And that’s a mistake. Good testing can not only help you get rid of stinker ads and landing pages, it can also help you optimize winning campaigns, improving their conversion rates and making them even more profitable. And testing needn’t be difficult or time-consuming, especially if you have the right tools. One of the best tools for helping you test and refine your search marketing campaigns is Google’s Website Optimizer. Even better, Website Optimizer is a free service.

Google deliberately designed Website Optimizer to be easy to use, even though the tool allows you to run complex, multivariate tests. At its most basic level, the tool lets you test different pages or combinations of elements on a single page to see how well they perform against a “conversion outcome” that you define. Google even claims that “you can launch a simple test in five minutes” in the video tour of Website Optimizer.

The problem is that to be effective, tests should be carefully planned to measure your desired outcomes. Another problem is that the results of your testing need to be interpreted properly so that you can be sure that any implementation based on the results will perform as expected. Testing is as much art as science, and it shouldn’t be done in an offhand or cavalier fashion.

Not sure where or how to start? Try Always Be Testing: The Complete Guide to Google Website Optimizer, by Bryan Eisenberg & John Quarto-vonTivadar with Lisa T. Davis. It’s a comprehensive guide to Google’s free testing tool, written for search marketers who are more interested in enhancing the performance of their search marketing campaign than in the analytic joys of multivariate testing. The authors don’t shy away from technical explanations when necessary, but the focus is always on the “whys” of testing even when looking closely at the “hows.”

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is a general overview of website testing and tuning using Google’s Website Optimizer. The first few chapters focus on the tool itself, but after that the focus changes to case studies drawn from the authors’ own search marketing campaigns. These are valuable not only as examples of how to test, but because the authors also share the processes and best practices they have developed to maximize the impact of the testing process.

Part two “What You Should Test” looks at more than 30 key factors that can impact conversion rates. These factors differ based on how conversion is defined, which also differs for publishers, retailers and lead generation web sites. Most of the chapters in this part follow a similar format, with sections on “questions to ask,” an exercise, “what to test” and “apply this to your site” tips. This is one of the best—and most thorough—guides to the overall website testing and optimization process I’ve read.

Part three, “Diving Deep For the Technically Challenged” goes into even more detail about the testing process, how things work, behind the scenes details of how Website Optimizer works and more. Meaty stuff for the more advanced search marketer who wants to know everything to gain a competitive edge.

The nice thing about Google’s Website Optimizer, apart from being free, is that it can be used to test campaigns running on Google or any other search engine. And the general practices discussed in the book can be applied to any testing tool, not just Website Optimizer.

Always Be Testing is an excellent book that tackles one of the most important aspects of successful search marketing. If you aren’t currently testing and want to know how to start, buy the book. Even if you are already testing and tuning your sites as part of your search marketing efforts, the case studies and best practices discussed in this book make it worth far more than the cover price when you apply the principles to your own campaigns.

There are more keywords under the surface than their are keywords revealed. Leave it to most businesses to always want to go bigger, better and over the top in an attempt to conquer the most powerful or most searched keywords in a niche or take on the major players for vanity plate keywords.

Not to say that the competitive nature in most of us doesn’t get the best of us, who doesn’t want to rank higher in Google, Yahoo, MSN or Ask? The key is asking yourself about time to market, topical continuity, relevance and conversion and if you would rather keep your eggs in one basket or spread around the risk to offset the odds.

Does a visitor care how many competing page there are for the query they execute (such as 1 of 10 of 100,000 results or 1 of 10 of 100,000,000?), hardly, but does an SEO or a business targeting that keyword, you bet they do, since they have to climb that mountain to reach the top 10.

Going back to behavior, is the need to necessitate a keyword victory over a competitor really matter if the keyword performs poorly? I can assure you, not every keyword is laced in gold. The idea that as soon as you get that one magic phrase, your business is in the clear is a reality that can change.

