Six Things You Must Know about Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) has become an essential element of any B2B inbound marketing effort. SEO expert Axandra recently published a list of six essential facts marketers must know about optimizing their Web sites for search. Consider this a good refresher course. (Our comments are in italics.)
- SEO takes time.
You cannot optimize your Web site today and expect results tomorrow or next week. Search engines have to find your newly optimized pages, they have to find the new links to your Web site, they have to update the index, etc.
For an existing site, our experience demonstrates it takes about 90 to 120 days to see significant rankings improvement. For a new domain, it can take up to 1 year.
- You must insert keywords properly in your Web pages.
In general, the keywords for which you want to be found must appear on your Web pages and they must appear in the right elements on your Web pages. You may have to change the HTML code to make it as easy for search engine spiders to parse your site.
Keywords must be included in the page title tag, meta content, headers, body text, and image alt tags of the page. And you should only try to optimize a page for one or two keyword phrases.
- You need links and they must be the right links.
Good backlinks are the key to high rankings on Google. As a general rule, the easier it is to get a link, the less is its influence on the position of your Web site on Google. The links to your site should be from related Web sites and they should contain your keywords in the link text. Your Web site should offer linkworthy content that other sites find useful.
Backlinks (links from third-party sites to your site) are essential to achieving high rankings. You will not crack the top ten listings for a keyword phrase without many of them. Strategies to get backlinks include submitting your site to Web site directories and publishers with related content and conducting a search-optimized news release program.
- Choose the right keywords.
If you optimize the Web site of a rock band, you might think it would make sense if their site was found for the keyword “mp3.” But people searching for “mp3″ can be interested in anything: mp3 players, mp3 decoders, the latest Justin Bieber song, general information about the file format, etc. Make sure you optimize your site for keywords that attract the right kind of people — for example, “unsigned rock band” or “rock band London.”
This issue might seem like a no-brainer, but many sites we encounter are optimized for either internally focused keywords or product brand names. Take the customer’s point of view and optimize for words an outsider might use to search for your types of products and services.
- Be realistic.
Getting on the first result page for a highly competitive keyword such as “mp3″ is possible, but your competitors probably will be established Web sites with lots of backlinks. It is very difficult to outrank these pages. If you have a site with just a few pages and your competitors have large Web sites with forums, communities, blogs, etc. then you must improve your content if you want to compete. Search engines must trust your site before they give you high rankings for very competitive keywords.
Set the appropriate expectations for what you can achieve. Try optimizing for less competitive or long-tail keywords. Sites with new domain names may require a year to become competitive with established sites of large competitors.
- Set the right goals.
Search engine optimization is not about getting a high Google Page Rank (the green bar in Google’s toolbar). It is about getting high listings for the right keywords so that the right people will come to your Web site. The goal of search engine optimization is to increase your sales. You have to be listed for keywords that will bring buyers to your site.
Search engine optimization is the most efficient way to bring traffic to your Web site. But it is only a first step. You must convert this traffic into revenue using a content marketing strategy. Make sure you establish goals and metrics that not only measure inbound traffic from search, but also conversion rates into leads and sales.
Fear: The Hidden Motivator in B2B Buying Decisions
Are your B2B customers hungry for new and innovative products and services? Or are they driven by the desire to minimize risk?
A survey of 3,600 B2B buyers by Mediative (formerly Enquiro) sheds some light on these compelling questions. The study found that during one quarter of sales, 78% of the purchases were either repeat purchasers, or repeat purchases that were modified. Only 22% were made with new vendors. These findings confirm our suspicions that many B2B buying decisions are motivated by fear. It is clear that a primary B2B purchasing goal is reducing or eliminating risk – both organizational and personal. Buying from known entities always seems safer than changing to new ones.
This bias has profound implications for new customer acquisition campaigns. Attempting to eliminate this powerful emotion should play an important role in both the positioning of your brand and in the content that drives demand creation programs.
Highlight the proven nature of your offering in marketing content. Feature reference customers and clients in case studies and on Web sites. And use PR tactics to publicly announce new contracts and orders. Social media channels can be particularly effective in enabling prospects to verify and validate the effectiveness of your products and services.
Creating relationships with new B2B customers is a difficult task. Recognizing how to remove risk from the purchase is an important marketing strategy that will pay valuable dividends in new customer acquisition.
2011-2012 B2B Trends: Transformation in a Post-Recessionary Environment
We’ve just released our management brief on the five earthshaking trends we believe will impact B2B marketers in 2011-2012. Most important are the changing role of the CMO and the need to wring out greater marketing efficiency with existing resources. The transition of information flow from search to discovery also is covered.
Learn more about the five key trends that will shape your world in the months to come.
The 5 Key Ingredients to Web Landing Page Success (Plus One More for Good Measure)
While B2B companies spend considerable time and money on marketing tactics (PR, advertising, SEO, etc.) that drive visitors to their Web sites, they pay much less attention to the landing pages that must convert visitors to leads and sales.
