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The AMA Oregon March Professional Development Workshop, “How to Squeeze SEO Results out of Your Existing Site,” was one of the best-attended workshops this year.
The presenter, Ben Lloyd, president of Amplify Interactive, followed up with AMA Oregon for an interview about his company’s specialty, Search Engine Optimization and Marketing (SEO/SEM). Lloyd formed Amplify Interactive in 2003 to provide custom SEO/SEM services, including pay-per-click (PPC), l ink development campaigns, metrics and analytics.
Keywords are … key
One of the topics Lloyd didn’t have a chance to cover in his presentation was keyword research and selection.
“The biggest thing is brainstorming what people might do a search on,” he said.
Then, he recommends, use sites such as Wordtracker or KeywordDiscovery to find out which search terms people are really using for your industry and apply them as appropriate to your web site’s titles, META descriptions and other content. If you sell financial services, but your audience is searching for “tax help,” you’re out of luck if you don’t say “tax help” on your site.
Finally, Lloyd said, avoid the temptation to load your site with popular search terms that aren’t entirely relevant to what you do, which can lead to disappointed rather than converted searchers. No promising “tax help” and delivering pain relievers.
DIY vs. Professional Help
One of the biggest misconceptions about SEO, Lloyd said, is that it’s some kind of back-end magic that can be done without changing the site’s content.
Instead, it’s a process that uses keywords, links, tags and content to make a web site more visible to search engines.
Marketers can employ SEO tactics like the tips in Lloyd’s presentation by themselves, so when is it time to hire an SEO/SEM expert?
“Well, anytime’s a good time to hire us,” Lloyd said, laughing.
Becoming serious, he said he recommends help from a pro any time a company develops a brand new web site or undergoes a redesign or restructure.
SEO/SEM is something to think about from the start. When building or redesigning a site, think about the content and build the information architecture and calls to action with SEO in mind, he said.
“The biggest mistake is taking SEO into account too late in the process,” he said.
The other time to bring in an expert, he said, is when you’ve tried SEO/SEM tactics and aren’t showing up in the search engines the way you’d like.
“When you’ve exhausted everything you can do yourself, and you’re still not getting the results you want, you can bring in a professional to help with strategy, beyond stuffing your web site with keywords,” he said.
Strategy is the key that a pro can provide, Lloyd said. The presentation he gave had tactical tips everyone can use, but hiring a pro brings strategy to the execution.
Web 2.0 and SEO/SEM
Marketers should be aware of social media sites, such as blogs, MySpace and review sites, Lloyd said. When your company is mentioned on such sites, it affects not only search results but your online reputation, as someone who Googles your company name will see what others are saying about you.
“You have to realize that it’s beyond rankings; it’s about what’s showing up on the results page,” he said.
Showing up No. 1 in Google doesn’t help much if it’s a reviewer bashing your company’s product. Be aware of what others are saying about you online and contribute to Web 2.0 sites when appropriate.
Optimized your existing site
Lloyd shared tactical tips in his presentation:
- Use keywords in the title and description of each page, and anywhere else you can.
- Write title tags that are unique and relevant to each page. Don’t name your home page “Welcome!”
- Include unique and descriptive META descriptions for each page.
- Use descriptive links: free trial of our accounting software is better than click here for a free trial of our accounting software; linking from the title of a whitepaper is better than linking from “more information.”
Slides from Lloyd’s presentation are available online.
About the writer: Alissa Barron Stranzl is Lane Powell PC's marketing communications
coordinator and an AMA volunteer. She can be reached at a.stranzl@gmail.com.
If you’ve installed MS Outlook 2007, you may notice some significant changes to the way
e-newsletters and e-blasts appear.
How Vista and Office 2007 Impact HTML Emails
Imagine designing websites in Word (what a set back for email) – that’s what you get with Outlook 2007. Previously, Outlook used Internet Explorer as its email manager, but the 2007 version has dropped IE and now uses Word. This results in the following problems for email recipients:
- Background images and colors are removed
- Rendering of emails using CSS and style sheets (the main form of web design) is disrupted.
- Animated .gif files won’t animate.
- Flash animations display the big red X.
- Embedded email surveys will not work in Outlook 2007. What’s even worse, Outlook 2007 actually strips out the form elements, so your recipients will not be able to tell if a form was there to begin with.
Source: theemailwars
Here are few more things you should know
1. Adoption rate of Outlook 2007 is going to be quite slow, especially among B2C users.
2. In a recent iMedia Connection article (http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/14293.asp) they mention that "Outlook changes may encourage designers to stick to simple HTML and, as a result, increase compatibility with a greater number of mail clients including those on handheld devices and cell phones."
