If it’s done nothing else, internet search has helped to level the playing field for big and small businesses. Sure, big-biz money helps to pay for television ads and other key strategies for driving up traffic and sales. But when it comes to flexibility, agility, operation costs and speed, the small fish can’t be beat. Large businesses on the other hand take a lot of people to make a decision then a-whole-nother mess of people just to implement it.

In the end a small businesses with a good leader can swim nimbly through any situation whether it be economic, strategic, demand/supply related or anything else. So without further ado, here are the top reasons why the small fish rules the ocean.

ONE: Small Businesses Are for Everyone!
With low start up rates and your choice of business platforms, ideas, inventions, services and products the internet business world is for anyone and everyone with an idea. Innovative and ambitious folks as young as six and as old as… well, I guess as long as you’re not dead you can start a business. Website tools are designed for beginner and intermediate designers alike making website set up easier than ever. All you really need is a computer, internet and a little extra time on your hands.

Computer Economics Inc. of Carlsbad, CA, calculates that approximately 8% of all teenagers in the USA, or about 1.6 million are making at least some kind of income on the internet.

Young Michael Furdyk was only 10 when he started M&S enterprises with his friend, Sean to teach people in their neighborhood how to use their computers. At 16 he sold his first website, MyDesktop.com, for over $1 Million in 1998. Now 26, he is the founder of TakingITGlobal.org which is run by 15 core staff with the help of 50 contractors and “coordinators”. He also consults for several Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft and advocates heavily for Youth IT and Technology Education. Because Furdyk was able to think big, and go big without actually growing big, he was able to dictate where he put his efforts and resources. He was also able to remain flexible and make a quick profit on the turn around of his smaller, less meaningful projects.

TWO: Inexpensive Start up and Maintenance.
If you’re considering putting your business online, don’t think that it needs to be as big or profitable as Furdyk’s. Many online stores have an even less expensive start up and make their owners a reasonable annual living either as a part-time or full time venture.

Take for instance Jessica Jollota of Biddeford, Maine. She started MySilverCrown.net as a place to exhibit and sell her handmade jewelry and gifts. The website startup/maintenance cost is about $15 per month and the sales it generates act as a nice second income.

Worried about the cost of goods, or that wholesale distributers won’t sell to you because your order isn’t big enough? Even wholesalers who would prefer large orders from big retail names, have to recognize when shelf space is getting tighter as more products fill the market. The internet broadens their customer base instantly so it only makes sense to give small, online retailers a good deal on smaller orders.

THREE: Find your niche.
Big businesses need to diversify in order to keep up with business expenses and sustain their profit margins. Small business owners on the other hand, are able to do one thing really well and make a good living for themselves and then some. There’s always holes in the market that are too small for the large companies to deal with in a cost efficient way. Those small holes can mean big profits for a small business owner who is willing to pick it up

One such example is Jibbitz, those little decorative buttons for the popular Croc Shoes. They started out as a fun arts and crafts project for Sheri Schmeizer and her three kids and were soon in demand all over the neighborhood. They knew they had found a unique niche in the Croc market, so the Schmeizers officially launched Jibbitz and in one year they had sold over eight million of them. Since then, Crocs, Inc. has acquired Jibbitz and Mr. and Mrs. Schmeizer operates the wholly owned subsidiary of Crocs Inc. as the President and CEO.

FOUR: Less Stress in Hard Economic Times.
That’s not to say that an economic downturn isn’t stressful or even possibly catastrophic to small businesses. But, thanks to that maneuverability we talked about earlier, small internet businesses or businesses that at least have an internet presence are more likely to come out of those situations intact at least.

When the economy hits a downward spiral, big companies start downsizing and put most of their effort into saving money. Smaller businesses typically have cost effective strategies implemented no matter what the economy is like. The difference is that many small businesses have less overhead to worry about and therefore are running on a wider profit margin than those big corporations. While the big sharks are worrying about their next meal, the little fish is focusing on developing a new niche or territory.

FIVE: Self-Sustaining and Self-Generating Growth.
The amount of revenue a small business brings in determines the level of strategic growth it will undergo or the amount of cutbacks it will have to make. This “bootstrap” strategy (named for the old saying: “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.”) applies to staffing, outsourcing, physical growth as well as the acquisitions and sales of other businesses.

