Online Insights: Web Analytics

What Should You Test?

New clients just getting started in A/B and multivariate testing often ask us for advice on what to test on their websites or mobile web initiatives. The answer is: It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Since you can test pretty much anything about your website, what you should focus on depends largely on the combination of your user’s goals. What are they trying to accomplish with your own marketing goals? What do you want your users to do?

Determining where users spend their time on your site will provide insight for areas to test. You can find this information through web analytics click stream analysis (like Google Analytics reports), with heat maps that show you where users are focusing their attention within each page (like Crazyegg), with survey tools that allow users to explain what they do and don’t like, and various other types of tools. No matter how you get your information, you should be looking for common pathways through which your users are navigating around your site, as these are the areas where testing variations is most likely to affect behavior.

As a marketer, you should also have a clear definition of what your own goals are for the site.

For example, are you interested in selling product, acquiring leads or generating clicks to other sites? Put another way: how do you measure success? The answers to these questions will help you zero in on what you should be measuring to gauge the outcome of each test.

What to Measure
Once you identify the key pathways through your site, refer to the following list for ideas of specific things you might test variations of. Consider making not-so-subtle changes; bold changes produce bold results, whereas tepid changes often produce little or no effect.

Text/copy

• Long vs. short
• Style and tone, such as chatty vs. formal
• Positioning, such as which value propositions, features and benefits work best
• Call-to-action text

Font, color and size

• Think about your target audience. For example, if your audience is older, test larger fonts.
• Roughly 15 percent of men are color blind; consider contrast and colors in text and surrounding areas.

Buttons

• Color
• Location relative to the form or feature
• Copy/text

Navigation

• Sequence of items
• Labels
• In-line text link
• Link style, such as underline or bold

Images

• Content of image, such as including a man vs. a woman vs. a group
• Size and color depth
• Location on the page

Layout

• Location and size of areas or boxes on the page
• Attention focus, such as which layouts help focus vs. create distraction
• Buttons and links, and where to place them

Functionality

• Three-page checkout vs. five-page checkout
• Requiring form fields vs. making them optional
• Adding bells and whistles vs. turning them off

Photograph by Hemera/Thinkstock

In addition to creative elements, you should also consider the effect of added content (like heavy images or scripts) on site speed. In many cases, there is a strong correlation between a site’s speed (the combination of page load and render time) and marketing goals like conversions or bounce rates. In other words, faster sites produce higher conversions.

For example, Mozilla.com, one of the top 50 trafficked websites worldwide, found through testing that by streamlining a landing page, it was able to get the site to render 43 percent faster and as a result, increased conversions by 15.3 percent. This translated to more than 10 million additional downloads per year.

Website testing is a highly effective way to make systematic improvements that boost conversion. Identify what your users are doing (or want to be doing) on your site, clarify your marketing goals, and then try testing variations that are likely to nudge users along through your site’s conversion pathways. And remember that optimization isn’t only about creative; it includes site speed and performance. When users experience a more usable, persuasive and faster site, everyone wins.

Eric J. Hansen is the founder and CEO of Boston-based SiteSpect and the chief architect of the firm’s non-intrusive technology for multivariate testing, behavioral targeting and digital marketing optimization. Follow Hansen on Twitter at @ericjhansen.

January 2010 – Feature: Today the Home Office, Tomorrow the World

How Small Business Can Maximize Search Advertising to Get Noticed and Increase Sales

By Gill Brown

The Internet changed everything. It brought small businesses to the world with a click of a mouse. However, with this expansion came mass competition and an overwhelming amount of data. How can small businesses cut through the clutter and effectively target customers? Search advertising has proven itself to be the most cost-effective and focused approach to reaching potential customers on the Internet. While it can seem overwhelming at first, understanding a few tricks of the trade can help small businesses make their presence known in the online world.

Understanding and Maximizing SEO
SEO is an organic or unpaid method of raising the profile of a website within search engines. The theory–and, generally, the reality–is that the higher the site is in the search results rankings, the more click-throughs it will receive.

Here are some fundamentals your small business should follow to ensure that you get the most from SEO:

Get indexed – “Getting indexed” means that your site is being recognized by the search engines and that they are combing it for relevant content. Small businesses can submit a new site to the big search engines including Google, Yahoo and Bing. These sites have easy-to-follow guidelines for successful indexing.

Write for people, then for robots - It’s important to use keywords within the content of the site, but not at the price of readability. Small businesses aren’t going to convert their visitors into customers if their sites don’t make any sense. Therefore, write content for the core audience first, and then go back and consider varying copy for keyword usage throughout the site.

Keep meta data simple – While meta data was never considered the driving force behind page rank, most SEO professionals still suggest keeping meta keywords limited to 10. Appropriate meta information should focus on a company’s products, services, industry and location (if location is pertinent to purchase). Use a Google keyword traffic estimator to choose the best terms (those that enjoy high search volume, but are still related to your products and appropriate for your business).

Links - Create a web of interaction to your site via hyperlinks. Why? Links that are clicked through to your site strengthen your page rank. Use internal links on the site to refer back to different pages. It is important to phrase link copy so that the hyperlinked words are pertinent keywords (rather then utilizing copy such as click here for X). Another potentially successful technique is to use social media tactics to link back to your site via blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. However, it is very important to develop relationships and an activity history within the online communities before making a hard sell, or you run a risk of alienating potential customers and being “flamed.”

Beware the “Black Hat” – Black Hat tactics are sketchy, marginally ethical SEO techniques that are not approved by search engines and can result in a reduced page rank. Examples include keyword stuffing, meta tag stuffing, hidden words and using high-traffic but irrelevant search terms.

