SES Chicago - December 7-11, 2009

January 30, 2009

SEW Experts: Best-Kept Secret in PPC? Part II

Last week's discussion of Google Conversion Optimizer generated a flood of user questions. It seems the promise of simplifying the time-consuming, complicated chore of regulating keyword bids is especially appealing to advertisers. In today's Profitable PPC column, "Best-Kept Secret in PPC? Part II," David Szetela responds to reader questions, and clarifies a few things.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2009

SEW Experts: Track Those Alternate Conversions

It's natural to think about revenue-generating events such as sales, leads generated, or ads clicked on when we think about conversions. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "Track Those Alternate Conversions," Eric Enge explains that there are many other types of valuable conversions, and we're shortchanging ourselves when we look at conversions in a narrow way.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 19, 2009

SEW Experts: Web Analytics 101, Part 1

Web marketers who ignore analytics are like doctors who start writing prescriptions before bothering to examine or diagnose the patient. In today's SEM 101 column, "Web Analytics 101, Part 1," Ron Jones explains that without looking under the hood to see how your Web site is performing, and learning more about the people visiting your site, you're throwing away a huge opportunity.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2009

SEW Experts: We're All Convertibles, And It's Time to Take the Top Down!

Many of us are still looking at the Web through a narrow perspective of search. If we think in terms of what search is -- not as it exists online, but what motivates it, how it can be answered, and what happens when it truly is delivered -- there may be an answer on where the industry is headed and how to be successful in it. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "We're All Convertibles, And It's Time to Take the Top Down!," Frank Watson and Chris Boggs discuss the future of search marketing accountability.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 8, 2008

FutureNow Launches Just-In-Time Optimization Service

One of the problems with the traditional Web site optimization consultant model is that clients become overwhelmed with the recommendations and end up doing nothing. The new OnTarget software/service from FutureNow, Inc. changes that.

OnTarget, which launched today in beta at SES Chicago, is a web-based subscription service that measures and analyzes actual web traffic against a client's plan, then delivers ongoing recommendations to improve conversion rate and get their web traffic back on target to meet their goals. OnTarget breaks recommendations down into manageable chunks, and prioritizes them based on potential returns so companies can make the best use of their limited time and resources.

“Consulting recommendations are just advice, no matter how excellent, until clients implement them. It's only when they implement a recommendation that they can reap the rewards," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, CEO of FutureNow.

Instead of performing the analysis and providing a 20-page report of recommendations, OnTarget allows clients to identify the resources they have available to implement change, and then they get the most impactful recommendations that can be done in that amount of time.

It's more than just software. FutureNow's analysts use web analytics, heuristic analysis and FutureNow's Persuasion Architecture methodologies to make the recommendations clients see with OnTarget.

Eisenberg calls the model ”just-in-time optimization.” Since nobody has unlimited resources or time, OnTarget only recommends what clients can do when they have the resources to be able to do it.

Future Now has been optimizing Web sites to improve conversions for years. But the process required a large investment of time and money on the part of clients. With OnTarget, the barrier to entry is much lower, so its Persuasion Architecture methodology will now be accessible to many more clients. Those clients with an expert on staff will benefit from the additional analysis and guidance that OnTarget offers.

OnTarget runs on top of a client's Web analytics program to identify areas where a site can be improved. Setup involves adding Javascript tags to the site, and OnTarget can start providing recommendations in the first week. The monthly fee is structured to include a given amount of analyst's time. If the client finds more analyst time is needed, they can pay a bit more and get more analyst hours in their plan.