Most successful small e-businesses only have 1-5 employees along with (possibly) some contract workers. (Wikipedia was a prime example of this for a long time.) When your company starts taking on new projects and revenue then increasing staff to accommodate customer/company demands is reasonable. When times are tough it’s much easier (and ethical) for small businesses to let go of one or two employees if necessary, than it is for large corporations to let go of hundreds or thousands of employees.

This theory also applies to internet marketing, SEO and SEM tactics. Pay-Per-Clicks, keywords and other SEO/M tactics are not only inexpensive, but can easily be adjusted according to which keywords, PPC’s or tactics are bringing in the most visit-to-sale conversions. Although it’s always a bad idea to skimp on marketing, having a revenue-centered plan is always a smart idea so that you never go above your budget line.

SIX: The Anti-Growth Strategy
You’re small, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be picky. Sure, some folks think that they should take on every client that comes their way because “every little bit helps” right?”

Wrong! Customers who aren’t making you a lot of money, don’t pay on time or are taking time away from better paying clients aren’t worth your effort! They can actually take away from your bottom line and make it tough for you to operate a successful business.

This is sage advice for many small business: Don’t grow too fast. Make staying small your growth strategy.

CNNMoney.com did a report in October on a small company called “Incredible Foods” run by Jim Christy. About ten years ago Christy landed Starbucks as one of his new accounts.

“They were opening new stores in northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1998 and wanted me to distribute a single product, a crumb cake.” Christy stated.

I think we all remember how fast Starbucks grew over the last ten years. Christy had to hire two employees just to cover all the paperwork and reports for his Starbucks account. Not to mention the fact that he had to dedicate five trucks for delivery to their multiple locations nationwide, pay for gas, insurance, employee benefits, workers comp and still turn out products for his other clients. Starbucks was generating about 48% of his annual sales. However, Christy was uncomfortable with putting 48% of his eggs in one basket. He felt that by cutting the chord with Starbucks, reducing his staff size from 13 to 6, working out of just one office instead of two and focusing on local markets he would be able to run a stronger company.

It was a risk to give up almost half of his revenue, but he was right for doing it. Last year his company made $2.2 million and he expects a 22% increase in revenue for 2009. Incredible Foods is another great example of a company that had the flexibility to take a risk, stay in control and become stronger by staying small.

SEVEN: More Freedom to Form Strategic Partnerships
Recently Yahoo and Google called it quits on their strategic advertising agreement since it may have possibly brought up some antitrust law issues. Even if corporations can steer around any legal issues that arise with forming a partnership, they still are faced with lengthy approval procedures.

Small businesses don’t have that problem since they aren’t big enough to be a threat to anyone. (At least that’s what we want them to believe, right?) Forming partnerships, whether it be for SEO and advertising purposes or just working on a common project or goal together, can be beneficial for everyone involved. Sometimes all it takes is exchanging a short write up and a links to increase each other’s traffic. Want to make a stir with your partnership? Put it in a press release. You can do it because small businesses have the freedom to create strategic partnerships with whomever (and however) they choose.

April O’Keefe, owner of AOK Herbals in Kittery, Maine, started up her small business for just $5000. Her ability to create strategic partnerships with other locally owned companies is one of her primary marketing and advertising resources – her second being word of mouth referrals from clients. Online, O’Keefe benefits from link exchanges and cross-selling of products and services. Offline, they reap the same benefits in addition to being able to work together as strategic partners with the common goal of educating and empowering their clients and the community they serve.

Because this group of local small businesses is able to stick together and form relationships without government regulation, they are stronger as individual businesses. It is a luxury that big businesses are not always able to enjoy.

EIGHT: A More Personal Approach.
This one is obvious. Small businesses often mean more personal service. Although buying from big businesses can have its advantages, most people are getting increasingly tired of becoming just another sale or number. They want to shop in a place (even online, believe it or not) where they can call or email someone with a question and get a “live” person on the other end. They want quick and reliable service from someone, not some company. You, the business owner, are able to deal with difficult situations and questions directly and immediately. Customers appreciate this and show it with loyalty and referrals.

