lost in google space: can anyone really get you to #1?

LOST IN GOOGLE SPACE

CAN ANYONE REALLY GET YOU TO #1?

EVA SHEIE

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT RE-BOOT

MARCH 28, 2015

THANKS OPRAH!

Websites were brochures back then.

Directories were important.

Phone calls showed me the way.

Oprah set it on fire.

ROLES IN A WEB AGENCY

Thought Leader/CEO/Owner

Developer

Graphic Designer

Copywriter/Content Producer

Account Manager

Project Manager

Social Media Manager

PPC Manager

SEO SPECIALIST

SEO SPECIALIST

What do they really do?

SEO IS “JANITORIAL”

THE JOB OF THE SEO

IS TO…

Achieve a set of marketing goals. Whatever is involved.

Do to stuff to a website that gets people to do what you want them to do.

Requires a relationship.

Their success is dependent on your level of participation

Benefits of similar subject matter

TRUST…

THE MOST EFFECTIVE SEO

STRATEGY

WHAT DOES THE

PRACTICE NEED?

Begin with the end in mind – Covey #2

Enough leads by web or phone to

have enough consults to do the

number of cases you want to do

BETTER TITLES THAN

“SEO SPECIALIST”

Problem Solver Extraordinaire

Psychic that figures out what patients want and adds to your website before they search for it

Introverted analytical pattern recognition expert

Interpreter of Google’s algorithm

Puzzle fanatic

Your #1 Brand Advocate

GOOGLE LOVES BRANDS

WHAT DO BIG BRANDS DO?

Have a real, physical location

Have staff pages with bios and photos of real people

Give back to their community

Participate in social media, even just a little

Asks customers for their feedback

Belongs to societies and professional organizations

Run branded PPC ads on their own name or practice name

Leverage their own by using their own online reviews reputation for marketing – enable their customers to speak on their behalf

When you say it,

it’s marketing

When your customer

says it, it’s social

proof

WHAT DON’T THEY DO?

Build keyword-stuffed domain name microsites or redundant sites with the same information

Buy links

Write fake reviews for themselves

Send spam to patients

Ignore unhappy customers

Neglect their website content or have empty pages on their website

Buy “Likes” or pay for followers on social media

DIY their website or their online communications to patients

Let their nephew build their website

Use fonts like Comic Sans in their signatures because it looks more “fun”

STUFF THAT

WORKS

AWESOME CONVERSION TACTICS

CONTACT FORM ON

EVERY PAGE

QUANTITY

PHOTOS

Demographics

Story

FINANCING AND COST INFO

SPECIALS

REVIEWS ARE LIKE MAGIC

Increases time on site

Increases & speeds up conversions

Decreases bounce rate

Makes your site fresh

Makes you more attractive in search

results

Bazaarvoice

MORE IS MORE

0 500

Bazaarvoice

Source: Bazaarvoice

REVIEW VOLUME HELPS IN

SEARCH Where are you most likely to click?

UNIQUENESS

ALL TOGETHER NOW!

Social proof

FRESH social

proof: three

reviews from

just this week

Cost info

Visual proof

Instant contact

Natural language

85% MORE

CONVERSIONS

Evil scientist laboratory

MOBILE FRIENDLY

AND BLAZING FAST

Mobile – are you ready? Check your

sitehttps://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

Fast – check your sitehttps://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/

COST OF A WEBSITE

Range $7500 to $65,000

Average cost $16,000

Factors affecting cost

• Size of photo gallery

• Market area

• Amount of new copywriting/editing

• Design

COST OF MONTHLY SERVICE

Range $24,000/year to $60,000/year

Average $33,600 (or $2800/month)

Most common $2000/month

Factors affecting cost

Market area

Amount of copywriting & photo editing per month

Tactics included

PRICES LOOKS THE SAME,

TACTICS VARY WILDLY

Although the costs were relatively similar,

the activities or tactics included in that

cost were all over the map.

Most notably,

Content creation/copywriting and

marketing strategy were often missing or

minimally included

WHAT ARE YOU

PAYING FOR?

Time – number of hours you receive

the attention of the team

Expertise!

Cross-collaboration

Caution: it’s always changing

Examples – press releases and authorship

CAN I DIY?

Remember the goal – to achieve a set of marketing goals. Whatever it takes to get enough incoming leads to do the number of cases you want to do.

Can you keep up with it?

If you don’t follow best practices on a daily basis, and don’t have experience to know which things are safe, bad things can happen

What CAN you safely do?

RECAP

SEO: not typically the job for a single person. Solid team is best. Build a collaborative relationship.

What’s the marketing goal? Do you work together on it?

Be a brand and Google will reward you

Competitive advantage is gained with reviews on your own website, and by being fast, fresh & mobile-friendly

For most, it’s too important to DIY

Q&A

Cautionary tales?

Success stories you want to share?

eva@realpatientratings.com

WHAT MATTERS MOST

RIGHT NOW?

The TRUTH – Google is looking for

signals

2015 PREDICTIONS

Mobile – check your site

https://www.google.com/webmasters/t

ools/mobile-friendly/

Fast – check your site

https://developers.google.com/speed/

pagespeed/insights/

Fresh – what can you do?

THERE IS NO SUCH

THING AS #1

The top changes constantly.

Forget about being #1!

RESOURCES

What to look for in an SEO company

A typical social media plan

WHAT WAS I LOOKING

FOR?

The right tactics or established “best

practices” to meet my client’s needs

Best practices aren’t a secret

TIPS FOR HIRING A

NEW SEO

Who’s on your team? How do you work

on my project? How long have you been

together?

Can you talk to their other clients?

Can you move your site if you’re

unhappy? Really?

Can they show you data that supports

their ability to achieve marketing goals?

IF YOU LIKE YOUR

SEO

Look at things a new way. Get some new

numbers. Sessions and conversions in

your market area. Bounce report sorted

by worst to best. What needs to be

done?

Add prices to your site

Form on every page

Add user generated content throughout

HOW MUCH SHOULD

YOU SPEND?

4-6% to maintain current level

Up to 10-12% to grow

For a 1M practice, that’s about $50k

Depends on your practice age and

market

300% Rule (6 months, except for

awareness)

HOW DO I KNOW

THEY’RE DOING A GOOD

JOB?

Your site will reach a max level