increasing online visibility

EPWN Workshop on Web 2.0 e-Identity: Increasing the Visibility of your Web Presence

15 January 2009

Catherine GrayCoppervine BV

Why Coppervine?

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About Catherine Gray & Coppervine

• Began in 2005

• Especially suited to international companies with a presence in the Netherlands

• Coppervine’s approach– Begins with understanding business situation and

the competitive landscape in order to bring in the right visitors

– Works in conjunction with your other marketing efforts

– “White-hat” search engine optimisation

• Qualified search marketing professional– Certified Google Adwords Professional

– Qualified Yahoo! Ambassador (North America)

• Currently consulting for UPC Corporate as their in-house Search Engine Marketing expert

– The Netherlands, Ireland, Austria, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Romania

EPWN’s Web 2.0 Workshop Series

What is Web 2.0?

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Web 2.0 Examples

• Web 2.0 websites - blogs, wikis, forums, social networking sites, rich internet applications, syndications, mashups

• blogs, discussion forums, wikis, social networking, and media repositories:

• Facebook

• Bebo

• LinkedIn

• Twitter

• MySpace

• Hyves

• YouTube

• Flickr

• Digg

• Wikipedia

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Yahoo: Then (Web 1.0) & Now (Web 2.0)

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Another example: Flickrvision “mashup”

What Web 2.0 Means for Businesses

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Web 2.0: Your “Digital Sales Representative”*

“[Web 2.0] is all about furthering your brand, product and service and getting people to relate to you one-on-one and giving you feedback.”

– Andrew DiFiore Jr., Creative Director of answerYES Interactive

“Digital Sales Representative” is Mr. DiFiore’s description of Web 2.0.

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Businesses Have Begun Monitoring Social Media

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Why Online Marketing?

• Cost-effective lead generation

• Reach new markets and new audiences

• Create buzz about your product, service, or brand

• Many businesses can’t afford not to market online

Source: AMA

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Web 2.0 Has Changed the Merchant/Customer Dynamics

• Customers can share information with each other about their experiences with companies, brands, products & services

– People trust their peers more than they trust official company messages and traditional media channels.

• Often, customers use the Web to research products & companies before buying

• Customers expect companies to be open & honest

• Blogs, social networks, podcasts, and video can engage customers

• Online activity is a valuable source of information about customers’ wants, needs, and opinions

Gaming is a Big Influence

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The entertainment landscape is changing

• Video games are poised to "eclipse" all other forms of entertainment, according to Activision games studio boss Mike Griffith.

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BBC News online 10 January 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7821612.stm

"Movies, recorded music and TV - these are all stagnating or contracting entertainment sectors."

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Video Game Influences on Online Marketing

Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9079980

• Websites are using game challenges, leader boards, competitions, points and rewards to keep their online users engaged with what they are selling.

• Much of the success of Facebook comes from its functioning as "the ultimate trophy room" where users can one-up other members based on the number of friends they have or how many games they have won.

• Gaming tactics tap into the fundamental human need for accomplishment.

• Bunchball has a demo application on Facebook that provides display icons for people as a reward for playing games. The biggest request from users of that application is for more types of trophy icons.

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Gaming for Engagement: “The Office” Contest

• In 2007, NBC launched a website for Dunder Mifflin, the fictitious company in the TV show The Office. (http://www.dundermifflininfinity.com/)

• Fans of the show can sign up to become Dunder Mifflin employees and socialize with other “employees”.

• Content is user-generated. NBC sets competitions to produce a particular type of content and the users are “rewarded” for creating the content, with the best (as voted on by the community) given positions on the leaderboard on the homepage.

• NBC is paying their users virtual currency to do real work, and create the content that drives the site.

• Source: www.bunchball.com

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Example: Whopper Sacrifice

• “Mary sacrificed Jane Kaplan for a free WHOPPER®”

Online Reputation Management

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When people Google you, what’s the first thing they see?

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Example: Ford Motor Company

• Ford has a Social Media department.

• http://www.fordvehicles.com/thefordstory/ and http://ford.digitalsnippets.com/

A Digital Snippet may take the form of copy, photos, video or audio that is optimized for the Internet and easily reposted on any website

There’s a lot of stuff out there on the web.

Search helps people find what they are looking for.

Search Engine Marketing can help you get found.

Search Engine Marketing

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Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

• SEM is one of the most important sources of online traffic and sales.

• SEM covers

– Search Engine Optimization (getting traffic from the free (also called “organic”) search results

– Search Engine Advertising (advertising in the “Sponsored Links” section of search engines such as Google).

• SEM offers the one of the lowest costs per sale of online marketing activities

PAID

PAIDNOT PAID

Get traffic and sales from search engines such as Google. People are searching because they are actively interested in your products.

Search Engine Optimisation

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How Search Engines Work

They read a page and identify content & links to other pages.

• They store text content in their “index”

• For most links that they have found, they visit those pages and repeat the process

• When a user searches, the search engine decides on the results by looking in the index for pages that fit the query

• The search engine ranks the pages based on relevance to the user’s query– Google considers more than a hundred “signals”

• Page content

• Popularity, as shown by the number and quality of links to the page

• Other pages on the same website

• Age of the website

• Relationships between this website & others

• For each listing, the search engine displays a title, a descriptive “snippet” and a URL

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Your Influence on the Google Listings

• You can influence the way your Google listings appear

Bagels & Beans wrote this Title

Bagels & Beans wrote this Description

Source code:

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Like Choosing a Book

What do you look at when choosing a book from the library or bookstore? Google’s selection process is similar.

