Category: Search Engine Marketing

How Google’s Recent Changes Affect Your Business

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Google recently announced important updates to its ranking algorithm (nicknamed “Farmer’s Update”) that will likely adversely affect website owners who do not provide users with a high quality and relevant search experience. The company stated:

“Our goal is simple: to give people the most relevant answers to their queries as quickly as possible.”

Currently released exclusively in the US, the latest Google update impacts 11.8% of user queries. The company stated the update is specifically targeting low-quality sites identified as “low-value add for users, copy content from other websites, or sites that are just not very useful” to reduce their rankings. At the same time, the new algorithm is designed to allow the “cream to rise to the top” as it were, specifically awarding higher rankings to high quality sites with “original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis, and so on.”

As always, if you want to be among the high quality sites rewarded with high rankings, you have to help Google to achieve their goal as stated above as well as support their efforts “to encourage a healthy web ecosystem.” So how do you do that? Here are some considerations:

  • Conduct comprehensive research to identify the language used by your targeted audience groups to search for what you offer
  • Conduct market research – send out surveys, study your (Google ;)) Web Analytics, study your inquiry and sales reports, monitor conversations and topics on social media related to your site / industry, monitor the news and trade journals that write about topics of interest to your targeted groups, etc. – to identify the interests of each of your targeted audience groups
  • Write professional, compelling, search engine optimized webcopy that covers the interests of your targeted audience groups
  • Include search engine optimized professional images that support your copy and allow users to identify their areas of interest
  • Create search engine optimized, user-friendly web pages that are designed to accurately represent what you offer as well as your professional image
  • Create search engine optimized calls-to-action (CTA’s) that guide users seamlessly through the conversion process to complete the action(s) you want them to complete.
  • Develop a flexible, search engine optimized site architecture that makes it easy for users (and search engine spiders) to visit (and “understand”) every page of your website
  • Develop search engine optimized off-site content (on websites other than yours such as social media sites or relevant third-party sites like news sites, journals, professional organizations, etc.) that establishes your authority for, and links to, the content represented in your search engine optimized website pages.

Google is working on many more changes that they believe “will substantially improve the quality of the pages” in the engine’s search results.

The key is to optimize for Google and for your targeted audience groups. An intelligent strategy requires the right mix of research, content development, and presentation.

Know who and what you’re targeting and present the highest quality possible to remain competitive. The formula is simple, but is takes discipline and ongoing commitment to be successful.

Danny Sullivan has a great write-up on the  topic as well on SearchEngineLand’s site.

Google Global Market Finder and Ads for Global Advertisers – Business Development Tip

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With the consistently expanding online market currently serving over 1.9 billion consumers, Google offers a set of tools to help businesses expand and market globally.

Launched recently, the Global Market Finder is a free tool to help businesses identify foreign markets in which there appears to be “high demand for their products and services.” Familiar to those who have used the Keyword tools in AdWords, The Global Market Finder helps you to evaluate new markets by showing you the following information for each market:

  • Volume of local searches
  • Estimated price for keywords
  • Competition for each keyword

The numbers give you an idea of how competitive the market is, how demand is in one country compared to another, and the cost to start advertising in the new market(s).

Here’s how it works:

First you enter your country and principle language (US and English); then enter the keywords related to your products and services. From the drop-down menu, select the global market that interests you (Africa, Americas, Asia, Emerging Markets, Europe, European Union, G20, Middle East, or Oceania). The Geographic Distribution results identify the Location (country), a bar graph that indicates strength of Opportunity, total number of Local Monthly Searches (12 month average), a Suggested Bid Amount for your associated keywords, and a bar graph indicating level of Competition.

Next you can opt to make use of the Google Translator Toolkit that allows you to upload a document (your intended ad landing page, for example) or specify a url and select the language from which and to which you want it translated. Next you can create a “TM”, or translation memory file where the translated document will be stored.

All of the above tools are accessible from the newly launched website Google Ads for Global Advertisers, which “pulls together resources for businesses to find the right market for their products and services, translate their websites and ad text, find new customers with relevant online ads, and understand options for international payment, shipping and customer service.”

Third-Party Integration: Know Before You invest

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Many clients ask me to help them find a cost effective enterprise solution for ERP, CRM, e-commerce, and a variety of data management challenges they are faced with. It was not too long ago that third party on-demand and OTS (off-the-shelf)  solutions were simply not what they promised to be. They had an unprofessional look and feel, custom branding wasn’t possible, they took a lot of time to learn, took days to implement properly, didn’t really deliver on what they promised, and often required a very deep commitment from users.

Times have changed and some third-party applications have come a long way to provide cost conscious users with robust, customizable, and brandable solutions.

Affordable no longer equals “cheap”.

The challenge remains though to select from the multitude of products available the one that is right for you.

Whether it’s a custom solution or off-the-shelf, it has to be flexible enough to grow along with you, meeting your needs today while able to accommodate the new ones that come along with growth. Additionally, it is important to be able to detect the product’s limitations and potential incompatibilities with the way in which you do business.

For example, when considering a third-party cataloging solution, you want to find a product that provides you with line item level functionality but does not require your products to be tied into the system to such an extent that if you were to discontinue the service or, for whatever myriad of possible reasons, the service became unavailable (company went out of business, system malfunction, etc.), you would lose all sales and marketing information at the product level. This scenario happens often. My team had to rescue several businesses from such an occurrence when they discontinued using the third-party service but did not plan ahead.

Any quality third-party solution should integrate seamlessly with your branded website. You always want your web pages to provide the indexable product information that serves to educate and motivate your prospective customers.  Your search engine optimized web pages and offsite efforts serve to build your authority score in the eyes of the search engines for the terms associated with your content, providing you with search engine effectiveness and on-going return on investment.

On the other hand, if your content is tied with the third-party solution at every level, linking only from your homepage before leaving your site completely to access it, then you essentially own nothing that serves to build your business online. Once you stop the service you are out of business on the web because no one can access your product content online any more. For those of you who sell through your online application, this can have a detrimental effect on sales.

The third-party app evaluation process has to take into consideration what you can and cannot do without. Sometimes it makes sense to use a comprehensive product catalog solution, for example, that takes care of everything from soup to nuts. What you have to understand is what you are giving up. Does it make sense for the way you do business? What happens if you decide to no longer use the product?

Always consider:

  • What must the system do today and in the future
  • Does it offer a flexible architecture that will grow along with you
  • Does the look and feel accurately represent your branding and your professionalism
  • Is it user-friendly for the public as well as the administrative tools you will have to use
  • What is the learning curve
  • How long does it take to implement
  • How will you be affected if you discontinue to use it or it malfunctions
  • What are your true costs of ownership, including but not limited to purchase price
  • What is the return on investment (how does it streamline processes, particularly for leads, sales, and time-consuming administrative tasks)
  • What are the limitations and how will you be affected by them

There are many excellent third-party solutions available for whatever you need to accomplish, from enterprise level ERP solutions to simple little cart apps for custom requests for quote or online sales. Whatever your objectives, understanding ‘how’ to consider your options is critical to making a wise investment. Make a poor investment and it could cost you dearly in time, money, and business.

Why Good Online Reviews Are Important

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An interesting New York Times article recounts a horrifying online shopping experience a woman had with an e-retailer. The poor victim subsequently learned about an advocacy website where consumers vented their frustrations and experiences with this particular online merchant. The most disturbing part of the story was a statement posted at this consumer advocacy site by this unsavory merchant claiming his dishonest and sometimes threatening business practices (even involving physical threats and intimidation) were part of an overall strategy to generate online sales:

“Hello, My name is Stanley with DecorMyEyes.com…I just wanted to let you guys know that the more replies you people post, the more business and the more hits and sales I get. My goal is NEGATIVE advertisement.”

The merchant claims that the negative response resulted in higher listing spots in Google and increased sales online: “I never had the amount of traffic I have now since my 1st complaint. I am in heaven.”

Negative advertising is nothing new. It works.  And it can even be used effectively in a positive way, like Listerine’s negative advertising campaign that focused on the fact that the product tastes bad: “The Taste You Love to Hate (twice a day).”

Negative online customer reviews, however, are akin to notoriety. And notoriety and popularity are two very different things. Poor customer service and bad business practices are never advisable if you plan on staying in business for the long run. It is much more productive to develop sales initiatives that support both your overall growth objectives and your company mission statement. Three solid years of great online reviews and five star customer satisfaction goes a long way toward helping you achieve not only your search engine effectiveness but your longevity or even your value if you wish to sell your business or go public.

Long term versus short term: every short term initiative has a long term consequence. Encourage positive online reviews by offering your customers real value. From the experience they have at your website to the benefits of the product or service they receive from you, give them a good reason at every turn to take time out of their busy day to rave online about the experience they had with your company.

Why Audience Segmentation and Targeting is So Important

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I came across a great little B2B case study in a post by Michael Brenner that I recommend you all read. In a nutshell, by providing respondents with “directed paths and audience-specific messaging” the subject of the case study increased website conversion rates by 556%.

It is so often the case that companies offer a tremendous amount of valuable information on their websites but they just are not getting the kind of conversions they expect. Typically the problem is the way in which the information is presented and sometimes even the keywords used to attract audiences. The entire presentation is either too generalized or not targeting audiences accurately.

Not all information is relevant to all audiences. Additionally, even if the information is relevant to everyone, it is often not relevant for the same reasons. These distinctions are important to understand when you are creating and presenting web content, particularly landing page content designed to greet respondents from a search engine or email campaign.

The first order of business is to understand who you are talking to (segment and profile) and why they should be listening to you (value you offer them). There are many ways to segment your audiences and the criteria you select to do so should make sense for your business. An example would be to target differently those familiar with your type of service or products from those who are just now learning how what you offer could work for them. The core information may be the same, but how you present it will determine how successful you are at attracting and motivating each group.

Something else to consider when segmenting and profiling your target audience groups is what their role in the decision-making process will be. If you are marketing B2B, typically you want to get your message across to decision-makers but have to go through those who are conducting the research. In this case, your initial challenge is to speak to the interests of those conducting the research using the language they use.   If done well, later in the process you may begin to present information in a manner that will allow the researcher to be your representative to the decision-makers.

Bottom line, present web content in a way that allows each of your target audience groups to easily identify and interact with the content meant for them. From landing page through to conversion, keep the conversation focused on them, providing each group with interesting ways to interact with your information as it guides them seamlessly through each step to make contact with you.