Information and Opinions on Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing
Justin pointed this out to me earlier today and it’s seemingly true on a few domains we’ve been checking and messing with… Is this the start of the quarterly PageRank update?
Boogers… No news really hitting the other sites on this. Chalk it up to a false alarm?
Apparently today is the day to discuss landing pages. At the office we’ve been proactive in studying landing pages for both organic and paid search purposes. Hell, we even launched a long awaited microsite for our clients to profit from…. though, it did come about three months after we had hoped.
Why? Because landing page optimization and design is critical… and when you get it right, you cash in big time.
So, here are some links that all crossed my Google Reader this morning that are worth checking out:
Each of the above highlight various areas to focus on. Rather than just regurgitate this information though, I’d like to discuss the “Provide Something Free” tip from Fleischner and how it has impacted our performance.
Here is what Fleischner offers on the point:
Encourage action by offering something free in exchange for name and
email address. If you’re actually selling a product from your page,
consider giving added bonuses for making a purchase. The more you offer
at the price point you’ve identified, the more value you create for
your potential customer.
Good, valid points — but there’s a bigger issue at hand… you’re missing an easy opportunity to snag vital visitor information. When you go grocery shopping, you love seeing the little taste testing stations, right? Well, the same principle applies here — with the results magnified.
At the market, you inhale the free food and your on your way. It may have been so great, you were prompted to buy it. If not, and it was horrible — you walk away and never associate with the product again.
But that cannot happen with free things given to you online… Unless the marketer is brainless. If you come to my web site and I’m selling green widgets, and I’m willing to give you a free tutorial on how to make the most of your green widgets — you’re going to jump at it. And even if you don’t buy a green widget from me, I’ve been successful… I got you engaged in something.
What if my tutorials were awful? What if you were hoping for so much more? Inevitably, I have your contact information… and for that, you’ll be marketed towards. You can’t walk away. You can’t act like you never came by. You did, you acted upon an interest — and that was recorded.
And that’s the real goal, isn’t it? A landing page is in place to convert someone for the sake of your business or growth. While my personal experience is to simplify landing pages as much as possible, providing a free promo of one kind or another is a necessary evil. Capturing that elusive contact information, especially if you’re pushing the visitor to a third party — is critical.
You can walk away from the supermarket samples… but you’ll have to delete all the mail sent your way from a landing page freebie.
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Like so many other things in this world, our success can truly be defined only by our perception. If a valued client of ours tells us that we have failed — we have one of two choices for a response.
First, we can side with them and agree that failure has been the result. Or, we could fight to force upon a new perception — one where a favorable outcome is shared by all.
We’re marketing folks though, so we know how to work the angles, skew the numbers, and buy ourselves time. Before getting too far into my post though, I would invite you to review the videos of Julian Beever — a brilliant mind who illustrates the power of perception more dramatically than I have ever seen.
Understanding Point of View
As you watch the above video, consider how all of Julian’s work is done with one single point of view in mind. If viewed from the side, upside down, or in partial view… the results are horrifying. Information is bent out of proportion, things look disastrous and his time and efforts seem pointless.
When you look through the single point of view though, things become crystal clear. And while others may not see exactly what you see — it is this point of view that had determined the success of Julian’s work.
For me, grasping this fact was actually a challenge. For years I’ve been providing SEO services, reporting and analytical summaries to clients from two perspectives. First — I needed to prove my effectiveness and value. Secondarily, I would show how my client’s goals were addressed and assume that was enough to continue a business relationship.
Over time though, clients drop off… Results pale to initial efforts… and efforts feel as though they have gone wasted.
As marketing professionals, it should be our passion and responsibility to communicate with clients to the point where we are viewing and determining success from a shared point of view.
Are the Client’s Always Right?
Clients are always right in that they know how to manage their business. They know who and how to sell their products or services to, and they hire us to help increase results for them by tapping the power of the search industry.
On the surface, that process is simple to understand.
Digging deeper though, there’s an inherent need to educate our clients on how to properly measure success when it comes to search marketing. Are visitors the be-all, end-all statistic? Of course not — because all the visitors in the world, if gathered from low quality sources, will do nothing for the client. On the flip side of that coin, if you begin measuring only conversions — you assume the responsibility of being accountable for poor sales copy, sales processes and pricing.
