Why you need Search Marketing and you probably didn’t know it

Many organisations approach Online Marketing and Web Design/Development, as two seperate entities, and often this is translated into the development of new sites in particular. New sites will be developed and then potential online marketing partners (such as SEO specialists or Paid Search management specialists) may be approached on completion of the site to market the site (and lets be honest there are still a number of organisations that dont even do this). However how early should you start thinking about your online marketing. Well, from the very start, and heres why….
Domain Strategies

We recently undertook a pitch for a client, whose strategy entailed a number of very random domains, whose very existance was not based on functionality, requirements or merely targeting, more on lack of awareness of the web and how they could best maximise not only visibility but conversion

This was an extreme case but it did highlight a number of areas in which SEO experts play an important part as early on as the concept stage of a web design project. For example:

• Which URL is best to use from an SEO perspective
• Is this URL acceptable from a user pespective (I know us SEO’s love hyphens - but this strategy should only be considered where you have the non-hyphenated domain as well - IMO the shorter the domain the better)
• Which URL is to be the primary domain
• Acceptable use of canonical domains - Matt Cutts (from Google) wrote a very good blog on SEO URL canonicalisation on his blog quite a while back
• Correct usage of domains - From a technical perspective - it still amazes me how many people dont correctly implement this correctly. For example use ‘mysite.com’. Most developers will remember to setup the www.mysite.com - but what about mysite.com (note no www). Correctly implementing this part of your domain is not only good from a user perspective (users not typing in www can still find your site), but also from a search engine perspective as Google et al are all presented just one ‘copy’ of your site - not two.

Good domain management is not just limited to sites/organisations with an existing online presence. This is even more the case for new websites. I was recently talking to a web development colleague regarding a site they were looking after where the decision was made to create a brand new domain (and redirect the existing site with good search engine visibility). Unfortunately the SEO in particular was not considered, and subsequently the new site disappeared from the search engines. They are now addressing this iissue, but surely it wouild have been easier to think about this from the very beginning!

User/Search Engine Management

Guiding users to your website is fundamental to online marketing, no matter whether it is a behavioural or SEO based campaign. However unlike in Paid Search, and Behavioural activity, Search Engine Optimisation is reliant on third party activity, and thus even the best laid strategies can come unstuck if all aspects have not been considered.

This is particularly the case where a new site has replaced a legacy site, along with a new hierachiel structure, and page naming convention. Here a well structured SEO campaign can pay handsomely, redirecting both search engine spiders and users to the correct pages. This is often a part of web development, often neglected by the web development companies and one that can mean a lot of problems. For example, what about those users entering your site via a bookmarked page that no longer exists. A 301 from the old page to the new page will direct those users through to the replacement page. However at the very least, implement a bespoke 404.

Secondly, and maybe a little more contentious. Search Marketing agencies rely on stats for a number of reasons

• See what channels browsers are coming from
• See what terms browsers are coming into the site from
• Measure the effectiveness of their channel against existing/benchmarked channels.
• however one often missed aspect is - how are users using your site - what do they do when they get to your site, and why … which leads us on to

Conversion

I was recently presented with the existing statistics of a client we are now working with. The client had previously worked with a very big media agency (no names obviously mentioned), but despite a significant outlay (circa £50K) the total number of online conversions was 6. The client in question admittedly does work in a congested market, however a CPA of just under £10000 seems a bit high.

However one aspect of the client was their website. Whichever way you look at it, Online Marketing in nealy all cases is reliant on the website, either to further inform or convert customers. A badly delivered website won’t convert, just as irrelevant traffic won’t convert, and therefore all aspects of your online mix need to be considered if your online marketing strategy is to work effectively and deliver a cost-effective marketing channel for your organisation. This is particularly the case, with smaller organisations which can’t rely on brand power to make up for any issues there may be in the conversion funnel

Online Marketing needs to be considered right from the very beginning, probably even before your website has been considered. These days with digital spend and therefore digital awareness rising, you can’t afford to get it wrong….

Add comment January 20th, 2008