Understanding and Maximizing SEM
While SEO is a discipline that generates traffic via “organic” means, search engine marketing is the process of driving traffic from a search engine through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion. Here are some simple, easy-to-implement best practices to help you begin to get the most out of your SEM efforts:

Reflect success metrics in ad copy - If your small business’s goal is to drive the most traffic possible to a site, you should use inclusive wording in the ad copy. However, if your goal is to drive more qualified traffic, then you should be more specific in your language. For example, say a small company serves the widget market. To drive maximum traffic to their site, they might use ad copy such as Cheapest Widgets Online! to attract a wide range of the widget market. But if the company specializes in or is running a sale on previously owned widgets, they might want to attract more qualified traffic with copy such as Best Prices on Used Widgets! to target the market that is specifically looking for used widgets.

Go local - With so many global, national, regional and even local companies turning to paid search on Google, Yahoo and Bing for traffic and customers, small businesses can significantly reduce their advertising costs by geo-targeting. Not only does this tactic target the ad to people searching for specific products and services within a specified city, state or region, but it also may result in significantly lower costs per click (CPC) than buying the same term on a national scale.

Track It - Use the native conversion tracking pixels to determine which combination of keywords, campaigns, ad creative, referrers and offers are bringing in the most business. Have the discipline to continually refine lower-converting ads to steadily improve overall results.

Landing page optimization - Although it’s not search marketing per se, but rather a “post-click” marketing practice, landing page optimization is inextricably tied to the success of your search efforts. The layout and content of a landing page will directly affect the conversion metrics of an SEM campaign.

Keep your landing pages basic. Traffic from ads should be driven to pages with an uncomplicated design and requiring a simple action–sign up, purchase, watch, share, etc. Ads linking to pages with a multitude of links–or that link to the homepage rather than one with content and copy directly related to the ad–are less likely to result in a conversion than those that only ask for only one thing.

Avoid submit. Buttons that simply state submit don’t reinforce the action or behavior that the business wants people to make. Instead, try another phrase that reflects the action you are going for. Keep all the key copy and design elements “above the fold” so that the visitor does not have to scroll down to see them.

Avoid confusion by ensuring that the content of the ad is reflected in the content of the landing page. Header-for-header, subheader-for-subheader and benefit-for-benefit, make sure that the landing page the visitor is sent to directly mirrors the ad they clicked on, or it is likely to lose them. Think of it as making sure the landing page keeps the promise made by the ad copy.

Just as With Your Financial Portfolio–Diversify
When you think of search marketing, Google, Yahoo and Bing are top of mind. But while they play a critical role in any effective search engine marketing strategy, it’s beneficial for small businesses to diversify their ad buys to drive the best conversions.

Here are some considerations when thinking about working with sources of traffic in addition to the major search engines:

Service – Small businesses often run lean and mean, without the added luxury of a dedicated staff that can spend its man hours managing Google campaigns. Small businesses should consider looking to smaller, independent search advertising networks or vertical search engines (smaller search engines that focus on a particular niche) for additional sources of traffic that provide comprehensive customer service ensuring that campaigns are up and running quickly. Some networks even offer dedicated account managers at no extra fee.

Platforms - Once a business has set up their accounts, campaigns and keywords on the big search engines, they will want to focus on selecting an independent search network or vertical search engine that has similar targeting, tracking and reporting features so as not to lose any performance fidelity transferring to the networks. Caveat: not all search ad networks are created equally, so make sure to do your due diligence to ensure that you have access to features that help drive ROI and support business goals.

Traffic – Among independent search networks and engines, there are a wide variety of players offering different volumes and qualities of traffic. Small businesses should be sure to work with networks that have aggressive traffic quality controls and partnerships in place.

It may sound daunting–and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach–but the most satisfying aspect of search engine marketing and optimization is that it can be constantly updated, changed and tested to continually improve results.

Get in the game!

Gill Brown is vice president of advertising network sales at LookSmart, a long-time provider of search marketing solutions and operators of an independent search advertising network. He can be reached at gbrown@looksmart.net.

December 2009 – Cover Story: Creating Link Love

Link-building strategies for driving SEO success

By Ken Burke

All I really need to know about SEO link building, I learned in high school. Your site’s global link popularity and the anchor text of those inbound links are two of the most  important search engine ranking factors that you can focus on.  According to Google, “Links are an important signal in our page rank calculations, as they tend to indicate when someone has found a page to be useful.” That usefulness is amplified  when the inbound link comes from a popular site with a high page ranking or with well-established domain authority (one within your topical community that scores well on a combination of popularity, importance and trustworthiness). An effective link-building program can elevate your popularity status–and hopefully your page rank–as well.

While your primary SEO focus should always be content relevancy, developing a link-building program is almost as critical to your success. Once you’ve implemented highly targeted, keyword-relevant content on your site, you should dedicate a percentage of your weekly marketing time to building relationships and links with other topically relevant, high-quality websites.

Below are a few critical points to note when developing your link-building strategy:

Sometimes, Less is More

A few links from high-quality, topically relevant websites are worth more than many low-quality, non-relevant links. Start your discovery process with a combination of the following top link-building sources:

Business partners – Ask a select group of your business partners to mention your company somewhere on their website and provide them with the specific anchor text to use. Beware of placement on link pages that carry hundreds of links to slightly relevant or, even worse, non-relevant “partners.” This type of linking is no longer effective.

Customers - Leverage your best customers and turn them into brand advocates. Reach out to this segment to see if they would be willing to link to your website from their own personal websites, blogs or social networking pages. This may require an incentive. Or, seed them with new products which they can turn around and post reviews on.

Directories - Submitting your website to directories is the most common way to gain link exposure, but is still a valid tactic that definitely works. Just make sure you submit your website to a few (which can vary from about five to a few dozen, depending on the vertical) high-quality, relevant directories rather than auto-submitting your website to several hundred general directories.

Forums – Building links through forums can be very tricky because they are typically monitored by a live person who is watching for advertising misuse. However, it can also be one of the most valuable tactics in terms of branding and the amount of targeted visitors. A popular strategy used is signature-based link building. This is good way to build brand credibility on the forum you’re participating in, as long as you contribute regularly and provide unbiased commentary to earn the trust of the forum participants. Sponsoring a contest is another way in which you can use forums to attract extra links. Lots of forums hold contests (photo contests, essay contests, etc.) regularly. Donate a prize to the winner of one of these contests, and you might receive a link in return.

