Erik Holladay

SEO Competitive Analysis @ SES San Francisco 2011 Live

2011-08-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

Search Engine Optimization Competitive Analysis at SES San Francisco.

The challenge with a great conference like SES is that very useful, multiple presentations can occur on multiple tracks simultaneously. "SEO Competitive Analysis" was a session I did not want to miss, and I was not disappointed! Excellent presentation. I filled page after page with notes, here is an overview.

http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/sanfrancisco/index.php

Moderator: Chris Boggs, Director, SEO, Rosetta
Speakers:
Michael Hayward, CEO, ROI Labs
Taylor Pratt, VP of Product Marketing, Raven Internet Marketing Tools
Richard Zwicky, Independent Consultant

Highlights from the SEO presentation included:

"Help! I've dropped in search engine rankings. What am I doing wrong?"

When bad SEO happens, don't panic. Don't focus just on your website. Look at those sites which have passed you. Evaluate and research their success. Develop a Reverse Marketing Plan - - in effect, reverse engineer your competition.
Determine your competitive landscape. Who is doing what where?
Look at the web strategy of competitors, including their source codes, to get drill-down data you can use.
"To Compete, you must Displace your competition." In other words... Kill, or be Killed.
Organic Search, Local Search and Social Search are all connected. Don't ignore any of them!
Proper web analytics tools can help you understand your competition in hours, not days.

SEO is the most highly leveraged tool in the digital marketing toolkit - - you can enjoy great ROI. But more SEO and other tools are needed to achieve success. Your SEO marketing plan must be part of a total package which includes PPC, email, print, advertising, sales, mobile and PR.

Look exploiting Brand and non-Brand (generic) positioning in organic search and paid search.

Consider building three matrix evaluation charts, grading current marketing results by 'effective', 'neutral' and 'ineffective':

SEO Matrix - Organic Search
PPC Matrix - Paid Search
Social Media Matrix - Social Sites

Use analytics for quick (top 5-10) and in-depth (deeper) analysis of keywords. Ask "is that keyword worth the effort and cost?".

Keyword research tools, free and paid, are readily available to help you evaluate keywords. Tools include Google Analytics, SEObook, SEOMOZ, SEObook for Firefox, CustomRank, Getmelisted, Sycara, Searchmetrics and many others.

Analyze SERPs from your competitors. Consider:

Age of the domain. Number of links. Number of ads for keywords, title tags, page urls, keyword density, keyword positioning, anchor text, navigation, back-links, clean HTML, Call-to-Action, etc.
What else are they doing? Blogs, Conferences? Part of the back-link analysis.
Compare their webpages to YOURS. Evaluate and prepare. How far do you have to go to be competitive?

After evaluation, determine rank potential. Look at potential keyword value, ROI and % share of clicks.

Then ask: "Is it worth your time?". Pick your targets and your battles and implement your strategy.

Google Ad Innovations @ SES San Francisco Live

2011-08-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Google Ad Innovations session at the Search Engine Strategies SES Conference this week was a stellar example of why going to SES is so valuable for web marketing professionals. Here was a rare opportunity to hear directly from Google personnel about what's new and what's coming in Google ad marketing.

Google Adwords at SES San Francisco 2011.

The Google team:
Dan Friedman - Google New Ad Formats
Bill Kee - Google Analytics
Alexandra Kenin - Google Optimization

Here is a short outline of what they shared:

1. Google Search Overview:
a. Ad Innovations Resource:
Excellent source for new information and updates at: http://www.google.com/ads/innovations/
b. "Search is becoming more Visual, Local and Personalized" - - with all that implies for how Google will continue to evolve search engine results (SERPs) in the coming year.
c. Google's ongoing mission is to continue to improve SERPs, and made searching more easy, relevant and intelligent.

2. Adwords Automation Rules:
a. Extended automation rules - schedule automatic changes to criteria you specify - free your time up.
b. Opportunities Tab - - optimization ideas can help customize your account and goals.
c. New Display feature - - Interest Categories. Activate 'Audiences Tab' - - there are over 100 categories. Over 500 million daily users are categorized in some manner.

3. New Google Ad Formats:
a. Make your Ad relevant. (What else would you expect from Google! LOL)
b. Ads are evolving at Google as the web evolves: "1/3 of Google ads are served in new formats."

The latest display benchmarks and Adsense Ad formats from Google.

c. Ad Sitelinks create lift. 3 Line sitelinks bring a 40% CTR lift. 1 line sitelinks a 17% CTR lift.
Related update: Google's New 'Sitelink' Search Dominates Results - PC World, Aug 16, 2011.
d. Ad sitelinks help your visitors navigate to your site pages faster and more efficiently.
e. Sub-category links allow for faster drill-down. Mobile ads can benefit from a 30% lift in CTR.
f. Product Ads: Ad Block of Product Listing Ads give 100% CTR Lift. Text ads with product extensions give a 6% CTR lift.
g. For ecommerce sites, Google Merchant Center links with your ad account. Commission based platform.
h. Google Media Ads: Combines Brand advertising with the 'Intent of Search'. Good for video, TV, entertainment, etc.

4. Local & Phone:
a. Click to Call Features: Mobile devices. Phone extensions. Adding phone number helps conversion.
b. "Vanity Phone Numbers can now be added." Example: 1-800-Flowers
c. Call Only creative available. Not a click-to-call. Helps to segment channels if needed.
d. Hyperlocal Ads: Increases phone call rate, reduces CPC.
e. Product Local Ads: Show in-store inventories

5. Adwords Experiments:
a. Adwords Campaign Experiments: Now in Opportunities Tab.
b. "Test Smart" - Test keywords, Bids, Ads, Ad Groups, Ad Creatives, Placements, Remarking Lists.
c. Run experiments on keyword and bid ideas.

6. Google Analytics: More data on funnel behavior and Social Media coming.
a. Most leads require 3 to 5 'touches' before conversion occurs. There is a need to better understand this process using analytics.
b. Multichannel Funnels built on goals and ecommerce. A set of 5 reports now available, providing an understanding of the path towards conversion.
c. The Impact of Social Media Beta: Social Interactions and Source - -"Tracking behavior across channels, including social media."

Whew! My apologies for such a lengthy blog post, but in this short 1 1/2 hour long presentation by Google there was a huge amount of valuable information and updates... this session alone made SES worth attending. There was something here for experienced search engine marketeers and novices alike. Having Google HQ, along with Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other powerful web marketing platforms, just a short drive from the Moscone Center is an prime advantage for SES San Francisco.

Other sources on Google Innovations at SES San Francisco, 2011:

YouTube is one big fat Search Engine. SES Highlight Day Two.

2011-08-17T19:46:00.000-07:00

One of the eye-opening concepts I picked up today at SES was that YouTube is one huge Search Engine and Social Media Site..... it is not stuck in an online "Video" niche, mostly visited by teenagers and college students. Far from it, as the user profile broadens and grows, opportunities to market to these people grows along with it. While I have posted videos for my company on a dedicated Youtube channel and we get visitors, I now realize we can and should do more to exploit this arena!

Moderator:

Liana Evans, Author and Co-Founder & CEO, LiBeck Integrated Marketing
Speakers:
Greg Jarboe, President & Co-founder, SEO-PR
Mark Robertson, Founder, ReelSEO

According to the panel assembled today for the SES Conference, Youtube is:

1. The 2nd most popular search engine in the world after Google.

2. The 2nd most popular social media website after Facebook.

Youtube enables users to discover and share videos (going viral). There are massive ad opportunities to get into Youtube and monetize it for your business. Already thousands of Brands are using Youtube to promote products and services, and driving traffic to landing pages on their websites.

Youtube has a keyword tool for "Promoted Videos", by targeting Video Title, Description and Tags. Paid Search costs on Youtube are very inexpensive compared to Google.

But creating a good video people will watch and send to their friends required good content... an art, not a science. People use Youtube for Inspiration, Education, Enlightenment and Education. "How To" videos are really starting to take off.

Put your URL into your video description. Include the http:// to make sure the link is live.

"Cosmic Panda" - A new look for YouTube is coming. YouTube is changing! Per Greg Jarboe.

SES Day Two: Today was another intense, in-depth, full, information-packed day on Search Engine Strategies and the Marketing that goes with it. There was so much good material today that I can't pack it all into one blog entry... more to come in the days ahead. I'm bringing a large cache of new tactics, strategies and tools back to the office, and there is still one more day to go. The Google Adwords team made an excellent presentation on "Google Ad Innovations" - - this topic alone deserves a dedicated blog entry, which it will get.

SES Conference: Search Engine Strategies Live. Day One

2011-08-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've just finished day one of Search Engine Marketing University..... an action-packed day at the SES Conference during CONNECTED Marketing Week. Today was a deep dive into search engine marketing and related areas. More tomorrow. Between the SEO and PPC presentation tracks it was a full and richly educational day. I had no time for the other tracks on Social Media, Accelerator and Kick Start topics. There is just too much to absorb, unless you send a team. I've never been able to attend an SES conference before due to timing and logistics.... finally did it, and I can say SES was well worth the wait. If you have to pick one mega-conference on Online Marketing, go to an SES Conference. You will learn literally hundreds of tactics, ideas, options and strategies to help make your marketing more effective and efficient. And there are two more days to go!

SES Morning Session.

There were so many useful bits of expert knowledge broadcast to the large audiences today that I can only give you the briefest of outlines:

The Tools of the Trade for PPC:
Moderator: Kevin Lee, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Didit

Speakers:

Thomas Bindl, SES Advisory Board & Founder & CEO, Refined Labs GmbH
Jeff Ferguson, CEO, Fang Digital
Tim Mayer, Chief Strategy Officer, Trada

"Better ad targeting can save up to 30% in costs without losing conversions."
"Don't look at Search as a silo. Look across channels."
"PPC audit process - look at structure, creative, tracking."
"Utilize Negative search terms"
Try "Match Type" campaigns to further target.

The Tools of the Trade for SEO:

Google and Symantec Exhibit Booths at SES.

Moderator:Rob Garner, Vice President Strategy, iCrossing

Speakers:
Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
Jamie Smith, CEO, Engine Ready

"First set your website priorities and KPIs."

"Review of Keyword research tools, SEO tools, Paid Search tools."

"Visibility = Impression / Rank / Position"

"Search marketing SERPs are changing, thanks to local search, instant search, etc."

"Multichannel Analytics Beta available from Google. Ask your Google Rep about it."

SEOToolSet Version 5 now out - - excellent presentation by Bruce Clay.

"Social Media is emerging. Facebook has organic and PPC search sectors."

"Search Engines enjoy higher conversion rates."

"If you want to be in the top three organic search results, you better study the guys in those spots and BEAT them at their own game."

Google and Links: "Trust Score getting more weight. Page Rank getting a bit less. All in an effort to reduce spam results."

Insider Tips to Ad Optimization:

Moderator:Bryan Eisenberg, SES Advisory Board and NYTimes Bestselling Author, bryaneisenberg.com

Speakers:
Nicholas Gadacz, Director of Search, CafePress.com
David Greenbaum, Founder and CEO, BoostCTR
John Yi, Marketing API Program Manager, Facebook

"Get a copy of 'Ad Magic' from your Google Rep."

"Use a team of Ad writers for better results - - reduces the blind spots."

"Test Test Test - - - CTR and Conversion"

"Facebook is optimizing for 'word of mouth' - - we're only 1% finished!"

"Facebook is about a 'Friend's voice', not a 'brand voice' in terms of influence.

"Facebook will provide more metrics for advertisers, they're coming."

"Use resources to find those WORDS that SELL."

Google Adwords Author, Expert and Trainer Brian Geddes was spotted during the morning sessions.

Website SEO Expert and Author Matt Bailey was spotted at SES, and he hosted a table during lunch.

Crossing the Digital Divide: The Leap from Search to Display:

Moderator: Chris Sukornyk, CEO, Chango, Inc.

