marketing in a recession: internet tactics pete kever principal & co-founder ghi internet...

Marketing in a Recession: Internet Tactics

Pete KeverPrincipal & Co-FounderGHI Internet Services

Agenda

1. GHIIS Overview (1 minute)

2. Internet Marketing Overview (2 minutes)

3. Search Engine Marketing Overview (5 minutes)

4. SEM Practical Steps to Take (5 minutes)

5. Social Media Marketing Overview (5 minutes)

6. SMM Practical Steps to Take (5 minutes)

GHIIS is an interactive media firm that: Designs websites Executes customized internet marketing campaigns Develops SaaS solutions Focuses on improving companies' online brands while

increasing their revenues.

GHI Internet Services (GHIIS)

We have … 1,000+ Clients … Performed over 700 Internet Marketing campaigns Domestic and International Design Teams; Global

Delivery Model 200+ Business Partners 9 years in Business … Largest Design & IM Firm in

Medina County

GHI Internet Services (GHIIS)

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), comprisedof organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click advertising (PPC)

Email Marketing

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Online Advertising

What is Internet Marketing?

Why is Internet Marketing Important?

$204 billion: Total U.S. Internet retail sales in 2008.

12 billion: The number of searches performed per month on the Web.

172 Billion: The number of email messages sent per day.

310 Million: The number of combined Facebook and MySpace users.

184 million: The number of people who have started a blog.

Source: ClickZ


E-Commerce sales were one of the few bright

spots for retailers in recent months:

In December 2008, Best Buy reported a 34% increase in web sales over December 2007, while in-store sales fell 6.8%.

In a March 2009 survey of 80 web retailers with varying levels of annual e-commerce revenue, 58% said that their year-over-year web sales rose for the first quarter.

(source: Internet Retailer)


Source: 2007 New Paradigm Global Study (Q825)

Which would you rather do?


Internet Marketing is targetable and trackable.

Targetable – reach exact markets with your message, at the point in time they are researching and making a purchase decision.

Trackable – get “instant” market intelligence from your campaigns that is either impossible or too costly to obtain in other media.


Start with only a few dollars per day and grow as needed

Internet marketing is the “Rifle approach”, while traditional media is a “Shotgun approach”

Data is empirical – you can track exactly how well it’s working

Some valuable IM tactics, like Social Media, can be done in-house, part-time

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Overview


In Internet marketing, Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a set of

marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search

engine results pages (SERPs). SEM strategies include:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) attempts to improve rankings for relevant keywords in search results by improving a web site's structure, content, and relevant back link count.

Organic Search Results


In Internet marketing, Search Engine Marketing, or SEM, is a set of

marketing methods to increase the visibility of a website in search

engine results pages (SERPs). SEM strategies include:

Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising uses sponsored search engine listings to drive traffic to a web site. The advertiser bids for search terms, and the search engine ranks ads based on a competitive auction as well as other factors.

Organic Search Results

The market is shifting from a Nation of Sellers to a Nation of Buyers

Significant sales channel with unmatched ROI than many traditional sales channels / methodologies

Make the fastest growing companies in the world work for you!

Inexpensive, proven ROI It’s a 24 hour brand machine working for you all day

long

Why Should I Care About SEM?

Did you know…

The average web site gets 73% more overall traffic within six months of being optimized.

You can start getting targeted traffic for as little as $1 per day, within 24 hours.

Consumers view a search result for 1.1 second. 100% view the organic search results. 96% view the top (three) sponsored search results. 35% view the sponsored search results on the right. Buyers view more search results (10) and take more time to view the results

(11.4 seconds). They also focus on familiar brand names. Information searchers view fewer search results (8) and spend less time

on a result (9.4 seconds). They pay more attention to content than to brand names.

Search Engine Facts

The best way to find new customers…is to simply let them find you!™


1. Determine your goals.2. Set up web site analysis software.3. Research the keywords your potential audience is using.4. Write keyword-rich copy using plain page text. Update that copy often.5. Make sure every page in your site is reachable from at least one static

text link.6. Write keyword-rich Title tags that are relevant for each page.7. Write keyword-rich META Description tags that are relevant for each

page. 8. Get links from other sites that are similar to yours.

Search Engine Optimization: 8 TacticsTo Build Your Traffic & Brand

1. Determine your goals

Some examples might include:

First page ranking in Google for keywords related to your services Increase traffic to your site by 50% from local community Get 10 new program registrations per month Get 10 more contacts from the web site per month Get 10 more newsletter signups Track the number of people who view a certain page on the site


2. Set up web site analysis software

No web site traffic analysis software? You are flying blind!

Your host can normally install a free or low-cost system.

Google Analytics is free of charge, www.google.com/analytics - and includes many features found in higher-priced commercial systems.

Some traffic analysis software can run into tens of thousands of dollars.


http://www.google.com/analytics



3. Research keywords

Creating an effective search engine marketing campaign means attracting visitors to your site with keywords that are most likely to convert them!

Never assume the keywords your potential customers will use. Invest in an SEM campaign using the wrong keywords – and all of your efforts are in vain.


3. Research keywords

Keyword research tools:

Google – use the free Keyword Tool at www.google.com/keywords and Google Trends at www.google.com/trends.

Wordtracker – subscription-based web site that contains samples of searches: www.WordTracker.com

Keyword Discovery – subscription-based web site that contains samples of searches along with geographic data: www.KeywordDiscovery.com


http://www.google.com/keywords

http://www.google.com/trends

http://www.wordtracker.com/

http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/

4. Write keyword-rich copy using plain page text

Plain page text is the text that you can select on your web pages

It does not include images, Flash or videos. You can use these, but don’t put important keywords only within an image

Search engines are not “smart” and they are mostly “blind”


5. Make sure every page in your site is reachable

If your host provider is unreliable, it can hurt your Google rank

Put plain text links in the footer navigation of your web pages

Make your logo a link back to your home page

Create a site map for your visitors and a site map feed for spiders


6. Write keyword-rich Title tags


7. Write keyword-rich META description tags

Found in the <HEAD> area with the <TITLE> tag.

