I had the opportunity to attend a Google Business webinar last week hosted by Avinash Kaushik. The topic was outcome driven digital marketing. Avinash divided web marketing skill sets into three stages.

Cute Toddler: When web marketers are in this stage they are focused on cost; tracking things like clicks and impressions to figure out the cost per conversion/acquisition. At this level, tracking is implemented like Google Analytics but is only used to see the basics like traffic volume, most visited pages, bounce rates, and conversions.

Rockin’ Teenager: As your web marketing skills grow and develop, you start to focus on revenue instead of just cost. If your site has e-Commerce, this is especially important. At this stage you’re also probably using Pay-Per-Click advertising. Creating advanced segments in Google Analytics will start painting a clearer picture of how your visitors interact with the conversion path. Also, linking your analytics with you Adwords (or other PPC) account allows you to start looking at not only cost-per-click, but revenue-per-click. You can now factor in cost of goods sold to find net profit.

Ninja: After mastering the skills above, you are now in the ninja stage. You understand analytics and know how to calculate revenue but now you’re onto something much bigger…value. Ninjas hunt for what’s beyond the basics and try to unite web marketing with total marketing efforts. In addition to major conversion points like purchases, ninjas track customer value by tracking minor conversions like email submissions, catalog requests, loyalty programs, and social media. Using data gathered from the web and from traditional marketing, ninjas can estimate not only cost and revenue per acquisition/conversion but total value to the company.

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My Thoughts: I was extremely pleased to learn that our Web Marketing team here at Beacon is packed with skilled ninjas. We become partners with each and every client in order to reach the most sophisticated level of understanding and achieve powerful results. If you want the best in Web Marketing, hire the ninjas! 

Recently I have had the opportunity to make really exciting and interactive web pages using jQuery. Before working on these projects I had very little understanding of jQuery and what all it could be used for. So I decided to do some research on what the benefits are of using jQuery over other applications such as conventional JavaScript and wanted to see what all I can build using it. Basically you can do almost anything with jQuery to make effects and animation on your site and still be SEO friendly and cross browser compliant.  But those aren’t the only benefits….

What is jQuery?

“jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development. jQuery is designed to change the way that you write JavaScript.” http://jquery.com/

Benefits of using jQuery:

• Search Engine Optimized – While search engines are getting better at being able to read content within some Flash, everything within jQuery is setup as text. This means it is completely readable to all the search engines, exposing all your keyword rich content.
• Save Time – Five lines of jQuery are equivalent to 25 lines of conventional JavaScript code. This means smaller files and faster loading web pages.
• Plug-ins – There are an abundance of plug-ins on the web that make creating special effects simple and fast for web developers.
• Help? – With an abundance of plug-ins comes with an abundance of help. There is a large helpful support community on the web to help you quickly remedy any bug issues.
• That was easy! – jQuery has easy implementation for web developers in comparison to other applications.
• Cross Browser Friendly – jQuery is currently the most popular JavaScript library and works in all browsers.
• FREE! – free, open source software.
• Mobile Devices – jQuery is supported by any mobile device whose web browser supports JavaScript. A lot of mobile devices like iPads and iPhones don’t run Flash at all.
• Simplifies AJAX
• Wow Factor – Web developers use jQuery to make web pages more exciting, interactive, cleaner, and more user friendly. Make your users go WOW!

jQuery in action! A few examples of jQuery Usage

• Rotating Image Slider
• Interactive Google Map
• Animated Content Menu
• Slide Effects
• Slider Gallery
• Photobar Gallery
• Slideshow Gallery
• Mobile Image Gallery Web App
• Content Slider
• Photo Zoom Out Effect

Coming into this first week, I was not very familiar with web marketing or search engine optimization (SEO).  I had heard of both terms and I could describe what they were on a very basic level.  Basically, if I were asked what they meant, I would have simply defined them as the following:

*Web Marketing – Marketing online through use of websites and social media sites

*SEO – Making your website appear higher in Google, Yahoo!, Bing, and other searches

