In 2007 Facebook had over 600 million internal searches per month.  According to Comscore and others Facebook has doubled in unique visits from this time in 2009.   Facebook is clearly a primary destination for many.   How are you taking advantage of people that are searching on Facebook?

YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social sites also have their own search engines.  Yes, some of the content from these sites can be found in the major search engines but do you want to rely on them to expose your content?   What if a visitor never goes to the search engine but rather uses the internal search engines?

In real estate the sales adage is: location, location, location.  This can also be applied to search marketing.  You must be found where people are searching.  You can’t tell some where to search.  All you can do is ensure they find you wherever they search.

A couple of months ago I posted a Google Analytics presentation to Slideshare. The following are another four measurements Google Analytics can help you discover.

There are a number of reports in Google Analytics that can help the site owner determine visitor engagement.  A report I like to use for this purpose is the average pageviews report.  By monitoring how many pages a visitor looks at the site owner can get a sense of how engage the visitor is.  The average pageviews report can also indicate the presense of a navigation problem.  In most cases a visitor to a site needs to look at more than one page before they take an action.  How many pages they need to take isn’t always obvious.  From the average pageviews report the site owner can determine if their are too few pages being visited or too many.  Too many might indicate that users can’t find what they are looking for.

Pageview reports are an indicator of what is going on with your site but they don’t provide insight into what’s happening on specific pages.  Fortunately for the site owner Google Analytics provide several reports such as landing pages report and exit pages reports that shed some light on visitor behaviour.  Another helpful report is the navigation summary report.  With the navigation summary report you can see which pages were visited before the current page and which pages were visited after the current page.  Something I find interesting when looking at the navigation summary is to see how many visitors go back to a transition page in order to re-orient themselves on a given website.

Smartphones are all the rage but are people really using them to surf your website.  The short answer is yes.  Google recently added a report to Google Analytics that will show how many visits and from which type of handsets visit your site.   This report will give an early indication of whether or not your site should be made mobile aware.  The short answer to that question is also yes but with a little insight you can determine when to apply the resources to making your site more mobile friendly.

Okay, great, Google Analytics has lots of helpful reports but when are you ever going to look at them?  Unfortunately most site operators do not have an intimate knowledge of their site’s performance.  I haven’t done the actually analysis but my intuition tells me that 9 out of every 10 companies I deal with are not getting Google Analytics reports automatically emailed to them.   Click a button, enter your email address and Google will email you the requested report every month.  It’s really that easy.  Getting weekly reports can lead to report fatigue.  Who wants to look at the same report every week?  In addition to regular reports Google Analytics has a new feature that I think is indispensable.

Inside the new section of Google Analytics called Intelligence are tools that allow the site owner to create alerts for specific metrics.   Want to know if your visitor count spikes or drops?  Simple, create an alerts that let you know when visitors are 50% higher or lower today than they were yesterday.   Not all metrics are available via the alert mechanism but there are enough choices that you can build several reports to give you early warning of problems or successes your site is experiencing.

The types of reports I’ve presented here have been available in sophisticated and expensive analytics packages for a long time.  It’s amazing to me that Google offers this service for free.  The price is definitely right.   As with any tool it’s not always easy to master the tool such that you get maximum value.   I use Google Analytics everyday.  I can help you gain more insight into your site’s performance.

Please share this article if you find it helpful.  Be sure and check out my other Google Analytics presentation.

I’ll admit this might be a personal bias.  I spent 15 years on the road selling various products and services before I struck out on my own.  Buying from a website is very impersonal.   Online purchases work well for commodity type purchases that are usually driven by price.   As a former sales manager once said to me “sell on price, lose on price”.

The idea that people buy from people is important to keep in mind when you are developing your eCommerce strategy. Will your site sell based on price?  Will people be available to assist?  Have you posted pictures of people that work at the company?  Humans are a social animal.  We want to see “who” we are dealing with.

If the idea that people buy from people sounds like common sense you’d be right.  Unfortunately business owners do not always apply offline common sense to their online initiatives.

Twitter is your “foot in the door”.  If you are trying to make a complex sale it is very easy for a prospect to say no to your sales pitch.  Imagine you call a prospect and ask them to buy your software, it’s easy to image that most people will answer “no thanks” even if they could benefit from what you have to offer.  Now imagine instead of asking to buy the software you simple call and ask if the prospect if they want to do better at what they do.  Who is going to say no to that?  With this small yes ask the prospect if they use any of the micro-blogging tools such as Twitter or LinkedIn.  If they answer yes to that you can now establish your foot in the door by adding them as a Twitter follower.

Here’s how my pitch might go: “Hello John, I know you are  a busy person and don’t have time for a sales presentation but I’m sure you want to make sure you are doing all you can to make your business a success.  I occasionally post helpful tips on Twitter/LinkedIn/Plaxo/Facebook.  Would you like to make sure you are receiving these tips that 100/200/300 other people in your role receive?”   This is not a fullproof script and it won’t get you a 100% success rate but I think you can agree that trying to get the small yes is easier than the big yes.