In the end you need to work with your client to determine the shared point of view. It is from that single point of view that true success can be determined. So, before you fire off a defensive report that helps to prove your effectiveness — sit back, pick up the phone, and communicate with your client. Focus to find that point of view and work together to grow the results of your efforts.
And always remember the efforts of Julian Beever. He boasts an incredible mind, and one that illustrates this example perfectly.
I’m sitting right now in the corner cafe of a Barnes and Noble store in Warwick Rhode Island. I’m heading off to meet up with my brother in law for a tux fitting for his wedding, but I’m passing some time now to get caught up with things on the laptop.
As I sit here though, drinking my green tea and eating my Asiago Cheese Pretzel, I’m struck by the diversity of people approaching the counter.
Trying to match the people I view to an online demographic is impossible. The Starbucks and Barnes and Noble pairing literally matches up with anyone looking to relax a bit and do something for themselves.
There was a professional who came in, dressed in business casual wear who ordered a black coffee from the bar. Next was a middle aged woman who ordered some snack from the sweets case, and matched that with a Caramel Macchiato.
And just now, a young couple no more than 20 years old or so approached the bar. It’s these two that I can identify most with, despite the fact that I’m sitting in my same business casual attire, drinking green tea, approaching 30 years of age.
I’m not at all like them. They’re nervously talking about anything to please the other, all the while standing amidst awkward silences. I’m a husband, a father, and working for a Fortune 500.
Our outlook though, much like that of everyone else here today — is all about one thing. Personal goals. I come here for an introspective look on things… For some time in isolation where I can zone out and do things. The businessman is in the corner reading the paper, and the middle aged woman is browsing a magazine and passing some time.
And in the end, we’ll all leave here happy.
There’s something to be said then about the environment. There’s music in the background, things to buy all around us — yet we’re calmly sitting back, enjoying ourselves and spending no more than $5 on average.
As a business, these are powerhouses in action — and it’s a tremendous sight to see. There are marketing and branding messages around us all, where I’m willing to bet millions of dollars were spent to match up the right messages with the right products. The right demographics with the right location… Right down to the mix of music being played softly over the speakers.
Ultimately though, the success of this can be defined by our enjoyment of the atmosphere. Everything here is so casual that it’s almost unnoticed. Sure, we know we’re in a store — but the subtlety of it all is impressive.
I’ve got to pack things up and head out to meet up with everyone… It’s the proper way to be the best man. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll get a refill on the green tea and tip the counter for a quality lesson in marketing.
Having caught Dan Crow’s initial mention last week of the unavailable_after META tag, I was pleased to see Barry do some due diligence and hook us up with some more quality information.
As is often the case, you’ll never get a copy of a Google engineers presentation… Barry managed to get some examples of how to put this tag to use in his post over on SearchEngineLand called More Info On Google’s Unavailable After Meta Tag & New X-Robots-Tag In Header Support.
While the unavailable_after examples are pretty standard stuff, it was also good to see some X-Robots-Tag usage. Quoted from above referenced post on SEL…
Here are examples of how to use the X-Robots-Tag:
Don’t index this document:
X-Robots-Tag: noindex
Don’t show cache or snippet in search results for this file:
X-Robots-Tag: noarchive, nosnippet
Don’t index after a specific date (i.e. the “unavailable_after” tag):
X-Robots-Tag: unavailable_after: 7 Jul 2007 16:30:00 GMT
You can also combine these tags as well.
Danny has more on Meta tags at Meta Robots Tag 101: Blocking Spiders, Cached Pages & More.
I first came across David Wilkinson when he did a guest post over on ShoeMoney’s blog. Since then, I’ve added his RSS feed to my Google Reader, and I’m anxiously awaiting his site’s launch.
I’ve always believed that a lot can be learned with regards to search, and at 13 years of age — this kid is going to bust out.
Give his blog a read and stay tuned to his site. You’ll learn something from what you consider to be a child… and for that, this little man deserves big time props.
Bottom line — even if David turns out to be a 47 year old veteran, he brings some serious information to the table that you need to read and use.
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