Over the past two and a half days, I have spent the better part of my 20 hours a week here at Beacon Technologies (Beacon) reading blog after blog on what SEO really is and how it is done.  I had heard of Google Analytics (GA) through a friend of mine, but I had never had any exposure to it nor a reason to research it further than the few discussions we shared.  All I can say about GA is that I am amazed at the simplistic complexity of it.  On the surface, it seems very intuitive.  You can track information regarding visitors to your websites such as if it was their first time visiting or if they were a return visitor.  At the same time, GA allows you to dive much deeper into statistics.  The complexity of GA comes from designing filters and goals to determine exactly what information you are after.  From what I can tell, almost anything you wish to know about visits to your websites is obtainable in GA.  All you have to do is think it and visualize how to find it.

This week, I have also been able to sit in on meetings and brainstorming sessions.  I feel like this is the best part of the week so far.  Coming in with little knowledge of the services Beacon provides is a little unnerving.  However, all the people here have really made an effort to take time to explain things to me as well as treat me as an equal part of the web marketing team.  It’s a comforting feeling to go into something new and know that the people there are ready and willing to help you and guide you along the way.  Also, before I even started, Beacon had already set up everything I needed to integrate with the team.  There was a cube with a computer, phone, and the other essentials already in place for me.  In addition to that, Beacon had already set up all of my internal accounts such as email, network access, and etcetera.

As I am wrapping up week one, I feel confident in what is expected of me as well as how to accomplish the tasks at hand.  Thanks to the large amount of reading and videos I’ve watched on GA, Google AdWords and other resources, I am ready to hit the ground running next week.  It doesn’t hurt that I know that I have several people that I can go to for advice if I get stumped either.

Despite the fast paced world of SEO, many decision makers and analysts have a hard time dealing with change.  It is my goal to help you feeling more comfortable with the updated version of GA (still in Beta mode), because whether you like it or not- the older version will be going away.

The newer version allows for users to create up to 20 custom dashboards, each with up to 12 widget sections to be used.  The four types of widget options are metric, timeline, pie chart, and table.

• Metric: Shows the value of a metric and an information graphic of that metric over the selected time period
• Timeline: A graph of any metric over time. You can also compare two metrics in the same graph.
• Pie Chart: Best suited for displaying breakdowns of a metric by a certain dimension. E.g., Visits by Browser Type.
• Table: Think of this as a mini-custom report. You can show one dimension with two metrics and up to 10 rows of data in a table.

The option to have 20 customizable dashboards each with their own ‘quick stats’ widget sections is extremely beneficial for agencies and organizations with multiple people looking at a multitude of metrics.  It will provide faster results when filtering and has a clean looking user interface.

Another cool feature getting a lot of positive press is their new interactivity goal tracking within the reporting feature.  This allows you to have GA track file downloads to improve your products. Charts of your statistics can be analyzed over time on graphs, and a simple toggle between multiple profiles cuts down on confusion when going through the site.

Embrace change, especially when the benefits are great my analytics friends!  You can currently switch back and forth from the current version to the new version of GA by clicking on the option displayed in the top right ‘quick clicks section.’

Beacon Technologies, Inc. has an immediate opening for an experienced Web Marketing Specialist / Consultant. Since Beacon Technologies partners with Google as a Google Analytics Certified Partner, experience with Google Analytics & Google Adwords is a big plus. This is an excellent opportunity to join a strong, growing team of web marketing professionals. The ideal candidate will have the analytical skills, technical experience, business acumen and people skills to successfully manage client accounts and contribute to the growth and knowledge of our Internet Marketing Team.

The Web Marketing Specialist will perform the following:
Collaborate with customers to develop effective internet marketing strategies.
Setup, monitor and tune organic placement (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC), and social media campaigns.
Utilize Google Analytics to shape SEM strategies and maximize ROI.
Provide regular written reports for custom-defined performance metrics for each customer account.
Provide Google Analytics consultation to customers
Assist Sales & Marketing by providing high-level analyses for prospective customers
Attend and participate in search engine marketing trade shows and seminars.
Full Job Details on CareerBuilder.com

Get ready everyone because having a +1 is no longer just for party RSVP’s.  Recently, Google launched their new +1 button on Google search to allow users who are fans of your business to click to recommend your paid ads for all of their friends and contacts to see.  This feature, which to me is their attempt to one-up Facebook’s like button, has already started popping up, and will continue to increase in visibility over the next few weeks.  In order to see the +1’s attached to the organic listings and paid ads, you must be signed-in to Google and not using IE7 or any earlier version of IE.