Guest blogging – A highly effective way to build deep links with the anchor text of your choice is by guest blogging (or guest writing) for other websites. In exchange for writing an original article or blog commentary, most content sites will usually allow you to add a link (or a few) to your own website. Remember that good content can have a viral life of its own and may create greater distribution with no additional work.

Relevant organizations - Industry organizations usually add links to all their members. Don’t miss out on this easy opportunity and make sure that these links do not use “no-follow” tags. Also, determine if any of your targeted organizations provide industry-related content, such as a blog, research or newsletter articles, which you can contribute and pass a link through.

Avoid Buying Links if Possible

It’s likely that these sorts of links come from poor quality, “free-for-all” websites that won’t provide any traffic and could get you banned from the search engines. While some legitimate sites such as Yahoo’s directory charge for submission and can add value to your online presence, link buying as a general practice should be avoided.

According to Google, “Buying or selling links that pass page rank violates our webmaster guidelines. Such links can hurt relevance by causing…false popularity and an unfair advantage.” However, buying links can have other benefits not related to SEO, such as general brand exposure. If you do plan on buying links, make sure that you stay in compliance with search engines’–and especially Google’s–quality guidelines. Google specifically states that paid links be disclosed through a rel=”nofollow” or other technique such as doing a redirect through a page which is robots.txt’ed out.

Optimize Anchor Text Links

Make sure that the anchor text of the inbound link reinforces the keyword(s) targeted on the specified landing page. At a minimum, use your company’s name and avoid generic anchor text links like “click here” or “read more.” A better choice: “This Chicago attorney gave me terrific advice.”

Know What Sites to Avoid

Link building is definitely a resource-intensive task. To make sure that you don’t waste critical resources and to better focus your efforts, simply avoid the following types of websites:

Pages with links inside of frames – These will not pass any page rank and can possibly steal your traffic.

Free-for-all links – These types of sites allow anyone to post unreviewed links which typically result in unrelated and “spammy” links.

Link farms – These are sites with 100 or more unrelated links on a page. (These are banned by search engines and may cause your site to be banned if you link to them).

Sites that utilize “triangular linking schemes” – “I’ll link to your website if you link to my other website.”

A site that has a network of mirror sites with the same links and content.

Sites with a page rank of zero – Perhaps the website is too new or its pages are dynamically generated. Either way, they pass no value to you.

Sites where the link page/directory isn’t linked from the homepage or site map – Search engines simply won’t find it.

Directory sites that make you search to find your site listing – Typically, your link won’t be found by search engines unless it’s on a static, non-changing page.

Pages that would like to place your link using a meta tag that instructs “NOINDEX, NOFOLLOW” or is referenced in the robots.txt* to be disallowed by search-engine robots – Basically, this instructs search engines not to follow any links on that page–and thus, there will be no page rank for your site.

Websites with a long load time (too many ad banners, images etc.) – The search engines won’t wait.

Websites that are poorly designed and have broken code – These sites typically have a difficult time being indexed.

Link-building strategies are key to successful SEO and should be a key focus for online retailers.

Investing time in a well-conceived linking strategy can make a measurable difference in search rankings and–ultimately–sales.

Ken Burke is chairman and founder of MarketLive, a leading provider of e-commerce platforms and services for mid-sized retailers. Contact him at ken.burke@marketlive.com.

October 2009 – Feature: Forecasting the ROI of SEO

An eight-step process for determining the viability of launching specific SEO campaigns.

By Gab Goldenberg

As marketing departments grow increasingly accountable, it becomes easier to justify any particular initiative by demonstrating the potential return on investment (ROI). Search engine optimization’s more speculative nature makes it appear riskier when compared to pay per click (PPC), so any meaningful ROI projections for SEO are particularly valuable.

The ability to forecast SEO ROI is also valuable for setting priorities. From a retailer’s perspective, this facilitates comparison between marketing channels so that the channel promising the biggest potential reward can be prioritized. Similarly, from an affiliate’s perspective, this allows comparison between markets and retailers. The decision to rank in the search results for “cocktail dresses” or “beer mugs” comes down to whichever promises the greatest total return and greatest ROI.

It’s clear that there are several benefits of forecasting SEO ROI. So, how do we do it? Here’s the eight-step process I use.

1 Pick keywords you think may have high search volume
Don’t bother with low-volume keywords, because the effort to rank for each individually is so small that it doesn’t justify the work of making ROI projections.

Ideally, you’re picking these high-volume keywords based on data from a PPC campaign indicating what keywords are most profitable. However, many of us don’t have that data, especially if this is the first time an organization is considering SEO. So I’ll assume that there is no PPC data available. If there is, just skip ahead to step five.

2 Check the keyword for commercial intent
It’s useless to project the ROI on a keyword if it’s likely that most of the people searching for it aren’t your prospects. That would be like trying to sell men’s suits to children at the library reading about cotton and wool for a school project. Yes, they’re kind of interested in your materials, but they’re not about to buy men’s suits. You don’t want to bother ranking for non-commercial keywords. There are a few ways to determine commercial intent.

Microsoft offers a keyword commercial intent estimator tool at http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/. One caveat: The tool’s estimates can vary significantly day by day, so just take it as another data point–another road sign along the way.

Next, correlate Microsoft’s data with the answers you get from asking people to do word associations with the given keyword. You can use Amazon’s Mechanical Turk for that. The associations will reveal the intent behind a given search.

Additionally, you can compare the cost per click (CPC) estimates Google provides you for each keyword (set on exact match). The higher the CPC, the likelier there is to be commercial value. You can get those numbers from Google AdWords at https://adwords.google.com/select /KeywordToolExternal. Just be sure to select “Show CPC Estimates” from the dropdown box. Note: For CPC estimates under $1, this isn’t very meaningful.

If the keywords you picked have commercial intent, continue to step three.

