Eradicate Perplexity

I’ve been asked to write a column for another glass industry publication, US Glass.  You can find my debut article with this magazine here…

“If you haven’t heard lately, Internet marketing is the place to be if you’re looking to build your business or keep your customers from going to the competitor.  But why?…

Read the full article at http://www.usglassmag.com/USGlass/2007/December/onlinebylines.htm.  Happy reading!

Hello readers,

I may not have as much time as I’d like to post articles to this blog.  Instead, however; I’d like to post links to articles I am writing for numerous print publications.  Hopefully you will find these usefull.  As time allows, I will also post new ideas here, for now…

Here is one in the January issue of Auto Glass Magazine:

Moving Your Business Online
If consumers made more than 4 million inquiries specific to your company’s product or service, wouldn’t you want to know? That’s exactly what’s happening on the Internet right now.  Read More about moving your business online at http://www.autoglassmagazine.net/articles.php?id=870

Search Engine marketing is no longer about showing up in the top ten results. Well okay, that is still important, but it’s only one piece of the overall puzzle.As sophisticated businesses and marketing agencies embrace the world of Internet Marketing, Search Engine Marketers are being asked to deliver a level of strategy and value never before expected. With the bar raised, we must now focus on targeted business goals to prove ROI.When I’m discussing a million-dollar engagement with an enterprise client, I’d have to have more than the luck of the Irish to land the deal with simple promises of first page Google listings and increased traffic through Pay-per-click. Okay, I’m only part Irish – but luck shouldn’t be the deciding factor anyway.

In today’s market, it has become important to prove how SEM will increase sales, lower customer acquisition costs, decrease customer service expenditures, and achieve or exceed overall, pre-set, business goals. I’ve even been asked to provide accurately projected and guaranteed ROI ratios from one enterprise client. That can be a dangerous corner to stand in when your success relies on Search Engine response.

You might ask ‘do business goals really fit in with SEM? Shouldn’t a business strategist or traditional marketer be focused on that instead?’ Short answer…No!

Though someone within your client’s organization is likely accountable for broad planning, budget creation, and ROI development, they will most likely not have the expertise to understand how various search patterns, landing pages, and targeted conversion paths will affect their bottom line.

That said, it’s time for a much-needed reality check. If you’re a Search Engine Optimizer who knows how to get top organic rankings on the Search Engine Results Page through ethical, white-hat methods, great! If you’re a Pay-per-Click expert who understands how to drive traffic through thousands of word variations, geo-targeting, and broad/exact phrase settings, excellent! But if that’s all you know, then your future in this industry is limited.

Here are the facts (or at least my humble assessment of them): if your skills do not include business analysis and strategic consulting, even though they may be well developed and important, you’re missing the big-picture. Right now, Directors, VP’s, and C-level executives all tell me the same thing, “If you expect us to transfer 10 – 20% of our traditional marketing budgets to the Internet, you must be able to substantiate the broad and granular successes - both in the short-term, as well as through on-going trends.”

I could just say, “Sure, we can do that.” – But how do I know what I’m promising, unless I truly understand what “success” means for the client?

Let’s dig a little deeper…

When you engage a new client for Search Engine Marketing, what’s the first step in your campaign? Is it…Keywords? Wrong! It should be an analysis of the client’s business. The list of items to investigate can be long, but should start with the following:

• Marketing plan

• Branding initiatives

• Sales channels

• Prior successes/failures

• Past goal patterns

• Current goals (broken down by variables)

• Obstacles to these goals

• Current audience segmentation

• Internal structure

• External image

• Site metrics (usability, trends, baseline)

Keywords now, you ask? Almost, but not yet.

The thorough business analysis you perform will allow you to build a targeted list of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) based on the type of site, conversion points, branding, and several factors specific to the site in question. The assigned KPIs will then be used to track the success of the campaign and your work.

Finally, once you and your client are in agreement on the KPIs and the broad and granular goals of the campaign, then, and only then, should you begin working on key term development.

I understand many will say that’s way too much work to go into a campaign before even starting search term development. If that’s your stance, that’s okay, but realize that the rest of the industry is developing sophisticated ROI processes and demanding 10 to 20 times the professional service fees of those stuck in the old, simple-ways of SEM.

So, to review, what is the overall goal of an SEM campaign?

1. Drive traffic to the site
2. Create exposure on the search engines (branding)
3. Improve online sales (e-commerce)
4. Improve offline sales (leads to phone, form, or other contact)
5. Elicit downloads (indirect conversion)
6. All of the above
7. None of the above

If you answered 1, you may be right. Although, if you answered 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 you may be right as well…or you may be wrong. My point is, the goals of the campaign may differ for each client. If you don’t develop KPIs and business goals with your clients in the beginning, you’ll have no idea what successes to strive for; nor will you know whether or not your clients agree with your assessment of success.

