Rebuilt for Business

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1.17.2012 Presented by:

Ed Knowles

TECH TUESDAY

Search in 30 Minutes

(SEO, SEM, Blogging and Local)

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The Web is your Always Open “Open

House”

Foundation: Good Design and Good Programming Good On-page SEO

Inside of the House: Brand Positioning, Messaging Leading people to Take Action (CTA)

Taxi Cab: Search Engine marketing SEM

Train: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Your House- Website, Landing page, Mobile Site Neighborhood Address: Local Search

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Agenda I. Overview

a. State of Search

• What is Search?

• Search in 2012

b. Keyword Research

c. SEO vs. SEM overview

• SEO- On-Page

• SEO- Off-Page

d. Blogging Basics

e. Local Search

f. Overview of Search Plus Product at StarTribune.com

Process

g. Upcoming Trends

h. Questions?

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What is Search? Search Engines and how do they function?

•A Program like Google

Allows users to find documents through keywords

Sends out a “Spider” to Crawl

Indexers reads documents

•Each Search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) applies

To their Algorithm to what results are shown

•That is Where you get the acronyms:

•SEO- Search Engine Optimization

•SEM- Search Engine Marketing

•Search Engine are looking for “Votes of Trust”

This is to deliver the best result to user

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Search in 2012 • Search is happening on many

different devices

• Desktop, Mobile, Tablets

• Searching on Browsers, Applications

• Consistent experience across Devices (Platform Agnostic)

• Search Engine Rankings- Dec 2011 Comscore

1) Google- 65.9%

2) Bing- 15.1%

3) Yahoo- 14.5%

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Keyword Research • How are people finding you?

• What are your brand/company

strengths?

• What is unique?

• Why are you better?

• What needs/Problems do you solve?

• What Geography do you Serve best?

• Example:

• Maple Grove Real Estate Agent

“Joe Johnson”

• 30 years experience

• Specialize in First time home

buyers

• Geography for opportunity: Maple

Grove, Medina, Ham Lake Area

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Keyword Research Tools • Common Tool:

• Google Adwords Keyword Tool

• https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

• Look for a mix of High

Volume for main page vs. low-medium competition on internal

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SEO vs. SEM SEO

• longer-term process

• Consists of on-page and off-page optimization

• Results are going to come over time

• Works well in conjunction with high-converting SEM keywords

• Conversion focused

SEM

• Need leads today

• Works well to supplement seasonality

• Conversion focused

• Usually campaign are designed to achieve one specific objective

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SEO vs. SEM Overview- SEO 2 Basic Segments for SEO:

On-page and Off-page optimization

Onpage optimization will get your 85% there

Onpage: ( in order of what gets crawled first)

1. Title Tag title (typically 6 words) should be main keyword w/ Brand (“Homes in Minnesota- Minneapolis, St. Paul & the Twin Cities area StarTribune.com”)

Doesn’t Factor rankings but important- (Meta Description)

2. URL structure

3. H1, H2, H3 (content headings)

4. Content- Bolded keyword

Bullets, number lists

5. Anchor Text: Homes in Minnesota (Add link to main keyword phrase and link to content w/ conversion point)

6. Alt Tags for images -- Alt tags are keyword phrases when you hover over an image

-- Should be the same keyword example– (Homes in Minnesota w/ that specific qualifier)

--Photo caption

Title Tag

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SEO Continued: Off-Page Off-page Optimization

Roughly 15% of return for SEO efforts.

Overview:

Off -Page optimization is based broadly on how many links are coming back to your site saying your are what your trying to rank for. These can also be viewed as votes of approval.

For these links they can be be viewed as 2 things:

1. Links- (Quantity)( including internal)

2. Quality of links ( Related, trusted links)

Anchor text also is important on other sites, Example (Homes in Minnesota) with a link back to your site imbedded in that phrase.