3 Find search volume for your target keywords
Again, use Google’s AdWords tool to find the data. Be sure to select “exact match” from the relevant dropdown box to find the exact volumes on target keywords. It’s crucial to use “exact match” and not “broad match” data, because broad match is a PPC-targeting option that doesn’t carry over well to SEO. It’s best to be conservative and simply focus on the search volume for the exact keywords you’re targeting.

Don’t just accept those search volume projections at face value. Double check. One way to do that is to run a PPC campaign. By running a PPC campaign, you’ll get data on the number of impressions and clicks you can get from any given keyword.

If you’re not going to run a PPC campaign, you must at least correlate the data with other numbers:

• Use Wikirank, if you see Wikipedia in the top 10. That tool tells you how many visits a given Wikipedia page got over the past month. http://www.wikirank.com/.
• Compare the numbers to Aaron Wall’s tool, looking for trends to match (the numbers won’t, but don’t worry about that) http://tools.seobook.com /keyword-tools/seobook/.
• Ask friends who’ve worked in the same vertical about the search volume. The accuracy of Google’s numbers varies by vertical, so friends who’ve been there can provide valuable insights.
• Ascertain the keywords your competitors are trying to rank for or are buying in their PPC campaigns. Are you on the right track or out in left field? (I’ve written a guide on this topic that you can read at: http://seoroi.com/seo-roi-quality/competitive-intelligence-keywords-while-protecting-yours/.)

4 Find out whether you have what it takes to rank, based on competitive analysis
There are a few metrics to keep in mind when analyzing competitors. Backlink numbers and quality indicate your competitors’ raw strength. It’s like learning how much someone can bench press at the gym.

Backlink growth rates tell you how much effort and money competitors are putting into SEO. You can get data on the growth rates over time from Majestic SEO’s historical backlink research tool: http://www.majesticseo.com/comparedomainbacklinkhistory.php.

Competitors’ domain names are an indicator of monetary investment, as well as a factor to help you determine the competitiveness of a keyword. Generic keyword domain names, like food.com, start in the four-figure range and go up from there. Some can cost five or even six figures. Research I’ve published (http://www.searchengine journal.com/backlink-checking-research/12146/ ) shows that it’s easier to rank with such domain names, so it’s a safe bet your competitors paid the price with that partly in mind.

Competitors’ brand recognition is also important. Brands tend to be well trusted by search engines, and therefore have a competitive edge over unbranded competitors. You can get a measure of brand recognition by looking at how many people search for a brand every month.

If you still think you can rank, continue to step five. Otherwise, go back and look for more realistic keywords.

5 Estimate your costs
If you’re starting from scratch, be sure to include your domain, hosting, graphic design, development, links and man hours costs. If you’re working on an existing site, focus only on links and man hours.

6 Estimate the traffic attainable from various positions
Look at the total volume of searches in any given month and multiply that according to the click-through rate (CTR) each position gets. An outstanding resource tool on this topic, with the CTR percentages for each spot, exists at http://training.seobook.com/google-ranking-value#2. You might also want to consider the various factors listed as possible modifiers for the CTR of each listing in the search results: http://training.seobook.com/google-ranking-value#3.

My friend Henry Shih of Ice.com encourages SEO practitioners to “make a range of projections, from conservative to optimistic.” It’s excellent advice.

7 Calculate your potential revenue
If you’re an affiliate: i) Multiply those attainable traffic numbers by your CTR; ii) multiply again by the merchant’s conversion rate; and iii) finally, multiply by your average commission. This will tell you the total revenue attainable from each position.

Don’t just assume one CTR and conversion rate. Calculate a range of what your total revenue might look like by using multiple values for both your own CTR and the merchant’s conversion rate. You should have a range of estimates from conservative to optimistic.

To simplify, if you know what your earnings per click (EPC) will be (i.e., if you’ve recently worked in the niche), you can multiply traffic by EPC.

If you’re a retailer/lead buyer: Multiply that traffic by your conversion rate and then by your average order/lead value. This will give you total revenue possible in each position.

8 Divide your potential revenue by costs
This gives you your SEO ROI–the return on investment for each dollar you put into SEO.

When you argue for investing in SEO versus spending marketing dollars on other channels, present both the total revenue estimates range (i.e., the gross return), as well as your ROI estimates (i.e., the return per dollar invested). Total revenue shows you how big the opportunity is. ROI shows you how profitable the opportunity is, as compared to other marketing channels that may require more or less investment for equivalent returns.

Similarly, as an affiliate or SEO campaign director, you can establish whether SEO for a particular keyword or niche is worth the investment of time and money. You can also prioritize among a group of keywords using this method.

Gab Goldenberg is president of SEO ROI Services. He is a prolific writer and sought-after speaker on SEO. He can be reached at gab@seoroi.com.

October 2009 – Cover Story: Bing: A Search Game-Changer?

By all accounts, Bing is gaining traction, a trend which will only grow as the engine is integrated as Yahoo’s search service. What are the implications for your SEO and SEM efforts and the search landscape overall?

By Mark Simon

In June of 2009, Microsoft–after many months of development–launched Bing, a search engine (or, as Microsoft prefers to refer to it, a “decision engine”) backed up by a $100-million mass-media marketing campaign designed to promote awareness. Less than two months later, Microsoft and Yahoo announced a 10-year joint partnership calling for Bing to provide search services for Yahoo.

While Google remains the dominant search engine, commanding some 65 percent of the search market in the U.S., Bing’s share is poised to grow from 8 percent to 30 percent once Yahoo switches from its own service to Bing. While this is not going to happen tomorrow (the deal must still get regulatory approval, and full integration may take up to two years), there’s little doubt that Bing should be taken seriously by any marketer engaged in conducting search campaigns, both paid and organic.

