over and over again, we recommend consumers spend their money on a well implemented inbound link campaign. Such an initiative will not only improve the speed at which new sites are discovered by search engines, but it will also promote the credibility of existing web sites, increase index frequency and ultimately improve search rankings for well optimized pages.

Results of search engine optimization take time. For new web sites, it is unlikely you will see the true benefits of a well optimized page for 6-8 months (especially in Google). For existing sites with a strong network of inbound links that time may be cut in half.

Rather than spend your money on useless monthly submissions, we recommend the following ongoing budget considerations::

1. Continually add to your quality inbound link structure
2. Monthly search position reporting
3. General web site updates (stale sites will suffer from poor rankings)
4. Minor adjustments to web pages to maintain cutting edge optimization technique.

Consumers should take time to understand a search marketing company’s services, and avoid paying for what you don’t need.

All Internet Marketing Predicated on Keywords and Phrases

2005-12-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

The first step in any Internet marketing program is to determine the keywords and phrases people use to find a business like yours. This is true whether you are pursuing Sponsored Search Listings, Search Engine Optimization, Online Press Releases or E-Mail Marketing Campaigns.

Old school marketers are handy at crafting new names or descriptions to add “savvy” to a product description or service. The downside is that the terms being used don’t match the intent of the end user, you are not likely to get the all important “click-thru” to your web site. Furthermore, if the terms differ greatly, you are not likely to have your web site or advertisement display at all!

Take for example a client we have been working with recently. One of their many services is IT Staffing. Keyword Analysis shows a bustling business for that term. However, marketing pros not concerned with Internet marketing efforts changed the name of this practice to “staff augmentation.” Unfortunately, in order to attract the “IT Staffing” market, we requested we change the name of the practice back to “IT Staffing.” This is always a difficult position to defend.

In essesnce, if you target the wrong phrases, all of your subsequent Internet Marketing efforts will be in vain.

A better example I once read asked viewers to picture two independent circles. In one circle are the practice and product descriptions of the company, and in the other circle are the terms and phrases used by the target audience to find that company. Unless those circles show significant overlap (i.e. terms used are the same), the benefits of an Internet marketing campaign will be few and far between.

This is especially true with Sponsored Search Listings and Search Engine Optimization efforts. If the terms don’t match – your ad or listing won’t appear. When the end user sees results on the search engine results page (SERP), they have their search query in mind, and they are looking for results that match that query. You have a pitiful 1.9 seconds to convince them that your listing answers their query.

The same is true with online press releases. The value of this marketing effort is not necessarily to have highlighted by journalists, but to provide the near term benefits of high search rankings and the long term benefits of a credible inbound link to the web site as many online wire services archive such documents for long periods of time.

While the temptation is to pay old-school marketing pros to “polish” your image, when it comes to Internet marketing it is more important to stick with what your target market already knows.

E-Mail Marketing :: Multi-Part MIME

2005-12-06T14:08:00.000-08:00

Though almost all e-mail client programs can see HTML e-mail messages, studies show that upwards of 15% of message recipients either are unable to view HTML messages or they have turned off the feature within their e-mail software.

Multi-part MIME is a method by which you can send both an HTML message and a text message within the same document. The recipients e-mail software will detect a Multi-Part MIME message and display the appropriate version (HTML or text) based on the program’s current settings.

For modern e-mail marketing campaigns, it is critical to use a platform that has the ability to send Multi-Part MIME messages, and to create both a visually stimulating HTML message, and a well crafted text message as well.

Quick Skinny on Search Engine Optimization

2005-12-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

1. META tags alone will not get you any search engine rankings. In fact, many of the most popular search engines give very little "weight" to the contents of the META Keyword tag. A well crafted META Description tag (specific to each page of the site) would provide better results - but there is no silver bullet for search engine rankings.

2. What search engines do recognize is a "limited redundancy" of a term throughout various features of the web page. Search engine ranking algorhythms are far more complex than they used to be.

3. If you target the wrong keywords, all of your optimization efforts will be in vain. There is data available to determine what the most popular terms are that people use in search engines to find a web site like yours. For example, the term "lawyer" is searched for far more often than "attorney." If you are looking to increase business from higher search engine rankings, target the terms your market is using.

4. In general, you don't want to target more than one to two closely related terms per page. This allows you to use all of the page features to target a term well. Search rankings are all about competition. If you are targeting 5 independent terms on a single page, you are never going to outrank a competitor that is using the same methonds to target a single term.