Example: “Italian Renaissance Architecture”

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SEO in a Nutshell

• Getting your website to appear high in the search results so that your target customers will visit it

• Tell the search engines that your pages have something important to say about your desired search terms

• Encourage others (especially reputable websites that are considered authorities in your field) to recommend your website by linking to it

• Unique, engaging content is the ideal way.

• People should be motivated to spontaneously share your website with friends & colleagues

• NOTES:

• Make sure you are targeting the right search terms to attract your desired visitors

• Troubleshoot any technical problems keeping Google from understanding what you are saying

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What does a search engine understand?

• Look at the Google cache – “text-only” version\

• Random example: http://www.springtime.nl

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Webpage Content Basics

• Each page should be unique, with something important to say about just a few search terms.

• HTML text matters most to search engines, because it lets them understand the significance of the content.

•Text in images can’t be seen by Google

•Text in Flash can be seen by Google when it decides it’s worth the trouble.

• <Title> tag should be unique and contain the relevant keyword(s)

• Description metatag should be unique and contain the relevant keyword(s)

•It should also inspire the searcher to click when seeing this description in the Google search results

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Google Page Rank is a clue

Try not to obsess over it. Focus instead on your website’s content. However, it can indicate technical problems.

Google.com has a PageRank of 10/10

Het Parool has a PageRank of 7/10

PageRank = 0/10

PageRank = Grey Bar (PR not yet assigned)

Grey Bar can indicate possible technical problems:

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Link Basics

• Some links tell Google “I don’t vouch for the quality of this website or webpage”.

• “Links” that are actually JavaScript redirects may not be as helpful as “naked” links.

• The anchor text of a link is important.

– Anchor text should be meaningful and contain keywords

• The text context surrounding the link is important.

• DMOZ Open Directory (www.dmoz.org) link is good to have.

If you are going to the trouble of requesting (or even paying for*) links, make sure you understand what you’re getting

* Any purchased links should conform to the Google guidelines.

Search Engine Advertising (PPC & PPM)

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Challenges of Search Engine Advertising

Challenges– Setting up an effective campaign

• Defining the best campaign structure

• Knowing which keywords to bid on

• Writing effective ad text

– Managing the campaign in the presence of the ever-changing bid landscape and competition

• Keeping your ad in a good position while maintaining a good ROI

• Responding to (potentially aggressive) competition

• Tracking your campaign’s results and adjusting as necessary

– Media planning for site-targeted campaigns

Setting up a Google Adwords campaign is quick and easy. Getting good return on investment is harder.

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Content Network Picture

Google technology places your ad on the most relevant content pages

Your customers see your ad when they visit relevant pages in the Google Network (websites that display Google ads).

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Google Adwords Keyword Toolhttps://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Get an idea of keyword search volume on Google (plus Google’s search partners) for your desired country & language.

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Targeting options

• Language

• Geographical location

• Time of Day

• Keyword Matching

• Negative Keywords

• Content Network Placement Targeting

– By subject matter, audience demographics, or specific URLs

• Dynamic Keyword Insertion

• Position Preference

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Geographical Targeting

• Reach potential customers in your desired locations

• Show your ad where it is likely to be clicked on.

•Improves Google’s perception of your ad’s quality. High-quality ads can bid less and get higher positions.

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Content Network Targeting Options

• Placement targeting

• Demographics

– Age & gender

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Writing Your Ads

© SiteLab International Inc., All Rights Reserved, 2007

How to Do It: Principles & Ideas

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Web 2.0 Principles for Businesses

• Transition from “brochure-ware” to a community gathering

• B2C is seeing more dramatic Web 2.0 changes than B2B

• Supplement the online corporate voice with deputized bloggers.

• Don’t hide all your good content (whitepapers, etc.) behind the requirement that people provide their contact details.

– Search engines need to see your content for you to be visible

– Sharing is very Web 2.0 and allows you to build a community of interest, including prospective clients

– Syndicate your content

Source: http://www.optaros.com/blogs/what-web-20-corporate-website

*According to the recent Business to Business 2007 Survey, 72.6% of B2B buyers start their process with a web search

Workshop Exercises

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Individual Exercise

1. List three search terms that you would like visibility for

2. Download the Google toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com)

3. Change your Google search preferences to display 20 results

4. Search for “site:<your website>”– Record the number of pages indexed by Google

– View your site and record the PageRank of homepage

– View the Google cache of your homepage (text-only)

5. Do a Google search each of your three search terms and record the ranking (position in the list) for each.

6. From the Yahoo Site Explorer (http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com), record the number of external links.

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Group Exercise

• Divide into groups of 5 or 6

• Select a website to improve the visibility of

– Ideally, choose a website of a member of your group

• List steps to take to improve the website’s visibility

– What are your target search terms?

– How visible is the website currently?

– Who is the target audience?

• What are they like?

• Where do they congregate online?

– What changes can be made to the website to improve rankings?

• Present your recommendations to the rest of the workshop

Thank You!

Catherine GrayCoppervine BV

cgray@coppervine.comhttp://www.coppervine.com