extreme website makeover webcast part 2: understanding seo

The Extreme Website Makeover Webcast - Part 2:

Understanding SEO

Exclusively for ACT!Certified Consultants

Jenika ScottChannel Marketing Managerjenika@hallme.com@jenika29 on Twitter

Who We Are

Candi HuberLead Designer andProject Managercandi@hallme.com

Kasi GajtkowskiOrganic Search Managerkasi@hallme.com @kasi_marie on Twitter

Stephanie SpanglerSr. Product Marketing Manager, ACT! by Sagestephanie.spangler@sage.com

Candace FarinaProduct Marketing Manager, ACT! by Sagecandace.farina@sage.com

Ask Questions!

Use GoToWebinar “Chat” or “Ask a Question”

Tweet us your questions using #ACTmakeover tag______

We will use time at the end of the webcast to answer your questions

What You Will Learn

Photo Credit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3915514014/

• How search engines work• The importance of SEO• Overview of SEO best practices• Using content on your website

to your advantage

How Search Engines Work“CRM Software”

How do People Find Websites?

Search Statistics

• Close to 12 billion searches a month• 61%+ is Google• 84.2% are multiple word searches• Half of all web users search daily• eCommerce close to $200 billion a

year

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How Search Engines Rank Sites

What is SEO?

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Make code easy to read• Use text on your site (search

engines can’t read flash, images, etc.)

Search engine optimization helps search engines understand what your website is about

What is SEO?

Photo Credit - http://www.act.com

SEO helps people who are already looking for your products and services find you.

Wow, thank you Google!

SEO Best Practices

• Keyword & Competitor Research• On-Page Elements: - Title Tags - H1 Tags (Header Tags) - Meta Description Tags - Meta Keywords Tag - Alt (Alternative) Image Attributes

SEO Best PracticesKeyword & Competitor Research

• Make a keyword target list• Use Keyword Tools for validation assistance• Manually test the list in the search engines –

Assess the sector• Which companies come up in those

searches?• Can you do it better? What makes you

unique?

SEO Best Practices

Photo Credit - http://www.thecrmconnection.com

On Page Elements: Title Tag

• 5-12 words in length (or 65 characters)

• Use the keywords that describe the content of that specific page

• Title Tags should be unique for each of the different web pages of your website

SEO Best PracticesOn Page Elements: H1 Tags (Header Tags)

• The H1 Tag is the header on a web page• Use keywords that describe the content of

that page – be specific• It can be similar to the title tag of the page• Found in the HTML code your header looks

like this: <h1>ACT! By Sage 2010</h1>• What Google says about H1 Tags

SEO Best PracticesOn Page Elements: Meta Description Tags

• Is the description of the web page• Used to describe what the web page is about• Google often uses the description tag as the “snippet” of the

web page in the search results• Important place to use keywords of the page due to the

“bolding” that occurs in the visual snippet of the search results

Meta Description

SEO Best PracticesOn Page Elements: Meta Keywords Tag

• Hidden from web users except when a web page’s source code is viewed

• Tag in the HTML code that contains the keywords of a web page (2 or 3 most important terms)

• Google and other search engines ignore because of previous abuse

• Yahoo! still uses it to a very small degree but Yahoo! Search technology will be replaced by Bing this year

SEO Best PracticesOn Page Elements: Alt Image Attributes

(Alternate Image Attributes)

• The text used to describe an image on a web page (not visible to the eye unless user mouse hovers over an image in IE or image properties are viewed)

• Text-voice software for visually impaired uses this text

• Search engines can index the alt IMG text that it is supplied

• Use 1 or 2 keywords in your alt IMG attribute to contribute to the web page’s relevancy for those search words

Photo Credit - http://www.thecrmconnection.com

<img src="/images/home-img.jpg" alt="Denver, Colorado Business CRM Software" />

Content is King

• Existing site• Collateral• Copywriters• ACC Resources from ACT!

Product Marketing

THEN

• Utilize Your Keywords• Add Content!

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• Keywords must be in the content

Utilize Your Keywords

Content is King

Photo Credit - http://www.thecrmconnection.comPhoto Credit - http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/420/crown.html

ACT! Recommended Keywords

Content is King

• business contact• management software• contact management crm• crm automation• crm blog• crm compare• crm contact management• crm database• crm management software• crm sales software• crm software• crm solutions• customer relationship management

software• customer relationship marketing

• customer service management software• customer service software• lead management software• marketing crm• mobile crm solutions• outlook contact management• outlook crm• real estate contact management software• real estate crm• sales contact management software• sales crm software• sales tracking software• crm tools

• Search engine benefits• User benefits – provide

information that your visitors need and are searching for

• Social media benefits – spread content into the www to get people back to your site

Content is Win-Win for Search Engines and Users

Content is King

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• Blog• Whitepapers• Case Studies• Presentations• eBook• News Releases• Product Pages

SO MANY Ways to Add Content

Content is King

Photo Credit - http://www.thecrmconnection.comPhoto Credit - http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/420/crown.html

Ready for the Big Reveal?

Case StudyThe CRM Connection: Keyword Performance

Case Study

• Removed company name from title tags

• Geo-targeted• Ensured that all pages were

optimized for best practices

The CRM Connection: What Did We Do?

Case StudyThe CRM Connection: September 2009 (Pre-Launch)

Case StudyThe CRM Connection: November 2009 (One Month Post-Launch)

Case StudyThe CRM Connection: What does John say?

1. How have the changes in your search engine optimization affected your business?

Our SEO strategy and partner has allowed us to increase our web traffic in targeted markets for specific services using our ACT! Co-Op fund. As our ideal client profile has evolved over the years, our SEO has helped us specifically target those users.

Simply stated, our SEO allows us to efficiently target markets instead of using the shotgun approach.

2. Have you discovered an increase of people finding you through search engines?

The majority of prospects who contact us after visiting our web site are from SEO versus PPC.

Recap

•How Search Works•How Search Engines Rank Sites•What SEO is and SEO Best Practices•On-Page Elements of SEO•Importance of Content and Utilizing Keywords

Photo Credit - http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/420/crown.html

Learn MoreResources at Hall:• Web Vision Blog - http://www.hallme.com/blog• Webinars – http://www.hallme.com/webinars

ACT! Resources:• Dedicated Extreme Web Makeover section on the ACT! Partner Site -

http://partners.act.com/

ACT! Online Community – http.community.act.com/sage

Questions?