What to do about the situation? Education & Understanding
- Read the MS documentation on Outlook 2007 so you and your designers understand the limitations and can account for these if you want to design Outlook 2007-friendly emails (Email Marketing Report's Brownlow)
- Outlook 2007 has been available as a no-charge beta for months, enabling many marketers to test and optimize their email in advance of the recent launch. (Microsoft's Spiezle)
- Test, test and re-test campaigns to optimize deliverability. Tools and deliverability resources are available for mailers at www.microsoft.com/postmaster as well as from http://postmaster.live.com/ (Spiezle)
- Review your subscriber list to get a feel for the webmail services and likely clients being used by them. Test these services and clients against your design and adjust accordingly. (Brownlow)
- Ensure your email service provider has tested any plug-n-play templates that the company offers (GOT's Vezina)
- Test the rendering of your campaigns in all email clients PRIOR to mailing. Use a tool provided by your email service provider, agency or deliverability partner, or just set up test accounts and check manually. (Return Path's Miller)
- Offer a quick poll asking when your subscribers intend to upgrade (if at all). Talk to your subscribers through online surveys and/or focus groups. Are some of the advanced features you feel you can't live without really that important to them? Will simple links do just as well as interactive elements or search fields? (Miller)
- Sadly, there is no "sniffer" that will tell your MIME formatted messages that the client is Outlook 2007. However, you can add mouse type to your header instructions to easily view the message as a web page or to change preferences to text only. This will at least address any rendering difficulties until Outlook 2007 has a broader share of market. (Miller)
- Track subscriber behavior, particularly for B2B subscribers. Are formerly active subscribers suddenly going non-responsive? Maybe they can't see your email! Are there certain receivers/ISPs where you see a drop off in open and click rates? Perhaps the Outlook 2007 adoption is higher to this segment. This data may give you a clue as to adoption of your own file. Invite those subscribers to re-subscribe to the text version. (Miller)
- Give more attention to the words you use. The tougher the limitations on design, the bigger the role your text plays in driving action. A picture is worth approximately zero words if it isn't displayed properly. Don't let clever design get in the way of the message.
Source: emaildays.com
About the writer: Andy Van Oostrum is Regional Sales Manager for eROI. He actively blogs on eROI.blogspot.com, and can be reached at andy@eroi.com.
Your marketing mentor: Michael Reilly, PhD – My marketing professor during undergrad, and my first business partner. A brilliant marketing mind, at one point the most cited Professor in the nation, yet as comfortable having a conversation with the garbage man as the CEO of a multinational. A true mentor in every sense of the word.
What you like most about being a marketer: The flexibility. Every day things are changing, and the role marketing plays is generally as the “face” of the organization. In our firm, we often have the opportunity to help a business grow substantially, which has positive impacts throughout the entire economy.
What you like least about being a marketer: Ricola commercials.
Marketing trend you are happy to see gone: Pharmaceutical advertising where the actresses act like they are having a normal conversation discussing the possible side effects of a drug…..wait, they’re still doing that? I’ll be happy when they aren’t!
Your favorite tag line (any product): Vegas – “What happens here, stays here”. They finally figured out they shouldn’t be marketing “family friendliness” when the city just isn’t that great for most families.
If you had to sell marketing as a profession to teenagers what would your message/value statement be? Within the field of marketing, you can flex so many different talents from the analytical to the creative. Marketers are what they make of themselves. You can redefine an entire market, culture or the world based on what you do; how can that not excite you?
Newest marketing trend to watch: The marketing research field is at a cross-roads. Technology is allowing people to effectively design and manage their own research projects, but divorcing the act of collecting data from the process of designing and managing effective feedback systems can be a scary proposition for companies who are making critical decisions based on the findings. As in many other industries and sectors, marketing researchers are going to have to redefine how they add value to their clients.
First choice for a new career: ESPN Commentator – If it’s my job to watch sports, I don’t have to find a compelling reason why watching March Madness is more important than the 31 st viewing of Sleepless in Seattle.
A recent study of e-mail click through rates by Silverpop Systems Inc., resulted in the following important findings:
- E-mail message that included the company name or brand in the subject line had significantly higher open rates – as much as 12% more.
- Overall, text-style links averaged a click rate that was 3% higher than image-style links.
- When navigation bars were included in messages, those on the left of B2C creative formats showed much higher click rates than when the bar was located elsewhere.
- For B2B marketers, the best location for the navigation bar was at the top.
- B2C messages in newsletter format generated high click rates.
- B2B e-mails in postcard format generated high click rates.
- The number of clicks in an e-mail also affected click rates. According the study, the optimal click rates appeared to be between six and ten. Adding more links actually deteriorated results.
Source: Marketing Manager Magazine March/April 2007
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