This popularity feature is the next step that Google is taking to help their searchers see more relevant results, while helping businesses continue to gain better qualified traffic.  And, it doesn’t end with paid ads because soon you will have the option to include these +1 buttons to your website’s pages to make it even easier for people to approve and validate your content.  This personal annotation of “+1’ing” something is the next step since Google opening admitted to using data from social services, such as Twitter and Flickr, as signals in organic search rankings.

So far, Google says that quality score and ad rankings will not be impacted by the +1’s.  Hopefully the buttons will contribute to better click-through rate for paid ads since the personal annotations will increase user confidence to click on the ads if their friends, family, and colleagues already approve.  You will also be able to track the number of +1’s your campaigns are getting within the Adwords interface.

To sign up for email updates with more information about this button go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/+1button.

Need a lift in online sales or inbound leads? Now’s the time to get more from your website by taking advantage of this special introductory offer.  For only $1875/month we’ll put together a custom web marketing plan that will effectively reach your target clientele through multiple channels.

If you’re interested in learning more or want to speak with us, click here.

Why should you optimize your videos for search?  Because search is the #1 referrer to web videos, that’s why.  A video is 50 times more likely than a text page on the same topic to appear on Google’s first page of search results (Forrester Research: The Easiest Way to a First-Page Ranking on Google, January 2009).

To get the best results within the search engines, make sure you upload your videos into your website as well as your YouTube channel or blog.  Videos are a natural link builder and this backlink will help increase the juice flowing to your website.  The more places you upload, the better.  Make sure the name of the video matches the title tag of the page, and that your video is no longer than 2 minutes to keep your audience engaged.  Surround your videos with keyword-dense content and or a summary section as well. If your video will be housed within flash, make sure you have backup content to help the search engine better identify what is there.  I would also recommend having the last frame of the video be your company logo and contact information to increase conversion rates and traffic to your website.

After the video has been posted, test your thumbnails and headlines to see what grabs your audience’s attention to achieve the most optimized results.  As of right now, Video SEO is a long tail kind of approach since Google can’t determine the actual content of the video off only a one word video title.  You are not very likely to see your video for “jeans” in the top search results, but if your video is titled “blue jeans to make my legs look longer” you have an excellent chance of topping the rankings.  If hosted within your company’s website or blog, make sure you have an easy and obvious share button to help your video spread to other social media networking and bookmarking sites.

Many approaches with pay-per-click advertising used today were first applied towards the beginning of the last century by advertising pioneer, Claude C. Hopkins.

In 1923, he published the classic “Scientific Advertising” emphasizing testing and measuring ad campaigns.

Below are some excerpts from his 1927 follow-up book, “My Life in Advertising“.

On Potential Customers:

People are seeking happiness, safety, beauty and contentment. Then show them the way.

All are seeking advantages, improvements, new ways to satisfy desires.

On Calls to Action:

People are dilatory. They defer action, then forget. Many an advertiser loses in that way most of his half-made converts. One cannot afford that.

Aim to get action.

Limited offers of every sort. Something to induce prompt action, to avoid procrastination, is always an important factor.

On Ad Headlines:

Another thing is to learn exactly what sort of headline most appeals. Again and again I multiplied results from an ad by eight or ten by a simple change in headline.

On Ad Content:

Give actual figures, state definite facts. Indefinite claims leave indefinite impressions, and most of them are weak

I have seen many an ad killed by a single unfortunate phrase, indicating ulterior desires which repel. Phrases like “Insist on this brand,” “Avoid imitations,” ”Look out for substitution.” Such appeals have no good effect, and they indicate a motive which buyers cannot sympathize.