The premise of search behavior shifting can leave a 6 month exodus of trying to achieve one specific keyword or phrase flat if people simply stop searching for that exact phrase, which leads to my conclusion.

Don’t Assume, You Either Know or You Don’t Know:

Hedging your SEO efforts, such as tackling 50 keywords vs. 5 is one way eliminate the dependency on any one keyword or another to save the day. Just create focused content with a clearly delineated objective, since there is no limit to how thorough your content can be [think wikipedia but on a smaller scale].

The assumption in the heading suggests:

1) You never know exactly how search engine algorithms are going to slice and dice your pages or how many or few keywords each page can rank for. We can speculate, but organic SEO can really deliver traffic.

This means that relevance for a query can align from a keyword from the title, another keyword from the URL string, another keyword gets latched on from a description tag and yet another portion of the keyword in the body copy of the document. Even though the snippets returned in the search result is what is above the surface, you never know how deep a search query can go into your site, one page or all of your pages to assess relevance.

The point being, unless you have a crystal ball or write the algorithm (which I doubt) then such things are constantly being tweaked and adjusted to return more relevant results. So, the more narrow your keyword focus, the more of the market you potentially miss.

2) If site architecture, content and linking are implemented properly (optimized) then each page can rank specifically for numerous “exact match” and “broad match” (general) keywords and phrases with the same effort of just a few keywords. The key is each page owns a focus or range or phrases it targets, then you coordinate the pages to work as a collective masterpiece.

The takeaway is, the web is a work in progress so don’t obsess and just target 10 phrases, with a bit more energy and effort you can target 100 long-tail phrases that may collectively deliver 10 times the traffic daily than a vanity plate (common sense keyword) based on (partial) keyword research.

The way you find gems like that are (1) check your bounce rates and look for semantic similarities to base your next batch of posts or articles (if you have a blog). The search algorithm sees your pages differently than you do, however the idea is to work with it, not against it.

Keyword tools can only call it as they see it, but since the majority of searches are based on the subjective mindset and search behavior of millions of unique minds, the common threads are not as common as we surmise.

For every common sense keyword or root phrase based on captured data, there are 100 more long-tail equivalents you could rank for as well with a few slight tweaks to titles, links and layout. So, does tunnel vision on the top 2 or number 1 keyword in your market have you obsessed?

If so, then it may be time to step back, reassess your ranking objectives and implement a long-tail SEO campaign to get you over the hump until your major keywords take the stage in the top 10.

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/unique-search-targeting-semantic-root-phrases-and-keywords/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/8-donts-and-7-dos-for-holiday-ecommerce/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/11/8-donts-and-7-dos-for-holiday-ecommerce/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:47:54 +0000 Brad Geddes http://searchengineland.com/?p=15398 The holiday season is almost upon us. It’s time to start looking over the inventory, keywords, and offers to make sure you’re ready for Cyber Monday. In today’s column we offer several things to do and important don’ts that will help you have a successful holiday season.

Don’t…

Blindly test

Traffic in December is unlike any other month of the year. Conversion rates go up, and cost per conversions go down. If you are running split or multivariate tests throughout the month to see which ads or pages convert the highest, do not blindly trust that the data will carry over into January. It is not uncommon to see the highest converting pages (or ads and keywords) not be the highest performer once the buying excitement of the holidays melts away.

Make major site changes

However, what does that mean specifically? We know that doubling conversion does not necessarily mean you have to double your traffic.

It means that you just have to create more lucrative cross-sections or co-occurrence of keywords (or pages) that appeal to your target audience. This feat is easily accomplished with SEO and within the context of your pages using cross-sections of keywords that will draw an audience based on the content and market focus.

This is the principle of funneling, which implies funneling relevant traffic based on “broad match” and “exact match” traffic as a result of information retrieval. What happens next is pure synergy, a person inputs words, search engine identifies patterns and based on indicators of reputation and relevance return a page from a website.

Considering there are millions of ways for each visitor to arrive at the same page or same conclusion, depending on their personal experience or manorisms. Since no two people are alike (although there are common denominators) each inevitably searches their own way.

