I’m #2…and I’m happy with that!

As an SEO professional it is my job to gain small businesses better visibility in Google, Bing and other search engines. However, what most small business owners don’t understand is just how important WHERE they place on a page really is.

Old school theory stated if you are on the first page, especially if you’re in the first 3-5 results, you are doing well and you don’t need to worry about trying to increase your search ranking any further. However, this is old theory and has been debunked by a recent study by Slingshot SEO.

In this study it was found that websites who place #1 in search enjoy a CTR (click through rate) of 18.2%, meaning 18.2% of the time their website was displayed in a search, it was clicked on. That CTR drops exponentially as you go down the page.

There Can Be Only One #1

What kind of effort are you putting into achieving that #1 spot? Sure, you may rank #1 for your brand, but are you ranking well for more competitive search terms your target market is likely using? If you already are #1, what does your conversion rate look like for the traffic you’re getting?

Face it, holding the #1 position is great, but if it doesn’t translate into increased revenue, it doesn’t really matter. So anyone seeking to build business online must use a balanced approach to achieve success.
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The SECRET of SEO – Content is King

Over the years I’ve watched Search Engine Optimization, the phrase “content is king” has continued to be one that is prevalent. In the past this has meant that he who has the most content wins. However, the application of this particular saying has changed greatly.

According to the SEOMoz 2011 Search Engine Ranking Factors Study, content accounts for roughly 26% of the search algorithm. While it seems that a quarter of the algorithm isn’t much, especially compared to the 42% links play in the algorithm, without proper content the other factors are a moot point. The content on your site is the signal Search Engines use to determine relevance to the search term where you want greater presence.

How is Content Ranked?

Content is currently ranked on several factors. One of the most common is your keywords being used in the content itself. Then you have appropriate placement in HTML tags throughout the page, using the keywords in bolds, and so forth.

This is the same kind of stuff SEO experts have been using for several years. However, keyword density, placement, proximity and prominence are no longer enough. As part of the 2011 study, SEOMoz took a look at what experts foresee becoming more important in the future. One of those factors is the perceived value to the site/page’s visitors.

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The SECRET to SEO Success

How many times have you seen websites promoting the “secret” to search engine presence? Some will tell you if you follow a formula for putting together a website. Others will tell you if you leave spam comments on blogs with links back to your site you’ll increase your search performance. In the end, most of these leave you feeling frustrated and like it’s a big mystery how to really perform well in Search Engines.

SEO Is Not Really a Secret, It’s a Science

How to gain visibility isn’t really a secret, but it’s a science mixed with a little art, and it’s relatively easy to learn the science…at least in terms of information being available. SEOMoz released last month their biennial study on the factors that impact search placement. Over the next several blog posts we’re going to unpack some of what that study showed, and we’ll show you how to better perform in the search engines.

You need to learn more. If you actually want to do well, you’ll need to learn more about what we’re going to discuss. This can be done by reading books like SEO Warrior or by reading through the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

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Social Networking Coffee Hour – Episode 3

If you missed the third Social Networking Coffee Hour, we’ve added the recording to our youtube channel.

At this Social Networking Coffee Hour, we discussed how to measure your social media marketing’s effectiveness. We strongly believe that what gets measured, gets improved.

Be sure to ask your questions. We have a dedicated forum on the Holistic Visibility Facebook Page to answering your questions.

 

Social Networking Coffee Hour – Episode 2

If you missed the Social Networking Coffee Hour, you’re in luck! We’re recording it and posting it to our YouTube channel for you to review.

During the second session of the Social Networking Coffee Hour, we discussed how to effectively engage your audience using Social Media.

Be sure to ask your questions. We have a dedicated forum on the Holistic Visibility Facebook Page to answering your questions.

 

The New Mind of Marketing

As we have worked with small business owners to develop marketing strategies, one of the marketing channels commonly desired is Email Marketing. While this can be a great marketing tool, it can also be an area that is easy to fail at, and entrepreneurs give up way too early. Why? Like other marketing efforts, people want to take the short cut.

List size matters…right?

Yes, list size does matter, but only if the list has the right people in it. What do I mean? When you look at building your list, there are two options you can explore: 1) purchase your list, or 2) organically build your list.

