You’ll discover tons of money-making tips on search at SearchEngineWatch.com (SEW). And just last week (February 4-5, 2016), SEW held a conference in Miami called Connect.
They just posted a nice list of the 50 most insightful takeaways tweeted during the conference. Here are some of those insights with my comments after each. The tweets are in italics and written in response to the speaker listed first. Then my comments follow on how you can use these observations to optimize your website and social media marketing.
Speaker, Daniel Loebl on customer-centricity
Search Engine Watch tweeted this quote from Daniel’s speech: “you cannot decide if you’re customer-centric on your own. Your customers will tell you.”
Are you a business owner or marketing professional wondering whether you should go full boat into online marketing? Daniel Loebl is right, the decision has already been made…by your customers. That’s because EVERYONE searches online! If you’re not online with smart strategies and visitor-centric, engaging content, your competitors will be. And you will be left out.
Stephanie Wallace from Nebo Agency
Amanda Dodge tweeted: When a paid ad & organic result show on the same page, CTR (Click Through Rate) increases 20%. Collaboration not cannibalization.
I didn’t know this before and am very happy for the insight. This is one thing about organic (free) content-generated search as opposed to Pay Per Click (PPC) that has bothered me. If I can get my client’s site to rank on page #1 of Google with my visitor-centric, useful content, why should we pay for an ad that appears on the same page?
As I work more with PPC for clients, I’m seeing that for very little money and with the right wording in the ads, huge CTRs are possible. To know that our paid ads actually complement our organic search by up to 20% is a benny I’m very happy to take advantage of.
Carl Larson, AT&T and Travis Tillotson, Surgo Group, on mobile search
Kelly Shelton tweets: eMarketer predicts mobile advertising will surpass desktop advertising in 2016 at around $40 billion.
Have you invested in responsive web design (RWD) for your website? With RWD your site provides an optimal viewing experience both on a desktop computer and mobile phone, tablet etc. You should start looking into this now.
Eric Enge, Stone Temple Consulting on content effectiveness optimization
Marc Engelsman tweeted: Content optimization requires understanding of search intent and delivering on it.
Exactly! It is so difficult for business owners and marketing professionals to get over their “brochure mentality.” This is a slide into old school thinking, talking about themselves online. I call it “corporate we we.” An optimized website answers the questions visitors bring to it. It’s all about what your visitor intends when they search: what are they looking for, what are they asking.
Collin Colburn, Forrester, on the evolution of search to discovery marketing.
Marc Engelsman tweeted: Forrester’s approach to search is “discovery marketing” – WHO (what, how, offer) framework.
Discovery marketing is a new term for me. I like it. It’s customer centric as you picture yourself searching online and discovering things you didn’t know or answers you’re looking for. The idea is that you SEO your site based on what your prospects want to discover. Check out this post at SEW on Discovery Marketing.
Larry Kim, Wordstream, on paid social ads
Search Engine Watch tweeted: Use paid social ads like a Firestarter or an accelerant. You don’t have to spend much.
How does two Facebook ads and 2,468 hits to my client’s website in January sound? Pretty good, huh. Well written and targeted social ads work!
Erin Everhart, Home Depot, on moment based marketing
Lisa Weinberger tweeted: We’re not competing for media placements anymore, we’re competing for attention.
With traditional advertising, you push your message out into the marketplace via paid media: TV, radio, print. Online, your prospects find you! And you don’t have to rent the media, you own it, ie your website, social media pages, and blog posts.
The key in today’s marketplace is get attention. You want your prospects to find you, not your competition, when they’re ready to buy.
Avinash Kaushik, Google, on driving innovation from customer intent and his slide, 1. Entertain Me, 2. Inform Me, and 3. Provide Utility
Search Engine Watch tweeted: If you solve these three things, you’ll finally stop sucking at social media.
Not that I think you suck at social media. But I will say that it is not easy entertaining, informing, and being useful online. It takes as complete an understanding of your customers as you can get. And, you’ve got to think about them, not you. Plus, a knack for writing comedy doesn’t hurt! (Brain Droppings by George Carlin)
Customer focus, getting attention, and great content add up to success in the online marketplace of 2016. Thanks to Search Engine Watch for these tips on search. And if you need help, get in touch and we’ll talk about your business making money getting attention on social media and leads from your website.
Until next time,
Nick
Nick Burns is an SEO web writer specializing in persuasive copywriting and content marketing. He provides clients a winning content strategy plus the special web writing to make it work. You can contact Nick here.