Also, since most searches are unique (meaning they have never been executed before) that represents a tremendous opportunity for sites that target low hanging fruit (available keywords) while targeting more aggressive key phrases.

Keep in mind that every word when combined with another word is a potential keyphrase. Also, since you have no control over what a person may type in a search engine to find your website, you essentially do your best based on traditional keyword research tools, common sense and other metrics to gauge popularity and anticipated traffic.

However language barriers, personal preferences and other components of distinction can create hot spots as a website can double as a hub or springboard for other useful content. The gist is, by targeting enough low hanging fruit (root keywords within range), you systematically increase the volume of traffic and potential interactions with prospects.

This is the way a website can showcase a stable increase in traffic each month. By using content as spider bait, linking to more relevant pages in the context of each post and targeting non-traditional, less competitive keyword combinations.

Every top 10 ranking you produce is an indicator of your websites strength to search engines. Eventually your pages become powerhouses and funnel tremendous surges of link juice into different areas of the website which continually emerge is unique and uncharacteristic ways.

The conclusion here is to look beyond keyword research and tap into the raw and latent potential of LSI (latent semantic indexing and phrase rank) within each of the pages in your website.

After attending the workshop I felt a renewed sense of purpose as a search engine marketer towards challenging my clients to focus on and improve their conversion rates, I wanted to provide some of the highlights in my next few columns. Conversion defined

Why do we get blank stares whever we talk about ‘conversion’ to executives? Perhaps this clear definition will help aid us in the future:

Conversion is the process of successfully achieving the primary objective of a specific page or website.

There are a few key concepts in that definition I’d like to emphasize that all too often overlooked by some marketers.  The first being ‘process’, rather than a single event. The second being ‘primary objective’.  Get a group of marketing and sales people together in a room for a web strategy meeting and ask them each to state the primary objective.  Too often we blow by this critical step in a rush to tackle easier, less meaningful issues.

The ratio at which visitors achieve the primary objective on a webpage is called the conversion rate.  Quite simply when we increase the conversion rate, we are more profitable and successful.  So why don’t we spend more time in this area?  I think a lot of us give up too early, giving it our best attempt, instead of seeing it as an ongoing process by which sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail, but we always learn.

The scientific secret conversion formula

What I am about to reveal to you is highly confidential.  Many a man has literally gone insane trying to unlock this mystery.  Seriously though, Dr. Flint McLaughlin has developed, patented, and graciously shared with us a heuristic to help make sense, and practically, methodically attack the opportunity to improve our conversion rates.

The conversion sequence:  C = 4m + 3v = 2(i-f) – 2a

If you are like me, the first time (and second and third time) I was presented with this ‘formula’ my stomach rose to my throat as anxiety of failed math exams and chemistry experiments reemerged in my mind.  RELAX. Let’s break it down:

C= The probability of conversion. That’s easy enough.

m= Motivation of the user. This is basically how badly they want what you have, and the reason they want it.  This is the element you have the least control over.

v= Clarity of value proposition. This is probably the most important element because you do have control over it. I’ll be writing about this next month in detail.

i= Incentive to take action. What are you offering to stimulate a desired action.

f= Friction elements in the conversion process. Anything that impedes the visitor from taking action. Common friction causes are forms with too many fields, or confusing options/choices.

a= Anxiety about entering information. This could be things like testimonials, an award, Better Business Bureau logos, etc.

A little less art, a lot more science

All too often ‘enhancements’ are made to a home page, or landing page, because some creative person, an award winning agency, or the executive with the highest authority (or that executive’s nephew), suspects such a change will help make an impact.  And while there’s no doubt being creative, possessing outstanding copywriting skills, or just having a uncanny knack for going with a gut instinct can help lift conversion, if you are looking to mitigate risk and get real results, these should all be things to pull from, as work through this clear and linear conversion sequence.