"The consulting model is broken. There are some companies out there that just shouldn't pay for consulting, because it won't bring the return they need." said Bryan Eisenberg, co-founder and executive VP of FutureNow. "At its core, OnTarget is a way to deliver Persuasion Architecture improvements without having done Persuasion Architecture from the beginning."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

September 10, 2008

SEW Experts: Keep Your Ideas Simple and Increase Conversions

Good ideas are often simple ones, and this rule applies to online marketing as well. In today's Web analytics and ROI column, "Keep Your Ideas Simple and Increase Conversions," Eric Enge explains how looking at the implementation of your ideas from a customer's perspective can help you see if you've simplified things enough, or gone too far.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 25, 2008

SEW Experts: Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 2

Web analytics on your Web site can help you uncover and prioritize potential site problems. In today's By the Numbers column, "Uncovering Site Problems for Landing Page Optimization, Part 2," Tim Ash offers some additional techniques to discover conversion issues on your landing pages, including mining onsite search, or conducting usability testing, focus groups, and surveys.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 14, 2008

SEW Experts: Emotional Motivators in Landing Page Optimization

Visitors will arrive at your Web site with their own needs, perspectives, and emotions. In today's By the Numbers column, "Emotional Motivators in Landing Page Optimization," Tim Ash explains that since you don't know much about them individually, you can influence them collectively with the design of your site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 30, 2008

SEW Experts: What Are You Converting?

Many people view conversions as large-scale events, such as product sales or sign-ups for a service. But a conversion can mean many things, depending on the site. In today's Web Analytics and ROI column, "What Are You Converting?," Tim Ash defines conversions as events that move a visitor toward the mission critical activities that you've identified. Measure those smaller events, and you'll know much more about what your visitors are doing than if you only focus on the end results.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 29, 2008

SEW Experts: Taking the Fear Out of Web Analytics for Your Small Business

Many small businesses are afraid of the perceived complexity of Web analytics. At the same time, they know they can make more money in less time with Web analytics. In today's Small Business Search Marketing column, "Taking the Fear Out of Web Analytics for Your Small Business," Carrie Hill simplifies the process by breaking down the four metrics you should be analyzing on your small business web site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 16, 2008

Google Website Optimizer Tool is Out of Beta!

Bye-bye beta!

Google announced today that its Google Website Optimizer (GWO) landing page testing tool is finally out of beta. GWO is a free tool for running A-B split and multivariate landing page tests.

As a charter GWO Authorized Consultant, my company watched its development from the beginning. It started out in the shadow of AdWords, and was only available as a tab in your AdWords account. Even though you did not have to spend any money on AdWords to use it, it was still seen as an add-on to the PPC advertising platform and did not initially get the attention that it deserved.

With today's announcement, GWO steps into the spotlight in recognition of its important role in Google's future. The company is committed to investing significant resources behind this product. As an example, GWO is now available in 27 languages worldwide: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia, UK & U.S.), Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil & Portugal), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Thai and Turkish).

If a landing page has a higher conversion rate it clearly had more relevance for the person who clicked on the PPC ad, so Google can properly trot this out under the banner of improved relevance and a better user experience. At the same time, increased adoption of landing page optimization and testing can only benefit Google since more efficient advertisers will be willing to spend more per click while still maintaining their CPA targets.

Several key enhancements will make GWO even more powerful and useful to the wider online marketing audience:

Easier sign-up outside of AdWords - Google is making it easier for anyone to sign up and use Website Optimizer. In addition to accessing the tool through AdWords, people can now access it with any Google Account, such as the one they may use for Google Analytics or Gmail. They will see only the stand-alone testing tool features, uncluttered by other applications. Existing AdWords and Google Analytics users can still continue to use it as before (as part of their AdWords interface).

Easier Multivariate test setup - Based on user feedback, Google has improved the setup flow for multivariate experiments, with more straightforward tagging instructions and a sample tagged page for users to examine.

New Website Optimizer website and resources - The Website Optimizer site will be globally revamped to include more educational information, including archived webinars, articles on optimization, testing strategies, and best practices. Google Website Optimizer main site.

New Blog - Google is launching a new Website Optimizer product blog that will discuss the latest product news, industry insights, and testing strategies.

After the jump: free Google Web Optimizer Tool chapter (pdf) from my book, Landing Page Optimization.

For additional background I am making the full 25-page GWO appendix from my Landing Page Optimization Book available as a PDF - download the Google Website Optimizer Appendix.