What Makes Bing Different
Like Google and other modern search engines, Bing is algorithmically driven. Multiple factors serve as inputs to all search engine algorithms in the results-selection process, including page popularity, content freshness, keyword density and other proprietary variables. Bing’s approach to algorithmic search appears to be similar to Google’s, although some anecdotal evidence suggests that Bing may weigh factors such as the presence of keywords within domains (URLs) more heavily than Google, while discounting page freshness.

Where Bing departs significantly from the other engines–including Google–is in the way it presents results on its search engine results pages (SERPs) (see screen grab). Microsoft calls Bing’s presentation “multi-threaded,” which means that, for many queries, instead of presenting a single stack of results ranked from top to bottom in order of relevance, Bing presents a categorized experience. For example, after searching Bing using the keywords “power supplies,” users–after being greeted with the usual stack of paid/sponsored results running at the top of the page and along the right rail–are shown results organized by category (“All Results,” “Videos,” “Images” and “Shopping”).

These categories are replicated in the upper left-hand corner of the page, in what Microsoft calls an “Explore Pane.” Each is context-sensitive. For example, a search for “Madonna” will produce a group of categories and an Explore Pane appropriate for a musical artist (“News,” “Songs,” “Downloads,” “Wallpaper”) whereas a search for “Xbox” will produce categories and an Explore Pane appropriate for a hardware device (“Shopping,” “Repair,” “Games,” “Accessories”). In effect, Bing combines the human-curated experience familiar to users of online directories with the algorithm-driven results of automated search engines.

Beyond categorized results, Bing also provides a set of previewing functions designed to give users a taste of what will appear after they click on a given listing. Hovering one’s mouse over an organic listing causes a floating box to appear containing a snippet of text drawn from the associated landing page. Rolling one’s mouse over a video thumbnail causes the video to begin playing in a short loop. Additionally, Bing includes a “Related Searches” feature in the left-hand area of its SERPs, designed to guide users to content they might not have initially associated with their queries, plus a “Search History” function designed to allow users to easily retrace their steps.

Organic Optimization Ramifications
While the fact that Bing’s algorithm appears to reward certain factors more heavily than Google’s is of fervid interest to SEO practitioners, there is little evidence to suggest that a marketer’s organic optimization strategy needs to be changed significantly to cater to Bing. Rather, the same methods used to obtain satisfactory organic rankings–including producing and maintaining relevant, up-to-date, accessible content, producing descriptive meta/title information and acquiring authoritative backlinks–apply both to Bing and the other engines. So the same general set of SEO best practices that work to achieve visibility in Google should work for Bing as well.

Still, several of Bing’s features may lead savvy webmasters to revise their optimization strategies and tactics. For example, because Bing’s categorized results tend to have fewer entries per category, competition for inclusion among them will be more intense. However, there are more categories per query, so the opportunity for inclusion in any one of these categories increases.

Bing’s previewing function provides both a threat and an opportunity. Because it appears that the text populating the “preview box” is drawn not from meta tag descriptors but from the actual page itself (or, in cases where this data is missing, from external sources), some webmasters may be unpleasantly surprised by the text that Bing decides to extract. For example, a merchant which has decided to put a cute, irreverent quiz on its homepage may find that Bing extracts this text in lieu of the formal mission statement contained either in its title or meta page sections. If this is the case, Bing provides a way for webmasters to disable Bing’s document previewing function by including the following string on pages on which they wish to defeat it: <meta name=”msnbot’, content=”nopreview”>

According to Microsoft, Bing is better able to extract meaningful information from Flash-based websites than its predecessor, which is a welcome development for merchants who rely on this technology. Additionally, Microsoft claims that Bing can intelligently “fill in data” from sites where information is sorely lacking:

When titles and/or meta descriptions don’t exist on an HTML page, Bing creates a best-effort caption from relevant external sources of reliable information to populate the caption with meaningful data for the searcher. Bing…can even construct captions from external, authoritative websites to help create basic captions where no publisher data exists.

It’s great that Bing is employing this kind of advanced extraction technology, but marketers must make sure no errors are being produced in the process. If an error is found, direct contact with the Bing team will be necessary to correct them.

Bing’s “multi-threaded” SERP with document preview, video preview, explore pane, related searches and search history

Lastly, Bing’s ability to provide a looping preview of video assets may be of interest to marketers using video to promote their wares, because they effectively “come alive” on Bing’s SERPs and are frequently mixed in with organic paid results.

PPC Ramifications
Most PPC marketers who have used Microsoft’s AdCenter to run campaigns through Microsoft’s pre-Bing “Live Search” properties will be able to easily move over to Bing, because AdCenter will be doing the ad serving and the task of porting campaigns between Google and AdCenter has–hopefully–become a matter of routine by now.

PPC marketers will naturally want to know about the kind of click-through rates, conversion rates and ROI/ROAS they can expect on Bing, but this kind of data remains anecdotal at this early stage of the game. An initial eye-tracking study comparing the behavior of users on Bing and Google found that Bing users tended to pay more attention to paid listings than on Google, and spent considerable time scanning Bing’s “Related Searches,” but this study used a pool of participants too small to qualify as a scientific sampling.

Microsoft has published a glowing case study involving BuyerZone.com. in which this vendor claims to have experienced conversion rates on Bing up to 35 percent higher than those experienced on other engines, but it is questionable whether this is a typical or best case. However, additional anecdotal reports of enhanced conversion rates on Bing continue to emerge.

What about Microsoft’s CashBack service, which was launched several years ago, but will now likely gain increased traction due to its prominent inclusion within Bing? According to Microsoft, which conducted a test with eBay over the 2008 holiday season, ads including the “CashBack” icon boasted impressive improvements in CTR (100 percent), conversion rates (30 percent) and order size (35 percent). These results are, of course, highly compelling, but there is no guarantee that other vendors will see these kinds of campaign improvements as a result of their participation in CashBack.