Working with, and through this conversion sequence will put purpose and defensible rationale behind the changes that you’ll be making to your pages in the future.

Learn. Apply. Get results.

You’ll be amazed at how differently you approach a page when you’ve got a framework to guide you. I think you’ll also be surprised and pleased with the results that you can achieve with this methodology. In the next few columns I’ll be focusing on one or more aspects of the conversion sequence, starting with the ever-important “Clarity of Value Proposition”.

In the meantime, I invite you to get your best (or worst) landing page, and using the conversion sequence featured in this article, begin to ask, “How clear is my value proposition? Where is there unnecessary friction on this page? Who are the people coming to this page?  Why are they here? What do I want them to do on this page?”

Until next month, keep pressing forward!

Todd Miechiels is a business-to-business internet marketing consultant. His website is www.miechiels.com. The Strictly Business column appears Wednesdays at Search Engine Land.

The SEO space is a bit crowded right now. So many people are fighting for attention that it seems like people are fighting without purpose. There may be more people writing SEO blogs than there are reading them. That abundance of new publishers makes it easy for established authors to build links by re-spinning old phrases with new definitions, but if those links don’t create profit what is the point?

There’s no such thing as a free lunch

Looking back a few years, I can see that I was a bit economically challenged. I tried helping many people for free… but then some of those people I helped for free could never get enough, plus when something is free many people simply do not respect it. I remember my wife reading a book about self-made Internet and info-based product millionaires, and coming across a guy who in the past valued my time at nothing, always reminding me of how poor he was (though never reminding me that he is economical with the truth!)

A side effect of this situation was that the people who paid me for my book would only get limited support because I was filtering everything at the inbox level – one of the easiest ways to reach burnout and miss a person or two. I kept answering more email, but only managed moderate growth while the value of what I had learned and the market we are in sharply increased. When you don’t charge for a finite resource (your time) market forces will drive the value of that resource down toward zero.

I am not suggesting that free is a bad price point. When you are new, it is one of the easiest ways to get to know the market and gain attention in the marketplace, but if you start to become well known the burden of free keeps increasing.

The concept of FREE as a business model

Free is one one of the best business models around. It worked well for Google search, and it may be the future of business. When we make economic decisions, we weigh the positives against the negatives to measure opportunity cost. The word free is so powerful that it makes us act irrational and overlook other costs (like our time).

Online publishing is organized by power laws, offering predictable imbalances everywhere we look. The key to making free profitable is to use it on things that are easy to make free – answers to common support questions, open source software, blog posts, white papers, and anything that helps do your mass marketing for you. Cory Docotorow recently described how free ebooks help build distribution by turning customers into marketers:

In an ideal world, people without a lot of discretionary income are given the electronic edition (which costs [nearly] nothing to distribute) for free. They act like the breezes that loft the dandelion seeds — they go around, telling people about the book and its merits. In this regard, they’re better than random breezes, for they undertake a directed distribution of the book, seeking to bring it to the attention of people who are likely to have a positive response to it.

If you want to keep an active voice online while selling information, give away as much as you can bear while charging a premium for things that are scarce (like your time) and build a customer interaction that is remarkable and better than free.

In a market with infinite competition, one of the easiest ways to increase the value of what you offer is to change the format and be choosy with who you are willing to accept as a customer. You have to optimize the experience by limiting the number of social interactions and social connections you are willing to take on.

Over 80% of consumers hot on the trail of a product or service have a higher propensity of clicking the top 3 search results when presented with the top 10 websites for their query. If a user has to scroll below the fold the click through numbers taper down to the remaining percentages.

However, depending on factors such as:

1) the competition for the phrase

2) the relevance to the searchers intent and

3) the emotional click-triggers from the snippet/description in the search result (and how sticky it is) impact who gets the click.

Obviously, the more keywords that encroach on a topic, the higher percentage for conversion you have from those topics, when each of the pages becomes buoyant after gaining some authority in search engines (typically 2-4 months).