Once you have a prospect following you on Twitter, this could also work if you had a newsletter, you can take time to establish trust with the prospect.  With your foot in the door your next ask can be bigger.  You might be surprised by the results.

Social media sites can be loosely grouped into three types: broadcasting, narrowcasting and filtering. There is naturally a little overlap from each to the other. This overlap is the social glue that gives social media the personal connection.

How do you know a site is a social site? If there is any kind of a member or user or some other kind of identity then the site is social.

Social Media Types Defined

Broadcasting – any site where the primary purpose is to broadcast content to the widest possible audience. Social interactions are not the primary focus. For instance the primary purpose of YouTube is to broadcast video. YouTube also has user profiles and channels where like minded users can subscribe to content they like.

Narrowcasting – any site that has in some way limited either the size of the audience or what the audience has access too. Any site that has a limited profile can be classed as narrowcasting. Social interactions are expected on these sites. Access to a member’s content is in some way limited. The primary purpose of Facebook is to provide ambient intimacy for people that know each other. Some of the content shared on Facebook becomes public but not all.

Filtering – these are sites that either group, limit, or provide some other means of filtering content. Yahoo started out as a filtering site. When launched it was a hand edited bookmark list. This was of great value. There are social sites now that allow their users to create lists and links to content they like. These lists act as filters either based on the personality of the list creator or on a specific subject that grouped together via an internal search mechanism.

Examples of Social Media Sites

The variation in search engine results pages meant that you couldn’t be sure how well your site was being ranked. I never subscribed to the “be number one for your keyword” mentality. Sure it’s important to rank well but I”d rather focus helping you generate more sales by getting more qualified visitors to your site. Yes, sometimes that means ranking well for a popular search term but your ranking in the SERPs does indicate how well your site is doing.

Up until a few days ago if you wanted to wanted to see the results without customizations you simply logged out of your Google account. That is no longer the case. Google now customizes searches for everyone regardless of whether you are signed in or not. You can still see the search results without customizations by clicking on the “view customizations” link. From that page you can view “without these improvements”.

view customizations

Search marketing just got a bit harder. It will be more difficult for you to overcome the inertia created by the the preferences of your client if you are not already well placed in the SERP. Once your client finds the site they like unseating the incumbent will be much harder. It might be time to invest in Google Adwords in order to get your ad in front of your clients.

Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube are allowing business to do something online that they have been doing offline for years, building connections.  Companies will sometimes try and hire their competitor’s best sales person.  They do this for a couple of reasons one of which is the network of connections the sales person will bring with them to the new organization.  Social Media is the online manifestation of this benefit.

An important part of any strategy that utilizes social media revolves around knowing the audience.  Social Media is about conversations, not broadcasts.  You most likely have a different kind of conversation with your wife than you do with an employee.  You instinctively know the difference in your audience.   It is for this reason that simply using Facebook or Twitter to have conversations with your audience will not work if it is not executed properly.  Many companies look at something like Twitter as a great way to broadcast their message.  Do these kinds of messages enrich the conversation?

For me there are three ways to engage your audience in the social media setting:

1. Entertain
2. Educate
3. Engage

The primary goal when using Social Media should be to create something worth sharing.  Your audience will only share something that they believe has value as defined by them and not you.

• Higher page ranking
• More qualified leads

We have been able to achieve consistant high rankings because we optimize for the pain. Your product or service fills a need. We develop an SEO strategy that addresses your client’s needs by highlighting how your company deals with your client’s pain.

Initial SEO Engagement

• Needs Analysis
• Target audience review
• Keyword Selection and analysis
• Web Analytics review
• Review exisiting site against established needs
• Recommend SEO changes to site
• Manage changes to your website
• Peer linking submissions

Ongoing SEO Maintenance

• Web Analytics review
• SEO page adjustments based on Analytics review
• Updated peer linking

Ethical search engine optimization (SEO) ensures long-term success. The magic in making a site rank well lies in the site’s readability. Websites that are easy to read and navigate have a better chance of ranking well. Our approach is to help our clients plan an SEO strategy that takes into account their marketing drivers, their sales needs and their intended audiences appetite to be sold to. Our goal is not just to make the site rank well but also to generate more leads for your sales team.

This SEO process can take 12-16 weeks to be fully realized. The sooner you start optimizing your site the earlier you will see results.

Why Do I need Search Engine Marketing?

Most web site visits start with with a potential visitor to your site searching for something of interest to THEM in a search engine. Google is the most popular search engine and delivers two to three times the traffic delivered by Yahoo.

If searchers cannot find your site in the search engines then your site will receive fewer visits than it could have if your site was easier to find. The more visitors you get to your site the more people you have the opportunity to do business with.

In Business-to-business buying decisions greater than 60% of all decisions are first researched on the Internet. This research typically takes place within 90 days of the buying decision.

How can we help you today?

• I want my site to rank better in the Search Engines
• I want to advertise my company on the Internet
• I want to start using Google Adwords
• I need help with my existing Google Adwords Campaigns
• I want to do some other Internet Advertising