For the moment then, it appears that it may be some time before a definitive large-scale study can be performed comparing campaign performance on Bing versus Google, which means that marketers will have to make their own decisions as to whether it is worthwhile to participate in Bing’s marketplace. At the same time, the temporary paucity of authoritative performance data should not deter ambitious marketers seeking to take advantage of a marketplace which may offer bargains due to it being far less competitive than Google’s. And in light of the Microsoft-Yahoo deal, which will naturally expand both Bing’s user and advertiser bases, investing time and resources to get up to speed is a step which will likely lead to dividends in the future.

Implications For The Search Ecosystem
Bing’s launch, plus its announced role as the search technology powering Yahoo, is likely to be welcomed by marketers for several reasons. The planned consolidation of what has heretofore been three discrete search advertising systems–each with its own rules and wrinkles–into two will make it easier for marketers to conduct cross-engine campaigns, minimizing HR expenses and moving the search industry toward a process of standardization of the search engine-delivered text ad.

More importantly, Bing’s represents a credible effort by a bona fide technology powerhouse to restore some semblance of parity to a marketplace in which Google’s influence has been growing unchallenged for some time. With more robust competition, the search ecosystem is likely to continue to produce the kinds of innovations that have made it such an effective platform for advertisers in the past, so Bing’s arrival is good news for all who welcome positive change.

Mark Simon is vice president of industry relations at Didit. He can be reached at mark.simon@didit.com.

August 2009 – Feature: E-Mail, Social Media and the Ultimate Roadtrip

A conversation with Aaron Kahlow–digital marketing barnstormer

By Heather Fishel

Earlier this summer, the Online Marketing Summit Whistlestop Tour swept through 18 cities and 15 states in just two months. With its unique focus–solely on education and knowledge sharing; no booths or sales pitches allowed–the tour has become a legitimate success story and is still growing, even in a shaky economy. Aaron Kahlow, the Online Marketing Summit’s founder and chairman, is primarily responsible for its success, and makes the latest online marketing techniques accessible, bringing it all straight to the frontlines in the marketers’ hometowns.

Online Strategies spoke with Kahlow about his time on the road this summer. The conversation ranged from important online marketing lessons to the humorous and unexpected moments that sprung up along the way.

Online Strategies: What was the original inspiration for conducting a multi-city tour?

Aaron Kahlow: It really came out of the frustration that I–and others–felt with other conferences and shows that were making the tradeshow, exhibits and sponsors the main attractions and the education kind of a sideshow. I thought there was a huge need for people to really learn what the best practices are versus just hearing a quick pitch from industry leaders. I saw at many other shows, including ones where I was speaking, that we could do a better job of this. So I approached a bunch of my friends in the industry and some of the big vendors and said, “If you guys can work your sphere of influence and give us your best content, I’ll put on the show.”

OS: When you’re conceptualizing session ideas and choosing speakers, does your strategy change at all when conducting a local event, as opposed to the main OMS event you hold in San Diego, which is more national in scope?

AK: The strategy changes quite a bit when you do a regional event. I work with regional associations and do my best to leverage regional speakers who understand the area. Also, the structure of a one-day event is far different than what you would use for a national, multi-day event. You need to pay close attention to pacing and topic coverage.

OS: Logistically, planning the tour has to be a nightmare–all of the headaches regarding space reservation, accommodations, food, AV set-up…how do you do it? Is it done in-house?

AK: I have a team, and I kind of keep an eye on things and make sure the preparation’s going well. I handle most of the speaker and content selection as well as the general look and feel of each show. We outsource logistics to a few partners and have some folks that do marketing for us. So we do have a lot of outsourcing along the way to make sure we adjust with the demand as opposed to trying to do it all in-house. We have a staff of five and probably three external partners that handle the rest of the logistics.

OS: As the economy has worsened, what changes have you noticed among attendees? Has attendance dropped? Have marketers’ concerns changed?

AK: Surprisingly, attendance was up by about 37 percent, even though we had to raise our prices slightly. I think the economy benefited us for a few reasons: First, there’s a much larger emphasis on expanding one’s knowledge base these days, with marketing departments asked to do more with less. And everybody knows how competitive the job market is–any chance one has to add insight and information to their repertoire helps. Second, we’ve introduced the Online Marketing Institute, which has certification programs and has helped drive the increase in attendance. Certification is a strong resume builder and a trusted verification of people’s skill sets. Finally, I think we’ve benefited because we bring the show to people’s backyards as opposed to asking them to get on a plane and stay in a hotel, which is a hard proposition for many budgets these days.

Despite the dreary economy, we were very impressed with the energy level of the attendees. People are so eager to learn. Everyone was fired up.

OS: Looking back at this year’s tour, what were some of the common issues or concerns you heard digital marketers express?

AK: Some of the main concerns people have are prioritizing budgets. How much of the overall marketing budget should go online? Or, within online marketing, do I devote more to search? My website? Should I go to integrated social media marketing? There’s an awful lot to do and a very finite budget number.

Also, the return on investment generated by social media is a very hot topic. How can I get ROI out of Twitter if I have someone spending five hours a day tweeting? People wonder if social media is really about ROI or is perhaps more of an ego play.

Finally, integration of marketing strategies is another issue of great interest. For example, how can you efficiently integrate your e-mail marketing with your social media, website and analytics systems?

OS: Let’s turn the question around: what were a few of the lessons you might have learned as a digital marketer from this tour?

AK: It was such a privilege to spend so much time around the true thought leaders in our industry–people like Rand Fishken, Eric Peterson, Kevin Lee and Catfish ">SEO guru Ray "Catfish" Comstock. I learned valuable lessons at each stop.

To be specific and general at the same time, one of the most important lessons I took away from the tour was to be sure to focus on online marketing’s foundational elements, and not to fall prey to chasing the latest “shiny object,” which can be tempting.

What are the foundational elements? Making sure you’re website is truly user-centric and fully search-engine optimized. Leveraging a cohesive e-mail campaign strategy rather than deploying a series of one-off e-mails.

These elements are foundational for a reason: they have the highest potential impact on ROI. Once you have the foundation in place, then you can begin to think about things like social media. Look at social media as a supportive element to your online efforts and your website, not as an element unto itself.

