Oct
30th

Use Online Marketing to Target Holiday Shoppers

Posted by Bryson on October 30, 2009 at 12:06 pm

It is well-known in the world of marketing that in the few months before the calendar year changes, consumers are incredibly “happy.” Hence, they are willing to consider buying and shopping more than usual. This is especially prevalent in the world of e-commerce with the perennial online hunter-gatherer. Therein lies great opportunity to maximize ROI. While last year there was a slight decrease in the previous trend of exponential growth in online sales (attributed to the recession), things appear to be on the upswing (or at least stabilizing) for the time being.

An example of a "happy" shopper.

So what type of numbers can we expect to see this year when it’s all said and done?

That’s yet to be seen. However, optimism and hope exist! Some believe we will experience major capital gains, whether those opinions are grounded or not. Inevitably, online retail growth will eventually occur and optimism is no longer an entirely lost cause. Realistically, it probably won’t be a major shift, but we’ll be headed in the right direction. One thing is for sure—we will try our hardest to improve upon our current economic situation.

Here are a few quick, basic tips to use online marketing to target the “happy” holiday shoppers this year—and ultimately cash in on the increased demands that occur this time of year.

Keywords:

Generate keyword lists that appeal to holiday consumers and target specific holidays.
Use Google’s insights for search tool to identify top/rising search terms.

Ad copy:

Create ad copy using language exclusive to certain holidays. Boo! Scared yet?

Concentrate on products associated with holidays and particular product category searches (costumes, decorations, party supplies, gifts).

Use promotions, special offers, and free shipping to enhance ad performance.

Ad Placement:

Serve graphical/textual ads on web pages, apps, widgets etc. to correspond with holidays.

Remember that the time frame of when these ads are runnig is crucial to success. In the words of the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade—Choose Wisely.

Start with branded ads to establish name early in the shopping process.

Use site-centric targeting in order to re-target individuals (high ROI, low search volume).

Be present in the consumers’ peripherals throughout all phases of the shopping experience.

Landing Pages:

Make seasonal promotional pages and products the focal point of landing page strategy.

Confirm that the content on the page is consistent with the themes in ads, keywords, etc.

Adjust your sites navigational schemes and consider modifying internal linking structure to reflect seasonality.

There is obviously more you can do to maximize ROI other than the suggestions I’ve made, but hopefully I’ve provided some options to ponder while you’re out munching on chocolaty, sugary goodness and egging unsuspecting victims this weekend (support your local dentist, promote tooth decay).

If you agree or disagree with anything mentioned in this blog we’d love to hear your thoughts and comments. Happy Halloween!

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Sep
23rd

Google Puts the Kibosh on Keywords (meta tags that is)

Posted by Alex on September 23, 2009 at 10:15 am

There are many practices in the SEO world that come up for debate every now and again, especially as search continues to change and evolve. One item that seems to rear its head constantly, especially in the last few months, has to deal with the keywords meta tag and whether or not search engines, namely Google, use that information when ranking sites. The wait is over! Yesterday, Google officially announced with a statement and video from the head of Google’s webspam team, Matt Cutts, that “Our web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword meta tags completely. They simply don’t have any effect in our search ranking at present.”

That’s it folks, show over – no more suing Google over terms contained within a keywords tag and the ranking of competitor sites. Gone are the days of strategically crafting a keywords tag to accurately reflect the content and information on a page, in the hopes that the major search engines will use that to shoot your site to the top.

Now, because of the recent buzz around this topic, you may be thinking – “Wow! This was totally out of left field, I had no idea!” However, as I just mentioned, this topic has been discussed before. Back in 2007, Google actually officially announced that they were no longer using keyword meta tags in determining a site’s position. In fact, conversations regarding keyword tags and their merit date back to 1996, according to a report published by http://w3.org! So, for over a decade search marketers and SEO’s alike have been debating the use and importance of these keyword meta tags.

Before we get too carried away and start deleting keywords meta tags like crazy, it is important to remember that there is still a general consensus that Yahoo! still uses keyword meta tags to some degree. Therefore, you might want to hang on to those tags for a little while longer. I don’t think I’ll be hanging up my keyword meta tags just yet! What do you think?

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Apr
7th

Strong Titles for Success

Posted by admin on April 7, 2009 at 11:17 am

In my free-time, I am a competitive cyclist and a die-hard down-hill skier (I think I am the only one in the office that is stoked it’s April and still snowing). Anyway, maintaining multiple race bikes and keeping up on gear and clothing for every type of weather event in northern Michigan can get expensive very quickly. Since I have yet to meet the sugar-momma of my dreams, or become the next Mark Zuckerberg, I do the next best thing: hit up Google, clearance websites and eBay.

As much as I love gear shopping, I’m as cheap as they come and refuse to pay full price for any piece of equipment.