In the last 5-10 years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of local economy and small business support. This is why putting an emphasis on your local area in SEO/M efforts is so important. Customers feel that they are contributing to their country or local economy somehow when they know their purchase is from a local or a small business owner. Put your face on the website. Let your clients know who you are and thank them for supporting your local/small business.

NINE: Adapt and Overcome!
There’s obviously an overarching theme here that large businesses lack the flexibility and control that small business owners have. Part of that is the ability to completely change the direction of your business at the drop of a hat. What you’re selling now, may not turn a profit tomorrow.

Today you may be selling friendship bracelets, tomorrow you could be selling ketchup. It’s that easy because you have the flexibility to flow with the market, and enough control over your company to make key decisions quickly without having to consult with anyone else. How, when and why you decide to go from bracelets to ketchup is completely up to you.

TEN: Strategic Marketing
I don’t know if you’ve ever been witness to a corporation who is either

a) Trying to rebrand itself
b) Trying to change their current online marketing strategy, or…
c) Trying to adopt an online marketing strategy… period.

It takes a team of marketing professionals to come up with an idea that has to be approved by some executive or board. Then of course some website designer, copywriter, consultant, board member or manager will always have an objection so in an effort to please as many people as possible they’ll make adjustments. It can take up to 18 months and it’s relatively painful to watch.

What does your small business strategic online marketing plan involve? You and your consultant. That’s it. Your consultant advises you and you make the final decision. The whole thing will take anywhere from 1-30 days to devise and implement. By the time that big corporation implements their strategic online marketing strategy you would have been reaping the benefits of your new online marketing plan for months.

Popularity: 5%

Yahoo! announced in a press release on November 5th that they are disappointed that Google decided to back out of their advertising agreement proposed back in September. While Google was more easily intimidated by the Department of Justice which had already hired a litigator in order to block the deal, Yahoo! had been trying to work with the DOJ to find a compromise.

Yahoo! President, Sue Decker stated that “Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and we are disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw… rather than defend it in court.”

The agreement was an essential step in strengthening Yahoo! Corporation. It would have allowed Yahoo! to step up their investment, growth and general business strategies. Decker stated in a memo to her employees that although the Google deal would have helped to accelerate their strategy for growth, Yahoo! still has other deals and efforts in the works. She also went on to say that this fall-through does not change “Yahoo!’s commitment to innovation and growth in search.”

She cited the improvements that Yahoo! has undergone including “monetization and driving query growth.” Decker also noted that just in 2008, Yahoo! has added and developed new ranking models, index updates and expansion and fine-tuned their overall performance. “Not surprisingly, we are seeing results, with the company benefitting from strong RPS gains, as discussed in our Q3 earnings call. Further, we are adding search and contextual ad functionalities on a regular basis.”

At a 2.0 conference in San Francisco, there were questions about whether Yahoo! would allow Microsoft to purchase it under the current circumstances. Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang replied, “There’s no new news.” But he also stated that buying Yahoo! at the right price would be the best thing Microsoft could possibly do right now. When asked about a possible purchase of AOL, Yang said that he couldn’t talk about it.

Yang did however talk about his commitment to Yahoo!. “I don’t take my position lightly. It’s a very serious obligation… There has been a lot of change, a lot of people coming and leaving, but the plans we’ve tried to execute against have been done and I’m extremely proud…”

Despite their disappointment, execs at Yahoo! seem to be incredibly optimistic and seem to plan on moving forward aggressively. According to Decker’s memo, Yahoo! is stepping up the “efforts to create a more open, efficient and effective marketplace…” This will mean new tools designed for easier interaction between users, advertisers and publishers. Yahoo! also has plans to lead the way in cutting edge technology advances in order to provide better products, services and platforms for customers. As consumers, business owners, marketing professionals and developers we’ll just have to wait and see where Yahoo! really decides to go from here.

Popularity: 7%

Making social networks personal

You are a part of one or have seen heaps of buzz about them. Social networks are here to stay and are only going to get bigger.

From an advertiser’s perspective it’s pretty hard to grab someone’s attention and keep them focused on your adverts. So many times have I seen companies pour millions of dollars down the drain on social network advertising, in the hope that people will buy their products or services?

So why doesn’t advertising work on social networks?

