PPC and SEO Increases Leads Over 3,000% for Online Retailer
MarketingSherpa did a case study on a business that sees online leads pour in - after they started PPC and SEO to market their web site. I half expected to see our name on the article since what they talked about is OrangeSoda’s specialty! Note: MarketingSherpa articles are free for a limited time and then you need a subscription to access them.
The case study is about a company called Basement Systems who went from using one channel - the Yellow Pages - to marketing their web site. It’s been wildly successful - the number of leads skyrocketed 3,477% from the year before. Granted they weren’t doing much the year before - but think of the potential leads they missed out on.
At first the company didn’t think they needed to focus on the web site because people only call them after their basements flood. They didn’t think they would get online leads.
This is a common misunderstanding about how people use the internet. People use it to research purchases along the buying cycle. I’m not convinced that there is any business that can’t benefit from PPC and SEO. But I often hear people claim their business model won’t fit. Usually it’s more that their web site isn’t maximized for the way their customers search and buy online.
Why should businesses do both PPC and SEO? Here’s a quote that illustrates one of the differences - PPC advertising is much more targeted and usually converts better because it gets people as they are ready to purchase. The drawback - once you stop paying your ads disapear. SEO is a long-term strategy to drive more traffic to your site with permanent links.
“Natural search drove most of the traffic to the site, But it didn’t convert quite as much traffic as PPC ads because SEO is not as targeted.”
Here are some other things Basement Systems did for their SEO and PPC campaigns:
- Assessed title tags and metatags and eliminated duplicate or incorrect tags and titles.
- They ran locally-based PPC ads and directed the ads to local dealer’s web sites. In other words, they increased relevancy of their ads. Plus it often costs less to run targeted PPC campaigns rather than compete with national brands. They used dynamic keyword insertion which means the ads change depending on what terms people type into a search engine. This can increase clicks but sometimes quality of leads goes down. So you need to test and bid less on lower converting keywords.
- Tested everything and invest in trying new things. “We test every text line, dynamic content switching on Yahoo! and, of course, placement positions based on bids.” Surprise finding - putting their 1-800 number in the ad didn’t lift conversions, so they took it out.
- Submitted their web site to directories like: Yahoo! Directory, Business.com, DMOZ.org, YellowPages.com, niche and regional directories.
- Added testimonials, awards won, patents, and other trust-building elements to their website.
OrangeSoda Tip for Basement Systems - start blogging! And not just blogging but use targeted keywords to help boost your SEO. Our clients are seeing huge jump in traffic after starting a blog or implementing our suggestions.