Posted by Tim Ash at 12:20 PM | Permalink

April 4, 2008

HackerSafe & The Power of Trust

I am often asked by people what sorts of items I would recommend testing on a landing page. There are no universal truths and your mileage may vary. However, there are common themes that work well across a range of industries. One of these is the use of trust and credibility indicators. These reduce anxiety for your visitors and increase their confidence when interacting with your landing page.

A common type trust and credibility indicator are various safe shopping seals. The leader in this area is McAfee's HackerSafe trustmark. In most cases, adding the trustmark to your website will increase conversion rates by several percentage points. But just adding the trustmark to your page is not enough. You also need to consider which version of the trustmark to use (they come in several shapes and colors), and where on your page it will appear. Many companies mistakenly put their trustmark "below the fold" on their page. By doing this they make the trustmark invisible and practically useless. We always suggest putting the trustmark prominently near the top of the page.

But even this is not enough. The specific location within the page header can result in additional improvements. In a recent test we tested different positions and trustmark versions on the LuggagePoint website and were able to find an 11% increase in revenue per visitor and a 5% increase in conversion rate simply by changing the position of the trustmark in the header.

Read the LuggagePoint case study here.

As a McAfee HackerSafe partner SiteTuners.com will run a free multivariate test on any site with certain minimum traffic levels to determine which placement on the page (out of 4 possible positions) and HackerSafe trustmark image (out of 6 possible versions) results in the best performance.

Posted by Tim Ash at 7:46 PM | Permalink

March 27, 2008

Conversion Rates & The Value Of Outsourcing SEM/SEO

I recently got my hands on Marketing Sherpa's newly released Landing Page Handbook. This detailed guide is packed full of industry information and practical case studies.

One of the things that jumped out at me was a table of conversion rate averages for different marketing tactics. The survey data was drawn from over 5000 active online marketers in a variety of settings.

In-house managed PPC Search - 3.84% Outsourced managed PPC Search - 5.40% Difference: 40%

In-house Natural Search Optimization - 2.62% Outsourced Natural Search Optimization - 4.76% Difference: 80%

As you can see, the outsourced conversion rates are much higher. Before I go any further, I must admit that this is not a scientific sample, and that self-selecting biases of various kinds are bound to obscure these results. We are not given any breakdown by industry or company sizes, or other critical information. However, at a high level the data makes perfect sense, since agencies must perform better to justify their fees and keep their client's loyalty and business.

Agencies that are specialists in a particular area see a wide cross-section of accounts and industries among their clients and should be able to do a better job. This is not a slam at their hard-working and capable in-house counterparts. It is an acknowledgment that our industry moves very fast, and unless you have a whole organization focused on keeping up with the changes, it is very difficult to stay up on the latest developments.

Marketing activities are the engine of growth for a company. They are not administrative cost centers. Many companies mistakenly try to save a little money by running their programs in-house. They do not realize the real cost is in the lost opportunities that they can not capitalize on. If your in-house program is profitable, that is not enough - you must consider the scale of your program and always question how much money you might be leaving on the table. Giant conversion rate differences such as the above can be turned into strategic weapons that let you soundly trounce your competition.

So next time you consider the in-source / outsource decision, consider opportunity as well as direct costs.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:59 PM | Permalink

March 21, 2008

SEW Experts: Does A Close By Any Other Name Sell As Sweet?

Not all conversions are created equal. Capturing an e-mail address, delivering a free white paper, or converting using other non-sale-related measurements can create varying values of a close. In today's SEM Crossfire column, "Does A Close By Any Other Name Sell As Sweet?," Frank Watson discusses the need to take into consideration more than just the raw number of conversions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:01 AM | Permalink

March 11, 2008

Your Baby's Ugly - Why You Need Landing Page Optimization Now

All new parents think their drooling, wailing, wrinkled little midget is beautiful - and that's as it should be. The same seems to be true of landing pages. If an online marketing campaign is making money, it's taken as proof the landing pages are beautiful--and don't need further improvement.