All the online marketing gurus say it’s about building brand awareness, and it is to some extent. But if you have been in the business long enough, you’ll know that measuring brand effectiveness can be very expensive and time consuming. There are a lot of companies out there that provide these services such as Nielson Buzz Metrics, but be warned – only if you’re willing to spend the big bucks.
Don’t get me wrong, BRAND is important, but like any sales or marketing person will say “Show me the money!”

So how can we leverage off social networks and actually take some ROI?

I have a theory and as cliché as it might sound, it’s about getting personal and understanding the “4 core elements” of personality groups and targeting them based on their characteristics.

If you are a marketer or not, most companies target their databases into areas that are functional, beneficial and emotionally appealing – which is mostly known as the value proposition. But before that is concluded they break their databases down into segments which are usually based on primary and secondary research.

Online segmentation is however measured differently as other elements come into play such as time spent, bounce rates, etc. This can be very difficult to do and is also extremely time consuming.
But what if there were another way to segment and target a core set of consumers online based on your value proposition? I believe you can – through social networks.

I strongly believe that the future of online targeting will be based on a person’s characteristics.

Here are some advantages:

• Personalised communication strategies for campaigns
• Greater understanding of behavioural patterns
• Making each experience relevant, personal and engaging

Now here comes the cliché part, based on astrology (I know, for all you men out here banging your heads against the wall, there is some logic behind this) you can “assume” all people share common characteristics based on their element sign.

These are broken down into 4 elements:

• Fire = Leo, Aries & Sagittarius
Are known to be; irresponsible, impatient, boastful, positive, extraverted, active, creative, ingenious, dynamic, highly energetic, outspoken, fiery temper, passionate, emotionally intense

• Water = Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces
Are known to be; deeply intuitive, imaginative, emotional, reserved, not gregarious, exceedingly passionate, self pity, sensitive, pessimistic, overly vague, secretive

• Earth = Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus
As known to be; stable, practical, realistic, cautious, hard-working, dependable, highly materialistic, inhibited, introverted, down to earth, calm

• Air = Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Are known to be; free spirited, philosophical, intellectual, open minded, idealistic, adventurous, restless, unpredictable, interactive, extraverted, emotionally aloof, opinionated

Even if you don’t believe in astrology – it’s about finding the right set of ‘people characteristics’ for your product or service. Understanding the personality that wants or needs your products or services is important and knowing how to leverage on that.

Because at the end of the day, they will be your distribution channel when it comes to word of mouth or recommending your product or service to other people online and offline.

So having the right personality representing your brand will be just as important as the way you communicate across all channels.

Popularity: 28%

There are two kinds of titles that you should be thinking about: Your web page title and your Headline Title.  They can be separate or one in the same, depending on what kind of website/blog you have.  Both can put you at the top of a search engine list if done right.  

Website and Web Page Titles
Your website title is one of the first things that major search engines look for when ranking your page. When your title and description accurately reflect your content, (which should also be fabulous,) it drastically improves the chances that your web page rank will rise like fresh baked blueberry muffins. That’s not enough though. You’ll also need a website title that’s noticeable and makes people want to know more and click through to your site.

Think local. If your business is in London, make a specific appeal to London and the surrounding area. People all over the world will still want to view your website for its valuable information. However, it makes good business sense to make a local appeal too since people are more comfortable making purchases from companies that are close by.

List your business name and some important keywords in your title. Small and New businesses list keywords first. Larger and well known businesses can list their name before the keywords. i.e.: A small business may write: Best gourmet coffee in Maine at Schmoe’s Joe. While a larger company may say: Schmoe’s Joe: Best gourmet coffee in Maine.

For every page on your website, use a different tagline with keywords that you know people will look for. i.e.: Schmoe’s Joe: About Our Gourmet Coffee Company, Schmoe’s Joe: Buy Gourmet Coffee Online, Schmoe’s Joe: Gourmet Coffee Accessories.

Website titles should be as short as possible. Don’t try to squeeze ten keywords in to one headline. You are more likely to get better results with one or two quality keywords than you will with half a dozen of them. This is mostly due to the fact that web surfers are looking for instant information. They don’t typically read that much into a headline anyway. In order to get lots of quality keywords associated with your site, use the method above and put a different keyword in the title of every page.