Speakers:
Emily Iverson, Director of Display Media, Booyah Online Advertising
Bill Leake, President and CEO, Apogee Search

Yes, Display Ads do matter and they are going to play an even bigger role. And you can bid on them like Adwords. Search is "Pull" advertising. Display is "Push" advertising. You benefit from having both.

DSPs are Display Side Platforms - - Services you can use to coordinate and bid on Display Ad space across many websites. Use only one DSP agency at a time or you'll bid against yourself.
DSPs can be very cost effective compared to massive display campaigns negotiated with large sites like Yahoo, NYT, etc.

"Use auction driven display ad options - be smart."

The "Lift Factor"
Search + Display Ads running: +119%

Search Only: +82%

Display Only: +16%

"Google will be a winner in Display Ads."

"Display + SEO + PPC = the biggest lift." Integrate them all.

Display Ads are the best tool to fight market lack of awareness and low visibility challenges."

"Exploit Google Trends for potential niche targeting and brand awareness."

Here in one day, four sessions, is plenty to think about and act upon. And I'm not including the sessions I missed from the other simultaneous tracks.... SES is huge and offers a lot to absorb.

Social Media Marketing Summit - Live Report

2011-08-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't attended a major multi-day web marketing conference in a few years, and it is time! The marketing landscape has changed quite a bit.

The ClickZ CONNECTED Marketing Conference is full of innovative ideas and best practices. The main event for me will be SES, Search Engine Markting, but today the spotlight was on Social Media Marketing Summit - - Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Twitter, etc. The Social Media marketing niche for B-to-B is getting bigger and bigger, as more customers across the customer demographic spectrum spend more and more time on Social Media sites.

Here are some Top-Level Take-aways today from several of the speakers:

Social media expert Michael Stelzner:

Michael Stelzner, Founder of Socialmediaexaminer

1. People want content, not a sales pitch. Focus on people - they want information from quality sources.

2. "Un-gate" your white papers, brochures and reports, and do not require someone to register first, if possible. Encourage more downloading, this will only help your cause.
3. Transform your Social Media content from "How can we sell to you" to "How can we HELP you". You'll get a much better response rate.
4. "Put away the marketing pitch" for Social Media content... don't engage in marketing oversell. Save your selling for later in the sales cycle... 'free' offers, email campaigns, links, etc.

5. Try using guest expert content contributors from your industry, not just people from your own company. This can have positive effects for credibility, synergy and enhance your content's standing with your target markets. "Lift people up, and they'll lift you up."
6. Social Media is very cost-effective for new product and service launches. Done correctly it can have as big or bigger impact than more expensive alternatives.
7. Michael has published a new book on Social Media Marketing - -
"Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition"
After hearing Micheal's ideas today, I'm going to buy his book.

Caterpillar's Successful Social Media Campaign:

Kevin Espinosa from Caterpillar Inc gave an excellent real-world review of how his company is handling social media. Surprisingly, for a company that sells multimillion dollar earth moving and other large equipment to the world's major resource industries, social media plays a big role in lead generation and in customer feedback and relations! This was a real eye-opener for me in terms of casting off some pre-conceptions of Social Media being more B-to-C friendly than B-to-B....... Caterpillar is about as B-to-B as you can get. Kevin's comments on the positive impact of Facebook Ads was another important item that anyone in B-to-B should sit up and pay attention to.... using dedicated landing pages these Facebooks Ads are having a positive impact on major big-ticket sales.

There were many other great presentations - - including Katy Collins with AOL and Mike Lewis with Awareness Inc.

I admit, Social Media is not my top lead generation priority, Search Engine Marketing still holds that role, but after today I am resolved to give Social Media more time and attention. Social Media marketing is moving into a more mature and productive phase... now is the time to jump on if you haven't already.... don't ignore a chance to pick the low-hanging fruit in terms of customer contact and lead gen.

Linkedin is not like Facebook.

2011-08-07T17:15:00.000-07:00

Message to College Juniors and Seniors: Linkedin is not like Facebook.

I've talked to quite a few university students and others who need or will need a job in the near future. Some are college students about to graduate. Others are already in the workforce and looking for a new job. All of them must jump into a very tough job market.

The first thing I ask someone is if they have created a Linkedin Profile. To my constant surprise, around 90% give me a puzzled look and said "No, I don't have one. What is Linkedin? Is it like Facebook?".

There are a surprisingly large number of people out there who haven't heard of Linkedin, or think it is a social media website like Facebook. The short answer is No. Linkedin is not like Facebook. For your work career, Linkedin is vital.

Linkedin and Facebook are not the same. They perform very different tasks. One is primarily Social Networking (Facebook). The other is primarily Professional Networking (Linkedin). My advice to Juniors and Seniors in College is don't ignore Linkedin.

Get your profile up and running ASAP. Start building your professional network and profile while in school - - you'll be very glad you did when your graduating and looking for that dream entry-level job!

B-to-B Lead Generation: The Rise of the Web.

2011-05-10T19:42:00.001-07:00

Lead Gen Revolution:

Dramatic change to Business-to-Business (B-to-B) lead generation in just 10 years.

Over the last decade, promoting technical services to businesses has been transformed, going from mostly 'physical' tactics like sales rep cold calls, trade shows, print ads and stamped mail shots to new technologies including dynamic websites, paid search, organic search, banner ads, social media, and email campaigns.

Various web experts are saying that in 2010 around 58% of all B-to-B leads were web generated in the USA. That number is expected to rise to 75% in 2015. Already, 80% of buyers said they contacted the vendor, presumably most of them referenced the web for research. Only 10% of buyers came from traditional cold calls. These figures state what we now take for granted: the web has radically changed how a business does business with another business.

I am very lucky and privileged to have been a full and deep 'brick-and-mortar' web marketing player in this unique period of human history - when the business world became wired and went global. When marketing began to transform from 'analog' to 'digital'. Back in 2000, business websites were rather simple, static, 'brochure-ware webpages', not really written nor geared to this novel new way people could find and scan (not read) information on the web. Most people had only thin copper wire connectivity to the web. Broadband was expanding but a rarity. Worse, many sites were not search-engine friendly because search engines like Google and Overture were not a big factor in search engine traffic.... yet. Remember those disastrous 'framed' content management systems?

I had the pleasure of seeing my first web-leads generated in 1998, they came from extremely qualified customers who were technology savvy, early adapters - - they saw and understood the fantastic potential of the internet, and also appreciated it as extremely cool. They were the customers who kept asking me why we didn't have a website. After months of advocating and pushing, I secured agreement and resources to get the new site built. And surprise! We started to get visitors, and real live leads. That first web-lead in 1998 was very exciting, the beginning of a dramatic shift in lead gen, and a big surprise to skeptics and doubters.

How did the clients find us in those pioneer days? Promotion. Mostly because I insisted we have our URL domain and an email address printed on business cards, ads, listings, and promotional giveaways. Promotion was our primary way to build awareness of the site, search engines were not an important factor back then. I first heard about Google in 2000, and my first impression was that the name was pretty funny. Little did I know that because of Google, I would spend literally thousands of hours working on webpages, Adwords and Analytics to generate tens of thousands of B-to-B leads a year.

Once Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, MSN (AKA: Paleolithic Bing), Copernicus, and many other search engines became popular, lead generation from B-to-B websites really took off. I am honored to have been involved in the exciting, early stages of this revolutionary change.

Organic and Paid search became extremely important for generating leads. A potential customer could now find that needle-in-the-haystack with relative ease - - you being that needle, that lucrative niche service, for example, if you did your job right!

The customer now controlled the lead generation process, to your advantage. If you took the initiative in, say 2003, with fresh web content and innovative paid search, and your competitors were oblivious (and most of them were), you could enjoy a near-monopoly on key search terms and web leads.... an enviable situation which is still possible today if you are dedicated, creative and focused.

Lead Generation: When it all comes together.

2011-04-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Engineering Lead Generation Success.

Want to experience the happy result of watching a surge of global B-to-B qualified leads spill out of the various webpages for which you are responsible... to get "one for the record books"? It is a great feeling!

The principles involved are few but extremely important. Get them right, and you'll see excellent business leads coming out of the woodwork. Here are four principles I find useful and important for lead gen.

1. Intense focus on webpage content:
Is the content concise, precise, relevant? Is the content updated regularly? Are the right keywords being used for the right potential audience? Is there relevant professional 'eye candy' like images, graphics, videos, etc? Is there a strong call to action?

2. Search Engine Marketing:

2.1 Search Engine Optimization - SEO:
Organic SEO is vital to success. Pages must be found in order to be read. A great webpage, when not found by potential clients, is utterly useless. Is the page benchmarked against competitors in search? Are actions taken to improve content with an eye to raise search engine rankings and exploit long-tail niche targeting? Have additional language options been created when useful?

2.2 Paid Search (Adwords):
Paid Search is another important tool, lead generator and effective branding tactic. When Organic and Paid search are used in a coordinated fashion, quality lead generation benefits. Paid search can support organic search, validate your organic search rankings in the customer's mind, and fill in search engine result gaps when they occur.

3. Navigation and Links:
Diligent and intelligent cross-linking to other relevant webpages and blogs, with strong site and sectional navigation menus added and updated help keep potential clients from getting lost in a site. "Don't Make Me Think" is a great book, for this very reason if nothing else. Is Social Media being exploited?

4. Teamwork:
Having a talented, professional, reliable and innovative website management, design and webmaster team is mission critical. A well-designed website is like a fine symphony hall.... fantastic acoustics, great architecture.... just as a fine concert hall needs fine music to fulfill its destiny, so too, a good website needs good content to achieve ultimate SEO and lead generation success. Good content performs best on a good website. Get the formula wrong, and a mediocre website will produce mediocre to poor leads, no matter the quality of the content.

5. Discipline and Conviction:
What I have discussed are some general principles to help generate more, better, B-to-B leads. Discipline, inspiration, conviction and work-ethic are required to make lead gen success happen. Make SEO, Navigation, Benchmarking and Linkage optimization a daily habit and good things will happen.

What to do when those great quality leads start pouring in and they have to be classified, followed-up and tracked is another important topic for another day!

About to Graduate from University? Need a Job? Get Linkedin Now.

2011-04-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Linkedin can be an important tool to get you the job you want after graduation.

If you are a college student facing graduation in a year or less, you're seeing a tough job market. Competition will be fierce. How do you get noticed by potential employers, and make important connections before you graduate, so your chances of getting hired to the dream job you want are improved?

I have one important word of advice for you: Linkedin. Register and get on Linkedin now. The sooner you do, the better for you. Give yourself a competitive edge in the job market... get a Linkedin account.

Linkedin is a more serious version of Facebook for the professional business world. It is not designed for socializing and game playing. It is designed to make business contacts, join professional organizations, and network, network and network. It is a virtual Rolodex* that never becomes obsolete... a networking tool to connect with business professionals, recruiters, clients, senior management and much more.

Potential employers and job recruiters are crawling through Linkedin, searching for talent and potential hires for a wide range of jobs and industries. As a newly minted graduate, you need to get visibility - - and get it fast.

Linkedin will help you get noticed by potential recruiters across markets, regions and countries. The basic version of LinkedIn is FREE. To upgrade is inexpensive, it is an investment in yourself. Start connecting with your professors (you'll be surprised to see your professors with business and networking sense already there), parents, parents of friends, university speakers, intern contacts, and people you know the industry you want to target for your job search.

The real power of Linkedin is your ability to explore and find new contacts who can help you find that first, great professional job after graduation.You can also join Linkedin Groups which are interesting for you.... Campus organizations and Alumni associations have Groups on Linkedin.... great ways to get started with your networking! You can even start your own Linkedin group focused on a industry, science, engineering discipline, career interest, and more.... showing you have initiative and leadership skills.

If you are a Senior or Junior, get started now. It takes time to build a quality network, and you need to visit and update your Linkedin account on a fairly regular basis, not a daily social feeding frenzy like Facebook, but at least a few times a week. Keep your profile updated, pay attention to your profile, and always look for quality connections which can help in your professional career.

