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How to Select an Online Marketing Agency

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on September 12, 2008
in Online Marketing, Paid Search, SEO, Search Marketing, Social Media, Website Analytics and Website Effectiveness
. 0 Comments
How to Select an Online Marketing Agency

Jeannie Moran, eCommerce Marketing Director of AutoNation, shares how to select an online marketing agency at SES

Many marketers have struggled with this topic: How To Select an Online Marketing Agency.  I attended this session at the Search Engine Strategies conference a couple of weeks ago.  Veteran marketer Jeannie Moran, eCommerce Marketing Director, of AutoNation, shared her experience with fellow marketers.

From a marketer perspective here is what to look for when selecting an agency:

5 Fundamentals- Per Jeannie Moran, eCommerce Marketing Director, AutoNation, inc.

  1. Sign a MNDA
  2. Be aligned with vision and be able to introduce the agency to your boss
  3. Build trust and set reasonable expectations
  4. Be honest about working with multiple partners
  5. Make sure it’s worth everyone’s while

Must haves - Groundwork for Success

  1. Understand what you are buying - educate yourself
  2. Ask the right questions - be cautious about guarantees
  3. Always meet with the team that will be delivering
  4. Make sure to use compatible technology
  5. Get all promises in writing
  6. Negotiate a trial period - test pilot for 90 days minimum
  7. Uncover any hidden costs
  8. Ensure one common platform for tracking
  9. Determine if application supports foreign languages and currencies

SEO Vendor Considerations

  1. Strong keyword research strategy
  2. Strong copy writing and link building
  3. Optimization plan for organic pages
  4. Measure organic conversion and ROI
  5. Proven results

Paid Search Vendor Considerations

  1. PPC programs in Google, Yahoo and MSN
  2. Web traffic measurement tool to measure your precise return on investment
  3. A/B testing of PPC ads and landing pages to identify the most effective campaigns
  4. Account managers that are Google AdWords certified and are Yahoo Ambassadors

Social Media Vendor Considerations

  1. What channels are you currently active in for clients?
  2. Give examples of how channels might be used to bolster the overall SEM effort
  3. Proven results?

Key Takeaways

  1. Educate
  2. Invest
  3. Agree and document billing model
  4. Start small and scale
  5. Monitor, measure, optimize

There are key advantages of one vendor for both SEO and SEM

Using a holistic strategy and partner will allow you to:

  • Identify opportunities that can improve performance
  • Optimize across all search channels
  • Combine campaign metrics and reporting

Outcome:  Increased ROI and Cost Savings

At WebsiteBiz, we offer both Paid Search, SEO, and Social Media capabilities.  Our clients tell us the integrated approach yields higher returns along with cost savings and who wouldn’t want this? J

Multivariate Testing - Big Results from Small Changes

Published
by
Eric Dudley
on September 5, 2008
in Online Marketing
. 0 Comments

Multivariate testing can drive big results from small changes.  In a recent Google Blog post, examples of Google’s search experiments are shown and some are surprisingly small.  For example, take a look at the two pages below:

Multivariate Testing - Big Results from Small Changes

Multivariate Testing - Big Results from Small Changes

Can you tell the difference between the two?  I couldn’t.  Turns out, the difference lies in the amount of white space in the first search result, making the first result in the Picture 2 a bit more visible.  This test is designed to determine if these types of changes help you search faster and if it makes results more prominent.

Here’s another example of a recent Google experiment:

Multivariate Testing - Big Results from Small Changes

Multivariate Testing - Big Results from Small Changes

If you can spot the difference in these two pictures, you’re visually astute.  The difference is the the thickness of the plus box next to the stock quote.  It’s difficult to determine if one is “better”, because results of the tests have both positive and negative effects.  Searchers might click on the the thicker box, causing them to possible ignore other helpful results.

So, what?  Subtle differences can make a big impact on results.  Multivariate testing helps marketers to test even the most minute details to determine which has the greater impact.  Without the use of multivariate testing, the findings could take lots of time, man hours or just never be determined.

At WebsiteBiz, we use Omniture Test & Target as well as Google Optimizer.  We have expertise using these tools and are leveraging technology in our partnerships.

