RCA Business & Technical Conference Website Marketing for Customer Gain and Retention ti Oct. 14, 2010
Agenda Sources of Website Traffic How to Generate More Site Traffic How to Keep More Visitors On Site Key Performance Metrics Appendix > How Google works > Google Ranking Factors > PPC 2
Web Site Traffic Sources 3 Major Sources of Web Site Traffic Search Engine Traffic (Organic Search & Paid Search) Referral Traffic (Links from other sites, including banner ads) Direct Traffic (Visitors who type in your website address, or a URL on your site) Different strategy for generating more traffic from each source 3
Search Engine Results Page Sponsored (paid) Ads Organic Results 4
Finite Number of Searches Per Month Per Google Keyword Estimate Tool: - 110 searches per month for: wireless service Missouri - 1,600 searches per month for: cell phones Missouri - 46 searches per month for: cell phone service Missouri - 4,600 searches per month for: Missouri wireless - All of this is free information, using Google Adwords d Traffic Estimator 5
Higher Results More Traffic First pages of Search Engine Results Pages (for specific keyword) gets 95% of all clicks (per icrossing) First result (for specific keyword) on SERPs gets 42% - 70% of all clicks Second and Third Results (for specific keyword) get 8% -15% of all clicks 6
But How? Search Engine Optimization. Search engine optimization i (SEO) is the process of improving i the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or unpaid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results When you improve our pages for SEO, we also improve the customer experience. Majority of the changes we make for SEO purposes, also make the site far more intuitive and easy to use. 7
Critical Components for SEO - Overall Keywords placement on page, in on-page HTML code, description of graphics, and on links > (For example: cell phone insurance, compare cell phone insurance, Nokia cell phone insurance, why cell phone insurance, etc.) Links quality of links, the source of the backlink, anchor text, volume of links to site & page, etc. Site architecture must be thematically created with hierarchical funnels, that are easy to access by the bots and visitors. Code must be best practices Confidential 8
Referral Traffic Increasing referral traffic requires getting more links to your site from other sites. Ideally these sites are reputable sites or blogs (don t buy links) In some cases, it makes sense to offer reciprocal links. For example: Chamber of Commerce sites Sponsorship sites Local and National Organizations Alumni/Colleges Partner sites 9
Building Links Developing link bait is also a very good way to get links: Tips and hints articles Videos of wireless university classes Videos of events you sponsor User-related information (FAQs about specific phones) Press releases: Every press release you write should have at least three links back to different parts of your site, ideally using your keywords. 10
Direct Traffic Increasing the number of visitors who type in your web address. Adding your web address to every piece of correspondence Emails Posters Online/offline advertisements Sponsorships Trinkets Press releases 11
Now that they are on your website How do you keep them there? 12
Stay on your site Visitors will stay on your site there, if your site/landing page Addresses their questions Is easy to read Is easy to navigate
Address Visitor Questions People search with questions (or tasks) in mind. For example: What are the benefits of a smart phone? What does my local coverage area look like? Do I need a data plan to get Yahoo! Email on my phone? What are my payment options? How do I update my billing address? How do I get a phone upgrade? Why should I buy from you? 14
Keep in mind the different stages of buying cycle Not everyone is at the buy stage. In fact, many website visitors are collecting information. Thus, you should: Have information (FAQs, comparison charts, articles, etc.) that address each specific stage of the buying cycle. Make this information easy and intuitive to find. 15
High Level Nav Organized for Buying Cycle 16
High Level Nav Organized For Stuff 17
Identify the Questions/Tasks Identify possible questions that your customers or prospective customers are likely to ask (or have asked): > To research rate plans, phones, coverage areas, etc. > Make a purchase buy a plan, phone, pre-paid card, etc. > Manage their account print their bill, pay their bill, change an address, update a credit card Then, organize your information by task. > Use High Level Navigation for the broad categories > Use Sub Level Navigation for more narrowly defined topics > Use Interior Pages to explain the narrowly defined topics Think of a filing cabinet approach!