This past winter I chipped away at my parts and accessories wish list in preparation for the 2009 cycling season. I’ve been patient, knowing what I needed and relying heavily on Google to research products, find deals and learn what NOT to pay for parts and accessories. And this past weekend I did the math and was completely geeked by how much really expensive gear I was able to snag – and how much money I saved.

It all got me thinking. My ability to find everything I needed and save as much money as I did hinged on the strength of the titles and descriptions of the pages I eventually landed on.

When optimizing a page, it’s so important that your titles contain keywords that accurately reflect the content of your page. It’s also equally important that your descriptions reflect what your page is about, and contain a strong call to action that will draw in traffic.

As I was researching and shopping for my gear, I knew what I was looking for and, therefore, used very targeted keyword searches to sort through the clutter to find the most relevant pages. The sites that I frequented (like the ones below) were those that caught my attention with relevant titles and drew me in with strong meta descriptions.

When building your titles and descriptions, try to think like the user would. It helps to cover all your bases; go after the specifics, but also use instances of broad terms. Taking the road less traveled, by going after less used, yet more specific keywords, will often yield better results than going after broad keywords with high traffic and even higher competition. People who know what they want will use specific keyword searches.

One neat feature recently implement by Google that will help your keyword research is a latent semantic indexing tool. It’s embedded at the bottom of their Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Search for a keyword or keyword phrase and this feature will show you additional keywords that are related to your target keywords that other searchers have used. Utilizing this information gives you the ability to discover other keywords related to your content that you may not have thought of. The feature is always there and easily accessible, which makes it a no-brainer to use.

So if you’re writing your titles and descriptions, or even just writing item descriptions for an eBay sale, take the time to utilize some of the tools out there to do a little keyword research. Strong titles and descriptions are part of the equation that can boost a page’s relevancy and ensure your content will be seen by the right people – i.e. a cheap guy like me looking for an expensive cycling jersey at a blowout price.

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Mar
14th

Power to the Plural?

Posted by Nick on March 14, 2008 at 8:22 am

When it comes time to choose which keywords you wish to target for your latest search engine optimization project, you may want to stop and consider how the use of plural verses singular terms will impact search traffic.

A recent post by Robin Goad of Hitwise suggests that in many cases, plural keywords drive more traffic to retail websites than singular versions of the same word.

The post compares search volume and percentages of searchers who ended up on retail or shopping sites, as they relate to a list of singular and plural keywords such as laptop(s), mobile phone(s), dvd(s), and six others. The results favored plural keywords in a 6-3 victory.

Does this mean we should alter our primary focus and only target keywords with that extra s, -es, or whatever their plural variation might be? With the above information, you may be quick to favor this idea instead of going with singular terms. However, Goad does tell us that we shouldn’t abandon singular terms just yet.

In response to his results, Goad states,

Of course, this isn’t to say that ‘laptops’ is a better term than ‘laptop’, just that the plural and singular searches display different behaviors. Indeed, if you are looking to sell accessories rather than computers then it would be much better to optimize for terms containing ‘laptop’.

So where does this quick bit of research leave us? Which type of keyword should we target? Plural? Singular? It all depends on the products being offered.

The variation in which keywords drive the most relevant traffic is simply one more thing to keep in mind when optimizing your content. Though it seems in the majority of searches, the plural wins the traffic battle, singular terms still have their niche. When in doubt and when you can, it doesn’t hurt to target both.

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Feb
18th

We say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto: When Keywords Don't Mesh with Client Messaging

Posted by admin on February 18, 2008 at 9:14 am

As an SEO project manager, I recommend keywords to clients based on the following inherent principles:

Popularity: How frequently do people search using this term?
Competitiveness: How difficult could it be to position for this term?
Relevance: How relevant is this keyword to the products or service the client offers?
Conversion Potential: How likely is someone searching on this term to convert on the client’s site?

The dream keyword is one that’s frequently searched upon, yet relevant enough to achieve targeted, qualified traffic that’s likely to convert. Who could argue with that?

You’d be surprised.

One of the first obstacles SEOs can run into is when keywords don’t mesh with client messaging. What does it look like when websites take the common terms that 99.9% of searchers use and transform them into something more “branded”? Here are just a few examples:

Software becomes a Solution
Snow Removal becomes Snow Management
Herbal Teas become Herbal Infusions
Wool Sweaters become Handknit Creations

You get the idea. Unfortunately, what happens when you can’t use the descriptive words on your website that searchers use?

You won’t get found.

As a marketer, I understand that certain words can be at odds to the image your business is trying to convey. If you sell “discount children’s clothes”, then how can you also harness traffic for “cheap children’s clothes” without using the word “cheap” on your site?

There isn’t an easy answer. Sometimes, we have to discard high-traffic keywords with tons of conversion potential because they just won’t fit with branding goals.

While I might be able to understand not using the word “cheap”, I have also seen clients reject entirely reasonable keywords because of branding expectations that are dramatically out of touch with their target market.

This is unfortunate, because for all I know, a “handknit creation” could be a gigantic raspberry-colored thneed that’s straight out of a Dr. Seuss novel.

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