Purchased email lists: While purchased lists may work well for phone sales, they are increasingly ineffective for email marketing. Often a list with thousands of email addresses in it will have a 40-50% undeliverable rate. Of the 50-60% that does deliver, you’ll be lucky if you see a 1-2% open rate…and that’s if your subject line is really engaging. From that open rate you’ll be doing really well to see 0.5-1.0% conversion (taking the specified action). These numbers are on the first send, and every subsequent send gets less effective.

So let’s look at this in some hard numbers:

Purchased List:	3,500 addresses
Deliverable:	1,750-2,100 addresses
Opens	17-42 emails
Conversions	1

Using the “Stupid” Test

When I think through what things I’ll going to recommend to a client, I start with two questions. First, I ask the client if they would respond to the type of marketing effort being made. Second, I ask myself the same question. Why do I ask these questions?

Marketing is about engaging your audience, getting them to take action. Marketers often forget to do this “stupid” test, and start out on tasks that will not garner a good response because they make sense in theory. Theory must always be grounded in reality, what we know works based on personal experience or industry study.

The point here is if you wouldn’t respond, why would someone else? The first piece of response in email marketing is looking at the person from whom you’re receiving email and deciding if you’re even going to open the email. While the body of the email may be great, if you’re not getting it opened, it doesn’t matter.
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Case Study of Social Media at Work

One of the thoughts I currently hear about Social Media is that “people don’t really care what I have to say.” That thought cripples people from engaging social networks, and being social in the way they live.

Not so for now famous Stephanie Gordon (@Stefmara). Yesterday she boarded her plane a not-so-standard event planner, and walked off the plane, quickly becoming known around the world because of the pictures she posted to Twitter of the Space Shuttle Endeavor’s last launch…caught right from her iPhone on from her seat on the plane (check out the rest of the pictures and video she posted). When she boarded she had about 1,000 followers. This morning she has over 4,300 followers.

What can we learn from @Stedmara?

While not all of us will take pictures of a historic event, there are several things we can learn from this Stephanie.

Being social is a way of life.

While the pilot said there was a chance to see the shuttle, Stephanie didn’t think she’d get the opportunity, and definitely wasn’t intending to get famous from it. Rather, when she did see it, she decided to document it and share it with her network. This wasn’t in an attempt for notoriety, but just wanting to share something with those she was connected to. This is the social way of life. Communicating what you see, communicating what you feel is important or interesting, and just being willing to engage.
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Social Networking Coffee Hour – Episode 1

If you missed the Social Networking Coffee Hour, you’re in luck! We’re recording it and posting it to our YouTube channel for you to review.

During the first session of the Social Networking Coffee Hour, we discussed how to leverage Social Media Monitoring, specifically Google Alerts, to keep an eye on what others are saying about your business, brand, or products. Listen in as we discuss the why’s and how’s.

Be sure to ask your questions. We have a dedicated forum on the Holistic Visibility Facebook Page to answering your questions.

 

Facebook Is Here to Stay…Are You?

One of the many facets of Internet Marketing is what’s called “display ads”. These ads are a combination of image, text and link. There are more opportunities for display ad marketing than you can shake a stick at, including buying ad space on well performing blogs. Facebook is one such place, and is increasing in popularity and power.

Last week comScore, a market research firm focused on analyzing the digital world, released its findings for the first Quarter of 2011 with regard to where display ads are showing. While it should come as no surprise for those who’ve kept current on Internet trends, Facebook ranked highest, claiming nearly one-third of all display advertising across the Internet (compared to Yahoo at 10.1%, Microsoft at 4.8%, and Google at 2.5%). It’s clear to see Facebook is ever increasing in its impact on the digital Marketing World.

Facebook Is Number 1?

Part of why this is so significant is coupling this information with what came out at the end of 2010. According to Hitwise, another digital research firm, Facebook was more popular than Google for all of 2010, accounting for 8.93% of all U.S. visits between January and November 2010.

Now Facebook is adding to its accolades the most popular destination for display marketing. Like shopping malls of the 20th century, Facebook has been focused on making changes to continue being THE destination spot online. This is evident with some of the privacy scares we’ve seen circulating around the Net.

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Social Networking Coffee Hour

Join us for the Social Networking Coffee hour at Kahuna Coffee on the first Friday of the month as we explore how strategically leveraging Social Media can help build your business.

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