Our experience shows there are six essential factors in developing high-performance Web landing pages:
- Send visitors directly to the landing page. The links in your brand building and lead-generation vehicles should send traffic directly to Web landing pages, not your home page. Think of these landing pages as funnels that interest and collect visitors, then guide them toward a specific action.
- Be clear about your purpose. The landing page must have a single mission — drive the Web visitor towards a desired action. And that action must be emphasized. That means text should be limited, easy to read, and highlight an offer. Buttons or promotional call outs should be highly visible (i.e., Download the paper, See the video, etc.). The page should not be cluttered with competing links or images that distract the visitor from your page’s objective.
- Keep registration forms short. The longer the registration form on your page, the fewer visitors will register and convert themselves into leads. Keep form fields to a minimum — ideally name, company, e-mail address and phone number. You can get additional qualification information in follow-up lead nurturing e-mails.
- Optimize for search. Each landing page should be search-engine optimized for the appropriate keyword phrase that describes its content. Remember to include the phrase in the page title tag, meta content, header, body text, image alt tag, and any outbound links.
- Remember the thank-you page. A thank-you page should come up immediately following a visitor’s action on the landing page (submitting a form, downloading a video, etc.). The thank-you page provides an important opportunity to promote another offer or direct the visitor to another Web page for additional information.
- Evaluate performance. Make sure your Web analytics are measuring the number of visits to the landing page as well as to the follow-up page generated after the desired action has occurred. This will allow you to calculate your conversion rate (thank-you page visitor sessions divided by landing page visitor sessions). This is a key Web site metric (in percent) that indicates your success rate in turning visitors into leads. About 10% to 15% is average and 30% is excellent. We’ve seen some landing pages convert at more than 50%.
To be successful, your landing pages must motivate visitors to perform a predetermined action. If this is not happening, try some A/B testing to determine if a different headline, offer, or form will generate better performance. Improving your landing pages will increase lead acquisition — the key to achieving higher sales and profitability.
Tags: lead nurturing, Marketing tactics, ROI marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, Web landing page
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How Many Clicks Is A Number 1 Ranking On Google Worth?
Marketers find that it’s frequently difficult to quantify the value of a high Google ranking. But a recent study by Chitika, an online advertising network, provides empirical evidence of the power of a top listing. They analyzed a sample of over 8 million impressions that crossed their network and discovered that the number one ranked site captured 35% of the clicks for that keyword. That’s almost double the clicks for numbers 2 through 4 combined. The performance of the top 10 listings was as follows:
In addition, the value of a first-page ranking is demonstrated. The number 10 listing received more than twice the number of click-throughs as the 11th ranked site.
That means a company with e-commerce sales can now calculate an approximate dollar value for their search engine rankings by employing the click-through percentages suggested in Chitika’s study. Lead values per a specific ranking also can be calculated. With these metrics, you can help measure the ROI of your search engine optimization program to ensure it is creating value.
How Do B2B Marketers Measure ROI?
Most marketers struggle with creating metrics that clearly measure the ROI of their marketing programs. A recent study by Marketing Sherpa sheds some light on how B2B companies are evaluating the return on their marketing investments.
Of the 935 marketers surveyed, about half identified closing percentage (52%) and cost-per-acquisition (51%) as metrics that were highly effective in measuring their ROI. Cost-per-lead came in at 45%. Less effective were average deal size (40%) and time to close (35%).
The study reported respondents rated few measures as ineffective, indicating that marketers should use several metrics to get a clear picture of their ROI. Tiziani Whitmyre recommends that B2B companies develop a monthly or weekly marketing scorecard that tracks the three or four key measures that are critical to achieving their revenue generation goals.
The 10 Presentation Tips of Steve Jobs
Each year, clients come to us in need of upgrading their PowerPoint presentations. Like it or not, these slide decks have become the de facto presentation tool of the corporate world. Everybody uses them, despite their penchant for plunging most audiences into a deep slumber. Recently I read an article in Business Week that discussed the techniques Apple CEO Steve Jobs uses to create his legendary presentations. I thought it might be interesting to explore his methods. The following paraphrases the article’s main points:
- Plan your presentation with pen and paper. Storyboard the presentation first. Jobs initially prepares by brainstorming and white boarding ideas.
- Create a single sentence description for every service/idea. As an example, for the introduction of the MacBook Air computer, Jobs said that it is simply, “The world’s thinnest notebook.”
- Create a villain that allows the audience to rally around the hero—you and your product/service. A “villain” doesn’t necessarily have to be a direct competitor. It can be a problem in need of a solution.
- Focus on benefits. Your audience only cares about how your product or service enhances their lives. Make that connection.
- Stick to the rule of three. Almost every Jobs presentation is divided into three major parts. You might have 20 points to make in your presentation, but your audience will only remember three or four.
- Sell dreams, not your products or services. Jobs doesn’t sell computers, he sells the promise of a better world. When he introduced the iPod, he said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place.”