In closing, here is a brief SEO keyword exercise you can use to spread your semantic net a bit wider to funnel and capture more broad and exact match traffic for your pages.

This phenomenon is based on keyword stemming and Pair phrase indexing. The translation here; the more related keywords you have on a page or that reference a page, the higher the relevance for the related keywords.

I have mentioned before that any word on the page is a keyword when combined with the right synergy of on page and off page factors.

So, you never know what may emerge from the vacuum when a query is executed and just how Google, Yahoo or MSN may extract content and keywords from 1 page, 3 pages 10 pages or more from your site to combine an aggregate relevance score for your website vs. your competition.

It is not always clear cut and dried as this (such as the chronology of content and sheer volume) to outrank your competition. However, if you are constantly producing quality content in quantity with this in mind, the likelihood of your site hitting hub status as a resource for search engines to share with their readers is only a matter of time.

Keyword stemming is the premise of topical content reaching critical mass and sending key indicators to search engines that the subject is thoroughly present and saturated within your website.

The more semantic derivatives that exist in your pages, the higher your relevance for the keywords or niche in question.

As an example, just think of Wikipedia and how they virtually rank for every imaginable keyword as a result of (a) their massive internal index of pages and (b) the way they structure their site and (c) the way they cross link to their own content using synonyms and exact match anchor text (the text in the link).

As a result, the topical pools of information they leave behind in the cloud (via cloud computing) drive traffic to related web pages based on this basic premise. We know from SEO that When a keyword is present on a page, the density, frequency and prominence all have an impact as well as how many related pages on the topic exist in your site.

What we are proposing is, since semantic phrases overlap and reinforce relevance, the idea is to use the additional keywords discovered from a thesaurus to shore up islands of content for search engines.

For example, by adding 15 new related keywords to a page that already has relevance for related keywords, the amount of broad match traffic you can attract is exponential.

Over time, new relationships form between pages and phrases to raise the bar for how your site fares in search engines.

Now, for the exercise

1 – pick a keyword you want to reinforce.

2 – use the search command site:website.com keyword in a Google search box to find the target page with the highest occurrence of the keyword (to serve as the preferred landing page since search engines already have opted for that page).

3 – open the thesaurus tool and type in the keyword to find alternative phrases

4 – from the pages below the first result from step 2 (the other 9 below the number 1 spot), edit the page and add or change content to include the new keywords from the thesaurus.

5- from those new / related keywords, link back to the preferred landing / target page.

6 – use this tactic to funnel more traffic, it works since search results often combine a word from the title, another keyword from the description, a word or two from the actual page when searching for the top 1000 websites for any given query.

This is like discovering traffic you never knew existing, since it was latent within your website from lack of expression. More synonyms mean traffic with a very specific intent can find you when they need it most (when executing a focused search).

]]> http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/keyword-exercises-for-seo/feed/ 0 http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/how-persuasive-is-your-marketing/ http://www.webdatasource.com/2008/09/how-persuasive-is-your-marketing/#comments Mon, 22 Sep 2008 07:40:07 +0000 Jeffrey Smith http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/?p=327 We know that SEO can deliver traffic, but we know from experience that traffic alone is not enough.

Skeptical consumers require more from your websites’ proposition to relinquish their reservations. This requires persuasion and persuasion marketing.

SEO, relevant and persuasive copy as well as usability all need to work harmoniously in order to shatter prior expectations about what users need from a website in order to take action. One aspect presented without the proper balance of the other can leave the visitor on the fence when it comes to making a decision to purchase.

Transforming a prospect into a customer involves multiple emotional and intellectual layers to facilitate trust. Often, the resolve of the prospect is weathered by a natural layer of mental and emotional buffers to offset the sales process. Just consider it natural reaction to being bombarded from disruptions from advertisements attempting to breach their awareness from every angle.

If you realize it or not, your pages are waging an argument of relevance, persuasion and validity. If you win, conversion occurs, if you lose, then your just another stepping stone for your competition who has structured a better offer, argument or call to action.