OS: Were there any surprises you encountered along the way?

AK: What was surprising was the reemergence of e-mail as a hot-button issue. There was a greater fervor than I’ve ever seen before regarding getting e-mail done right. People’s lists are getting hit hard; they’re saturated and return on investment on e-mail is getting weaker and weaker.

In fact, this was the approach from discipline to discipline. People want to “do things right.” It’s not, “How do I implement a search campaign,” but “How do I implement a search campaign without making mistakes or suffering the pains of the learning curve?”

There’s a burning desire for quality, for content to help people leapfrog that learning curve.

OS: I imagine that one city tends to blend into the next a bit, but that some cities really stand out. Which ones really stand out in your memory and why?

AK: (Laughs) If I answer that, then I will be a marked man in 17 other cities! New York and Texas will always stand out because they are areas with a dense population of online retailers and service providers–we always are able to get truly great content, and great brands come to talk to us. I have to say this, though–Seattle really stood out to me as a sophisticated market that is clamoring for educational content. Houston had a great showing for us despite being what one might think of as a secondary market, one that doesn’t immediately come to mind as a digital marketing hub. But it is really very sophisticated, as well.

OS: How did your experience this year change your mindset as a digital marketer or your plans for next year’s tour?

AK: Despite what I alluded to before about social media not being a fundamental aspect of online marketing, it is evolving at a breakneck pace. Look at search engine marketing. It took some companies five to 10 years to jump in and then refine their efforts. It’s just the typical maturation process. But the pace is much, much faster now. Last year we were just talking about what social media is, defining it and discussing ways to begin an initial experiment with it. This year we’re already talking about set practices and how to execute at a higher level. The pace of the maturation process is so much faster and is really fascinating to me. It’s really got me thinking, “Hey, it’s not about just conceptualizing any more; it’s really time to execute.” That was a huge takeaway for me–the different timelines from concept to advanced execution.

OS: What are your future plans for the tour and for your other initiatives?

AK: A couple things are top-of-mind. We have an OMS all-star webinar and webcast series that we’re launching in early September. We’re getting the best of the best speakers from around the country to be a part of this series. It’s also integrated into the Online Marketing Institute, and credits for the certification program will be available.

We will also launch a social media integration and execution program in late September. And of course, our annual national conference is coming down the road. It’s the second week in February. Those are the big things on our plate right now.

ERA 2009 D2C Convention

Spring 2009 – Online Insights: SEO

Enter Here—Welcome to the Product Page!

By Robert Chea

Many online merchants have recognized the product page as the hub of e-commerce. It’s the chief merchandizing officer of the online store, the chief marketing officer and the face of the store, as well. So it’s no surprise that we’ve focused on leveraging customer reviews to increase the SEO power of the product page.

The problem, however, was that until recently, the content from third-party review solutions was invisible to search engines. The Software as a Service (SaaS) review solutions are typically delivered via Javascript, which makes integration simple, but renders reviews invisible to search engines. To compensate, SaaS providers create separate review landing pages or microsites. Unfortunately, these separate pages experience significant bounce (drop-off) and compete with your product pages for SEO ranking.

However, the latest SaaS solutions have solved this problem, allowing review content to be fully indexed on the product page—combining the simplicity of Javascript and the remarkable SEO power of customer reviews.

Landing Pages Versus Consolidating SEO

When it comes to organic search traffic, review landing pages cannot substitute for rich and detailed product information pages with optimized merchandizing copy, detailed specifications, multiple-view images, pricing and promotions. In our analysis of retail sites, we have typically seen landing page bounce rates in excess of 50 percent, resulting in the loss of hard-won search traffic.

Because consumers are increasingly using search to find products, the product page, with its rich detail and high relevance, is becoming the primary entry point on retail and brand sites. Leveraging this consumer trend, companies now have the opportunity to drive significantly higher traffic from search engines and make the best impression when they arrive, by consolidating SEO power and merchandizing power at this key point of entry. The ability to unlock customer review content for SEO purposes makes customer reviews dramatically more valuable to the retailer or brand, given the significant merchandizing value reviews have already been proven to provide.

By utilizing the latest SaaS review solutions, merchants have measured dramatic improvements in their SEO results, including: increased keyword density for product names and terms, increased keyword breadth for long-tail terms, increased search engine indexing because of frequently changing content and increased SEO-driven sales because of the depth of product information.

Retailers and brands have embraced SaaS-based review solutions because of their sales uplift power and ease of management. However, they have largely been forced to choose between reviews that are invisible to search engines or separate review-only landing pages that cannot deliver the full SEO value of reviews. The new SEO-friendly review solutions allow retailers and brands to have their cake and eat it, too.

Robert Chea is COO and co-founder of PowerReviews. Its In-Line SEO product obviates the need for separate landing pages and helps drive organic search traffic directly to product pages where it results in the highest lift in sales. Contact him at robert@powerreviews.com.

Winter 2007 – Going it Alone

If your company wants to compete successfully online, a slick, easy-to-use, no-problem-to-navigate website is absolutely essential. Of course, expert help comes at a price. Is outsourcing the design of your site the right move?

By David Lustig

Shari’s Berries–which began in Sacramento in 1989 as a high-end retail and local delivery chocolate-covered strawberry gift business–was always on the lookout for technologies and business practices that could help the company grow. In the late 1990s, the company decided to go nationwide, combining Internet sales with the excellent delivery performance of Federal Express.

The company never looked back. In 2006, Shari’s Berries dipped an estimated 2 million strawberries into 60 tons of chocolate. (Contrast these figures to those of 1999, the year the firm began shipping in earnest, when the company dipped less than 100,000 pieces.) Shari’s now offers hand-dipped cookies, truffles, cheesecakes and other delicacies totaling more than 150 different products.

“We had developed an award-winning website in-house with a single, very skilled programmer,” says Shari’s Berries President and CEO Kevin Beresford. “This is the right thing to do when you are still something of a start up and using the money you’ve raised very sparingly. The Internet world was still defining itself. Best practices had not yet emerged and people were still experimenting.”