Build their confidence Add Testimonials Make them highly visible Place your USP on every page Use seals and badges: BBB Chamber of Commerce Awards Verisign safe buying 19
Don t Use Your Newspaper/Magazine Ad Copy How Users Read on the Web They don't. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. Jakob Nielson 20
Make it readable Eliminate large chunks of text Use bullets Create headlines with punch Strip your copy of all your marketing words - i.e. utilize, wireless handsets, cellular provider - & use the words your subscribers would use (i.e. keywords). Use tab panels and elevator panels for large amounts of material. 21
Example of Tab Panel 22
Measure, Refine, Measure, Refine Use Google Analytics to analyze what s happening on the site. Specifically pay attention to: Bounce Rate of Key Landing Pages Number of Monthly Visitors, Pages Per Visit Navigation Paths to Key Pages Referral Traffic Who is sending you referral traffic; how long they are staying on site Search Engine Traffic Volume & Keywords Driving i Search Engine Traffic 23
Appendix 24
How Google Works Spider crawls the web to find new content (web pages, video, news, podcasts, etc.) typically by following hyperlinks from websites already in the database Google catalogs the content (text, video, news, podcasts, tweets, etc.) by adding it to its huge databases An index is created. And the index is stored on servers world wide Searcher types in a search term or keyword, and Google returns the most relevant results, based on its algorithms, on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) 25
So How Does Google Rank Sites, Video, etc.? Google relies on a Top Secret Algorithm! Only select employees of Google know for certain The algorithm is changed, updated and tweaked routinely, as much as 5 times a week Popularly modeled as a 70-part algorithm that evaluates hundreds of factors Reverse engineering, research and experiments gives SEOs (search engine optimization professionals) a pretty good idea of major factors and approximate weight assignments 26
Top Positive Ranking Factors Specifically Keyword Use in Title Tag (Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header ) Anchor Text of Inbound Link (Descriptive text placed on the inbound link) Global l Link Popularity of Site (The overall link weight/authority th it as measured by links from any and all sites across the web (both link quality and quantity) >.edu and.org have higher value than other types of sites >.com sites that are relevant, and in-category are also more heavily weighted Link Popularity within the Site (Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page ) Source: www.seomoz.org/factors/v2 27
Top Ranking Factors - 2 Topical Relevance of Inbound Links (The subject-specific relationship between the sites/pages linking to the target page and the target keyword) Keyword Use in Body Text (Using the targeted t search term in the visible, HTML text of the page) Age of Site (Not the date of original registration of the domain, but rather the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines. Note: this can change if a domain switches ownership) Source: www.seomoz.org/factors/v2 28
Top Negative Ranking Factors Server is Often Inaccessible to Bots (web crawlers that are looking for more content). Content Very Similar or Duplicate of existing content in the Index External Links to Low Quality/Spam Sites Overuse of Targeted Keywords (Stuffing/Spamming) Participation in link schemes or actively selling links Source: www.seomoz.org/factors/v2 29
Good Web Resources Website Design and Conversion Book: The Design of Sites www.designofsites.com Book: Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results Book: Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing Analytics Tools Google Webmaster Tools Google Analytics Google Keyword Estimates Tool 30
Search Marketing Resources Searchenginewatch.com Searchengineland.comcom Blog.hubspot.com Seomoz.org/blog/ Toprankblog.com Seodesignsolutions.com Linkspiel.com Ericward.com Googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com Seosmarty.com Highrankings.com 31
Pay Per Click SEM PPC ads appear as sponsored listings Companies bid on price they are willing to pay per click Have very good tracking tools and statistics Ability to control ad text Can set budgets and spending limits Google AdWords isn t the only game in town, but the biggest platform to date. 32
PPC vs. Organic SEO Pay-Per-Click Organic SEO results in weeks (sometimes just days) ability to turn on and off at any moment can easily control flow of traffic and geotarget generally more costly per visitor and per conversion easy to compete in highly competitive market space (but it will cost you $$s) requires constant vigilance and testing results take months, even years less expensive in the long-run than PPC more difficult to control flow of traffic SERPs are more popular and credible than sponsored ads very difficult to compete in highly competitive market space requires constant tracking and tweaking 33
Jennifer Dlugozima VP Interactive Marketing esecuritel 2325 Lakeview Parkway, Suite 275 Alpharetta, GA 30099 678-389-6217 6217 Phone 912-441-5520 Cell jdlugozima@esecuritel.com 34