Visit Linkedin at www.linkedin.com
Learn more about Linkedin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolodex

PPC Blog Produces Excellent Google Flow Chart: "How Google Works"

2011-02-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

PPC Blog has produced a very entertaining and informative graphic showing "How Google Works - In Gory Detail".

For those of us who attract business leads generated from Google Search Engine Marketing, both organic and paid search, this Google graphic is one I advise you post on your office wall and absorb some of the Google factoids displayed on the flowchart. At the very least, this will spark some office thought and conversation!

View the How-Google-Works flowchart here: http://ppcblog.com/how-google-works/

Infographic by the Pay Per Click Blog

New 2011 SEO Terms and Acronyms: Great Resource

2011-02-07T11:47:00.000-08:00

Posted on January 31st, 2011 by Tad Chef, SEOptimise has produced a useful new mini-glossary: "30 (New) SEO Terms You Have to Know in 2011".

For Search Engine Optimization, this listing is a good source of information, and Tad has included links to reference sources.

Where Google is Hiring.

2011-01-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

Google Wants You - -
Google to Hire 6,200 New Positions in 2011 across the World.

Google Senior vice president of engineering and research Alan Eustace announced this week that Google will hire a record 6,200 new employees in 2011. For the best and the brightest, this is a great opportunity to join one of the world's most successful and innovative companies. Google will grow in 2011 to an employee count of over 30,000. In an effort to retain the culture (and advantage) of a Silicon Valley start-up, Alan wants to keep engineering teams small and focused, averaging 3.5 people. Opportunities to join Google will happen across the world.

Google USA Locations:
California - Mountain View Global HQ
(Google plans to hire 2,000 new positions in Silicon Valley)
California - Santa Monica
California - San Francisco
California - Irvine
California - San Bruno (YouTube)
Colorado - Boulder
Colorado - Thornton
Georgia - Atlanta
Illinois - Chicago
Iowa - Council Bluffs
Massachusetts - Boston Cambridge
Michigan - Ann Arbor (Google is hiring 10 positions in Ann Arbor)
Michigan - Detroit
New York - New York
North Carolina - Lenoir
Oklahoma - Mayes County
Oregon - The Dalles
Pennsylvania - Pittsburgh
South Carolina - Berkeley County
Texas - Austin
Virginia - Reston
Washington, D.C.
Washington - Seattle/Kirkland (Google is hiring over 100 Positions in Seattle)
Wisconsin - Madison
Multiple USA Locations (includes telecommuting)
Google Locations in Canada and South America:
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Google EMEA Locations (Europe, Middle East, and Africa):
(Google is hiring over 1,000 positions in Europe)
Africa
Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland (EU Headquarters)
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom

Google Asia Pacific Locations:
(Google plans to hire over 500 new Asia Pacific positions in 2011)
Australia
China
Hong Kong
India
Japan
Korea
New Zealand
Singapore
Taiwan

For the right person, this is a golden opportunity. Best of Success! Learn more about Google.

Organic SEO Writer? Read This Blog!

2011-01-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

A tweet from Jill Whalen with High Rankings alerted me to an excellent, funny and educational blog about organic search optimization and who you are really writing for. Written by A. J. Kohn at "Blind Five Year Old", the blog hammers / nails / slams / nukes home the point that web content is worth almost nothing for search engine marketing unless that content makes it to page one search results.

In other words.... Search Engines control our destiny with organic SEO. Pay attention to them. Anyone getting into the SEO game should read Kohn's blog:

Search Engines Emulate Human Evaluation.
Stop writing for people. Start writing for search engines.

I very much enjoyed reading this article, the humorous twist is creative and entertaining. In order to GET FOUND via organic search, your content MUST be highly ranked by search engines. To get highly ranked means one must write for search engines. Getting found is a major requirement to getting leads from customers. HOWEVER / AND simultaneously the content must also be compelling to the human visitor so that they contact us… good lead generation or another positive action is the ultimate goal. Getting search engines to rank my webpages high for organic search is a top priority, and getting qualified prospective customers (people), to call, email, chat, or send a webform enquiry to my company is the highest top priority.

SEO is a means to the end. Developing relevant webpages and websites while paying attention to search engine optimization is great for business.

Mr. Kohn is also obviously a very cool person for posting a video of the opening sequence of the original 1967 series "The Prisoner" on his blog as an educational tool. Fantastic. Number Six and Number Two would be very proud. Thanks for a great Blog!

Stuck with an Old Webpage? Don't Hit "Delete" Just Yet!

2011-01-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

As good B-to-B web marketers, we've all been there before: One of your business units, locations, brands comes to you with a request: "Hey, we stopped making right-handed widgets.... now we make left-handed widgets. Please make a new webpage for left-hand widgets and delete the old page for right-hand widgets - - the old page is no good anymore !"

Before you kill the old page and build a new replacement page, consider your options and consequences!

Killing a webpage without proper thought and evaluation can cause self-inflicted damage with search engine optimization and lead generation. Salvaging an old webpage and putting it to new use can help bring in more business. The situation with worthy old webpages is not unlike keeping a valuable older building and renovating it for new uses... this can be far more profitable than simply knocking it down and being stuck with an empty lot full of weeds.

Over the years, I have enjoyed consistent, often exceptional, SEO and lead generation success from keeping, transforming and focusing select old webpages to new tasks, with many of the pages ranking in the top 5 organic search results for key search terms, against tens of millions of other indexed webpages.

That old 'obsolete' page can be transformed into a formidable niche or lower-level webpage - - targeting a very concise precise service, feature, topic. If linked to a bigger cluster of related business pages, you may be able to transform that old webpage into a new search engine 'category killer' for some valuable long-tail search terms - - a great quality lead generation win.

To Be or Not to Be: Points to consider when looking at an old webpage's future:

1. Can the old webpage still sit in your service/product offerings? Can it still fill a supporting role, or valuable niche of some sort, with proper modification? Is the URL for the old page a relatively neutral factor in terms of name and structure? If yes, then the page is a candidate for salvage and renewal.

2. How does the old webpage perform in Google and other search engines for organic search? If the page is achieving high search rankings, it is absolutely a serious candidate for salvage and renewal... or intelligent redirecting.

3. If, on the other hand, the old webpage cannot obviously fill a supporting or new role on your website, or search rankings are poor, then the page is a candidate for redirect to a new page, with a lower risk of lead generation damage.

4. But never just simply kill or delete a old webpage. This will cause broken links, not good for visitors and search engines. Instead, 301 redirect the old page to the new webpage you want to replace it. The old page may rank on Google for awhile, but the redirected link will take visitors to the new page so potential customers don't drop out due to a bad link. Redirects preserve visitor 'favorites' so they can find you again, and allows visitors to navigate to the new webpage from the old page listed on search engine results, a temporary but important period of time. Properly 301'ing helps impart any SEO success the old page had onto the new page, for a while. Eventually, over time, the new page must achieve organic search engine ranking on its own.

5. Housekeeping is important when redirecting to a new webpage. Internal links to the old webpage on your website should be changed to point to the new replacement webpage. Paid Search campaigns should be updated as well.

Every public webpage on your website has history, search engine rankings, 'favorites' followers, and internal navigation linkage. So before simply deleting and redirecting an old webpage, take some time to review the page, where and how it sits in your offerings, what function is it performing, and what potential uses that page has for the future. Perhaps with some modification and optimization, that old webpage can become renewed, working as a formidable niche asset for your SEO and lead generation efforts.

Novel Social Media Concept for 2011: Content is Still King

2010-12-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

The social media wave continued to grow in 2010, expanding and receiving a huge amount of attention from the media and web marketing professionals. Hollywood even got into the act with a movie on Facebook, a sure sign that public interest is peaking.

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and many other social media sites, apps and tools gained visitors and have proliferated, chasing both B-to-C consumers and (not in-coincidently) rather large pools of venture capital funds salivating to get into the social media game. One can predict a Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest struggle in the next few years involving social media ventures, search engines and email services as visitor behaviors and usage evolve. We've been there before with Web 1.0 and 2.0. Social media giant Facebook is beginning to tower amongst the others in the emerging social media marketing landscape... rivaling and in some ways challenging the search engine giant Google. Linkedin is revolutionizing how we conduct person-to-person introductions, prospecting and business communication. Twitter has established a unique niche, with no competitors in sight.

But what does this mean to technical and industrial B-to-B marketers? While Social Media is growing in importance and is the popular hot topic of the day, Search Engine Marketing continues to matter, churning out vast numbers of valuable business leads. If you are marketing to engineers, scientists, managers, executives and other decision makers and professionals, webpage content is still king, no matter where you put it. These high value prospective clients don't use Facebook or Twitter to do research and find potential vendors... they use Google or Bing.

Search Engine Optimization, SEO, is fundamental to successful lead generation. What is SEO, but great content on a great webpage, on a great website? Have that great content well-linked both inside and outside of a website, keep the content fresh. By adding a modest Paid Search campaign to the mix one can achieve amazing commercial success.

It's perfectly OK to develop a rational Social Media B-to-B presence in 2011, just don't forget search engine content optimization on company websites.

December is a perfect time for SEO updates.

2010-12-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

For B-to-B search engine marketing, taking advantage of the relatively quiet period during the last two weeks of December is an excellent time to update and revise your webpages for search engine optimization.

Global business activity drops significantly during late December, and the Christmas and New Year holidays. Take advantage of this seasonal lull by reviewing your webpages, refresh and optimize them, with an eye towards improving and maintaining your valuable and coveted search engine rankings for next year.

Jumping on this task now gives the search engine bots more time to re-index your pages, and hopefully have your webpages placed into an improved position for key search terms when your customers come back to work in January.

If you want blazing B-to-B success in early January, start now. Waiting until Monday morning on January 3 to apply SEO to your webpages is too late. Start now, for success later.

Search Engine Ranking Nirvana: A Transitory State of Bliss.

2010-12-16T14:14:00.000-08:00

Achieving smashing success with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a great feeling... enjoy it while it lasts, because SEO is a variable treadmill and if one doesn't keep running, organic search ranking results can fall fast and deep. Break out the champagne when you win but don't drink the whole bottle... you need to keep your wits about you. It's a tough SEO world out there!

I recently enjoyed a grand slam success in SEO on Google. I hit a Trifecta + Bonus... an almost mythologically rare result in Google organic searchdom. Out of over 4,300,000 indexed webpages for an important search term, my related webpages from one website scored 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for organic search. An allied blog I run scored at 4th place. So I acheived 1,2,3,4 for organic search... very nice and exceedingly valuable. To hedge it all, I ran an Adword which ranked 2nd for paid search ads. So I dominated 5 of the top 6 search engine marketing positions for that search term. In other words, I OWNED that search term on Google. It was MINE.

The short search term discussed above has high strategic value for the business... we cannot accept anything else but a high ranking in Google search.

I continue to dominate that search result today, but the ultra-perfect 1,2,3,4 + 2 result above was from last week, great for bragging rights but of no use today. My reality is what is going on now. And sure enough, this week Google took me down a notch and removed one of my 3 ranked webpages, but graciously allowed me to keep the 1st and 2nd ranked pages plus the blog at 3rd place. Why? Who knows? I can only speculate and take SEO action. The good news is that I still "own" that search at the 1,2 and 3 spots, out of 4.3 million potential competitors. My ad is also now number one, with no changes made to PPC. Now I'm at 1,2,3, + 1.

Go figure. Rankings can change quickly, never take them for granted.

For best results, one must remain alert and vigilant with SEO... total victory today can disintegrate into future disaster tomorrow if a well performing webpage for a competitive search term is neglected.

Every day is an adventure with SEO and Search Engine Marketing. SEO is kind of like a horse race. Make sure you're not betting on "Three Legged Wonder", hoping it wins the race. The Google Search Gods can be capricious... changing, advancing, and demolishing search results on what seems like a whim... using their inscrutable, dynamic and logical search algorithm. Good SEO, relevant content, and constant care and attention to your webpages will greatly help in achieving top rankings.

Is Search Engine Marketing Tactical or Strategic?

