SEO is a problem. Search Engine Optimization is like raking the ocean. The effort and dollars needed to keep a “first page ranking” can be significant. A sweet spot combination of monthly “adwords” spend and on page seo plus backlinking - in addition to a well engineered pay for click campaign should equals success.
Imagine a foot race with millions of competitors. Gaining a first page organic ranking requires the competitive entrant to stand on the medal podium (1st, 2nd or 3rd). In the fast paced world of digital advertising this race is run multiple times a day. Backing your race contestant, your business as it is seen on the web, requires a real commitment. A budget, staff and a plan to consistently stake a claim to those “medalling” - daily - is required for success. PPC provides an avenue to buy your way into the medal platform, based on keyword choices, and budget.
The financial side of the equation, the question of which lies in “how much is a ‘click’ really worth?”, yields a stark truth. Google, the odds makers in ppc, has stacked the house. Auction based sales tactics ensure the House (google) always wins. How much a “click” actually costs relies upon the competitive nature of the pixels the banner represents - as a percentage of available real estate. Prime billboard space, in the old print media world, reflected the number of cars or eyeballs passing the image - and the fiscal value of the views. Current banner and pay per click advertising mirrors the same model. Traffic is no longer counted by radials on the road. Eyeballs - behind every interface - count the traffic encountered.
Phones and tablets offer different sizes of advertisements than larger screens. The break point between interfaces usually hinges around ten inches. From a programming standpoint tablets are specifically difficult to deal with. Developers and artists do not traditionally have successful and productive meetings. Losing forty to sixty percent of the advertising real estate, from phone to phablet to tablet, is not an easy message to deliver. Especially difficult to deliver to a room of marketing and budget conscious executives.
From a geek standpoint an HD “phablet” closely resembles an HD tablet, increasing the curve for developers. Programming mistakes, providing the wrong “option” to the right user may result in a three second lag. Dumb programmers are punished with terminated users sessions.
Fickle users make choices, most take less than two seconds. Finding a happy medium between image size, load time, and image density takes a coordinated effort. Page load time, dependant upon many variables, requires testing before the new content is published. Timelines, enforced by executive layer management, often do not take into account the complexity of the pre publishing task list. When the geeks do the right job the “magic factor” is high, the chore list appears to be “easy”. Standards and practices, in compliance with publishing metrics, are a major step towards ensuring your content loads as quickly as possible and present well, on all devices.
Search engine optimization is a constantly changing foot race. Commonly searched terms become competitive. In the SEO world a competitive ranking of common keywords gain rank, and “value”. The rank of a competitive words describes the percentage of your closely ranking competitors employing similar ranking strategies. Correlation of competitive keyword ranking and number of times a given keyword is searched is relative.
The mix of keywords should represent the verbiage used by our clients, prospects and vendors to describe your business. Ask your best sales representatives about their banter with prospects. A treasure trove of keywords may be found, much different than the current keywords employed on your corporate site. The newly found list of keywords might also reduce the financial click through impact, as a total PPC budget.
Establishing top line revenue goals, based on keywords and prospects to be gained, is imperative. Spelunking previous months ACTUAL searches, based on target keywords, will yield a total advertising penetration number. As an example - If my keyword combinations were searched a hundred times in the previous month and my site garners a 5% click through, then I can expect to gain five new prospects. Establishing the potential sales for new clients, a historic number based on previous sales, will yield a reasonable ROI for marketing dollars.
Google stacks the deck. Data geeks dealing with the real problem, predicting Google’s next algorithmic move are shooting craps. After attempting to decipher top ranking tactics for many years I can confidently say the old school rules apply. Do good business and your business will grow. Happy customers, satisfied vendors and grateful marketing partners breed business growth. Hands down.
This feedback is commonly labeled “user generated content” or online user reviews. The marketplace is talking about your business. Engage your clients and prospects at their point of inquiry, in real time. Establishing whose desk, in your organization, is responsible for responding to online accolades or issues is key. Whoever is chosen to respond to the virtual help desk should be empowered to satisfy client/prospect needs. These interactions should yield a treasure trove of market perception, surrounding your products and services.