Content, Blog and Article Headlines
According to John Caples, author of “Tested Advertising Methods,” There are three major types of titles that attract the most clicks:

1) News Headlines:
It is human nature to seek out information and find out what is happening in their world. News headlines offer objective facts which make readers feel more knowledgeable and in control of their environment. Examples are: “Celebrity Searches Lead to Malware” “New Remote Application Available for iPhone and iPod” and “Buy New Wii at Discount Stores”

2) Curious Monkey:
Everyone has a little curious monkey inside their head distracting them from the task at hand and telling them to click on the video of the skateboarding dog. Headlines like “Cat Declared Hero” “$80M Disaster” or “Bubble Boy Lives!” can get people’s attention pretty quickly.

3) Self Interests:
This is the most effective since readers are interested in things and ideas that they will personally benefit from. It appeals to a need, a want or an ego. For instance: “Learn Spanish in Two Weeks” “Retire Ten Years Early” or “Affordable Mansions”

When appealing to the “self-interest” spectrum, beware of overuse. Consumers and web surfers have become fairly desensitized to marketing and advertising on the internet, if not extremely wary and cynical. Over-sell it and they may think you’re a scam operation. There needs to exist a delicate balance between a quality product and an intelligent, subtle yet strong appeal to their ego and desire. It all comes down to finding what kind of tone your demographic responds to. Do they want something edgy and fresh, subtle and intelligent, or maybe they are more likely to click on a headline that is funny and bizzare

Remember, you don’t have to be #1 on the search engine’s list to get the most clicks.  It’s better to have a few high quality keywords and an appealing headline than a title that is too vague or contains too much information.

Popularity: 30%

According to SEO Guru, Chris Sherman, two thirds of individuals perform online searches based on offline marketing efforts. As a direct result of their online search efforts, 40% of them will end up buying a product or service from that store. In this age of internet marketing, it is still hard for small and medium sized businesses to measure the effectiveness of integrating online marketing efforts into their mix. However, the overall numbers should certainly make it worth a try.

Currently, online retail sales only represent about 4-8% of all purchases made in the USA. That means that the majority of all purchases are still being made from traditional brick and mortar stores. So why should offline retailers focus on online marketing and SEO? Because according to BIGResearch, 89% of offline purchases in 2007 were largely influenced by online research conducted by the consumer. Not only that, but TMP Directional Marketing released research data suggesting that approximately 82% of individuals who use local search engines followed up with some sort of offline action such as an in store visit or a phone call.

Marketing managers are calling this the ROBO effect (Research Online, Buy Offline). And it seems to be more than just a trend. These numbers have been going strong since the inception of search engines and are headed up. In 2007, over $500 billion of offline purchases were influenced by online research. (eMarketer) Jupiter Research estimates that that number will reach $1 trillion in just two short years.

Sherman states that this offline/online research/purchasing pattern is a “vicious circle.” Effective offline marketing campaigns will drive people to the web to do more research. In turn, 39% of people who did an online search based on offline information purchased a product from the same company whose ad prompted the search in the first place. Again, individual stores have a hard time measuring the effects of their offline ads in correlation to their online presence. But it’s undeniable that having some sort of searchable online presence will induce sales that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred, or may have occurred somewhere else.

It seems that mostly large businesses are the ones who are desegregating their online and offline marketing efforts. Even so, only 55% of online marketing managers are integrating their SEO efforts with offline channels. For instance, television ads are by far the most effective way to prompt consumers to do a search. However, only 12% of all companies use television as a means of driving people to their website or a search engine. SEO and SEM managers don’t intentionally ignore the obvious channels for driving internet searches and traffic. Most search marketers work for small firms that can’t afford television ads. But don’t worry, there’s hope for the little guys.

Get a web address if for no other reason that to blog, draw in consumer participation and offer more information about products. If marketers want to take it one step further, they can offer an 800 number for consumers to make their order. Another option that many businesses like Cabella’s and Payless Shoe Stores offer is the ability to order online and pick up their order in the store that is closest to them. This is a great way to create an online presence while driving traffic to your store.