2010-09-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Rhetorical Marketing Questions of the day:

Is search engine marketing a tactical or strategic marketing tool? Yes.
Is search engine marketing transactional or relationship (branding)? Yes.

OK, the best answer is "All of the above".

B-to-B Search engine marketing is a fantastic way to generate leads for specific projects and business opportunities, and it acts as an ever-present branding tactic. SEM is both Tactical and Strategic... both goals can be applied to paid and organic search campaigns.

In effect, SEM can target and pull in leads for every stage of the buying decision process... attraction, features, benefits, solutions.

Webpages and Paid Search ads can target the potential customer across the entire buying process, including:

1. Getting their attention. Simple awareness. Uncovering a prospective client need. The prospect is thinking about thinking about buying.

"You have a problem" or "hey, we exist!", "We offer a product or service you are pondering or considering" etc.

2. Researching options. Competitive research. The Prospect is thinking about buying.

"How our product or service, and features and benefits, meet your needs", "why our offerings are better for you than alternatives" etc.

3. First Contact. Getting the lead, or inducing a call-to-action. The prospect is going to buy from someone, it may as well be us.

"Solve your problem now", "We have a solution to your problem", "We offer that niche specialized product or service you are looking for" etc.

Understanding the market I am targeting and the issues they face, for which my company can provide help and services is key to how I approach the use of webpages, search terms, campaigns and ad filters.

Since people search in a huge variety of ways, a particular search term used in a campaign may be attracting people who come from many or even all phases of lead generation development... from those just beginning to search and those about ready to make a decision to contact a business.

To accommodate these different visitors who have different agendas, a landing page must be focused but also have a little something for everyone who visits the page.... appropriate content with links to 'learn more' related pages, a call-to-action, and a look and feel which invites the visitor to stay in the site and explore - - or better yet - - contact you, no matter what stage of the process they are in.

An intelligent and aggressive approach to organic and paid search engine marketing allows both tactical and strategic marketing.

Thus, transactional marketing campaigns that target niche services, products, markets, fragmented markets and micro markets are very effective and profitable.

For building reputation, awareness and branding, creating more branding focused campaigns to promote and support broad and key brand name related searches is helpful. Web analytics can help measure the quality and performance of such campaigns.

Targeting the customer awareness, research, competitive comparisons and call-to-action phases of the potential customer base will power greater lead generation to feed the B-to-B sales funnel. Webpages that "sell" in professional way help throughout the entire lead gen process.

Just like a top performing sales representative, a B-toB website should be able to conduct consultative selling along every customer decision phase, in order to engage and keep the quality visitor, and encourage them to take the logical step of contacting your company to buy/investigate your goods and services.

Best Regards; Erik Holladay

Promoting a new online business on a limited budget.

2010-08-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

So your launching a new small online business, and you have limited promotional funds. Promotion is vital to your new business, because it leads to lead generation which leads to customers which leads to revenue and profits.

My advice is fairly simple, and it doesn't cost a lot of money... if you do it right... just some quality thinking, actions and some of your time.

1. Get Found on Organic Search Engine Results:
This means you need to rank on Google and BING and other search engines. Your website and webpages must be SEO friendly and content must be focused and relevant to your target market. If your business is local, then make sure your content references location. Sign up with Google for free local listings. Get quality websites to link to you if possible and avoid black-hat tactics. Then monitor results and keep trying if your pages are not showing up on page one search results for search terms you want. Benchmark against webpages that rank higher than yours, and make an effort to understand what needs to be done to raise your own page ranking. Organic Search success takes time and persistence but can yield huge rewards for your business.

Cost: FREE (not including initial website development and content management costs)

2. Take Advantage of Social Media:
Another powerful tool if used wisely, Social Media takes time and effort to make an impact. Understand your target market and gear your efforts to get their attention. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and others offer free ways to establish your brand and service. But you need to then focus on getting these social media sites linked with your main website and blogs. Then promote the sites and gain friends, contacts etc. Patience is important with Social Media as progress can be slow and even random, but when you hit critical mass it will directly benefit your business. Go easy on propaganda and overt promotion or you'll lose your audience. You're enticing visitors to visit your business website, the sell should be professional and low-key.

Cost: Free

3. Blogs:
They are mini-websites and they are free, and they are powerful. They can easily rocket to high rankings in organic search if the topic and niche is focused. Create niche blogs that feed to your main website and each other. Each blog should be unique on the topics and subjects they cover... and ideally done in a professional and neutral manner - - content should attract readers, and don't subject them to 'advertorials'. Cross-Link your main website to this 'solar system' of blogs which orbit your main site.

Cost: FREE

4. Paid Search Ads:

OK, this is not free, but it can be very effective and cheap! Open up Google Adwords and BING paid search accounts. Focus on your key search terms and try them out in very focused campaigns and ad-groups. You can limit your daily spend, you have total control of your costs. You can limit the campaigns to specific geographical areas, even cities, and languages, time-zones, etc. Paid search can cost you just a dollar a day if you want. But results are immediate and help fill gaps in your organic search results. Display ads on 3rd party websites broaden your ad reach by a large amount.... and your added costs can be just pennies a click. With Google, you will also get FREE access to Google Analytics, which when loaded on your main website can provide you great visitor tracking, search term research, understanding and insight into your website.

Cost: You Decide

5. Email:
Use of email to qualified and targeted individuals, when done professionally, can produce another stream of leads and business. To avoid spamming issues, it is important to follow best practices, including clear opt-in and opt-out options. Segment your email lists so that you can better tailor your emails. Always include links back to your website and/or blogs. Clean up your email lists on a regular basis. Use a professional 3rd party email provider to send out the emails, to help avoid being banned as spam by IT managers at targeted companies. Review your email campaign stats to improve openings and click-throughs. Produce, or have produced for you, professional looking emails and newsletters in .html format which can survive various email server filters and format compatibility issues. Avoid spam-like behavior at all costs.
Cost: Variable

These five tactics; organic search, social media, blogs, paid search, and email, can bring very lucrative results to even the smallest online business with the smallest marketing and promotional budget. If used together in one cohesive strategy the positive impact on your business can dramatic.

Regards; Erik Holladay

Content is Still King - - Social Media Doesn't Change That.

2010-07-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Content is Still King - - A Classic Truth Worth Repeating.

Just like a whipped coffee latte, a foamy ice cold beer or a towering root beer float, to capture the maximum value in Social Media, one has to dig below the marketing 'froth' and 'fizz' to find the ultimate reward... Social Media Lead Generation.

Yesterday I attended a web marketing conference in Houston put on by the Online Marketing Institute. Social Media Marketing was emphasized, rightfully so, as the number of people using Social Media platforms explodes in the USA and the world. I came to learn more about applying social media tactics to my business.

But I also heard confirmation that what was true 3 years ago, 6 years ago, 9 years ago, is true today: Your Content Matters. Content is Still King. Without good Content on your websites and company blogs, all your Social Media tools and all your efforts will disappoint, or worse, backfire. Good Content that works for your business is needed before going 'crazy' with Facebook or Twitter.

And Blogs? They are, according to the experts I heard on Social Media yesterday, your most effective Social Media lead generation tool. Good old-fashioned, taken-for-granted, Blogs... your 'mini-websites'.

Social Media tactics will be very important to your success, but pay attention to your content... it is the foundation which will drive your success. Social Media should orbit your content like the planets around the sun.

I picked up great information at the OMI conference. The presenters were informative across all subjects. For me SEO and Usability were very useful. And there was considerable expertise on ideas and best practices for Facebook, Twitter, Blogs etc. Observations and predictions were made that Social Media will "change the world", "destroy traditional institutional hierarchies", and cause "marketing mayhem". Social media trends will accelerate as further adoption of mobile smart phone and 'tablet' technologies continues, and people under the age of 25 ("digital natives") move into the work force. I'm going to apply what we learned yesterday... to better exploit today's world and prepare for tomorrow's.

But I will remember this basic, classic, truth: Content is King. To which can be added: Company websites and blogs are the most important "Social Media" platform assets we have.

Regards; Erik Holladay

Learn more about Social Media, Web Marketing and applying it to your business:
Arnie Kuenn, President, Vertical Measures
Brad Kleinman, President, eMarketing Techniques
Thanh Nguyen, Senior Usability Engineer, BusinessOnline
Maria Pergolino, Director of Marketing, Marketo

Are You a (Marketing) Secret Weapon?

2010-07-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

Be a Marketing Secret Weapon:

No matter what size your company is, if you want to use web marketing to promote your business, become a "Secret Weapon".

I've been called a marketing and business development "Secret Weapon" many times by divisional senior and executive management. To be so described is an honor and a validation of the work I do. But what actions, exactly, am I taking which cause my activities to be associated with "secret" and "weapon"?

The Secret of the Secret Weapon:

The real secret is using Search Engine Marketing effectively. Organic and Inorganic Search (Google, Bing) are my primary weapons of choice for lead generation and customer research, validation and 'mind-share'. Wielding this powerful marketing technique brings a tremendous combination of high-quality and high-volume lead generation to a B-to-B business, no matter how big the business is, no matter how small.

When used with focused, pragmatic expertise, attention to detail and consistent follow-through, search engine marketing can literally transform your company or business unit fortunes. Your main competition may never be aware, understand nor appreciate how you did it, making your marketing success a stealthy "secret".

The world is full of potential quality customers looking for solutions which your business offers. Those people go to Google or Bing to start researching. Write concise and precise content that is relevant to your target markets, with a goal to rank high in organic search. You need to be there when they start looking!

In essence, this is the true "secret" of a marketing "Secret Weapon"... be there, at the right time, the right place, with the right message.

Targeting profitable service niches with organic and paid search, applying long-tail search principles, geo-targeting and language targeting is easy if you have search engine marketing expertise and tools. Do these things well, do them consistently, and you will likely see success. Depending upon the target market, a dependable tsunami of high-value leads can land at your door.... business enquiries that don't reach your competitors. You attracted the potential client's attention and made a positive impression, so they contacted you first.

There are other useful lead-gen marketing tactics, such as brochures, trade shows, advertising, email campaigns, physical mailers, and social media. But the superior business results, reach and lower costs gained from search engine marketing dwarf all those other options, based upon my experience with technical B-to-B lead generation. If done right, search engine results keep coming, as search engine marketing works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across industries, markets, nations, languages and cultures... always 'on-demand' for prospective customers and always certified 'spam-free'.

Every great Secret Weapon has a visionary who predicted its future. For search engine marketing, that visionary for me is Seth Godin. Seth's then radical but now classic book Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers became a prime inspiration for my priority focus on search engine marketing.

Secret Weapons require quality craftsmanship and engineering to make them a success. Here is where your Webmaster comes in. Your webmaster is literally your Secret Weapon mechanic and right-hand man. To win at search engine marketing, your Website must be designed to be friendly for search engines, with an easy to use content management system. Follow best practices for web-design and navigation. The entire site should be extremely friendly and usable for prospective clients.

Best Regards;

Erik Holladay

Meet Your USA Adwords Competition: All 1,500,000 of them.

2010-05-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

Google ads used by 1.5M US marketers, websites.
Google's Internet advertising network attracts more than 1.5 million US marketers, websites.

Associated Press, Tuesday May 25, 2010

So, now you know. A lot of people are using Adwords in the USA for lead generation, sales and branding. And many of them want the same search terms you want.

With Adwords and other paid search tools like BING, your real competition isn't just your real direct and indirect competitors for goods and services in your markets. Not at all. When it comes to paid search, especially Adwords, your ads appear and compete in a vast, virtual universe where competition for your search terms and keywords can be intense and costly.

Companies in entirely different markets with completely different target audiences can target the same keywords you want. For example, the search term "Lab" can mean many different things - - R&D laboratory, clinical laboratory, math class, puppy dog, etc.? Very broad terms, if used, mean that you'll compete against many others and attract many clicks from casual or confused visitors who will not be your customers.