- Create visual slides. Jobs doesn’t use bullet points. Instead, he relies on photographs and images. When he unveiled the MacBook Air, he showed an image of the computer fitting inside a manila inter-office envelope.
- Make numbers meaningful. Jobs always puts large numbers into a context to make them relevant to his audience. The bigger the number, the more important to find an analogy or comparison that adds clarity.
- Use plain English. Jobs’ language is exceptionally simple. He rarely uses jargon that complicates most presentations.
- Practice, practice, practice. Jobs spends hours rehearsing each part of his presentation. Every slide is written like a piece of poetry, every presentation staged like a theatrical experience.
While Jobs makes a presentation look like an impromptu performance, his success is based on planning, rehearsal, and the willingness to break out of the corporate presentation paradigm. Consider these tips the next time you fire up PowerPoint on your computer.
Marketing Executives See Modestly Higher Spending in 2011
A recent survey of more than 100 senior corporate marketing executives at consumer and B2B companies indicates that their marketing spending will either increase somewhat (36%) or remain the same (28%) during 2011. The RSW/US New Year Outlook Report said that 43% of the executives believe the economy has hit bottom while 31% are not sure. However, almost two-thirds believe their marketing headcount will remain the same in the coming year with about 30% saying it will increase somewhat.
These findings validate our own experience. B2B marketers appeared to increase spending modestly during the second half of 2010 to prepare for anticipated economic growth in the coming year.
The trend toward digital and social media also is accelerating. The study reported that 65% of the executives said social media expenditures would be somewhat or significantly higher in 2011. E-mail marketing (47%) and search engine optimization (40%) were also cited as areas for increased spending. About 45% of the executives said the use of print media would be somewhat or significantly lower.
Exploring the DMZ between marketing and sales
The rapid migration of demand creation programs to the interactive world has dramatically increased our ability to generate sales leads. But this explosion in lead volume puts even more pressure on marketers concerned about fulfillment and sales follow-up.
At Tiziani Whitmyre, we sometimes feel like peacekeepers in the demilitarized zone that frequently exists between marketing and sales teams. We help companies successfully generate hundreds of leads per month that, once turned over to sales, either go unqualified or unfulfilled.
We know that when first contacting the company, more than 90% of all B2B prospects aren’t ready to buy. They are early on in the purchasing process – and sales people know this, too. As a result, sales representatives ignore these leads because they are not actionable. And most B2B companies don’t have the lead qualification, scoring, and nurturing processes in place to overcome this issue.
A recent Marketing Sherpa study highlights the problem. “How Companies Handle the Marketing-to-Sales Process” reported that only:
- 28% have a process for handing leads back to marketing
- 30% have closed-loop tracking from source to conclusion
- 39% have a process for nurturing leads not sales ready
This confirms the marketing-sales gap and demonstrates why so many leads are left to languish and die. If your company is grappling with these problems, consider the following:
- Set up a lead management or CRM infrastructure that can collect, segment, and track leads
- Install a lead scoring system that defines when a prospect is ready to buy
- Only move leads to sales that achieve predefined scores
- Nurture all leads that aren’t qualified as “sales-ready”
- Hand back leads to marketing for further nurturing that aren’t ready to buy
As B2B marketers, it’s no longer acceptable to implement a “find ‘em and forget ‘em mentality.” Closely align with your sales counterparts to create the lead management processes that will accelerate revenue generation and growth.
Tags: B2B, lead nurturing, lead scoring, sales leads
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B2B Searchers Growing a Longer Tail
As the vast amount of information on the Web expands at an exponential rate, the quality of Web search results is declining. To overcome this problem, B2B searchers are using longer keyword strings to generate more accurate results. This trend will offer marketers both challenges and opportunities for their existing search engine optimization strategies.
The bias towards “long-tail” keyword phrases has been evident in our clients’ Web site analytic reports over the last 12 months. Several years ago, most search referrals consisted of one or two keywords. But today, we’re seeing visitors frequently using three, four, or five keywords in their searches. On our own site (www.tizinc.com), we consistently see these long-tail phrases being used. They include “return on ideas,” “inbound vs. outbound marketing,” “public relations boston,” and “Internet marketing firms in MA.”
A 2009 Hitwise study confirms our experience. During a 1-month period, over 56% of the searches included three or more keywords and 20% had at least five keywords.
For B2B marketers that have optimized their Web sites for one- and two-word search phrases, a reevaluation is in order.
- Study your Web analytics reports to determine what keywords visitors are using. Consider additional optimization for the long-tail phrases that have significant activity and are relevant to your business.
- Use the Google Keyword Assessment Tool to find the multi-word phrases that are derived from the important keywords on your site. The tool will recommend these phrases and will quantify the numbers of searches they generate.
- Once you have identified these longer keyword phrases, make sure they are included in your site optimization scheme and content.
Embracing the new long-tail search keywords will provide a boost to your inbound marketing effort. You will attract new visitors that are more focused on your products and services. In addition, your competitors probably are not optimizing for these phrases, offering an important marketing advantage.
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