Use the same branding online as you do offline. Colors, logos, tag lines, etc. should all be integrated into your website and online advertisements. Many businesses are using videos, articles and blogs to drive traffic to their website as well. This enables your website address to show up in integrated searches. And lastly, make sure that there is keyword synchronicity between offline and online content. This will allow users to find you more easily.

Before and during your website’s construction make sure your target audience knows its coming. Buying your web address and then setting up something aesthetically pleasing or interesting that says “website under construction. You will be able to learn more about XYZ company’s products on January 01, 2009.” Give a date. You’ll be surprised how many people will remember.

This of course, brings us to advertising. Although television is the most effective way to prompt people about using a product, businesses can use newspapers, magazines, radio shows, email blasts and even direct mail to get their business name and web address out there. What’s important is that they know who you are, they have some keywords they can use to find information about you online, and they have a web address. The point is to think holistically and use a consistent design and message everywhere so that they will remember who you are and ultimately have you in mind when they go to make their purchase offline.

When people search online 36% are looking for news, 31% are looking for images and 17% are looking for videos. Sherman states that “Search marketers should put a priority on optimizing press releases. Optimizing other types of digital assets is important, but should be secondary.” He also states that it is important to know who your target audience is and don’t be afraid to assign them “personas” so that marketing campaigns and in-store customer service efforts can be tailored to them. For instance Best Buy has discovered and named four customer profiles: “Buzz” the techie, “Barry” the wealthy professional, “Ray” the family man and “Jill” the soccer mom. Each one of these identified personalities will receive different kinds of information and product offers in-store and out.

Another way to drive up sales in your brick and mortar institution is through the use of social networking. Social networking is essentially online buzz marketing. By creating your own blogs and participating in other companies/peoples blogs and chats you can build up your own image, improve a negative misconception that the public may have had about your business or a product, and offer the kind of information that people need to feel comfortable making a purchase from you. It essentially plays on the power of word of mouth and reviews. Social marketing needs to be done right though. The focus should be on sincerity, responsiveness, and a casual non-sales approach. Social networking (marketing) is especially useful because it involves direct communication with the consumer when they feel least inhibited. They are more likely to give honest opinions and tell you exactly what they think, want and need. It’s like having your own focus group, but better.

Here’s a few more online facts that may shock and surprise you. According to the Universal McCann’s Comparative Study on Social Media Trends, April 2008:

• 73% of active online users have read a blog
• 45% have started their own blog
• 39% subscribe to an RSS feeds
• 57% have joined a social network
• 55% have uploaded photos
• 83% have watched video clips

Many search marketers face organizational challenges when attempting to integrate SEO/SEM into their marketing mix. Stakeholders may see the internet as unknown territory, and therefore are threatened or intimidated by it. They may also have some sort of “vested interest” in keeping with traditional offline marketing techniques. However, by sharing best practice techniques and case studies proving the success that offline and online integration can bring, they may slowly change their mind about it.

Good marketing means working smart and knowing your customers habits. Right now all consumers believe that knowledge is power and the internet is a source for both. This makes online search engines a powerful tool for offline businesses if they decide to use it. Remember to think holistically, remain consistent in branding efforts and use it as a part of a larger online/offline marketing campaign.

Popularity: 47%

Day-Parting, or the act of targeting your internet advertising (like banners, ads and pay-per-clicks) to audiences at certain times of the day, can be difficult to set up and evaluate efficiently. Conversion values can range from 5% to 25% or more for a single retail company according to George Michie of the Rimm-Kaufman Group. Being able to measure and act on the daily, or even hourly differences in data is essential and requires careful analysis and execution. Luckily, I’m about to give you some tips to help you and your small business get day-parting done right.

Quality, Not Quantity
Just because you get more clicks at a certain time of day or week, doesn’t mean your conversion rates (sales per click ratio,) are going to go up too. Besides, you have a budget to think about. You may get 100 clicks a minute between 9:00 a.m. and Noon, but can you afford it? Finding times where

Analyze Your Non-Brand PPC Traffic
Making sure that you are analyzing the right kind of traffic is essential. Brand, Direct load and non-brand (competitive) pay-per-clicks behave very differently. You should be isolating your competitive pay-per-clicks and analyzing them separately. Your job should focus mostly on analyzing the PPC that your software program controls – basically your direct and brand PPC. Also, avoid the common mistake of discounting time zones when looking at what day or time a click came in.

