Search Engine Optimization is a long term investment
Filed under: General Marketing, Marketing Technology Solutions, Search Engine Marketing, Uncategorized
I was connecting with Adam Henige, our strategic partner from Netvantage Marketing this week about all of the cool and trendy social networking tools that are appearing everywhere it seems. We are now Twittering on Good Morning America!
But how do these new marketing tools really compare to the fundamentals in the Digital Services arena like Search Engine Optimization. As Adam explains below, this is more of a longer term investment and very analytically/metric driven. While the new social networking tools have their place, SEO has proven to be a constant contributor to targeted digital lead generation in the long run. Take a read through his thoughts below:
We live in an instant gratification world anymore, and it somehow manages to become even more instantaneous with each passing day. Twitter is a perfect example of this. If you haven’t “tweeted” yet, you’re probably going to be considered unhip by teenagers and the tech savvy, and you’ll also be left out in the dark as to what everyone you know is doing at every second of the day. Businesses, of course, have jumped on this bandwagon and are courting followers and fans through these channels and (some better than others) promoting products and services and attempting to build brand loyalty.
Some of us who earned our stripes in more traditional online marketing (does anyone remember SEO, pay per click and banner advertising?) are going to have to continue to get better at selling the value of a service that often seems to be getting no results, or moving at a snail’s pace. Social media appeals so well to the instant gratification crowd, as you can get huge blasts of traffic through to your site from Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon, but often this success is fleeting. Twitter can be a great tool to engage customers and prospects, but still lacks a great ability to target.
I’ve spent months, and sometimes years on sites to finally get that high ranking that starts driving the “dream traffic” you want to your site. The hard part is trying to keep someone paying for this service, when all you can show them is an increased ranking…but no revenue. The truth is, even for highly targeted terms, being on page one of search results simply isn’t good enough to get a significant portion of traffic. If you’re not in the top three listings, you’re still not even playing the game. In competitive markets, getting from 15th to 1st can be incredibly difficult, and may take months or years. But depending on what product or service that keyword relates to, getting to the top can mean literally thousands of visitors coming through to your site who have already expressly stated they want what you have.
Let’s put it this way, if you sold coffee, this would be the equivalent of magically appearing in front of someone right after they decide, “I need a cup of coffee.” No trip to Starbucks, or the grocery store to look at competitive products, they ask for coffee and you’re there, and you have the first opportunity to sell. How much is that worth? And can you afford not to make that investment? The truth is, if you don’t, someone else will, and those who do won’t be worrying about jumping on the next digital marketing bandwagon, at least not with the same urgency.
Adam Henige is a Managing Partner at Netvantage Marketing, an ICS Strategic Partner specializing in paid search management, SEO, and web analytics.
Offline and Online integration — Little things make a big difference!
Filed under: Direct Marketing, General Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, integrated marketing
This week, I came across an article from JupiterResearch talking about online and offline integration efforts that I thought was pretty strong. We have been talking about marketing integration for nearly two decades … but now we have more channels to integrate than ever before.
Possibly you have heard the statistic: “An iProspect’s 2007 study ‘Offline influence on Online Search Behavior Study’ found that 67% of online users were driven to perform a search as a result of an offline marketing message … And 39% of those offline-influenced searchers ultimately made a purchase.
These statistics make a lot of sense to me, but the sad point of the article was that nearly half (45%) of search engine marketers still do not integrate their online and offline efforts. All kinds of reasons came up as to why. The top reasons were:
- They don’t advertise in offline channels
- Lack the budget
- Lack the resources
- Don’t know better
- Have separate people managing offline efforts … and they are not synchronized with online
- Just don’t see the benefit of integration
In my opinion, a big part of the issue is that while online marketers understand their medium, they really don’t understand the overall disciplines that drive marketing and consumer behavior. With the online mediums growing so quickly, many have jumped in without fully understanding how to optimize the overall marketing dollars spent.
It not necessarily big things that involve huge investments. Look at some of these stats:
- 76% of offline offers could not be acted upon online
- 74% of offline keywords were not used online
- 66% did not use the same images and videos offline as online
- 60% did not include their company slogan / tagline or even their product or service name prominently online
I am sure the economic challenges of 2009 will force some reevaluation in this area. From my perspective, this is some pretty basic “marketing blocking and tackling”. While I am happy that we are addressing these key issues with our clients, more education and awareness is needed to connect the best practice results and disciplines with the average company’s marketing efforts.