This ad 'clutter' and 'noise' can frustrate your efforts to reach your audience, unless you take intelligent steps to focus on your market niches and filter out the rest. There are many resources to help you acheive this and reduce or even eliminate competition for money-making search terms. These include using negative search terms, long-tail search phrases, avoiding search terms that are too broad, use of technical vocabulary, selective ad showing by schedule, location and language, analytics and more.

Useful Research and Article on the Value of Google Result Positioning

2010-05-26T06:37:00.000-07:00

This is great information for people who strive for Search Engine Optimization. If your using Search Engines for lead generation these two articles are a must read!

1. The Value of Google Result Positioning:

"How much is the top spot on Google actually worth? According to data from the Chitika network, it’s worth a ton – double the traffic of the #2 spot, to be precise."

http://chitika.com/research/2010/the-value-of-google-result-positioning/

Daniel Ruby, Research Director, Online Insights, Chitika, Inc.

Search Engine Watch article: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/100525-160427.

A special thanks to Brian Geddes of http://www.bgtheory.com/ for posting this valuable information on LinkedIn. By the way, Brian teaches an excellent set of classes devoted to advanced Adwords training. If you can ever take one of his classes, I highly recommend it. http://www.linkedin.com/in/ewhisper

Take Advantage of Google Adwords Local Search Features

2010-05-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

Google has added some very useful campaign setting options for localized ad targeting. This can be effective for campaigns where you want only local leads. "Local" targeting can be as large as a country or state, or as small as a town or city.

I'm using both local and multinational campaigns (where appropriate, as I run global campaigns which target multiple countries), but one local search option that really caught my eye is the "Phone Extensions" feature in the "Ad Extensions" section of each Adwords campaign settings page.

With "Phone Extensions", you can add a 'click to call' feature for smart phone users. As more and more people use their smart phones for web browsing, our search engine marketing efforts need to be in synch with this trend.

Depending upon how your campaigns are set up (Country, State, City), Google allows you to list a local telephone number a visitor simply has to click on their smartphone to call you with a business leads.

Directions are straightforward:

1. Go to your Campaign Settings page.

2. Go to Ad Extensions > then go to Phone Extensions.

3. See "Display click-to-call phone number on iPhones and other mobile devices with full Internet browsers:"

Add Your Numeric Telephone Number Here.

Google allows only numeric number listings for now, no alpha 'vanity' alternatives allowed yet.
This works for me, as alpha phone listings can be irritating to the caller compared to simple numeric dialing.

I've just started to use this Phone Extension feature. It is best for targeted campaigns where one phone number can be listed. Like anything else with Adwords, it will take some time and experimentation to see if the new click-to-call helps bring in leads. I suspect it will.

Best Regards;

Erik Holladay

Trade Shows Still Work - -

2010-05-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

No argument, when it comes to lead generation and filling the sales pipeline, trade shows can have a reputation for being inefficient, wasteful, and costly... with high-cost-per-lead when compared to effective online marketing. When web-marketing is done right, every day is a successful and global 24/7 trade show, and million dollar leads may just cost pennies to acquire!

But trade shows still have value. If done right, with strong planning and guidelines, companies can still greatly benefit with face-to-face trade shows and conferences. These industry events are an important way to meet potentially valuable customers face-to-face and get the pulse of the industry. Trade Shows spark conversations that otherwise would never have happened, develop new business relationships, and reveal latent business needs during extended discussions. Business needs which your company can fill at a nice profit. On-site trade shows help fill out B-to-B marketing and business development campaigns. We need them. Depending upon the venue and the clientle, capturing even one good lead may result in business which will more than justify the investment made in a trade show.

My major complaint about trade shows is the danger of waste and low productivity. Trade shows, if done in a casual way, really waste of people's time, resources, budget (money), and impose the penalty of high opportunity costs (i.e., I could have been doing something else which was far more productive with my time.).

BUT, if one manages the time, goals and costs, and maximizes the opportunities and efficiencies, then a trade show can have a strong positive bottom-line effect on business. It can even be game-changing, such are the strategic business development opportunities available. You can strike gold at a trade conference. For smaller business in particular, it is vital to choose and manage trade shows very carefully, your budget and your limited resources cannot handle too many 'waste of time' conferences.

Here is some advice on Trade Shows, based upon my years of successful experience in planning, managing, working and manning exhibits at conferences, large and small, on three continents and across a multitude of cultural, regional and industry niches.

Choose Conference Trade Shows Wisely:

Determine if your customers and potential customers will attend the event. Ask clients and your industry peers about the event, and industry events they like to attend (and why). If your potential customers are going to these events, then these conferences are candidates for consideration.

Be careful with your budget... and prioritize. Trade shows can suck up a huge amount of costs (show space, rentals, power, construction, booth design and fabrication, booth transport and assembly, customs and brokerage fees, graphics, hotels, meals, travel, client entertainment, promotional items, etc). Whatever you do, don't let trade shows steal funding from your web marketing efforts... this would be self-destructive to your lead generation on balance, and very harmful.

Pick Your Trade Show Team Carefully:

1. Pick personable, outgoing and knowledgeable staff. Pick professionals who have high-energy, are team players, know how to apply consultative selling techniques, follow directions, don't mind putting in marathon 16 hour days or worse, and can stand being on their feet all day.

2. Take a select team and limit participation - - avoid over-staffing, and don't bring people who treat a trade show like it was a semi-vacation. Bring the focused talent appropriate for a specific event. Even if you have to fly the right person to that conference, instead of using a local person, the ultimate lead generation results produced and the subsequent ROI is worth it.

3. Train your team and cross-train them. Have 'cheat-sheets' available for all team members. They should be familiar with the range of services and products on display - - not just select niches.

4. Work the Conference:
Keep the 'off-duty' team members out of the booth to avoid a crowd. The booth 'off-duty' folks can a play an extremely important role - - roving the conference and making additional contacts. Some of the best trade show leads come from prospective clients escorted to your booth by your 'off-duty' people.

Promote Your Participation at the Event:

Companies benefit from promoting before, during, and after an event to let clients and potential clients know they will be exhibiting at a targeted conference. If you have personnel presenting papers or are on panel discussions, this is important news you'll want to share with your potential and current clients.

Promotional tools which can be used include:
a. Webpage promotion (at least one month ahead - - get listed in search engines)
b. Adwords and paid search promotion (at least one month ahead)
c. Targeted email promotion before the event (the week before). Consider a print mail promo as well.
d. Press release (just before, or the first day of the event)
e. Targeted email promotion after the event (Obtain or buy the conferee attendee list)
f. Effective and decent promotional items for giveaway - - pick things that will be used by the prospective client, things not thrown away, not easily broken and not given away. (Think functional items like Calculators, Timers, Pens, Memory Sticks, etc. Include your website domain on the giveaway.)
g. Have a conference promotional give-away for a higher value item, with booth visitors having to register to have a chance to win.
h. Booth Graphics, Layout, and Multimedia should be optimized to grab a conference attendee's attention. Customize your booth to fit the event. Don't use 'generic' unchanging vague booth messages and images. Having your booth tailored to that event is more effective at getting people to stop at your booth.
i. Exploit the Conference Event's website and print program as much as you can. Make sure your company name, description and booth location are listed. Use every available show online tool available. Some conferences are getting more aggressive with social media type applications... use them also ahead of the event to connect with attendees and even set up meetings.
j. Use social media to broadcast your participation at an event. Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter can be effective for this. Some conferences are starting to 'tweet' on-site during the event.

Follow-up on the Leads:
Extremely important. It seems obvious but very often busy people jump into the next big thing and let these contacts become stale with age. Don't let the priority contacts made at the event grow old, follow-up immediately. Use the attendee lists obtained at the booth and from the event managment, put them to good use. Follow-up with 'thank you' emails with key links to services the visitor has interest in. Make phone calls. Business Development should own the promising contacts that justify additional follow-up. Track the leads to help determine if the event is worth returning to the next year.

Trade Shows are a Work in Progress:
Successful trade show management is a constant challenge... there are hundreds of books and many experts out there who make a living training their clients how to optimize trade shows for better results, and with good reason! Every trade show is a learning experience, with lessons learned, opportunities sighted and improvements identified for the next time.

Don't sacrifice the online marketing budget in favor of trade shows, but exploiting industry trade shows can enhance your online efforts, and help ensure you capture as much business as possible.

For more resources on trade shows, go to Google and search for "Trade Show Consultant" and "Trade Show Coach".... there are plenty of resources out there.

Best Regards;

Erik Holladay

Big Lead Generation using a Small Budget.

2009-12-17T13:47:00.001-08:00

Lead Generation on a small budget can be a very effective way to feed your business with profitable top-line revenue.

I will address only web marketing, mainly because if I had a small B-to- B business, aside from having good personal referrals and leads, having an effective web marketing program would be the first thing I do.

If you want to have a business website or blog that will give you leads, here are proven ideas that can help give you a big presence on the web and let your business grow.

Content: Define Your Business Goals

Prioritize the most profitable bits of your business for which you want to generate leads. Really define the service or product niche you provide, in order to improve your chances of lead gen success. Then work on those high value/high reward areas first. Use 'long-tail' tactics to create category killers for search. Webpage content should be concise, precise and with an obvious call-to-action. Use more pages to better niche your services, products or solutions.

Make it Easy to Contact Your Business:

Place your Business phone number and email on each webpage, and a link to a web-form if you have one.
Make contacting your business easy.

Target Organic Search:

Make sure you have a cluster of coordinated webpages on your website describing those products or services. Create a combination of SEO friendly pages and then more in-depth pages to help sell the qualified visitor to contact you. Then test for organic search ranking after a few weeks, adjust and continue testing and revising until you are on the first page up high in search engine rankings.

Exploit Sensible Paid Search:

This can be very inexpensive if you micro-target and avoid broad search terms. Set you daily budget. Limit the geography and language options. Use long-tail and narrow search-terms to start, you can expand as you see what your real spend is. Use negative search terms to filter out unwanted clicks.

Create Professional Blogs:

Create a few relevant blogs that people will want to read and bring value. LINK those blogs to your website, and cross-link back to the Blogs. You will increase your visitor rate and hopefully your lead gen rate as well.

The Sum is greater than the parts when it comes to Search Engine Marketing. Add up all the steps above, and you will improve your opportunities for attracting great, quality business enquiries.

Want Good Web Leads? Then SEO Matters.

2009-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Life without Search Engine Optimization would make attracting quality business enquiries a whole lot tougher.

SEO is such an effective weapon for web-marketing lead generation that it is a very top priority for me, exploiting organic, long-tail and paid search options with success.

Thanks to SEO, we’ve been able to generate thousands and thousands of B-to-B enquiries and bring in millions of dollars in high margin revenue... all from having a laser-sharp focus on SEO. SEO has helped transform our business almost beyond recognition compared to when I started managing web marketing in 2003. Without SEO, I’d be handicapped. I can’t image not using SEO as my top lead-gen tool.

Yes, the page content must be relevant to the actual human visitor, and must have an effective call-to-action.

But if one doesn’t also apply SEO principles to webpages, those pages most likely will not make page one on search engine results. Page one is where your B-to-B services and products need to be ranked. There is too much competition for the limited space available... publishing a webpage without search optimization is like opening a fancy new retail store and failing to put signs on the building. Potential customers will have a hard time finding you or the products you sell.

Of what use is a lowly ranking webpage for search engine lead generation? Not much use at all. A poorly ranked webpage becomes invisible and may as will not exist for organic search engine marketing.

For me, a great looking webpage is not one that gets design kudos, recognitions or awards from 'creatives'.

No, a great looking webpage is one that ranks in the top five organic search listings in Google for a key search phrase. Bliss. When combined with relevant content and an effective call-to-action, such a SEO'd webpage is a profitable B-toB lead-generation work of high art.

Adwords Tune-up

2009-09-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

Google Adwords is a powerful tool for search engine lead generation and branding, but it can be easy to waste money, clicks and therefore lead generation opportunities if it is not managed to run at optimal effectiveness, speed and efficiency.