<META name="description" content=“Marketing Verbiage Here.”>


8. Get links from other sites that are similar to yours

Good starter links are:

Chamber of commerce and other associations Current offline partners Sites that already mention you, but don’t link Standard free directories, like Yahoo!


8. Get links from other sites that are similar to yours

Some advanced link-building tactics include:

Links from social media destinations, like bookmarking sites Links from associated/partner sites Syndicated content distributed via blogging, press releases RSS Feeds Paid text links


Bottom line….

A site that is well-organized, updated with useful content and that contains the keywords that your audience uses to search for your services, will rank better and attract more of the right kind of visitors.


Social Media Marketing (SMM) Overview

http://www.epinions.com/


OR….

Let’s see if Pete can cram 50 hours’ worth of information into 10 minutes!


Social media marketing is the process of promoting a site, business or brand through social media channels by engaging and interacting with existing consumers or potential consumers.


Search engine marketing = online sales & advertising

Social media marketing = online branding and “PR”


Social media marketing = higher search engine rankings

Building a presence in the social web is all about reputation and branding. Most of the web's top ranking websites maintain strong brand recognition in their respective industries.


This generation has grown up on computers and the Internet, and…

Will never read a newspaper but attracted to some magazines Will never own a land-line phone (and maybe not a watch) Will not watch television on someone else’s schedule much longer Trust unknown peers more than experts For first time willing (2005) to pay for digital content. Never before. Little interest in the source of information and most information

aggregated. Community at the center of Internet experience Think not interested in advertising or affected by brand, but wrong. Everything will move to mobile Less interested in television than any generation before Want to move content freely from platform to platform with no

restrictions Want to be heard (user generated) Use IM. Think e-mail is for their parentsSource: Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve University

YouTube = 10 percent of all internet traffic (source: Ellacoya Networks)

Five of the top 10 websites are social (source: Alexa)

Over 100 million blogs exist (source: Technorati)

120,000 new blogs launched every day (source: Technorati)

1.5 million posts per day (17 per second) (source: Technorati)


Source: Lev Gonick, Case Western Reserve University

vs.

Myspace.com beat MTV.com


Source: Compete.com

Rule #1:

Don’t Panic! It’s Still Early!

Social Media Marketing: 5 TacticsTo Increase Your Brand

1. Does social media make sense for you?

2. Research where your markets / audiences “hang out.”

3. Setup profiles.

4. Start writing a blog & build an online “press room”.

5. Start forming relationships.


1. Does social media make sense for you?

Ask yourself…

How would social media fit into my overall marketing strategy? Does it align?

What are the specific advantages of blogging? Social networks? Twitter? What are the drawbacks of each?

Should I consider outsourcing my social media marketing if I don't have the time?

Am I willing to be more open with my customers and give them the ability to communicate more freely with me?


2. Research where your audiences “hang out.”

Top social network destinations are:

Facebook (MySpace is for teens and music lovers) Twitter YouTube LinkedIn Digg Delicious Flickr Blogger


2. Research where your audiences “hang out.”

Do a search on Technorati (www.technorati.com) or Google blog search (http://blogsearch.google.com) for blogs that mention your services.

Do a search on Google for “[KEYWORD”] and “FORUMS”.

Search Facebook and LinkedIn Groups for keywords related to your services.

Use Tweetscan and search.twitter.com to learn what people are saying about you or services like yours, and to find like-minded people.

Search YouTube using related keywords.


3. Setup profiles.

Profile setup takes minutes, and is free of charge.

Works best when done at a “personal” level rather than “corporate”.

Even if you don’t build out a profile, it’s best to grab the “address” while its available.


4. Start writing a blog & build an online “press room”.

Your blog is the cornerstone of your online PR efforts, and you should have several “content experts” who write for it on a regular basis

Content can be syndicated via RSS to other social networks, “partner blogs” and other tools like Twitter

Optimize your blog’s content around keywords and then link those keywords to corresponding web pages

Your press room should contain press releases, basic company info, links to blogs, social media accounts, etc.


5. Start forming relationships

You cannot “fake” good social networking

It’s just like a real world networking event

Show that you care for your audience, and they will respond positively

Monitor blogs and micro-blogging networks forfeedback

Have fun, make friends and stay involved


Top Social Media Sites

Facebookwww.facebook.com

A social networking site where people can join similar groups, share photos and connect and interact with other people.

Just reached 200 million users Companies can set up a Facebook Page, a Group, and/or

a Fan site Groups allow you to send occasional “mass” emails Personal, not corporate


Twitterwww.twitter.com

“Micro-Blogging” site, where members post “what they are doing” in 140 characters or less.

Traffic has gone from 1 million monthly visitors in March 2008 to 14 million visitors in March 2009.

Secure your name & brand…Twitter.com/YourName http://Search.Twitter.com is a real-time search engine – up to the

second “buzz”. Post quick press releases, updates, and helpful info.


YouTubewww.youtube.com

Free searchable video sharing site Now the world’s second largest search engine 72 million monthly visitors Create your own channel Showcase products, testimonials, how-to videos

Conclusion

Download this Powerpoint:

http://www.ghiis.com/brunswickcoc

Twitter: http://twitter.com/PeteBKay

marketing in a recession: internet tactics pete kever principal & co-founder ghi internet...

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