Which Source Do You Satisfy?

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Which Source Do You Satisfy?

An SEM Question...

Should you focus your search campaign on Google and just Google? ... or try to optimize for all the engines?

I lean towards ranking well in Google first... after all it is the 400 lbs. gorilla of the engines. So work to please their algorithm and the rest be damned?

That's not want I am saying. Let's take a step back. What is working on your site?

Look to your metrics... where is the traffic coming from?

What is converting the highest?

Regardless of the medium, be it search engines or social media communities or affiliate marketing, first follow the traffic. Look at the Search Engine Referrals. If you get your traffic mainly from Yahoo... then you need to push your optimization just for Yahoo and the rest be damned?

That is not what I'm saying either.

Traffic is great, but conversions are better. What manes are converting the best?

That is what your campaign should go after. And don't obsess about individual ranking on its face. In other words, you might have great top 5 ranking on Yahoo but what if your MSN ranking of #24 brings in twice as many names or paid subs? Smarter to then optimize for MSN, right?

I always say "..the answers are in the numbers."

You need to review your logs and go with what your goals are... be it traffic, free names or sales.

Generally speaking... in most cases Google is King. Google is the webs most used engine so it's probably going to be Google that you need to optimize pages for.

But I hate relying on just one source... so I suggest mixing it up a bit. Optimize some pages for Yahoo, some for MSN & some for Google. And then check your web logs and see the results - they may surprise you.

Some are afraid to test their optimization techniques in fear that it might work moderately well in Yahoo & MSN - but push them down to the mid-hundreds in the cash cow Google. But that is why we test, right?

Heck, if it brings in twice as many names... who cares! It's not about ego of ranking its about achieving your conversion goals.

AND...

You never know for sure until you test it. In fact you just might find an even better way to optimize!

CVoD Golden Moments...

"You want with your search strategy to accelerate what happens in nature but not to mutate or bastardized it."
~ Andrew Palmer, 12.12.07 -
How Are Your Link Neighbors?

"Friend's don't let friends... spam."
~ Andrew Palmer, 11.04.07 -
Newbies, Spam & Vikings

"Don't throw away any valuable content. Put it to work for you... get more life out of the words you write."
~ Andrew Palmer, 10.15.07 -
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

"...we take our visitors by the hand, show them what we want to show them, and on every page lead them to our offer."
~ Andrew Palmer, 09.30.07 -
Build Online and Off

"Testing gives us the numbers to see if we are wasting our time and money. It will allow us to improve our conversion rate and acquire subs at a lower CPA, thus improving our ROI."
~ Andrew Palmer, 06.11.07 -
Hit Often, And For Average

"...it's all about landing page copy. It is the conversion of this one page (or versions of it) that will make or break your cost per acquisition and ROI."
~ Andrew Palmer, 05.07.07 -
Marketing And IT

"...the Internet added features such as file transfer, email, Usenet news, HTML, and eventually a place to view people having sex with dogs!"
~ Andrew Palmer, 03.03.07 -
Why We Are Here

"Oh sweet Google. Our love hate relationship continues... and today, would you be my valentine?"
~ Andrew Palmer, 02.16.07 -
Speechless

"...the questions and the answers that you need to base your business on are always in the numbers… be it your P&L’s, name collection efforts, or your web site traffic."
~ Andrew Palmer, 02.08.07 -
Web Analytics and Goju Ryu

"...give them more than they asked for. Give them more than they expected."
~ Andrew Palmer, 11.29.06 -
Why is FREE important?

Who is Andrew Palmer?

An innovator with a proven track record of successfully managing multi-channel marketing campaigns, this pacesetter has cross-functional expertise in Direct Response Marketing, Email Marketing, List and Relationship Building, Search Engine Optimization (Organic & Paid), Affiliate Marketing, Market Analysis & Competitive Intelligence and Web Analytics & Reporting.

A licensed California attorney, Mr. Palmer gave up the practice of law to enter the fast paced field of online/email marketing. Experienced in providing executive level assistance for law firms, non-profits and publishing companies, he deems leadership, management development, and innovation of marketable web initiatives as his strengths. Andrew has advanced degrees in Law and International Business and is a multiple graduate of University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law. His career has taken him throughout Europe and Asia, with extensive time developing new markets in China.

CVoD Quotes to Remember

"...a good business doesn't fight the power, it uses the power to it's advantage. "
Andrew Palmer, 12.12.07 -
How Are Your Link Neighbors?

"...the best description is that Google has grown into the electronic center of human knowledge. That's cool."
~ Andrew Palmer, 09.28.07 -
Happy Birthday Google

"...be it landing page copy or video creative it all comes down quality copywriting."
~ Andrew Palmer, 06.12.07 -
Future Thinking Video

"...Think of the mind set the Google bot has... it's not giving you points for great colors, or a flash intro... you must think like a computer. Think substance over glitter, shine or sparkle."
~ Andrew Palmer, 04.28.07
Are You Google Visible?

"...I know with 100% certainty that when I hit "send" my message arrives as intended. It's readable, content driven and ultimately leads to sale. It's the power of simple text."
~ Andrew Palmer, 04.03.07
Clarity, Not Chaos

"… Spam is all perception... there is no due process. No do-overs or Mulligans. It's often all about the first impression. And if the first impression to your new to file
reader is that of a spammer... there is no changing it."
~ Andrew Palmer, 03.13.07
Spikes, But Sorry, No Mulligans

"...you need to protect your site from link partners who might be using 'no follow' to cheat you. You'd be surprised how aggressive some marketers are and how some are willing to go into black-hat or rather gray-hat territory - charcoal gray - to improve site listings."
~ Andrew Palmer, 02.02.07
Do You Follow or No Follow?

Create Value or Die (CVoD) - Andrew Palmer

Thursday, January 25, 2007