Every important endeavor in life requires time and patience.

Of course there are exceptions, such as winning the lottery, but most would agree these virtues are paramount to any worthwhile pursuit. Pursuits such as being a good parent, being fit, having good relationships or having a successful business.

Yet there is still an expectation that Search Engine Optimization and Marketing is the result of one single strategy or campaign. This “Single Bullet” theory doesn’t work any better for an SEO/SEM campaign than it would for a traditional marketing campaign. You wouldn’t expect big results from one radio or tv spot or a single print ad.

Let 2009 be the year you make a real, concerted effort to leverage the power of SEO/SEM to grow your business. Here are Top 5 Things You Can Do in 2009 for Your Web Presence. As a bonus, I’m going to add some examples of how we applied these strategies for our clients and the growth that resulted from those efforts.

5
Assign a resource (in or out of house) to manage Search Marketing
Search Marketing has to be someone’s job. Could be the Ecommerce Manager on your team, could be an agency or consultant or it could be a combination of both. But someone needs to own it and be accountable for it to have impact.

CASE STUDY
We were hired to help with SEO/SEM efforts for a company that was having some success online but was looking for more growth. Visits have increased by more than 300% and revenue has increased by 129%.

4
Create quantifiable goals
Please don’t let your only goal be “rank #1 on Google for my most important keyword”. This is a fantastic goal, but as an industry it’s important that we look, not just at the rankings, but the results of those rankings.

CASE STUDY
We coordinate SEO/SEM efforts with a local boutique winery as well as some offline efforts that direct traffic online. We create quarterly goals and monitor our success. We have not only met our goals, but we’ve generated more orders this year than we’ve had in the 2 years prior combined. By creating quantifiable results the principal and investors can see growth quarter to quarter as well as year to year.

3
Monitor results
Google Analytics is a great way to monitor results and learn about trends in your online traffic that can help you grow.
Companies who don’t do or just dabble in search marketing think that a handful of keywords will drive their online business and (I’ll say it again) ta da, you’re finished. Most healthy campaigns have hundreds, even thousands of keywords driving traffic and conversion. If you’re waiting on your one big word to make you famous (and again, there are exceptions, it may) you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to drive more traffic and, more importantly, drive higher conversions. People who type a search query such as “toyota prius trailer hitch” are going to convert far better than someone who searches on “trailer hitch”. We wouldn’t abandon “trailer hitch” as a keyword, but the product plus the vehicle make and model provide exceptional results for the searcher as well as the business because they are closely matching intent (if I type in toyota prius trailer hitch, chances are I’m looking for that precisely. If I type in “trailer hitch” my intentions could be many fold).

CASE STUDY
Conversion for searches that include make and/or model resulted in conversion rates as high as 80%. By focusing on on page content and link development for those keywords/phrases, we were able to more than double revenue for the year.

2
Share results
Share results with your team, give credit where credit is due (one of our distributors/sales people came up with some great offers for the tasting room that we pushed online and they created great results. Shout out to people in the trenches who know way more about the product than vendors). If you don’t monitor and share results people will make them up. Not because they’re bad people, but because their business acumen leads them to believe a certain thing. One of my clients said in an investor meeting that 75% of our online sales were from our repeat customers. Reality was that we had 70% new customers and great opportunity to spend some time creating relationships with our current customers and grow them into repeat customers, creating a better lifetime value of a customers. Let everyone know when you did (or didn’t) make your goals and talk about. If you just make goals, but never review them, continued goal creation could be met with a deaf ear. People get tired of spending effort on ideas that they don’t see come to fruition. Transparency into your goals and results is good for you, staff, investors and share holders.

CASE STUDY
Creating new offers is a big part of our quarterly plans and sometimes it’s those that are closest to the product who can create the right offers. We noticed a new employee had a flare for creating offers and merchandising so we now include him in our planning efforts. We’ve seen a 12% increase in revenue above projected outcome for online efforts due to improvement in our offers.

1
Make commitment to Search Marketing
Search Marketing works. As traditional marketing budgets are declining, companies are making commitment to digital marketing because of the exceptional ROI. Now is the time to make a real commitment to Search Marketing. Create a plan, designate a resource, create some quantifiable goals and monitor results. A little success will inspire you to keep your commitment.

CASE STUDY
I have 2 clients launching re-designed sites in January. One client is committed to the week to week evolution of her project, she’s engaged, she offers valuable advise, she responds promptly to requests. She works with Fortune 500 companies and governmental agencies and is well-versed in professional protocol and applies that as steadily to her redesign and search marketing project as she does to all other elements of her business. The other provides ambiguous feedback, rarely responds to requests, has unreasonable expectations, and changes her mind about design and navigation elements constantly. Though both clients will get exceptional service from our team, the engaged client will see results, not just at launch, but during the lifetime of her web presence because she gives it the time and attention it deserves. Think of your investment in search marketing like your investment in your health, your children or loved ones, other parts of your business and 2009 will be the year you get real value from your website.

Share on Facebook