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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.
Like SEO, web analytics is not as clearcut as many would like. Unfortunately, there is no standard that all web analytic companies follow. And here’s the even worse news: without a “standard” there can never be reconciliation of web analytic data.
There are general guidelines that may help make sure you’re comparing data from two different site tracking information. Here are some important questions to ask.
Are both analytics tracking codes implemented correctly on every page of the sites?
Are the reporting date ranges the same?
Is the same page of the website being reported?
Is the bounce rate an isolated metric? Are there also massive differences in the number of visitors to the site, or other statistics?
And the final kicker…
How does the web analytics program define a bounce?
What is the difference in the definition of a bounce for each program? One program might define a bounce as someone leaving after 5 seconds, another 10 seconds, etc. This could result in a big difference. And there are many other variables that can create large discrepancies, in fact, some programs allow the web developer to define their own parameters of a “bounce.” Because of these reasons and the fact that this information is usually propriety, it is not possible to reconcile data from different analytic programs.
If we look at the trend then the differences don’t have to be a problem, but can be complementary. However, those that like to deal with absolutes, this is a hard pill to swallow. It certainly doesn’t make our clients happy and some threaten to cancel unless we can reconcile web stats. It’s not something we’re going to take on but we can guide our clients through to try to make sense of the information.
The bottom line?
SEO and PPC is an art form that are always chasing a moving target.
This post was written by Clint Eagar who previously worked for web analytics company Omniture. I asked him to write it after some complaints about numbers on our tracking not matching the client’s tracking system.
“That is why search is powerful. You do not hunt for your customers, they hunt for you. You pick the keywords and the customer picks you. You not only “sell what your customers want,” but you also sell it “while they are actively looking for it.”
- Aaron Wall, SEOBook.com
I’m reading the Aaron Wall’s SEOBook and he’s talking about a marketer who is selling baseball cards the old-fashioned way. The guy spammed people. He interrupted them and tried to get them to buy from him.
Rather than annoy or talk people into buying from you, how about you just find out what your customers are looking for and position yourself so they’ll find you? Using a combination of paid search (advertising) and SEO (building trust in search engine so your web site can be found by potential customers) your business can grow. No matter what size it is.
Why do so many businesses think they cannot afford internet marketing services? Businesses of all sizes and with small or large budgets can benefit. After all, what’s a fair price for unlimited distribution?
I saw this story today about how one YouTube video flooded a small business with thousands of orders for a DVD. It illustrates perfectly how internet marketing can impact a business. The web site www.a-cappella.com, a business with just two full-time employees sold 5,300 copies of this DVD. In the past their record sales were selling 100 of one DVD in a year. That’s what I call great ROI.
I can see that they could do better with their SEO and web site marketing (I’d post that video and highlight the group on the front page of their Christmas section for starters). Also, I’d start a blog and highlight the other YouTube videos of groups they carry.