New York—Heather Lloyd Martin warned attendees that they might have difficulty taking notes during her session today on search marketing secrets at DM Days New York. That was indeed the case, as Lloyd Martin, president of SuccessWorks International, and three panelists shared 30 search-marketing tips within 60 minutes.
Secrets the panel shared included the basics—buy related keywords for everything in a campaign, make paid-search ad copy consistent with the message and verbiage of the landing page, and streamline the conversion process by taking out extraneous offers. Some of the more intermediate tips: bifurcate your audience by using different title and descriptions to attract different searchers than your organic listings, and monitor the competition by implementing pay-per-click and organic strategies that piggyback on their media campaigns.
Among the rest of the panel’s search secrets: 1. Design your Website around your most important keywords and label sections on the site appropriately to ensure the transition from search engine to site is smooth, said Jeanette Koscis, vice president, digital marketing at Harte-Hanks. She also said that marketers need to program and design their sites so that content can be indexed, explaining that flash sites provide only one listing to search engines rather than every page.
2. Use day-parting to find the best time converting time periods, said Anton Konikoff, CEO of Acronym Media. Among the things to keep in mind when using day-parting are time zones and regional specifics.
3. Use keyword-level tracking to zero-in on the terms that deliver the highest ROI. Konikoff cautioned attendees not to drop keywords during the first few weeks because they aren’t performing well. Instead he prodded them to consider if there was something that could be hindering their performance, such as the ad copy or landing page.
4. Take advantage of user-generated content to engage with your customers, said Koscis. Blogs are one of the largest online content generators and by monitoring them and other social media, you can gain insight that can be used to create better search-engine campaigns.
5. Split the landing pages between your organic results and paid-search results, said Kevin Lee, executive chairman of Did-it.com. Because paid search results are not governed by as many rules as organic results, he encouraged marketers to test bulleted Website copy, flash design, or large graphics.
6. Put your title tags to duel use, said Lee, explaining that if your copy is working in pay-per-click titles, you should consider incorporating it into your search engine optimization campaign—assuming you can retain your organic listing position.