This Adwords Check List comes from a B-to-B perspective, where we're going after niche-services leads and clients.

1. Google Ad Optimization:

a. Is your ad written in a way that best attracts the people you are wanting to capture.

b. Is the ad clear and concise, so you can better filter out the rest of the audience you don't want to attract.

c. Does the ad have an implied call-to-action (given the limited ad space).

d. Are you using enough Negative Keyword Terms to help filter out low quality clicks?

Learn more about the importance of negative keywords at:
http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/2009/06/negative-is-positive-with-google.html

2. Google Ad Position:

a. Being in the top position is not always a good thing - - those ads get more clicks but at a lower quality and higher price.

b. Placement at the 3 or 4 spots mean less visitors but higher visitor quality, and less cost.

3. Define what are the desired "Goals" for your Campaigns:

a. Total Clicks, Leads, Sales?

b. Click Rate (CTR) versus Conversion Rates?

For me, high conversion rates for lead generation are much more important than CTR.

Optimizing any paid search campaigns like Adwords is an ongoing process. Being successful with paid search is not unlike being an active stock trader. The search engine "search-term market" is never ending, and always dynamic and changing.

Victory goes to the methodical, alert, nimble and opportunistic. Victory can be defined in many ways, but the points above give an idea of the creativity, research and work required to make it happen.

Greg Statal has posted an excellent article entitled "What to do when Adwords doesn't get results" on his blog Digital Tonto. He goes into more detail with ideas one should consider in order to make an Adwords campaign more effective.

Best Regards; Erik Holladay

Freedom of Choice: Give Potential Customers Easy Options for Contacting your Company from your Website.

2009-09-18T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have for some years allowed enquries to contact our divisional website through Telephone, Email and Contact Us Form. Adding a Chat option eventually will round things out. The primary goal for B-to-B marketing is make it very easy for a potential or returning customer to contact us! Let them chose the method, as long as we get the lead.

From my experience over the last 5 years, there is a clear pattern of contact preferences from enquiries:

The largest enquiry group uses and prefers the Telephone, and the quality of these leads is on average higher than the other options and often time-sensitive.

Next are Emails, this option is easy and convenient for people to use, and we can often capture complete contact details and attached project information along with the email. We receive very high value enquiries from Executives as emails, for example.

Last are Contact Us Form enquiries. This is not to say these forms are of little value, we also receive high quality leads this way. However, from my experience, using a Contact Us Form is the least popular way our B-to-B clients have wanted to contact us, if given the choice.

Yet, there are significant internal advantages with Contact Us Forms for CRM data capture, analytics, etc. And a Contact Form can be tweaked and optimized to encourage more people to use it.

But the Bottom line for us is the Telephone first, then Email, then Web Form in terms of enquiry options chosen by visitors.

Designing a webform long enough to capture the contact information Bus Dev and Marketing want, but short enough to encourage someone to fill the Contact Us form out and send, involves compromise, flexibility, experimentation and an open-mind.

A special thanks to Howard Sewell, President of Connect Direct, for posting the question
"Contact Us" Forms - Do They Work?" in LinkedIn... this question motivated me to share my experience with Contact Forms, Phone and Email.

How does one Raise Search Engine Rankings? Another View

2009-08-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

I wrote this in response to a very good question from someone in LinkedIn, on how to raise your search engine rankings.

Content is King. Precise, Concise and Relevant Content.

Write good content using keywords that your potential customer base is looking for. Monitor your results. Look at the pages that rank higher than your page and, while not copying them, employ similar strategies if they make sense for your product or service.

Support your webpages with focused Blogs that point to your desired webpages. Try and get your URLs listed in relevant industry or user websites. Use Google Adwords to help promote your pages.

If your content is relevant and readable, and your tactics to raise your organic search rankings are honest and also relevant, then your chances of getting top rankings will increase significantly.

I have had great success in getting top organic search rankings against as many as 40 million other indexed pages... focused and relevant content does the main work. Content is King.

Sometimes less content, that is distilled to the relevant core, will have the best impact. I have more on this subject at:
http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/2009/07/raise-organic-search-rankings-by.html

BING still Bungling Duplicate Search Results

2009-08-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Bing has still not figured out how to completely filter 'similar results' from organic search. Unlike Google, which has the ability to filter out multiple results from the same company or content, BING appears to be unable to accomplish the same simple but vital filtering process.

What does this mean in real world terms?

The example I used to highlight this problem was the same for when BING first came out this Spring. I used a search for 'laboratory outsourcing'. The BING results are still showing a glaring weakness in BING's ability to filter out similar results. The first few organic results are quite good actually (especially since my webpages dominate at the top), but when you get past the 9th indexed link or so, things get very strange and repetitive, many of the pages are essentially of zero use for an individual looking for new information related to 'laboratory outsourcing'. Why? Because one company has identical or similar content present on different national domain websites. BING does not yet understand that these pages all belong to one company, or indeed that the content is similar or identical, so all these pages are listed, page after page after page after page.

I'll give BING some credit, the results are not as bad as 3 months ago... but they have more work to do. BING is very interesting, as a heavy user of Adwords campaigns I need to have a viable alternative to Google. I don't have one yet. And the new Google interface is rather 'interesting', to say the least. BING may be useful yet, if my B-to-B technical services clients start using it.

Adding a Single Keyword Turns a Webpage from Invisible to Dominant

2009-07-10T15:01:00.001-07:00

Crafting a B-to-B webpage which controls the top organic websearch results in Google and other search engines takes time, thought and effort. The stakes are high. If your webpage does not show up on page one for organic search results, your page essentially does not exist to search engine users.

Sometimes a very simple head-slapping fix can turn a poorly ranking webpage into a world champion organic search-engine lead machine, beating the competition by ranking at or near the top.

A recurring example involves location-targeted webpages. The 'local' or 'regional' webpages were not ranking for key location-specific search terms the stakeholders want. When I reviewed the problem pages, it was apparent that actual name of that targeted location was not on the pages... not in the headlines, not in the text, not anywhere. So how could a search engine make the connection? It couldn't. By simply adding the place name to the pages in key spots, the problem was solved and the previously "invisible" webpages transformed into page one ranking pages on Google for organic search.

There are times when an easy common sense fix will solve a major SEO problem. It is easy to overlook a content issue or enhancement, no one is perfect. This is why having others look at our work is so important...

Raise Organic Search Rankings by Reducing Page Content

2009-07-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Reducing the content on a key web-page, if properly done, can rocket a newly slimmed-down page to new organic ranking heights for competitive and valuable Google search terms.

Having a poorly ranking web-page is an opportunity for improvement. First look at the total situation and purpose of the web-page.

1. What I am selling?

2. Who am I selling to?

3. Is my content Concise and Precise?

3a. Can I split up the content on this page into new pages?

3b. Can I reduce the remaining content on my original page?

Many web-pages suffer poor SEO due to long scrolling text, non-essential words and phrases. The same page could suffer from secondary and tertiary content that should stand alone as separate web-pages. The web-page is not focused enough for Google give a good ranking for the keyword(s) the page is trying to target. Too much content, too many subjects produces a page that is not focused, not precise, not concise and not as relevant as it could be.

The Relevancy and Ranking Fix is simple in theory:

1. Put the page on a words diet: streamline the content.

2. Follow good SEO copy-writing practice and don't 'pack' your keywords.

3.Take out surplus content not directly related to the page's mission.

4. Put any important newly removed content into a new, dedicated web-page(s) that is cross-linked with the original page.

When done, instead of having one long, scrolling web-page there may be one, two or three shorter, more concise web-pages that are relevant and related... offering greater content value to visitors and higher relevancy to Google.

This process takes some thought and work. But if done correctly, you'll see spectacular results.

I have web-pages that routinely rank 1, 2, 3, 4 against millions of other indexed Google pages for key search terms... because over the years I have streamlined content, split content and generally tried to make the pages precise and concise and cross-linked to other relevant web-pages.

I have also been happily surprised to see an unexpected web-page become a top-ranked page for a key competitive search-term. When that happens, I am flexible enough to often seize the opportunity and keep the page optimized for visitor relevancy and SEO. It's a gift from Google that can be taken complete advantage of.

Patience and success by trial and error are the norm. Google is the ultimate judge on organic page rankings.... we can only keep trying. Victory may take months to achieve, but the resulting high quality web enquiries produced make the effort worth it.

Managing Adwords Avoids Increasing PPC Cost

2009-06-25T16:15:00.000-07:00

Many B2B Adwords managers suffer increasing costs of pay-per-click campaigns in order to "stay competitive". And every Adword veteran has treasured paid search-terms that were not only effective, but really cheap and cheerful a few years ago. Now, thanks to more competition for keywords on a global scale, these same search terms are becoming more and more expensive to run with high rankings.

But there are strategies which help avoid this PPC price trap...

During the last year, I didn't experience Adword PPC inflation, but rather PPC deflation.

My overall global campaign costs are reduced and campaign quality has increased:

1. Total Adword Spend down over 50%
2. Already low Cost per Conversion down over 50%
3. Cost per Click down over 25%

And by spending less and with more selectively I gained better quality:

1. An already high Conversion Rate jumped over 35% from the prior year.
2. With conservatively counted conversion rates of over 8%, 20% and higher.

To get these happy results, I focused on separating search-term wheat from the chaff, by going for more long-tail terms and exact and phrase match options which have relevance to my targeted customers, micro-managing time and location settings, using Adsense content ad filters heavily, and using google hegative search terms aggresively to help my campaigns stay focused on the markets I wanted, and where and when I wanted them. I was able to acheive this across campaigns, global geography and languages without using an outside consultant.

Simple Adword campaign changes can yield big results.

Ad Position:
Another great way to limit PPC costs is to focus on the number 3 or 4 or 5 ad positions. Why? 1 and 2 get more clicks, this is true, but they get many more casual clicks of lower quality. You pay more for less.

By being lower in rankings but high enough to get noticed you filter out casual clicks and attract more quality visitors from the core market you seek. You pay less for more.

Monitor Conversion Rates before Click-Through-Rates:
For B2B at least, getting conversions for the sales funnel is more useful for ROI than the initial clicks. Follow conversion rates closely. Click-through rates do offer guidance for potential keyword search term trimming, enhancement and improvement. But the Conversion Rate rules as a top priority for gauging your campaign quality, effectiveness and efficiency.

Trim, Filter and Block Search Term Options:
For example, if you were targeting "Engineering Services", which is very broad search term, back in 2003 it was cheap, but it's not now. The search term is hyper-competitive in Google Adwords. But instead of total surrender, or gritting your teeth and paying more and more in a never-ending price war spiral with your competition, get creative with long-tail search terms to help get around tough PPC situations like this.

Ask yourself; who are your real, paying, customers?

If your target is the Engineering Services for the Nuclear Cold Fusion Industry, for example, then you have options which will be cheaper to run and more effective. Try not using the high cost search term "Engineering Services", it is too broad and expensive. Try more focused search terms like "Cold Fusion Engineering" or "Cold Fusion Energy Engineering" or "Fusion Widget Engineering", etc. Google's Keyword Tool can help you discover related many terms as searched for in Google. Choose quality search terms over 'popular' ones. A search term may be very popular, but perhaps too broad and expensive to run an ad for. Going for long-tail search terms will usually be much less expensive than "Engineering Services".

Extremely important when using the Keyword tool is to also identify the -negative search terms you want listed. Using negative search terms reduces the chance your ad will show up for a search term that is not related to your product or service, thus helping avoid wasted clicks, which saves your campaign budget. For example, having a negative term set for "software" and "web" is a wise idea for any campaign going after "Cold Fusion Engineering" search terms! You don't want to be confused with a software company if your product is a service providing nuclear industry technical engineering expertise.

It is true that there will always be search terms that you absolutely want.... you along with 10 of your favorite cut-throat competitors. In those cases still try to find allied long-tail search terms and negative terms you can use...use the geography and time settings. These and other tactics will help you keep your PPC spend down.