In fact, landing pages typically range from barely acceptable to horrible. They are often at direct cross-purposes with the desired conversion action and stated goals of the business.

In this sorry state of affairs lies a terrific opportunity - fixing your landing pages can often lead to long-lasting double or even triple digit gains in conversion rate. This can change the economics of your business overnight.

Landing page optimization is no longer optional. It's one of the core activities that all online marketers must pay serious attention to. Landing page optimization spans the important topics of usability, copywriting, web design, and information architecture.

But landing page optimization also requires a proper grounding in math and test design. The messy reality of real-time marketing rears its ugly head. Organizational considerations required to build a testing program are key. You may need to change the mindset within your company.

I've covered these topics and more in my recent book Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions (John Wiley Press 2008). The book even got a really nice unsolicited writeup from SES London Chair Mike Grehan in his How To Avoid A Crash Landing column (and I didn't even have to pay a dime from the giant stash of payola money that I have available for such plugs).

I want to start a conversation and a revolution, but first we must break down the walls of denial:

Repeat after me: "My baby is ugly..."

Posted by Tim Ash at 8:19 PM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute

As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute," Eric Enge outlines some of the best practices outlined in Tim Ash's new book, "Landing Page Optimization."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

February 13, 2008

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization Defined for SEM

Search marketers need to be concerned about landing page optimization because it can multiply the impact of your search marketing campaigns. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization Defined for SEM," Eric Enge explains that understanding what you're trying to do with your site, and how visitors will interact with it, are the first key steps down the road to optimizing conversions.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

December 18, 2007

SEW Experts: SEO Conversion Testing: Advanced Search Engine Optimization

The C-level executive doesn't often get involved in A/B Web site optimization decisions. It's a tactic better left to SEOs, Web site analytics gurus, and statisticians. What do you do, then, when the CxO asks you to explain how you do A/B conversion testing for an e-commerce site, for example? In today's Big Biz column, "SEO Conversion Testing: Advanced Search Engine Optimization," Aaron Shear shares the number one SEO challenge during holiday shopping season: explaining to senior management how complex it is to do A/B testing of SEO strategies for large enterprise mega-sites.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

October 31, 2007

SEW Experts: Life after SERP: A/B Split and Multivariate Testing

When searchers find your site, what will they see? If you're using A/B split tests and multivariate testing, they'll see customized results on the fly. In today's By the Numbers column, "Life after SERP: A/B Split and Multivariate Testing," Eric Enge outlines one of the best ways to improve results for your Web site. Sometimes the things that matter to users and increases conversions will surprise you.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

September 7, 2007

Omniture Acquires Offermatica

Web analytics company Omniture has agreed to acquire landing page optimization and A/B testing specialist Offermatica for $65 million. The deal includes OTTO Digital, the marketing agency division of Offermatica, and a wholly owned subsidiary. In February, Omniture acquired Touch Clarity, a site-side behavioral targeting firm that will complement Offermatica's multivariate testing capabilities, for $50 million.

As PPC prices continue to rise, and the quality scores of landing pages affect bid prices, many marketers are turning to firms like Offermatica, Optimost, SiteTuners, and others to improve the conversion rates of the visitors their campaigns are already sending them.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 9:48 AM | Permalink

August 29, 2007

SEW Experts: Segmenting Site Visitors to Enhance Conversions

In today's By the Numbers column, "Segmenting Site Visitors to Enhance Conversions," Eric Enge tells you how to segment your site visitors for actionable analyses that are so important for Web site success.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

June 11, 2007

Atlas Institute: Don't Just Count the Last Click

A study from aQuantive's Atlas Institute looks into the effect of overlap of ads, either across publishers or across multiple ad placements. The study looked at 16 large advertisers in the first quarter of 2007, and found that a minority of users are reached across multiple sites, but that group is responsible for the majority of conversions.

A user reached across multiple publishers is twice as likely to convert as one reached by a single publisher, an 86 percent of converters saw a placement other than the last ad seen.

What this means for search marketers is that they should not rely on counting the last ad seen to measure results. This idea of "assists" has been talked about for some time now, and Yahoo has built it into its analytics product.

It also means that marketers should measure overlap in every campaign, and maximize its effect for branding or minimize its impact on frequency, which could negatively impact direct response campaigns.

ClickZ News has more details.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 PM | Permalink

January 30, 2007

The Lost Arts of Accountability and Relevance?

Search marketers who blame Google's latest algorithm shift or quality score update for their traffic woes are like brick and mortar store owners blaming the city for their poor customer traffic, says Bryan Eisenberg in today's SearchDay, "Make ROI Your New Year's Resolution." He reminds search marketers of the importance of accountability and relevance, and urges them to take on the responsibility to convert visitors once they get to their Web site.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:55 PM | Permalink

January 18, 2007

Using Web Analytics to Drive SEO Decisions

When creating a search marketing program for Weather.com, the marketing team at The Weather Channel Interactive depended heavily on Web analytics to inform both its organic and paid search decisions. Now, data from Coremetrics Web analytics informs virtually all of the site's search marketing efforts. Read more in today's SearchDay.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 1:09 AM | Permalink

January 9, 2007

Exposure Works

Here's another great example of brand banners impacting search campaign results.

According to Chief Marketer, "a group exposed to display media was 27% more likely to click on a branded search ad than was the control group. The exposed group was also 41% more likely to convert."

You should get some lift too, regardless of product category, brand, creative or offer. This exposure simply works. (See Actionable Analytics study from Avenue A | Razorfish.)

Posted by at 11:14 AM | Permalink

September 25, 2006

Organic & Paid Search Conversion Metrics Similar

ClickZ reports on a WebSideStory study that shows that organic search traffic realized a conversion rate of 3.13 percent while paid search traffic realized a conversion rate of 3.4 percent. The study covered 57 million search engine visits from "20 business-to-consumer e-commerce sites during the first eight months of 2006." ClickZ notes that organic search traffic does tend to have a higher click rate (1.5 times higher than paid search volume).

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 1:23 PM | Permalink

August 2, 2006

Search Marketers Often Don't Track All Referring Conversions

ClickZ reports on a 360i and SearchIgnite study that shows that search marketers do not look at all "assists," instead they primarily look at the last referring click that lead to the conversion. Here are some highlights of the report:

+ 37.3% of conversions come from consumers clicking on more than one of a marketer's natural or paid listings; it's in these multiple-click scenarios where the clicks' credit can often be misapplied + Over two-thirds (66%) of clicks are from consumers clicking a marketer's listing multiple times + 12.6% of conversions credited to natural search results were preceded by clicks on a marketer's paid listings, nearly twice as many as occur in the converse scenario

The full report can be downloaded by registration here.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 11:03 AM | Permalink

April 17, 2006

Conversion Value Revealed When Using Google AdWords Conversion Tracker

When using the Google AdWords Conversion Tracker, you just may be revealing more about your conversion values than you might realize. When using the advanced option conversion value, the value you attribute for each conversion is revealed right in the on-page javascript you add to the site in the form of "var google_conversion_value = 9.99;"

This could easily be used by competitors to see what the value of a lead, signup or particular page view is worth to the advertiser, although the competitor would need to complete a conversion first in order to see the data.

For more details, there is a WebmasterWorld thread (paid subscription required to view).

Posted by Jennifer Slegg at 12:30 PM | Permalink

February 28, 2006

Study: Offline Conversions Key to Understanding True Search Marketing ROI

New research from iProspect and Jupiter Research shows that even though shoppers are using search engines to research products, nearly half are still making purchases through bricks and mortar retailers. Search marketers who aren't measuring these offline conversions are likely misallocating resources, incorrectly measuring ROI and making other critical mistakes. More details about the findings of this study in today's SearchDay article, Searchers Still Like to Buy Offline.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 11:34 AM | Permalink

January 30, 2006

New Study Reports that Search Sites Provides Twice the Conversion Rate When Compared With Other Acquisition Sources

The Dow Jones story: Search Sites Better At Getting Shoppers To Buy: Study, reports on new research from WebSideStory that shows search engines (both paid and organic listings) provide more than twice the conversion rates than other forms of Internet advertising and marketing.

However, direct navigation offered the highest conversion rate. The sites used in the study cover five product categories.

From the article: The study defines conversion rate as the percentage of visitors to a site who view an ad or clicking on a search result and purchase a product or service.

Numbers

Search Search Sites had a conversion rate of 2.3%, meaning that for every 100 consumers clicking on a search result or advertisement, 2.3 people made a purchase.

Other Forms of Internet Marketing Banner ads, affiliate marketing links, comparison shopping search sites* and other online marketing efforts had a conversion rate of 0.96%.

* Note, that shopping engines are not considered in the main search category.

Search Bypass: Direct Navigation/Bookmarks Direct to a company's web site (including via a bookmark) offered a conversion rate of 4.23%.

Where did the data come from: The study collected data from Web sites that sell apparel, toys, electronics, sporting goods and leisure products. Among the most successful were toy sites. When reached through a search engine, they had a conversion rate of 4.85% while Web sites selling computers and electronics had a conversion rate of 1.35%, the study found.

The sites used in the study generate more than $3 billion in annual sales online in five categories listed above.

This news release from WebSideStory has more including precise definitions for each category.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:26 PM | Permalink

January 19, 2006

Once a Site Visitor Arrives They Make Some Key Judgements in Less Than the Time It Takes To Blink

So you've done great seo work and people are arriving on your site(s). Now, how long does it take for a visitor to make aesthetic judgements that, "influence the rest of their experience"? According to some new research out of Canada it takes less than the time it takes to blink your eyes. A Reuters article: Web sites judged in a blink, says that it takes, "one-twentieth of a second -- less than half the time it takes to blink..."

"It really is just a physiological response," Gitte Lindgaard [a professor at Carelton University] told Reuters on Tuesday. "So Web designers have to make sure they're not offending users visually..."If the first impression is negative, you'll probably drive people off."

So, does the research provide any suggestions on how a page might look? Nope. The professor goes on to say, "When we looked at the Web sites that we tested, there is really nothing there that tells us what leads to dislike or to like."

Much of this comes down to personal taste.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:17 PM | Permalink

October 4, 2005

Mastering Google AdWords

Google likes everyone to believe that using AdWords is a snap, requiring no more than five minutes and a credit card to get going. Seasoned search marketers know otherwise, understanding that creating a sponsored link is just one small aspect of managing a successful AdWords campaign.

Now we've got an excellent guide to AdWords written by Andrew Goodman, who's both an expert with the program on behalf of his search marketing clients, but also an astute and acerbic observer of Google's business practices. His new book gives us a concentrated dose of experience and insights that make a fascinating and highly valuable read. I've got a review of Andrew's new book in today's SearchDay article, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Google AdWords.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:00 AM | Permalink

September 25, 2005

Avoiding Holiday SEM Blunders

The holiday season will soon be upon us, and it can be a fantastic time for search marketers, provided you make all of the right moves, says Kevin Lee.

Though many marketers are doing a lot of things right, they're also setting themselves up to make some serious blunders this holiday season. Some best practices could easily replace those blunders.

Kevin offers a checklist of these potential blunders along with "power tips" to turn each into a best practice for search marketing in his latest ClickZ column, Turn Holiday SEM Blunders Into Best Practices.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 3:35 PM | Permalink

June 15, 2005

C'mon In Brand Owners, The Search Water's Fine

It's not all about conversions, in the search marketing game. I was at a conference two months ago where a brand marketer said he didn't care about conversion. He wanted brand impact and was willing to pay for it, to the horror and fear of the mostly conversion-driven audience.