5. If the term or phrase you are targeting is not in the page text (usually several times), than there is 100% chance you will NOT be listed for that term. For search engine optimization, CONTENT IS KING!

6. For "organic" or "natural" search engine results, search engines also consider external or off-page factors such as inbound links to the web site. Inbound links from theme related sites give your site credibility in the eyes of the search engines. It also increases the frequency of search engine indexing.

7. Results from optimization take time. In general, we tell owners of established web sites 4-6 weeks until valid results are seen, and new web sites 6-8 weeks (especially for an engine like Google). There are programs offered by Yahoo! and MSN Search that can expedite results for their respective engines. A higher number of quality, inbound links would shorten the time frames quoted.

8. Target geographically. Don't target "divorce attorney" - target "Chicago divorce attorney." The term is better focussed to your target audience, and it will have far less competition.

Yahoo! Sponsord Search - Understanding Match Types

2005-07-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

By default, Yahoo! Sponsored Search (formerly Overture) accepts all new keywords under their "Advanced" Match type. In general, this will lead to an enourmous amount of impressions, but a lower click thru rate.

In general, depending on your market, you may or may not find value in the "Advance" Match type. An increase in click thrus will occur, but a smaller percentage are likely to be fruitful. Here is a little bit more about Yahoo! Sponsored Search Match Types

The Standard match type displays your listings for exact matches to your keywords, as well as for:

singular/plural variations of your keywords
common misspellings of your keywords
topics that are highly relevant to your keywords
topics that are highly relevant to your titles and descriptions

The Advanced match type drives additional traffic to your business from network partner sites. It displays your listings to a broader range of searches relevant to your keywords, titles and descriptions and/or web content.

Yahoo! Pay-Per-Click Mixes 'Local Results'

2005-06-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Sponsored Search (formerly Overture) is now intermixing results from its 'Local Search' results. We saw this when adding new terms with specific geographic qualifiers (in this case the name of local municipalities).

The Local results were ranked higher than our #1 bid in the 'Sponsored Search" program, and subsequent attempts to raise our bid to outperform the competitor results were futile.

The listings for the 'Local' results include "Local Info after the URL. Subtle, but noticeable. by clicking on the results, a split screen shows the web site on the bottom, and a map with the business address and phone on the top.

The solution is clear, we are setting up the same terms in the 'Local' account in an attempt to cover our bases and outrank our competition.

Off page factors critical to search engine rankings

2005-06-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

More than ever, so called 'off page' factors are influencing organic search engine rankings. Today, optimization is more than just tweaking pages, it includes exposing the site through various online channels, building reputable inbound links, and encouraging search engines to return regularly.

We are always surprised when we explain our methodologies to clients, they always say "search engines can know that?" As if the basic science of a search engine's ability to crawl and index the world wide web doesn't presuppose that it can read text that is colored the same as the background.

We are now employing a variety of off page technique to improve our site rankings. A blog is a great way to start. Relevant inbound links are important too (but there are a lot of myths about "link popularity" out there that may get you into trouble! RSS feed (site syndication), press releases, and forum participation have become part of our process.

Now some of these measures may not be necessary in all cases, but in very competitive markets it is well versed off page factors that tend to tip the rankings.

Overture goes Yahoo!

2005-06-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last month Yahoo! moved quickly to dismiss the Overture brand, by labeling all of the search services under the "Yahoo! Search Marketing" brand.

Overture pay-per-click accounts are now "Yahoo! Search Marketing Sponsored Search."

Overture SiteMatch is now "Search submit express."

Yahoo! Directory submission is still available, and Yahoo! now offers a few additional products. To learn more about these, stay tuned to the free Internet marketing newsletter, lunavista.info.

lunavista communications corp - official blog

2005-06-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Lunavista Communications Corp, is a leading Chicago Internet Marketing firm specializing in search engine marketing and web site design for small to mid-size businesses.

Founded in 1998, Lunavista offers a unique blend of creative expertise. From design, to search engine optimization, to link popularity services, Lunavista is your "one-stop-shop" for all of your Internet marketing needs.

Check back to learn more about Lunavista Communications, the Internet marketing world, and businesses that Lunavista interacts with.

For more information, you can visit Lunavista's web site at www.lunavista.com .