Places to start for getting links include these:

1. Local Directories

2. Google places and other search engine listings

3. Blogging– (This is where I would focus most of your time)

4. Blog comments

5. Industry sites

6. Twitter

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Blogging Basics • Blog Stats* Websites that

have a blog have 55% more website traffic

• 92% more inbound links

• Common Blog Platforms

• Wordpress, Blogger, Typedpad

• Tips:

• Publish posts weekly to bi-weekly.

• Stay on topic

• Host Blog on subdomain or subdirectory of website:

• Example:

• blog.realestatenow.com or

• www.realestatenow/blog

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Blogging- How to Optimize Posts

1. Optimize Post by (1) keyword phrase

• Example to the Right (Mobile Search)

2. Title of the post: include keyword

phrase-

• (5 Mobile Search Behaviors)

3. Content Overview

• Stick to (1) Topic for whole post

4. Utilize SEO on-page best practices for

post:

• Use keyword phrase frequently, but not

too much to effect readability

• Bold keyword phrase

• Use bullets points and lists

• Use keyword phrase in H1 headings

• Alt Tags any images that may be

included

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Local Search • About 20% of all

Searches are local

based.

• Main Local Listing is:

• Google Places

• Others Include:

• Yelp, Yahoo Local,

BOTW, Bing Business

Portal

• How to Claim- Google

Places:

• Claim by phone, text,

postcard.

• Optimize your profile for up

to 5 categories and related

terms.

• Use photos to tell story

• Pick Categories that make

sense and are relevant

• High Volume

• Low Competition

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Local Results

Paid Ads 1-3 and 4-7

Local Results (“7 pack”)

How to Claim

Organic Results- SEO

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Google Places

Categories

Reviews

Description SEO

Edit Listing Check if verified

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Reviews • Once your Google Places

listing is claimed, encourage

past and current clients to

give you a review.

• Do it gradually thought to

spread out reviews

• Share link to your Google

Places page on Business

Cards, Your website or any

other collateral.

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Search Engine Marketing Overview

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Example Objective:

Drive qualified leads to a conversion point

Like a landing page (s)

Objective: I’m looking to increase amount of showings for my

properties in Maple Grove by targeting people that are

looking for what I’m selling in the next 6 months.

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How Search Engine Marketing Works

1. Customers search for your business,

product, or service

2. Your ad appears at the top of

relevant search returns

3. Customers click the ad to visit your

site

4. You pay for clicks

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Converting Prospects to Leads

Why Use Lead Collection Tools?

• Don’t lose potential leads that have searched for you

• With our lead collection tools, you’ll never miss a call or

e-mail lead that’s been generated

What Lead Collection Tools Are Available?

We’ll build a turn-key replica of your web site, called a

“proxy site” and add:

• In-Form: a customizable lead form that appears on every page

• Call Analytics: 3 unique phone numbers that allows you to track and record customer calls

• Leads Dashboard: All leads are accessible through a web dashboard

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Easy-to-understand reporting and analysis

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All The Details You Need

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SEM Process/ Research 1. Campaign Kick-off

2. Keyword Research-

3. Landing pages Design

4. 2 weeks go live and 4 weeks ads will be fully serving

5. Monthly meetings by phone or in-person

• Identify high performing keywords, high volume and conversion

opportunities

• Remove underperforming keyword and A/B test

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SEM Process Diagram (1,2…) 1. User types in keyword

2. Ads are Served (User clicks)

Paid Spots (SEM) 1-3

Paid spots 4,5,6,7

Clicks

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SEM Process 3, 4 3. Landing Page (s) based on content area • Form fills are tracked • Calls are recorded • Clicks from landing page to website are recorded

Realtor Landing Page-Example

Thank you for your submission someone

will be in contact in 24 hrs.

4. Thank you Page --Emails will be sent every time Form or call is completed from landing page

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Upcoming Trends Mobile, Mobile, Mobile •Mobile Friendly Site Development •A Mobile First philosophy

Rich Snippets- Increase in usage Pulling in Data like reviews, listings Events, recipes into Search Results

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Continued… Social Integration with Search

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Questions?