Give Credit Where it’s Due
When tracking click to sales conversion rates, keep in mind that most companies don’t reap the benefits of a banner ad right away. People often surf around the web at one time of day, then make their purchases later on, or the next day. This means that you can’t make a correlation between how many clicks you receive in an hour and how many sales were completed at the same time. Use your cookie tracking tools to give you an idea of when people are looking at your ads versus when they actually make a purchase.

Another thing to keep in mind: People may do much of their web surfing at night while they are home, then return to your website from their work computer the next day to make their purchases. There also may be a time of day when people click on your ads, yet choose to call the 800 number to order instead of make their purchase online. This can make tracking difficult, but it’s worth taking into consideration when looking at clicks and sales in a given time period. One way to offset this phenomenon is to slowly beef up your day-parting one segment at a time and keep an eye out for any unexpected results.

Stay Current, Reasonable and Balanced
You should be using data that isn’t too old, but you also want enough time to gather a sufficient sample. Six to Twelve weeks worth of data is probably perfect depending on your business type. Be sure to exclude things like holidays and special sale events since those numbers can throw off your regular data. Also, be sure that every time-bucket has at least 100 click-to-sale conversions. Any less is too small of a sample to read.

Consolidate and Segregate
Instead of analyzing every bucket independently or a full 12 weeks at once, you can consolidate a day, part of a day, or week. For instance, you can group all the hourly buckets in a day into four groups of eight buckets. This would also help to consolidate sparse data from those hours of the day or night when you don’t get as many conversions.

Day-parting is not always a priority for SEO/M managers, and it shouldn’t be. But the steps above can certainly help you make better decisions regarding where you advertise on the web, what data to collect and discard, and how you should spend your time analyzing that data.

Popularity: 32%

Recently, Google decided to do some more experimenting with the search results pages and started serving a new set of search boxes, below the first organic listing, which allows users to refine their search further before going to your website.

I know I’ve already witnessed some very heated debates between Google and website owners, worried about losing valuable traffic and page views to their sites. Rightly so, Google’s experiments quite often cause website owners sleepless nights, their “tweaking” can mean a 50% drop in traffic overnight. Bigger brands, this could mean an even larger drop in traffic when the majority of their current traffic, comes from simple, brand based searches, simply because, they have spent years building that brand.

What if your homepage, is the page you WAN’T surfers to land on, regardless of their query?

If the content on a specific page is already highly relevant to the users query, shouldn’t that page be served up instead of the search within a site box?

Google’s position with this experiment is an interesting one, they claim they are trying to deliver users, directly to the most relevant page within any given website by allowing users to further refine their search, while still on Google and then clicking through, only when they find the organic listing they desire.

I give Google credit, for transactional based searches, where a user is searching for a specific product, I can really see the advantage to a system like this, delivering users directly to the most relevant page possible, but for broad, brand based searches, I think this is getting a little cheeky.

For those of you who don’t know what “search within a site” is, click on the thumbnail to see a preview image or preview HSBC results in Google here

Ok, now for the most contentious part of Google’s search within a site. Normally, advertisers can choose to block their competitors from buying their brand terms, if they have a registered trademark, so with my example above, say you are HSBC and you have blocked competitors from triggering ads on your famous trademark. Great, so you now own the space, paid and organic, when a user searches for your brand.

What happens next is the topic of most of the debate around search within a site, when you do choose to refine your search, using the search within a site box, Google all of a sudden decides that triggering ads, while searching within your site is fine and will display competitor’s ads prominently both above and beside your organic results. (Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture)

Is Google going too far with this? Or is this just simply allowing users to compare your search results with those of your competitors? - Studies have shown, that people have a built in need to compare between at least 3 major brands that they expect to see when they search. (Gord Hotchkiss has done some interesting research on this)

An example would be searching for rack servers, consumers would expect to find Dell, HP and Sun for instance, if the users only found the one brand, dominating all the top organic and paid positions, they aren’t as likely to purchase the product or to feel secure in their decision. I won’t go into depth about this in this article, but it is one thing to keep in mind.