Anything which suggests an effort to sell on lines other than merit and service is fatal.

On Capitalization:

Many put their (ad) display lines in all caps. They think they look more prominent. But all our reading is done in upper-and-lower case type. We are accustomed to that.

On Superlatives:

To say that something is “The best in the world” makes no impression whatever. That is an expected claim. The reader may not blame us for exaggeration, but we lose much of his respect. He naturally minimizes whatever else we may say.

On Image Ads:

I am prepared to believe that on some lines, like fruit and desserts, colored pictures may prove profitable. But I know of no line as yet where, on traced returns, they have warranted their extra costs.

On Coupons:

Countless tests have proved that coupons multiply returns. I have seen many tests made by mail-order houses, offering catalogs. Some ads had coupons; some did not. The difference in returns was enormous.

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I certainly recommend perusing the free online editions and gleaning helpful tips for your own advertising pay-per-click campaigns.

There has been some discussion within our web marketing group as to what the most important factors in SEO are.   I’ve always contended that it comes down to two major factors, Relevance and Authority/Quality.    Depending on how competitive the phrase is, the more authoritative your site needs to be to rank but you don’t stand a chance if your page isn’t relevant to begin with.     So with any SEO program, we always start with focusing on creating relevance.   This begins with keyword research to determine what your target market is searching for.  From there, you know what to make your content relevant towards.

First things first…. Is the content indexable?  If not, then don’t worry about anything else.  This takes priority above all else.   Once you can establish this then move on to how relevant your page is.

Relevance:

1. What is the Page’s Title Tag?  Are they relevant to the query and what is the density/order for matched phrase
2. Does the keyword match the anchor text in external links?
3. What keywords are in the internal anchor text
4. How relevant is the URL?  Does it have exact or close matches in the URL structure?
5. Is there a match in the h tags?
6. What is the density of the keyword on the page?
7. How many exact matches can be found on the page?
8. Are their exact matches in the description tags?
9. Does the content qualify for the freshness score?

Authority/Quality:

1. Does the page have high Page Rank?  Does the site have internal structure to pass internal Page rank to it?
2. Does it have external links from relevant authoritative sites?  How many?
3. What is the page’s CTR for query in comparison to standards for that position?
4. Does that clickthrough result in secondary search or secondary result click immediately afterwards?
5. How long has the domain existed
6. How long has the page existed
7. What is the trust score of the domain
8. How many social media links/mentions
9. How old is the domain?
10. Is the domain registered for a long period of time
11. Does it have a lot of non-linked “mentions” across the web.
12. What is the sentiment of those mentions?
13. How many branded searches does the domain receive
14. Is the site hosted on a dedicated server
15. Page Load time

Factors that have Negative influence:

1. Is the page keyword stuffing or madlibbing
2. Is the content duplicated across the site
3. Is the content duplicated across the web
4. Are the meta tags keyword stuffed
5. Does the page have any hidden text
6. Is the page cloaked?
7. Is the URL extremely long and transactional?
8. Does the domain have any penalties
9. Is there a link buying penalty
10. Has the directory been penalized

The interesting thing is that just one negative factor can negate all the other work you’ve done.  If you have a penalty on the domain, no matter your efforts in producing authority or relevance, you may be pigeon-holed to below the first 3 pages.

You can submit a reconsideration request if this is the case, but this rarely has any effect.   Google will not respond to your request directly to let you know whether your assumptions are correct or whether they will do anything about it.

Ultimately there are over 200 factors that go into the algorithm but you really want to focus on the ones that are going to produce the most for your time.    It also seems as though Google is placing more emphasis on factors that are less controllable such as internal historical data such as CTR and secondary searches which indicate quality.

What should you take away from this post?  Google is getting smarter, naturally.  They are placing more emphasis on factors that can’t be manipulated.  This gives them better control at fighting spammers and ultimately the quality of their search engine results.   This also means bigger brands that have more recognition are going to be favored due to CTR and overall mentions.  However, the small guy has an advantage as well when it comes to relevance.  Often times, big corporations have extremely complex websites that make it much more difficult to manage the factors that influence relevance.