In B2B marketing, there are thousands of technical and industry niche search terms which produce few clicks but yield high quality visitors and profits. It takes some time to research and implement these actions, but they will pay off in the end.

Twitter Infiltrates Business-to-Business Marketing

2009-06-20T07:40:00.000-07:00

Twitter Trends Spotted for Business-to-Business. Sysomos issues June 2009 Report on Twitter Users and Habits across the world.

I looked at Twitter in the past as a purely social media gadget used by teenagers and young adults... not a serious marketing and promotional tool for grown-up B2B businesses. I opened a Twitter account in 2008 to research this new web product and measure any potential it had for B2B... slim pickings back then, and I stopped looking at my Twitter account.

But now, Twitter B2B users are starting to Tweet to real business and potential customers. Things are changing for Tweeter and B2B as marketers and others realize the growing Tweeter user population brings great potential value in spreading short, easy to digest messages, often linked to a key webpage. This very young trend should grow into the next decade.

This year I observed hundreds of attendees, for the first time, use Twitter at a large, major industry conference. They were being kept up-to-date on conference news and activities before, during and after the event with real-time 'Tweets'. That was my Eureka moment on Twitter... time to take it seriously and grow with the B2B trend now happening.

Look at some major businesses using Twitter to update customers, employees, potential customers and others: Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, three General Electric B2B divisions, Apple Computer, Google. The WSJ and FT Tweets actually serve as Headline News Feed Services.

And did I mention that Twitter (so far) is free to senders and receivers? For small business owners, this communication tool can be a great way to get your message out... the only cost is your short amount of time needed to send out a Tweet.

The young may an overwhelming majority of Tweeters now, but they will grow older, mature and become tax paying citizens with real jobs making real business decisions... time is on Twitters side.

Marcus Aurelius, one of the 'good' Roman Emperors, said "Observe constantly that all things take place by change." When it comes to web marketing and technologies, this wisdom is timeless.

Here is an excellent and detailed global Twitter-user demographics and habits report prepared by Sysomos Inc researchers Alex Cheng, Mark Evans and Harshdeep Singh, called "An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World" . If you are remotely interested in learning more about Twitter, take a look!

You can follow my periodic blogs on Twitter, where I have a small but growing group of 'followers': https://twitter.com/ErikHolladay . I only started to seriously use Twitter in the last few months, it was that one B2B conference (attendance 50,000) which was the catalyst for me to see change was coming!

Twitter is only going to be as good as a company makes it. I attended another massive industry conference recently... they too set-up a twitter account but never used it during the conference... missing an audience of over 70,000 attendees. They even announced that they're focused on 'reaching out to the public' with a Social Media campaign... but someone forgot to "Tweet". Twitterwill be a hit and miss learning curve scenario for everyone in B2B.

How to Promote Your Website On a Limited Budget

2009-06-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier I focused on how to promote your website using free tactics and tools. Free was fun. Now we're looking at Paid Promotion... paying for great cost-effective results is fun. Paying for poor results is not fun at all, don't let that happen to you!

This follow-up blog will list effective tactics you should try when promoting your website and you have pending money... there are a many things you can do to promote your website, even on a limited budget! Careful planning can vastly increase a website's audience exposure and visitor rates with little additional investment.

1. Stationary, Business Cards, Fliers, Brochures:
Putting your website address on these items adds zero cost to your budget, or small marginal costs if you want the address to pop with a special color. If you are investing in the usual printed materials that go with a business, make sure your website is included on all of them. Anything printed on paper that includes your business name and contact details should have your website listed! Prospective customers will visit your site and generate valuable business leads because your website was printed on something.

2. Promotional Giveaways, Signage, Advertisements:
Again, little or no additional cost is involved in adding your website to these promotional tools. You're already paying for a sign or giveaways, add your website so that people can learn more about your business and convert to leads.

3. Live LARGE with Budgeted Adwords Campaigns:
Think online paid-search advertisements are expensive, hard to measure and for the big boys? Then you would be wrong! Google Adwords is one of the most measureable and cost effective for-pay advertising mediums in the known universe. You can control how much you spend, and where and when you spend it. The biggest challenge is to learn using Adword Text Ads to best advantage for your business, including ad and search term optimization and use of negative search terms. If you want to advertise your local business in your metro area only between 2 PM and 10 PM Monday to Friday.... and spend a maximum of 4 cents a click at 3 dollars a day, you can do it! If you want to cover a state, province or entire country on Saturdays in Spanish only... you can do that too. With Adsense, you can even partially segment your market by gender and age group.

4. Print Ads, Radio Ads, TV ads, Direct Mailers:

If you run ads anywhere for any reason... make sure your website is listed or mentioned. Without the web address, you risk losing many business generation opportunities. This as important as listing a phone number.

5. Your Email Signature:
It is amazing how many people don't take advantage of this simple and free option on your email. List your website at the bottom of your emails, along with your phone number, fax, twitter etc. Costs nothing and again you encourage people to click on the link to your site.

6. Press Releases and Email Campaigns:
Press releases and email campaigns can be expensive or cheap depending upon which service you use and how broad you want the PR or campaign distributed. But what gives the press release and email enduring value is to make sure you have not only a link to the homepage but also a link to an appropriate landing page that focuses on the service or news your press release was targeting. If you also load a modified version of the PR or email newsletter into your website you'll have an excellent webpage that can increase your Search Engine results for years. So while you usually have to pay for a decent press release service and the initial email campaign, you can take steps to extract value many times over the original cost.

You can enjoy first-class lead generation results on an economy budget if you get your website promoted well. Watch the spending and focus on value-for-money... you can produce ROI results that will dwarf any investments you made in your initial campaign, promotional, advertising and stationary investments. Just remember to always include your website!

Learning to Live With The BOMB: Google Search

2009-06-14T15:22:00.000-07:00

Questions about Google's Search Engine, Algorithm, Competition:

Another great question on LinkedIn prompted me to offer some search engine marketing thoughts on the dominance of Google and having to learn to "Live With The Bomb".... Google's Search Engine Algorithm.

Lead generation lives and dies by Google's Search relevancy rankings and evolving algorithms. Google Search criteria are always evolving. We depend upon high rankings to pull in quality B2B leads via Google organic search. In short, the Algorithm can make things very lucrative for us or very frustrating.

A few Google inspired thoughts:

1. Google owns search related patents, but the algorithm is a strategic, dynamic and proprietary tool... while patents offer protection they are public and eventually expire, competition can see your secrets and work to duplicate them once the patent is expired, or worse, create a 'work-around' of the patent and release a competitive product even sooner. This needs to be confirmed, but I suspect Google would not want to patent any version of the search algorithm for public viewing, a situation similar to Coca-Cola keeping the original formula for Coke locked up in a safe, and never patenting the formula.

2. I find Google's search results much better as a general rule, more relevant. They filter better, they handle 'similar results' better, they index more webpages, and they hire very intelligent people to work on making the site ever more relevant for the search engine user. This is one reason why technical and business professionals overwhelming use Google, as high as 80% usage. I often get strange or odd results using BING, Yahoo and all those little engines out there trying to survive or be the next Google.

3. Google is dominant because they had first-mover advantage and produced a great product early on. Everybody else has been playing catch-up ever since. Having praised Google, I have to say near-monopolies make me a bit nervous. I depend upon Google for business, I use it for my personal use search almost exclusively, I use Gmail, Chrome and other exanding bits of the Google empire. I even visited GooglePlex in Mountain View, California (Awsome). I really like Google.... but Google needs a worthy competitor to keep them on their toes and give us customers optimal choices in the market. Perhaps BING or a revived Yahoo can play that role in the future.

How to Promote Your Website. Let Me Count the Ways...

2009-06-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Or How to Promote your Website in 10,000 Easy Steps:

Someone in LinkedIn Recently asked a very good, simple question, "What is the best way to promote my website?". As often happens, a simple question can have a virtual torrent of good answers. There are a huge number of effective ways to promote your website, using a variety of tactics- some free, some pay, some creative, some very basic.

But first, consider the strategy of your website, its purpose in life, and the resources available for web promotion. Here is an 80,000 ft. view... with more to come. How, when and where to promote your website will greatly depend upon your goals and situation. Questions to ask include:

1. What markets and what clientle are your real target market?

2. How can you reach them? What are your options?

3. Do you have a budget to help reach them? How big is your budget?

4. How do you prioritize, given a limited budget?

Today I will focus on FREE PROMOTIONAL TACTICS. Here are just a few strategic areas to consider using for gratis website promotion tools:

"FREE" PROMOTION:

Free is always a favorite option. But it demands constant work and requires time, creativity, inspiration, enthusiasm, dedication and solid work ethic.

1. Good Content and Product: Focus, be relevant to your target market. Give them value and update often so they want to come back. Without this basic feature you may take one step back for every step forward. Good website navigation and fast downloading are also very important. Be precise, concise and relevant. Don't forget your keywords and phrases, watch for typos, etc.

2. Search Engine Optimization: Needless to say, your website must be found and indexed by the Search Engines. Submitting your new website to the Search Engines is highly suggested. If you build a site that meets point one above, the indexing will come. This step is so important it cannot be over-emphasized.

3. Blogging: Want to get your site more exposure on the web? Create some focused and credible Blogs that all point to your Website. Each Blog should focus on a 'category-killer' topic. These are, need I remind you, free and easy to set up. Stay true to the topic. If your site is a B2B site, then don't stray off-topic. Add Blog comments to other people's blogs if relevant, and always include your website link.

4. Social Media and News Feeds: Web 2.0 tools are becoming more integrated into the business world mainstream. Set up Pages on Linked-In, FaceBook, etc. that all point back to your website... keep the content fresh and on topic. Set up a Twitter account and have a connection to your Twitter page on all your Blogs, Social Media Sites and your Website... get a following and send out Tweets as relevant. Set-up Newsfeeds.

5. Email Newsletters: We all despise spam, but if you send out a fairly regular newsletter that is short and links to your webpage, this is free promotion that is linked to relevant web content, always the best option. Set-up an email registration option on your site, include opt-out and cultivate a quality email contact list.

6. Get Your Website Cited, Linked and Quoted by Others: Encourage relevant Blogs, News Sites, Industry Sites, User Sites, and more to list your website address... and thank anyone out there who writes something in the web who positively mentions your business or site. Build your network and give that network content that motivates them to cite your website. This can include White Papers, real News, etc.

7. Press Releases and Free Media PR: Cultivate print media, trade journal and website contacts... you may benefit from an article written about your company, be sure to include your website address.There are a number of sites that now offer "Free" or very inexpensive opportunities for you to issue press releases. These press releases should always include your landing-page website link. These sites are not as effective as the big ones like BusinessWire, but they will help your cause. You'll know your PR is making a difference on the web when it generates a "Google News Alert". Sign up for Google's News Alert service and make sure you list the key terms you want to track... free service.

There are many Free tactics to promote your website, but since there really are 10,000 different ways to promote your site I cannot hope know or to list them all here! ; ) The next website promotion article will focus more on the for-pay tactics.... also very effective at promoting your site. There are great tactics to fit any budget.

Back to the Future with Static A-Z Directories

2009-06-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Call me a "flat-page" reactionary, but, along with a good Website Search Engine Tool, I prefer looking at static A-Z directories to allow quicker navigation to relevant webpages, a superior experience compared to using flash-enhanced clicky interactive "Alpha Adventures" that do not allow broad A-Z scanning, and can result in frustrating dead-ends.

I'm not saying don't use interactive directories, but low-tech flat A-Z pages are very effective, from our experience.

With a one-view flat A-Z directory, a visitor can more quickly drill-down and find what they are looking for. Website visitors seem to prefer this approach, as these flat A-Z pages enjoy the lowest exit rates on the entire website and have strong traffic flow. In effect, for us, visitors have voted their preference with their mouses. Results were so good we scrapped our complex interactive flash option to find countries... it was not being used.

These mini A-Z pages also benefit us by acting as Site Maps for focused website services and locations sections. They increase link exposure for lower tier service pages, helping our organic search engine rankings. Often these A-Z pages are themselves ranking in top organic search results, based upon on their own merits. These are tremendous benefits for a B2B lead generation website.