In my opinion, search within a site is just another way that Google is trying to improve their users experience, helping them to reach the most relevant content, with the least hassle, however, Google are stepping on some toes with this one and if it rolls out and becomes more than an experiment, you can be sure that there will be plenty more people complaining about the feature.

For those of you who are worried about what search within a site is doing to your traffic, there is some hope, Google will listen to your requests to have this feature removed (at least they do if you are a big PPC advertiser), so contact your local Google rep and ask whether they can remove it, before you go and get too excited!

In the meantime, Loveclients will as always keep our clients (and everybody else via the blog) if our research gives any definitive answers.

Popularity: 100%

Ever wanted to know just how well a campaign has gone? This great service from CrazyEgg.com can show you analytics in a whole new light and it’s FREE! Well not completely free, depending on your traffic volume requirements.

This service is great for optimizing landing pages or looking at increasing your advertising revenue if you are a publisher.

So how does it work?

• Sign up and create an account
• Enter in the URL page you want to track
• Insert the tracking code on that page
• Start tracking - it’s that easy

The difference between crazyegg.com and other services is that it offers so many variations to visualise your data and it’s LIVE data too.

1. Heatmaps - this is a great way to picture where the people are clicking on your landing page. It gives you an instant visual impact or ‘hot spots’ on that particular page
2. Confetti - shows you where the clicks are coming from, the volume of clicks, search terms and much more. Confetti is a great way to visual the various colours and where they are mostly congregated on the page
3. Overlay - this element shows you the volume of clicks that were generated on the page, either it be the buttons on the page, images or forms and also gives you a breakdown in % volumes where the people were referred from
4. List - this shows you basically identified objects (meaning main pages) that have been clicked on and also unidentified (which in most cases means links or buttons). It will also give you a % volume on the popularity of that object

Other great advantages that include in the paid version of the service is that you are able to share the data with clients, bosses or friends. You can also block certain IPs if you feel suspicious of them. Also have crazyegg.com send you notifications via email or RSS, this can help you keep on track of your campaign or advertising.

I’ve been using this service for just over a month now - and I think it’s great. It’s simple and easy to use and gives me the data that I need in order to help my clients achieve their goals. So thumbs up and let’s hope they keep improving their services.

Popularity: 76%

You may have already heard of the term before SMM (social media marketing) or not. But I’m most definitely sure you have heard of Social Networks such as Facebook and MySpace. As humans, we are a social lot, the need to communicate with other people is becoming more popular and essential in order to keep in touch with the outside world. We have become so time conscious and the need to do things faster and easier seems overwhelming, social networks fill the gaps in where we left off.

So you are a business and looking to tap into the Social Network world. You want to learn how to tap into the minds of millions of people and sell your products or services to them. THINK AGAIN. If you think that Social Networks are a way to generate revenue for your business - think again. BUT if you are looking to improve and increase brand awareness or develop your backlinking then you are in the right place.

Social Networks are fantastic for generating buzz, sharing ideas and getting everyone on the same page.

So let’s take an example case scenario to explain this in more detail for you:

1. You are a pet store owner and sell various products
2. You have a new website and have started selling your products online
3. You need traffic to your site and need to get people through the door

There are a lot of things that you are already doing to generate traffic like SEM & SEO and you have also invested money in other areas like email marketing, but you want to communicate with more groups and reach a wider demographic than just locally. So how do you do this?
Having a blog is usually the first place most people start. Writing about keyword specific topics about pets is where you should start and becoming an expert and sharing your knowledge about pets is very important, as it builds credibility and helps with reputation (branding).

• Join various social networks and create your own profile
• Create or join networks that are around your desired topic - in this case - pets
• Also look at forums - they are also very useful in finding people and discussions relating to your topic
• Engage with people and start building resources and backlinks to your website that is related to your topic

This is a lot of work and in some cases can take a long time to do, as a lot of research is involved and building trust and credibility doesn’t happen overnight either. And it can also be hard to control how people will link to your site too. But in a nutshell these are the basics of Social Media Marketing, though there is a lot more to it than this - like Social Media Optimization - though I will explain this in my next post.
So keep your eyes peeled and start getting out there and creating some BUZZ!

Popularity: 70%