Horror? Dump those big brand dollars into a marketplace mostly driven by conversions, and the pricing goes all out of whack -- at least for the conversion folks. But brand marketers remain wary of search for many reasons, in particular because it's a strange creature.

Brand Engagement Via Search Marketing from Kevin Lee at ClickZ provides some ideas to understand how search may fit in as part of the message, rather than the complete message. And conversion-driven folks, don't come after him from inviting those with the big brand money to throw everything off. After all, as he concludes, if you measure more than just the conversion, you might find you've got more to spend.

For more on that, see also:

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 1:59 PM | Permalink

Tips On Improving Landing Pages

11 Ways to Improve Landing Pages at Digital Web looks at simple things to consider to ensure that when people land at your web site, they don't take off immediately for somewhere else.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:29 PM | Permalink

May 17, 2005

Writing for Search Engines... and Users

Time and again we see people obsessing over web page copy, attempting to achieve some sort of magical "keyword density" or other elusive goal that will somehow cause a search engine to assign a top ranking to a page. Too often, this focus on writing for a search engine obscures the true purpose of a web page: to appeal to the human being who ultimately reads the page.

Today's SearchDay article, Search Engines and King Content, features coverage of a recent Search Engine Strategies session where the emphasis was on content that appeals to both search engines and users. By following the suggestions offered by the panelists, you'll have a much better chance at overall success than by fussing endlessly with arcane search optimization methods that may end up leaving your web site visitors cold.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 7:40 AM | Permalink

May 9, 2005

So You've Attracted Searchers - Now What?

All too often it seems that search marketers have a sole objective of getting top-ten rankings in search results. While that's a noble goal, it's wasted effort if searchers click through to your web site and then don't do something—buy a product, sign up for your newsfeed, register for your conference—whatever your unique conversion opportunity happens to be.

A new book from ClickZ columnists Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg extends the concept of search marketing to a much more thorough, holistic approach to online merchandising that focuses on converting searchers to buyers. It's a terrific book, packed with great ideas and eminently practical tips for improving your overall search marketing and web site development efforts. For more, see my review in today's SearchDay article, Converting Searchers to Buyers.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 10:30 AM | Permalink

March 29, 2005

Google To Acquire Urchin Web Analytics Firm

Google is to acquired the Urchin web analytics firm, which provides both hosted and log-based tools for understanding how people are interacting with web sites.

The Google press release notes that the company plans to continue offering the tools to site owners and marketers, though it doesn't say whether pricing would change. I imagine that Google might offer some versions completely free, in order to build greater marketshare. The company has done the same with many of its other products, such as with the Picasa photo management tool.

One reason to jump into web analytics is that the search companies understand that as search ad prices rise, people will only be willing to pay more if they can justify this by showing better conversions. Web analytics can help those who aren't tracking conversions or who are tracking conversions at only a basic level to better understand the full picture of what happens on their web sites. For more on this, see my Most Conversions Happen Offline; You Need To Measure These! post.

This is one reason why both Yahoo and Google already offer free conversion tracking tools to their advertisers (Yahoo info here; Google info here, though the link to the page with more info on the tool has disappeared). Providing full web analytics may help companies improve conversion even more. Yahoo already owns web analytics technology that it obtained through its 2003 purchase of Keylime. Now Google joins the club.

How much is the deal for? The Google release doesn't say, but John Battelle reports a tip of the $30 million range. SiliconBeat reports the same.

Want to discuss? Please join our forum thread, Google Buys Urchin.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:47 AM | Permalink

March 10, 2005

You Had Them At Search; Keep Them With Email

Hey, I love it if you search for something and found my site about search engines. But it's always been my goal since the very beginning (that's 1996!) that if you find me, I want you to leave your email address to I can continue to reach out to you (with your permission, of course). If the excitement over search and enthusiasm over RSS has made you forget email, don't. It's still used by lots of people and is a great way to convert and stay connected with the people who found you the first time. Search and Retain: The Search/E-Mail Combo from ClickZ looks at this more.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 3:01 PM | Permalink

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