Exec

Where’s the beef… er, benefit?

It kills me when someone pays a bunch of bucks for a website and winds up with something that’s a dud when it comes to marketing. Reminds me of this vintage (1984!) Wendy’s commercial…

Just got off the phone with a gentleman who’s not real thrilled with his current website. I’m not going to embarrass this particular business man by referencing his site publicly. Let’s just say that, if what he told me on the phone is true, I’m personally very excited about what his product can do. And I truly believe millions of other people would be too.

But does his site convey any of that excitement? Does it say, it big bold letters, so I can’t miss it, what that product will do for me? Heck, can I even tell what the product IS? Nope. Instead of a headline, there’s a “Welcome to our website” banner that does absolutely nothing for me.

The site is beautifully laid out. I’ll bet the owner (and the designer) are so proud of it. And I have a pretty good idea of what the designer charged (more than $10K) for it, because I know what he charged for another site.

But where’s the benefit?

Huge Google changes affect rankings – MUST READ info!

Google is now rolling out a huge change in the way it presents search results. Called “Places Search” or “Google Integrated”, it especially affects businesses who rely on local search traffic – which probably means YOU.

Google has, in a sense, combined the map-based Google Local/Places listings – part of what’s often referred to as “Local Search” – with the organic/natural results. They’re also incorporating more reviews into the results they display. So now the Map that used to appear (for some searches) in the middle, below the Sponsored Links, is now on the right. And the listings that were next to the map are now combined with the natural search engine results listings, in the middle of the page.

Here’s an example, from SearchEngineLand.com:

Google Place Search Results Sample

These changes are not yet consistent, especially when you search in different browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome). And search engine experts are all “abuzz” about this, as they try to figure out what’s going on and what it means for their clients.

A brief summary of what national experts are saying:

* Local results (e.g. “dentist columbia mo” or “columbia mo restaurants”) are now highlighted, more obvious on the page than general search results.

* If you were relying on your Places page (Map listing) and didn’t have a website, you may be in trouble. With Google now combining the local and organic listings, businesses that do well with BOTH are more likely to rank high.

* Conversely, if you didn’t rank #1 in the Map but ranked well organically, you may now leap back up to the top – I’ve seen that happen with at least one clients’ site I’ve checked today.

* Fleshing out your Google Place Page is more important – because Google is pulling data from it and enhancing the search results they display.

* Adwords Ads – at least the top ones – are easier to see, making them more important. Google seems to be making an effort to get small business owners to advertise using Adwords, which also means that it will get more competitive (costly) too. So you need to know what you’re doing if you use Adwords, or work with someone who does.

* You may get less clicks directly to your website, because there are a lot more things to click on in the search results. (Sites like Yelp or Citysearch, for example.) Those third-party sites that show reviews are more important and visible.

* Directory-type sites, such as ServiceMagic and SuperPages, are less prominently ranked.

Bottom line, as far as I can tell SO FAR, this is what it means to YOU – your site needs to rank well in the search engines AND have a well optimized local “Places” listing.

It used to be that there were two separate algorithms Google used – one for traditional search (relevance-based) and one for local/Maps search (geography-based.) Google specifically says that this is no longer the case. It sounds, then, like traditional SEO factors will more heavily influence who shows up for local search queries… and Google will then apply the local data to create the search results.

For many Columbia business owners, this can be a game-changer as far as their online marketing goes. Please share this with to your colleagues – members of your networking group – fellow business owners – Chamber members, et cetera.

And yes, I DO SEO – so if you need help, or need someone who says on top of all this to manage your search engine presence, please contact me.

Diana

Here are some of the sites I visited, if you want to learn more:

http://blumenthals.com/blog/2010/10/27/what-are-the-implications-of-the-new-integrated-local-search-results/
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/5-quick-impacts-of-googles-new-local-search-results/3757/
http://searchengineland.com/new-place-search-shows-googles-commitment-to-local-53990
http://www.searchengineguide.com/miriam-ellis/new-integrated-google-local-a-game-chang.php

When I’m Doing SEO Work for You, Please…

Don’t change your website without telling me.

Even if my SEO (search engine optimization) project is “offsite SEO” – in other words, I’m concentrating on external factors, like backlinks to your site, instead of modifications to your site itself (“onsite SEO”) – I need to stay informed about what you’re doing.

For example, one of my clients hired me to improve their website ranking but did not want their existing web designer to know they’d hired me. So their web designer unwittingly made updates that messed up what I was doing – changing a page name, removing tracking code, et cetera.

Another client, who designed his own website, completely revamped it about 2/3 of the way through a several-month program of SEO work I was doing for him. If I’d known he was going to do that I’d have suggested changes that would enhance what I was doing to get his site to rank higher.

