5 internet marketing strategies that really work!

Advanced Internet Marketing: Five Strategies (That Actually Work)

AACS

January 15, 2011

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a web site via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.

A better definition…Any and all activities designed to improve your conversion rate

5 SEO/SEM Strategies That Work

1. Links 2. Local Search3. Email marketing4. Social media5. Reviews

STRATEGY #1:Number of quality links – to AND from you

• Links are like “votes”

• Quality more powerful than quantity

• Best kind of link is the one your competitors can’t get

• Linking out to others is also a signal that you’re “real”

• It’s a myth that linking to other websites can hurt you

How many links do I have?

Google Webmaster Toolsgoogle.com/webmasters/tools/

Yahoo Search type link:http://www.yourdomain.com/

Best tool: Open Site Explorerhttp://www.opensiteexplorer.org/

How do I get more links?

• ASK for them!• Link out and you’ll find

others linking back in to you

• Build great pages as resources to patients/others and they will naturally link to you

• Press releases

Strategy #2Local Search

2 Independent Google Systems

PPC or Sponsored Search

Hybrid Organic/Local

Google Tags ($25/mo)

Coming soon… Google Boost

Phone number = Thumbprint

• Business phone number is #1 authenticity signal, like your social security number

• Avoid tracking numbers!• Hide web tracking phone

numbers in images or un-indexable javascript

3 most important places to submit your NAP data

These data providers fuel wide variety of local search websites, business directories, GPS, map software

• Localeze - localeze.com• InfoUSA - expressupdateusa.com/home.aspx• Axciom - databyacxiom.com

Moving up in the maps• Citations• NAP data = Name, address, phone• Number of reviews & star rating• Link YouTube videos• Use your contact page as the website link• Distance from the centroid• Authoritative Google account

Places Profile Tips

What are QR Codes?

2 Great Local Search Blogs

David Mihm (Getlisted.org)• davidmihm.com/blog

Mike Blumenthal• blumenthals.com

Don’t forgetBing & Yahoo Local

• Bing = only other local search engine• Bing Local Listing Center• Yahoo Local

The “Attention” Economy

Strategy #3Email Marketing

Reaching out with email

• Connect with your patients regularly to keep their attention

• Are you asking for email addresses in the office and on your website?

• Not everyone wants to request a consult right now, but they might want to hear about your specials and events in the future

• Must have permission, illegal to buy lists

• Build and segment your list over time

Case Study #1 – Why not a newsletter?

Most successful email collection campaign

Case Study #2

Sept 2008 = 1314 email addressesJan 2011 = 3751 email addresses

The “Attention” Economy

Cost is minimal

• Cost of sending is low, $15 per 1000 emails or monthly subscription fee

• Must use a 3rd party system like Vertical Response, Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor

• Do not use your office email system!

7 Rules of Email Marketing

1. Keep it short, sweet, and interesting

2. Try to place the “hook” in the top half of the design

3. If you need to provide a lot of information, put it on your website and link the eblast to that page

4. Best time to send is Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday morning. Make sure someone is there to answer the phone!

5. Send 2-3 weeks before an event and again a few days before (don’t send too early)

6. Don’t abuse your list

7. Always send something with value

Groupon & Living Social

The “Attention” Economy

Strategy #4Social Media

1. Does anyone within your practice regularly blog in some way about any aesthetics-related topics?

2. Does your practice have a Facebook business page (or any other social network)?

3. Give yourself another point if you or a staff member posts every day on the Facebook page, or if you have designated a staff member to be responsible for posting.

4. Do you know how many reviews Google has aggregated under your profile?

5. Is Web publishing available to many in your organization?

6. Are you aware of your engagement statistics, such as conversion rate and time on site?

7. Does your practice reward patient social media involvement?

8. Has anyone recently checked on the accuracy of your local listings in Google, Bing, Yahoo?

9. Do you regularly ask your patients to write reviews?

10. Do you have a Google Alert set up on your own name to notify you when something is published on the internet about you?

7-104-61-3

7-10 “yes” = consumers are top-of-mind

Benefits of social media

• No monetary cost to you, just time• More informed consumers• More engaged consumers, active in process• Looking for a conversation with someone, and it

should be YOU• Less likely to come back to your website over and

over than follow your updates• Mobile devices have an easier time with Facebook

and Twitter

Rules of Social Media

1. Don’t try to fake it. Everyone can tell.

2. Listen, don’t just talk

3. Measure

Facebook

• More than 500 million active users • 50% of active users log in to Facebook on any

given day • There are more than 150 million active users

currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

• People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users.

Use Facebook wisely• You can and should separate business and personal• Start with your personal profile, get the hang of it, then

build a business page• Don’t communicate with patients from your personal

account• Share business page admin with your staff• Don’t try to do a personal page for the business – Facebook

will kick you out• Can’t do ads with a personal page or a group• facebook.com/pages/create.php

Facebook advertising• Most targeted PPC you can find• Still relatively inexpensive• Example: women ages 38-50, ten mile radius

around the office, with the keyword “wrinkles” on their profile

• Click is approx $1.50-$2 vs. $5-15 on Google, and higher quality

Twitter

• Fastest news source• Real time communication in large groups• Get your name!• Consumer barometer

Social media case study David Robinson, MD

Strategy #5Reviews

70% trust online opinions

Source: Nielsen

-Nielsen, July 2009

“Reviewing is the new advertising.”----Trendwatching

“The answer to bad speech is more speech”

--Matt Cutts, Google

Bad and fake reviews happen

• What do you do when a negative review or comment surfaces?

• See bad reviews as an opportunity, monitor and respond politely ONCE

• Two ways to go – surround it with real positive reviews, or try to force it down in the results

How to Respond

• Step 1: Own the issue.• Step 2: Describe how future patients will not

have this issue.• Step 3: Offer to fix the issue.

Avoid• Overreacting to a bad review• Paying too much attention to it online• Taking legal action against a patient

#1 Review tip

Offer a good product and offer astonishingly good service

Tips for getting more reviews• Ask for them - make solicitation part of an everyday office process. “I’ll be looking for your review tonight!”• Make it easy for users to write reviews• Ask in Email campaigns – but don’t fish with dynamite!• Avoid sending people to Yelp

Buying awareness/traffic is so 2009

Trade off reach for deeper, direct engagement

Invest where there are the richest prospects

Spend more on activating advocates vs. buying attention

Accept that money can’t change the fact that a brand or service is defined by actual customer opinions (shared via social media)

Questions?

800-800-8314yourstrategicedge.com