Google Adwords Seminars Coming to Charlotte, NC

Published
by
Tom Dressler
on August 23, 2008
in Paid Search
. 1 Comment

Google Adwords Seminars Coming to Charlotte, NCSeminars are currently offered in two areas: AdWords and Analytics. AdWords Seminars are designed to teach you how to manage your AdWords account more effectively by covering topics from best practices on account setup to bidding and campaign management strategies. Analytics Seminars will help you better leverage the insights found in your Analytics report by covering topics such as setup tips, best practices, and analysis techniques. Seminar leaders will use in-depth course materials, hands-on exercises and valuable tips from their years of managing AdWords and Analytics accounts to teach you how to achieve your goals.

September 8, 2008 (Monday) AdWords 101: Charlotte, NC
September 9, 2008 (Tuesday) AdWords 201: Charlotte, NC
September 8 & September 9 Two Day Seminar Package

Google Adwords / Charlotte NC / Online Marketing Seminar Registration

SES - Black Hat, White Hat: Playing Dirty with SEO

Published
by
Tom Dressler
on August 20, 2008
in SEO
. 0 Comments

Some say that “black hat” search marketers will do anything to gain a top ranking and others argue that even “white hat” marketers who embrace ethical search engine optimization practices are ultimately trying to game the search ranking system. Are white hats being naive? Are black hats failing to see the long-term picture? This session will include an exploration of the latest black and white issues, with lots of time for dialog and discussion.

Moderator:
Speakers:
Notes:
  • No Presentations will be given. It is a packed session here at SES. Quite a rowdy crowd. The discussion will be town hall format.
  • Definition of Black Hat -
    • Bruce Clay: The search engines define what it is. Most white hats play in the middle; gray hats play on the edge; black hats focus out of bounds
    • Jill Whalen: Attempting to deceive the search engines
  • Definition of White Hat -
    • Todd Friesen: He agrees with Jill’s assessment but brings up the verticals differences
    • Greg Boser: White hat is defined as SEO with no game
    • Dave Naylor: Black Hat is like driving a Porsche in competitive industries
  • Is there risk in both white and black hat techniques?
    • Jill says work hard to make a great website
    • Bruce says if you are working on your site and Matt Cutts comes up behind you, you close your notebook- you are at risk. White Hats color within the lines. Since search engines don’t publish the rules some white hat techniques can appear as black hat even though legitimate.
    • Todd agrees.
    • Greg indicates that most of the black hat techniques are server on his personal site not clients.
    • Jill brings up the idea of incompetent SEOs and the fact that they are the worse group. The crowd agrees!
    • The topic has turned to buying links and what that really means to the search engines. Dave says what does the footprint of a specific tactic look like. Black hats are always testing the limits of link building.
    • Bruce agrees if we spend time working on a project we need to know what the rules are. The question becomes do we take the time or do we buy links.
    • Jill chimes in on the rules…don’t read Google’s guidelines she says it’s common sense. We are all adults. Todd disagrees…this is not common sense.
Questions now coming from the floor.
  • Will links in RSS feeds help?
    The panel defines it as really simple spam (LOL) This could be a dangerous technique.
  • Using widgets effectively could be helpful.
  • The owner of SEOChamp.com chimes in about how black hat techniques are coming from overseas. He really is passionate about how there are 70 parts to the Google algorithm. Matt chimes in at over 200.
  • The challenges between a 1 month vs long term plan. Ticket brokers buy links and it is a tough space.
    • Greg says look at the competitive research and then explain what can be dome and what is the risk tolerance.
  • Affiliate marketing does get a bad rap sometimes. Todd is a big fan of making money. Certain verticals have a hard time following the rules to compete.
  • Bruce says you should take time to build credibility over time and that an aggressive link building techniques can be risky.
  • The BMW brand who was penalized for 72 hours shows that the bigger the brand the easier it is to ask for forgiveness. The interesting fact was they got tons of blog links fro the PR. The BMW SEO work was amateur at best.
  • Now Matt Cutts has asked for the mic: His disclaimer is when we remove sites, they are removed based on the facts not the name. Matt indicates that there is a large subsection of a major newspaper that is currently banned and has been banned for some time. Google does not talk about what sites big or small that they take out. Matt says don’t take the risk.
  • If you are banned you can ask for re-inclusion. Greg says look at the entire space when you choose to ban sites.

Search Marketing Conversation with Google Engineer Matt Cutts

Published
by
Tom Dressler
on August 20, 2008
in SEO and Search Marketing
. 0 Comments
Tom Dressler and Eric Dudley with Matt Cutts from Google

Tom Dressler and Eric Dudley with Matt Cutts from Google

Eric Dudley and Tom Dressler spend time with Google Engineer Matt Cutts at SES San Jose.