SEM is more sophisticated than it was 2-years ago. The days of simply driving traffic and getting paid for it are over. I know, I know – I’ve shed a few tears myself.

If you want to survive in today’s SEM market, you need to bring a higher level of business intelligence and strategy to the table. Know your client’s business, and understand their goals. Most importantly, get the client’s sign-off on the goals of your campaign and stick to them. If the direction changes mid-stream, get new sign-off; ensuring that you are always on the same page as your client.

Oh yeah, and it doesn’t hurt if you deliver a few first page search results as well!

Do you sell a product or service on your web site?  Forget e-commerce - that’s too literal. What I’m asking is: do you sell your business online in hopes of enticing customers or clients to buy, sign-up, contact you, or register?  If so, please read on…

No Soliciting
Studies are continuously conducted by individuals, firms, and analysts aiming to understand what drives people to buy (or “convert”) when viewing a web site.One consistent finding is that people do not want to be sold to.  Though this may not come as a surprise, take a look at most sales-oriented web sites and you’ll see they are structured as straight conversion sites.  Click here, buy this, you’re done.  Such sites take little time educating or informing us.  Instead, they get right to the point of offering product specifications and prices.  On the surface, this might make sense. But these sites leave too much to chance -  believing their company will win business by simply offering lower prices.  There is much, much more to the equation of successful conversions.   If Everything was as Easy to Sell as the iPod… 
If you’re a technology store and you sell the coveted iPod (or all its various attachments, for that matter), it may be true that you do not need much more than the product on the screen, a good price, and an obvious ‘buy’ button.  Anyone interested in purchasing the item will not need more persuading to complete the conversion (it’s price-driven and a familiar product). 

Unfortunately, we don’t all sell the iPod.   

If your site is B-to-B, large-ticket, manufacturing, or services related, etc. you need to find more innovative ways to get your audience to convert.  Many studies have proven the best way to make this happen is to educate your consumer. 

This means you need to look closely at your site, take out language that could be considered “sales” driven and point your viewers to areas where they might learn something about a product or service that interests them.  If you do not currently have educational pages, get busy — they are critical for increasing conversions. 

But why does this work?  People research and educate themselves via the Internet.  If they find a resource that teaches them about a product or service and offers truly helpful tips, advice, and tools, then they become more interested in that particular site.  More importantly, you build trust with your audience and display your company as an expert in your industry.   

For example, my previous agency built a Product Finder tool for a national knife and multi-tool manufacturer.  The tool suggests specific products to potential buyers based on their responses to a series of lighthearted questions.  If a user is thinking about purchasing a multifunctional knife/tool for someone as a gift, the Product Finder tool will recommend the ideal gift based on several personal factors about the person you are buying for. 

Knowledge is Power - Convert Them Through Education
By nature, people are hungry for knowledge.  They can go just about anywhere to purchase a product, but if you can supply the information they so desperately crave, you will have gained an active and truly interested audience – these are the visitors that are most likely to convert (and come back). Here are some tips:  

• Give ‘Em Options.  If you’re going to offer a download, offer it in more than one format (not everyone downloads PDF’s). Do not require information from the user to download the information.  This is a significant deterrent for most viewers.  Give information freely and conversions will climb.
• Be a Teacher.  Decide what to educate people about.  You know your industry and you probably have a good handle on your audience and what kind of information they are interested in. By continuously educating your audience, users develop a trust with your site, and you become a vital resource in your industry.
• Have a Strategy.  Depending on your business and your audience, you will want to devise a strategy to offer additional information, further assistance, etc.  This can be a list of references mentioned in an article, a phone number, email addresses, or related web site— anything that allows the consumer to take the next step and continue their relationship with you.
• Provide the Next Step.  For some sites, the “next step” may be a conversation with a sales representative.  For other sites, it may be providing additional information on a product or service.  Whichever way you choose to educate the consumer, it is critical at this point to lead them towards a conversion without selling them by the “Click Here, Buy Now” approach.  This creates long-term consumer relationships and will increase overall sales and customer retention. 

In the end, you have provided educational information to a highly interested group of visitors and you have empowered them to take the call-to-action step on their own.  You have demonstrated that your web site is a viable resource for your customers, ultimately creating conversions by education.  E-commerce is simply a buying tool, a very important means of exchanging money for many companies.  For the rest of us, education to conversion is an art and one worth perfecting.