“Onsite SEO” and “offsite SEO” need to complement each other to get maximum benefit. It’s much easier if one person handles the SEO onsite AND off – but if that’s not possible, at least keep your SEO professional in the loop about website updates.

It’ll be easier and more profitable for both of you!

AT&T Selling Sponsored Links (PPC) – Just Say No!

I just got an email from a local business owner in the construction industry.

He said:

“AT&T is trying to sell me some online listing that they say will get me ranked. The guy says that the sponsored links they will have for me will help get me listed organically. Does that seem right to you? They are trying to charge $270.00 a month to do this with a 1 year contract.”

Here’s how I answered him (edited a bit for context.)

NO NO NO don’t do it!

It IS true that Google will find your site faster if you’re paying them to notice it by buying Sponsored Ads (PPC or Pay-Per-Click ads.) So your site might get indexed in the organic results faster, but you won’t rank higher.

Think about it. Google is a for-profit business. Why would Google rank you higher for free when they can make you pay for it?

So if you’re accurately quoting AT&T I think they’re misleading you.

It IS true that having a listing on multiple places of Google’s first page will get you more clicks. A study released by AdGooroo in 2008 found that a prominent paid ad on the same search results page makes your #1 natural ranking receive 20% more clicks.

HOWEVER… PPC ads, alone, are not as effective.

First, people know they’re ads and they don’t trust ads.

According to research reported in “The Art of SEO” from O’Reilly Books, only 50% of visitors even VIEW the first pay per click position, while 100% of searchers view the first three natural search positions.

The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization (Theory in Practice)

As far as people actually seeing the listing, the #1 Sponsored Link gets as many people noticing it as the #7 site in the natural search results. So if you can get your site ranking above #7 in the organic results, it’s already outperforming the #1 Sponsored Link.

Second, when you stop paying, the ad goes away and so does your site traffic. It’s like paying rent when you can own. $270/month for a year is $3240… and this business owner will HAVE to keep paying that, year after year… in order to keep the high Sponsored Link ranking.

I’ve done a great deal of research on SEO for local businesses, and I took a look at his site. For that amount of money – I can get his website to the top of Google in 3 to 6 months, a much longer lasting solution. And that’s pretty typical.

I’m not saying that Sponsored Links (PPC ads such as Google Adwords) are never a good idea. For immediate visibility, they can’t be beat. It can be smart to run PPC ads until your site does rank organically.

I’m just saying to beware of ANYONE who contacts you and tells you they can put you on the first page of Google – there’s often a catch.

Who Do You Link To – and Why?

There’s a fine line between being helpful and giving your expertise away. And one of the places that’s evident on a website is on the links you have to OTHER websites.

Who are you linking to – and what do you hope to gain by doing so?

Remember that when you put a link on your website, it’s a way for someone to LEAVE your site and go somewhere else. They may never come back, either.

If you want someone to hire you for your expertise on dog training, and your website is full of links to dog training tools and books and dog training forums and so on – why would someone hire you?

In this instance, your goal is to get someone to call YOU and to position YOURSELF as the expert, right? So a better idea might be to have them give you their name and email address in return for a PDF copy of that Dog Training Resource List. That way you have their contact info and can follow up with them, and you’ve subtly given the impression that you’re the “go to” source for quality information.

It might be that you get a commission for selling a dog training book – now that’s different! Making money is a perfectly valid reason to link to another product.

I’m not saying not to link to other websites – and in fact, there’s some evidence from Google that you SHOULD. Matt Cutts (head of Google’s Webspam team) has said that linking out to high quality websites is one of the many factors that they use to evaluate a site.

Just make sure that you’re thinking strategically when you do so.

Getting Site Visitors to Fill Out Forms

One of my new clients has a contact form on her site that asked for very basic info:

Name
Email Address
Phone
Comments

She called and asked me to make the form longer – to request more information.

Generally speaking – that’s not a good idea, and here’s why. It boils down to two main reasons:

Site visitors are in a hurry – they don’t want to mess with filling out a long form.
Visitors are also protective of their privacy, and they aren’t sure what you’re going to do with all that info!

So be very careful what you ask for in a form – and make sure you really need the information.

For most email lists, for example, asking for a first name and email address is all you need. You’ll get more signups that way.

However – your sign-ups will be less targeted than if you request more complete information, so that’s the “flipside” to consider. Which is more important to you – more, less targeted contacts, or fewer, more-targeted contacts?

Always tell people what they’re going to get when they DO enter data on a form, and if possible give them an incentive for doing so – a discount, free report, etc. It’s also helpful to reassure them that you’ll respect their privacy and not sell or share their info with anyone else.