As our large B2B website was rapidly growing in services and locations, the expanding complexity of the site demanded further classification, drill-down and navigation tools to help visitors find what they wanted, when they wanted it. We beefed up our website with a better search engine, but needed more. A-Z listings are of course long familiar, in print. I concluded that if this approach has thrived these hundreds of years and was still a durable, popular and common standard, it was good enough to try on the web.

Daring to go Retro, we built a collection of focused and hiearchical static .html A-Z Services and Locations webpages in key folders and sections of the website... with relevant listings linking to niche webpages focused on a particular service or location.

The idea of A-Z Listed Webpages is simple and effective:

An A-Z High Level Directory page for a "Wild Animals" Website for example, could include:

Top Level A-Z Directory:
A

Aardvarks (linked to Aardvarks main webpage)

Badgers (linked to Badgers main webpage)

A person looking for Aardvarks can click on the Aardvark link. Once on the dedicated Aardvark section in the website.... another more focused Aardvark A-Z directory webpage helps the visitor further drill-down:

Second Level A-Z Directory:

Abyssinian Aardvarks (linked to Abyssinian Aardvarks webpage)

Albanian Aardvarks (linked to Albanian Aardvark webpage)

Bengal Aardvards (linked to Bengal Aardvarks webpage)

Bulgarian Aardvarks (linked to Bulgarian Aardvarks webpage)

... and so on. An Aardvark-searching visitor has reached Aardvark Nirvana in terms of information.

Low-tech, retro, flat, html A-Z directory pages have worked very well for us and more importantly, for our B2B website visitors.

Negative is Positive with Google Adwords

2009-06-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

I am called many things, but being negative is usually not one of them. However, when it comes to managing Google Adwords campaigns, I am proud to wallow in negativity!

Using "Negative Keywords" can greatly filter out and reduce wasted clicks on your Adword campaigns, lessen the chance of confused (irrelevant) visitors and help your overall campaign costs, conversion rates and cost-per-conversion. They also help reduce the load on enquiry centers handling the enquiries. I am a big fan of the aggressive use of intelligently selected negative keywords.

Adding negative keywords and search terms is rather easy... you can add them manually and/or, (strongly advised) research the term first with the Google Keyword Tool. You'll be amazed at the sheer number of similar search terms entered by people which have no relevance or value to your B2B campaigns.

An example of a negative term is one related to a desired search term, for example, 'Chemical Lab'. I want people who need professional B2B chemical analysis services. I don't want people looking for a 'Lab' as in 'Labrador Retreiver', or a 'Lab' puppy. So -dog, -dogs, -puppy, -pupplies etc all go negative for this campaign. This is a simple task with the Keyword tool. For us, other great related negative terms include '-job', '-jobs', '-drug lab' etc. Filter the worthless search terms as much as you can.

I have quite a few campaigns where my negative terms outnumber my positive search terms... and these campaigns greatly benefit from this strong filtering. Conversion rates jump, costs slump. Very positive results from going negative.

I use negative keyword terms in B2B campaigns across global business streams, niches, regions and languages, a 24/7 operation. Going negative really helped reduce my spend and spark higher conversion rates. If you're not using negative search terms yet, you could be wasting money and time, never a good situation.

Increase Adword Conversions and Reduce Adword Spend, Take One

2009-06-06T07:16:00.001-07:00

I received a good Paid Search question from a SEM marketer in LinkedIn recently:

"We use Google Adwords, about $X000 a month I think and most of our conversions are unqualified leads. We have tried different campaigns, keywords and a competitive approach, but nothing seems to work too well. Any advice?"

I use Google Adwords for driving in B2B enquiries, it is an important part of our web lead generation efforts along with Organic Search (our top priority). I use Adwords across the world for key global markets and languages. I manage these large campaigns on a daily basis, because trends and news across the world can change and drive new business opportunities.

Last year I concluded that we should attempt to raise our Conversion Rates (already considered 'good' by Google) and lower the cost-per-conversion (already low) and reduce overall Adword Spend. The goal was to squeeze even more efficiency out of every Adwords dollar I spend.

I acheived this result by Optimizing Search Terms and Filtering, Filtering and Filtering.

Before diving into Adwords tactics and strategies, the content on your landing page must be optimized first and foremost.... landing page content should be focused, concise and precise. Let the visitor know exactly what you offer, the benefits, and include a call to action. This greatly helps filter out low-quality visitors not relevant to your business.

Since last summer, I reduced Adword spend by over 50% and increased conversion rates by over 100%, and cut cost-per-conversion significantly. This took time and attention, coupled with a good understanding of target markets.

To find good search terms, the Adwords Keyword Tool is a great source. Looking for long-tail niche terms is like looking for gold nuggets... worth the effort. Great search-terms can also be found in your Analytics and from you Customers and Busines Development reps.

Extremely important in helping filter out casual or confused Adword clicks is an aggressive use of Negative Search Terms. Heavy use of negative keywords helps to greatly reduce the number of unwanted clicks from casual or confused visitors.

Use of Phrase "keyword" and Exact [keyword] search terms also helps focus and filter how and when your ad will show.

Using the Adword Geography and Time Scheduling features is very important to help reduce low quality clicks. If you don't want to show ads in a particular Nation or State, make sure your settings are correct. If you don't want to show ads between 11 PM and 5 AM in Texas, make sure this is covered.

Your Price per click settings and Budget settings are also important. This helps determine ad rankings, and Ad rankings help determine the number of people who click the ad.

Ad Ranking is very important. Many ads I run are at the number 2, 3, 4 or lower positions, and I am very happy.

Why? Because I only want the Qualified Visitor... someone who is motivated or interested in doing business with my company. I don't want casual visitors who click the number one ranked ad out of curiosity or confusion... those can be wasted clicks that hurt Conversion results and raise cost.

My efforts resulted in a much higher conversion rates and significant reduction in spending. And yet... one can go too far in this process. At some point focus can be so tight that good potential enquiries from people who use a low-quality search term can be lost. I am considering this challenge... so I may engineer a reduction in conversions to widen the Adwords Campaign focus for certain niche campaigns. Running large and successful Adwords campaigns is not unlike being an active Stock Trader... daily attention is required in a dynamic market for Search Terms.

Erik Holladay

Google Adwords Professional

Global Marketing Director

New Microsoft BING Search Engine and Curious Search Results

2009-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to experiment with Microsoft's new search engine, BING. We take advantage of search engine marketing to generate thousands of B2B leads on a global basis. Google is very important to us but we must also pay close attention to alternative search engines. And Microsoft's new BING engine is one to watch and consider using for organic and paid search. Initial searches results for technical terms look good at first result, and rival Google for relevancy.

However, I also find that BING in its current launch version will also list many similar webpages from one company that has multiple national website domains. To the point of it being too much of a good thing. This means that one company's domains can produce indexing results which translate into webpages which could dominate entire pages of search results for key search terms..... not a satisfactory result for someone researching for information or vendors. Google does a much better job of filtering domains at this point. BING shows great promise, but the ability of one company to crowd out other results for pages and pages due to URL strategy is a flaw which needs to be addressed in Bing's early days.

Type “Laboratory Outsourcing” into BING and you’ll see what I mean. The first page has reasonably good results and is more or less consistent with Google. But then one company's national domain strategy takes over and complete pages are filled with that company's national domain site results… not good for a user searching for information or vendors. To be clear, it is not the fault of that company so many of their pages show up in BING search results... it is BING that needs to do a better job of sorting and filtering 'similar results'. See the attached results image.

Best Regards; Erik Holladay

Professional Profile of Erik Holladay

2009-05-21T18:49:00.000-07:00

Erik Holladay

Global Marketing Director for Intertek (Three Divisions)

December 1999 to Present. Houston, Texas USA

Work email: erik.holladay@intertek.com

Twitter: @ErikHolladay

Skilled, high-energy professional with a strong, unbroken track-record of success in B-to-B marketing, sales and business development.

My expertise includes USA and International B-to-B marketing and business development, driving in top-line revenues at high margins in a cost-effective manner. Customers range from major international corporations to large national companies and smaller localized firms.

I understand marketing and sales, generating significant numbers of quality enquiries for the sales funnel that convert to new sales and tactical and strategic business project opportunities, from $1,000 sales to Million Dollar projects.

My expertise in Web B-to-B marketing and Search Engine Marketing brings Intertek tens of thousands of quality business enquiries across global markets and languages each year, producing millions of dollars in profitable top-line organic growth.

Similar success is achieved by attracting executive and high-level decision-maker enquiries for key strategic project and acquisition opportunities.

I have a strong background with significant experience in successful Search Optimization, Adwords, PR, CRM Integration, Sales Funnel Activity, Advertising, Trade Shows and other marketing channels across industries, markets, languages and geographies.

My marketing work combined with a strong professional work-ethic results in the demand generation of thousands of quality enquiries on a global basis, which convert into profitable business for the Intertek business units I represent.

Marketing Strengths:

Marketing, Business Development, Lead Generation, Search Engine Marketing, SEO Optimization, B-to-B Marketing, B-to-B Sales, Strategic Marketing and Business Development, Trade Show Managment, Sales Management and more.

Erik Holladay

Suggested Reading: "How Google Makes Algorithm Changes"

SEO Competitive Analysis @ SES San Francisco 2011 Live

Google Ad Innovations @ SES San Francisco Live

YouTube is one big fat Search Engine. SES Highlight Day Two.

SES Conference: Search Engine Strategies Live. Day One

Social Media Marketing Summit - Live Report

Linkedin is not like Facebook.

B-to-B Lead Generation: The Rise of the Web.

Lead Generation: When it all comes together.

About to Graduate from University? Need a Job? Get Linkedin Now.

PPC Blog Produces Excellent Google Flow Chart: "How Google Works"

New 2011 SEO Terms and Acronyms: Great Resource

Where Google is Hiring.

Organic SEO Writer? Read This Blog!

Stuck with an Old Webpage? Don't Hit "Delete" Just Yet!

Novel Social Media Concept for 2011: Content is Still King

December is a perfect time for SEO updates.

Search Engine Ranking Nirvana: A Transitory State of Bliss.

Is Search Engine Marketing Tactical or Strategic?

Promoting a new online business on a limited budget.

Content is Still King - - Social Media Doesn't Change That.

Are You a (Marketing) Secret Weapon?

Meet Your USA Adwords Competition: All 1,500,000 of them.

Useful Research and Article on the Value of Google Result Positioning

Take Advantage of Google Adwords Local Search Features

Trade Shows Still Work - -

Big Lead Generation using a Small Budget.

Lead Generation on a small budget can be a very effective way to feed your business with profitable top-line revenue.

I will address only web marketing, mainly because if I had a small B-to- B business, aside from having good personal referrals and leads, having an effective web marketing program would be the first thing I do.

Want Good Web Leads? Then SEO Matters.

Adwords Tune-up

Freedom of Choice: Give Potential Customers Easy Options for Contacting your Company from your Website.

How does one Raise Search Engine Rankings? Another View

I wrote this in response to a very good question from someone in LinkedIn, on how to raise your search engine rankings.

http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/2009/07/raise-organic-search-rankings-by.html

BING still Bungling Duplicate Search Results

Adding a Single Keyword Turns a Webpage from Invisible to Dominant

Raise Organic Search Rankings by Reducing Page Content

Managing Adwords Avoids Increasing PPC Cost

Twitter Infiltrates Business-to-Business Marketing

How to Promote Your Website On a Limited Budget

Learning to Live With The BOMB: Google Search

Questions about Google's Search Engine, Algorithm, Competition:

How to Promote Your Website. Let Me Count the Ways...

Back to the Future with Static A-Z Directories

Negative is Positive with Google Adwords

Increase Adword Conversions and Reduce Adword Spend, Take One

New Microsoft BING Search Engine and Curious Search Results

Professional Profile of Erik Holladay

Marketing Strengths: