Posts Tagged ‘interactive agency’

Is SEO Dead?

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Three BIG announcements two weeks ago at the Googleplex has many wondering if the practice of “search engine optimization” is dead. We don’t think so but these changes will certainly impact the way you should go about optimizing your website.

  1. Real-time search – Google introduced real time which now pulls latest news stories from news feeds, blogs, and Twitter posts and lists these stories alongside your regular search results. How this impacts SEO: Real time indicates a swing that puts Social Media into the forefront. Your optimization efforts must now 100 percent include social media strategies or you’ll be missing the boat.
  2. Google Caffeine – Google will become much faster once they launch their latest update, called appropriately enough the Google “Caffeine” update. Sites that load quickly will place higher more often than not than sites that don’t. In addition to speed, this update will level the playing field by reducing the impact of your inbound links (since Google obviously knows that optimizers have literally been buying their way to the top) and will instead focus on good sites with good quality content. How this impacts SEO: Caffeine will ensure that sites that meet the needs of their target markets (judged by low bounce rates and audience engagement) will rank higher than those that don’t. This update will dramatically impact how we go about optimizing as more focus will be spent on web design, development, and content. Less focus will be made on tactics that optimizers have used for years such as link buying, link baiting, content development for the sole purpose of adding page counts. Black hat techniques will be rendered ineffective by this update clearing the way for legitimate websites to start ranking well on their own merits.
  3. Google Personalization – Google is now showing different results to different users, meaning your search results will likely be very different from my search results.  Personalization has been around for years but now you get personalized results whether or not you are logged in to a Google account. How this impacts SEO: This spells the end of the road for the ranking report since rankings will vary based on geo-location, IP address, search history, etc. Instead, optimizers must now focus on creating sites that work. Optimizers that spend more time creating a better site are those that will find consistently high rankings regardless of personalization.

While SEO is absolutely not dead, some of the questionable practices that were created to give artificially high results for clients is finally gone (hurray!). The day has come where online marketers absolutely get to be online marketers. Optimizers that only know “how-to-fool” the search engines will soon be exposed and left for Interactive Agencies and online marketers that understand…marketing.

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Do You Want Better Online Marketing Results?

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

How To Get Better Online Results!

Do you want to get better results from your online marketing efforts? We’ve got an easy solution. Why not ask your customers?? I know this answer seems obvious, simple, even down-right ridiculous, but truly it is the most forgotten way to gain quick and valuable insight that just may help you improve your marketing results.

So how do you “ask your customer” exactly? For starters, information can be collected from surveys, focus groups, direct mail and phone calls. When it comes to Internet marketing, however, none of those options are as immediate or as effective as onsite testing.

Onsite testing, meaning running live marketing experiments on specific landing pages of your site, will take the debate out of what you think your site visitors want and tell you precisely what you know your site visitors want. To get started, all you need is a website, an analytics program, and a willingness to experiment with your site (all in the name of higher conversions, of course).

Onsite testing can take the form of A/B testing (testing one variable at a time) or Multivariate Testing (testing several variables at a time). Each method has their pros and cons but both can give you an immediate boost in your conversion rate. 

So what items should you test? For starters, try these:

• Test Headlines – Headers occupy a prominent space on your page.  Often overlooked, testing headlines can make a large impact on your bottom line. 
• Test Graphics – Your image may be fine but perhaps another will connect better with your audience. See if you can create a boost with changes in your imagery.
• Test Punctuation – Use different types of punctuation to see how your customers react. The difference between “Buy Today.” And “Buy Today!” may seem minor to us, but could dramatically improve your results.
• Test Design/ Layout – Perhaps you need an entirely new look/feel to get the message across. Try an A/B test to see if the updated look/feel increases sales.
• Test Buttons – There are many factors to consider when choosing buttons including the size, color, and text used in your button. Experiment and see what happens.

A final thought
While most people are now comfortable running ad campaigns, a surprisingly low number of these marketers are engaging in online testing. And if you aren’t trying to test your site for improvements, you aren’t taking advantage of the inherent benefit of online marketing – the ability to listen to your customer. Everything is measurable and your customers are telling you what they want with the behaviors and click-streams.

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3 Important San Diego Internet Marketing Trends to Watch

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

Internet Marketing is ever-changing. What once worked well for your business a few months ago may not be working for you at all any longer. Competitors eventually learn the same tricks, enter the same channels, and the cost per customer acquisition goes higher. Much higher.  That’s why it’s important to know what’s coming, in order to hopefully get a jump on your competition.  Here is what we see as important trends for you to watch:

1) Search gets competitive- It used to be that you could thrive with just a solid search engine marketing strategy alone.  Nowadays, if you want to effectively compete online, it appears you will have to extend your reach beyond search engine marketing.  Everyone has gotten into the search game and what that means to you is that you now have to compete with a lot more businesses for the same traffic - in the same limited space. Expect higher cost per click prices and a lot more time (and effort) involved in obtaining and sustaining a first page ranking.  To counter, consider ad network marketing as a lower-cost alternative. Ad networks allow for behavioral and demographic targeting and costs are much lower than PPC.  

2) Local Search Booms- For most San Diego businesses, the search engines alone will not be enough. Instead being listed in local directory sites like Local.com, YellowPages.com, and Yahoo! Local will be essentials. In San Diego, businesses can get listings on sites like SanDiego.com and should. Expect new and improved local search sites and great opportunities locally to be seen. 

3) Social Media Marketing Grows Some More  - Before Facebook there was MySpace. Before MySpace there was Friendster. Now there is Twitter, LinkedIn, Tagged, Plaxo, Merchant Circle, Yelp, etc. Where is one to go?  The short answer, much the chagrin of people trying to keep up, is everywhere. Each one has their pros and cons yet all share the same desire – to connect you to people. Expect many new sites and many interations of old sites.  Like it or not…Social media is here to stay and your participation is required.

Keep your eye on these emerging trends and buckle up.  Change is here to stay!

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