According to Beresford, the original in-house, homegrown website worked well for about five years. But advances in technology and the emergence of independent website design companies had management wondering if outsourcing that part of the business, so Shari’s Berries could concentrate on its core product, might be advantageous.

Looking at other firms’ websites, Beresford believed it was time to make a move.

“We didn’t want to be in the research and development business with respect to e-commerce and selling on the Internet. It was important for us to partner with a company that had a proven e-commerce store that included an ongoing and substantial R&D effort,” he says.

Shari’s Berries enlisted the help of MarketLive to build a website that could effectively merchandise and promote the company’s products.

THE SEARCH BEGINS
Shari’s Berries began its search for the website companies that would be a good fit for its product line. Those firms that had survived the dot-com bust were aggressively marketing themselves, and Beresford was confident that he knew who the key players were.
“We put together specifications on what our requirements were and began the RFI/RFP process,” says Beresford, adding that the list soon narrowed down to five firms in no particular geographical area. “One group was non-responsive and another took themselves out of the bidding because they felt we were not big enough for them. We eventually chose three vendors that we felt could do the job well.”

Now it was time to see which one of the remaining three would be the best fit. And there was one slight catch. Instead of the traditional three- to six-month lead time usually reserved to set up a new website (including time built in to test and push it live), Shari’s Berries needed it up and working in less than two.

“I felt all three could manage the technical aspects of the bid,” remembers Beresford. “I didn’t think any stood out above the others in this regard. But I was looking for the company [that] could really help me merchandise and promote Shari’s Berries.

“We realized we needed to get a sophisticated off-the-shelf application so that the repeatable tasks–like managing customer data, credit-card processing and shopping-cart processing–would be handled routinely. We wanted to devote our efforts to those things that make us different, not the standard blocking and tackling.”

With those requirements paramount for the successful bidder, Beresford and his management team felt MarketLive stood head and shoulders above the others.

THE VIEW FROM MARKETLIVE
Established in 1995, MarketLive is headquartered in Petaluma, Calif., just north of San Francisco. Since its inception, the company has focused on applying e-commerce technology solutions to the selling of goods and services online.

“Shari’s Berries had two challenges,” recalls Ken Burke, MarketLive’s CEO and founder. “They had created their own system that became nearly impossible to maintain once it was customized, and they relied on a single IT person inside the company to maintain the system. If that person ever left, which he eventually did, they would be up a creek. If you are doing 20, 30 or 50 percent of your business online and your website rests in the hands of a single internal person, you can get yourself in pretty deep trouble.”

As the company selected to help Shari’s Berries move onto a sophisticated state-of-the-art website platform, MarketLive brought into play its e-commerce solutions specifically designed to meet the unique requirements of catalogers, retailers, direct marketers and brand manufacturers.

What was Burke’s first impression when the MarketLive team had a chance to review the Shari’s Berries website?

“Oh, my God!” are the first words Burke remembers uttering. “It was a homegrown site that seemed to work okay, but it wasn’t really using the best practices. “The whole process you’d use to purchase an item, then zone it by zip code, was very confusing for the consumer, and there were complex shipping rules, too,” he says. “Being a non-standard site, it was not only extremely confusing but they (the customers) were potentially leaving a lot of money on the table.”

Burke notes that there was also a scaling issue with the backend technology. He believed it would not be able to handle the increasing workload.

GIVE AND TAKE
MarketLive prepared comps of a website with a better flow, and stressed that packaged software customized to the individual customer–with upgrades, new features and best practices–made more sense than anything built from scratch.

“It’s very hard for a single organization to have a good overview of what the online industry is doing out there when all they see is themselves,” notes Burke. “We are able to bring the perspective on how you merchandise online and how a company can improve upon what they’ve been doing.

“We showed them our original concept, and they gave us parameters. We worked together the whole way, including the design, the approval cycles and storyboards. Everything has to be approved by the client. We’ll note the specifications for everything. We never sell something unless we know exactly what we’re going to build.”

“They (MarketLive) assigned the resources from their side,” says Beresford. “We had their implementation team work with our team to meet, confer and develop the detailed project plan. There is a creative element to it. How was the homepage going to look? Then there were the various administrative aspects, such as loading the product images we wanted to have on the site, setting up product information, price matrixes, and so forth.”

On the administrative side, MarketLive provided Shari’s Berries with much needed tools–tools previously unavailable to the company.

“When we wanted to update or change the site, we had to talk to a programmer. That’s a horrible position to be in,” says Beresford. “But MarketLive had all the administrative functions. We just had to train the respective managers. Once they learned the administrative tools, we could do the master file setup without programmers.”

GOING LIVE
Shari’s Berries has been using its MarketLive-designed and administered website for more than a year now, and from the moment the site went live during the 2005 Thanksgiving season, both sides say there have been very few, if any, glitches–a fact of which they are especially proud, given the short build time.

“Our software allows Shari’s Berries to do all the maintenance and management of the site through the administration system,” says Burke. “A non-programming-type can manage the system, add new templates, change things, add a new homepage, new gate pages, discounts, e-mails–whatever has to be done.”

The technology has proven to be robust, as well. “Our systems are thoroughly tested through,” says Burke. “The ability to handle scale is so incredibly important. We’ve been fortunate to have been through a number of holiday periods with Shari’s Berries since going live with no major scale issues.”

Did Shari’s Berries make the correct decision in outsourcing the design of its site? Beresford is unequivocal in his response. “Even if I had an in-house team of five or more I could devote to creating a website, I’d still outsource,” he says. “Companies that are still doing homegrown systems should instead look at using their in-house talent to add the things that differentiate their business. But be on a system that offers a standard, repeatable, predictable, off-the-shelf element.”

David Lustig is a contributing writer to Electronic Retailer magazine. We would appreciate your feedback. To submit comments, please e-mail the magazine at editors@retailing.org.

 

Spring 2008 – Numbers Man