Search & Social Tactics to Grow Your Advertiser Base

Confidential, Property of Search Influence, LLC © 2013@w2scott Presented to Inland Press Association

Search & Social Tacticsto Grow Your Advertiser Base

How Do You Make Money from Listings?

Will Scott, CEO, Search Influence


About Search Influence• Helping customers successfully market online since 2006

• We work with thousands of clients, directly and as a white-label provider• Scalable Solutions Powered by Experts

• Search Influence:• 50+ full-time employees

• 70+ contract writers

• 12 Google AdWords Pros

• 3 Google Analytics Pros

• Reputation:

• 2011 Inc. 500 honoree

• Recognized leader in search and social for local business

• Over a decade in online media


About Me: Will Scott• First website online in 1994• Deployed over 2,500 customized web sites in 18

months (with a production staff of 12).• Former Vice President of YPsolutions (now Local Matters)• Online Directory vendor to 20 independent

Yellow Pages• Deployed over 300 online yellow pages a year

with print “look and feel”• Part of team which took Sprint BestRedYP from

zero to 1,000,000 monthly visitors in 18 months• Uniquely qualified to help publishers’ online

marketing


As Seen In:


CUSTOMERSThe reason we’re all here


Source: name.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/women-business-owner.jpg


Sometimes They Look Like This…


Your Advertisers Want Digital

• More dollars are being dedicated to digital in 2013 and beyond

• That budget is estimated to keep growing• This will affect your share of wallet• Will you supply the digital solutions your

advertisers want / need?


Everyone Is Doing it!

Photo Credit: Missourian Kiwanis Club

Everybody’s Doing it!


Source: www.ima2seven.com

But Who Do Those Advertisers Trust?


Why You Want to Do It?

• Easy way to stay relevant in a digital world• Wider Reach

– Sell to more advertisers• Recurring Revenue• Give the people what they want

– Our model agency sold 1.5 mil last year• Great margins• You are the trusted source


How Can I do it?

Step 1: Build relevance as the authority on everything local, including “local media”

– Do this by optimizing your own digital properties– Local directories will benefit from on-site & off-site

SEO– Social Media properties will benefit from fan

growth within your market– Viral techniques will help build local market share


YOU MUST MATTERWhy worry about all this?



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Proprietary and Confidential. Copyright © 2013 BIA/Kelsey. All Rights Reserved.

Media Fragmentation Continues to Increase

Wave 14 2010 Wave 15 2011 Wave 16 20120

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

4.4

5.6

7.8

Number of Media used has increased by 77%

since 2010.

Average Number of Media Used by SMBs for Advertising and Promotion

Confidential, Property of Search Influence, LLC © 2013@w2scott #RevSummit - Local Media Association

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SMB Spend Split: Acquisition vs. Retention

Roughly 50/50

>50% for Acquiring

>50% for Retaining

Hard to Say

Not sure

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

29.5%

41.2%

6.5%

19.2%

3.7%

6:1 Ratio

Loyalty Opportunities: • 4-10x more expensive for SMBs to acquire new customers than retain existing ones (Patrick Barry, DemandForce)

• Businesses that retain 5% more customers increase profit by at least 25% (“The Loyalty Effect”)

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Primary Purpose of Facebook Page

Acquire

Build Awareness

Build Community

Retain

Not sure

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

41.7%

30.9%

19.4%

5.0%

2.2% Customer acquisition is now the #1 objective of SMBs using Facebook (up 15% wave-over-wave).



THE LOCAL SEARCH ECOSYSTEM

Don’t forget, in the 80s and 90s, we shipped our phone books offshore to have them turned into “data”.



Local Search:More Important Than Ever


Local Search:More Important Than Ever




THE SEARCH ENGINESOptimize your directory to expand revenue opportunity


Search Engine Market Share

74%

10%

10% 4% 2%

Search Share

GoogleBingYahoo! SearchAskAOL Search


Top 5 Searches on Google

facebookyoutubeyahooyahoo mailfacebook login


Top 10 Social Media Sites

64%

28%

2%

1%1% 1%1% 1% 1% 1%

Visits Share

FacebookYouTubeTwitterPinterestLinkedinYahoo! AnswersGoogle+TumblrTaggedReddit


HOW SEARCH ENGINES WORKYes, I know, they don’t always work


Understanding the Search Results

PAIDSearch Results

LOCAL Search Results

ORGANIC Search Results


How Search Engines WorkCrawling

• Scouring the web for new content and links between web sites

Indexing• Parsing, normalization, categorization and recording

of these data for later useSearching

• Presenting data to searchers in response to their queries in relevant and useful way


37% of clicks go to the #1 position

60% of clicks go to the top 3

97% of clicks go to sites on page 1

Why is SEO Important?

Source: Optify Study, December 2010


(WebVisible/Nielsen Study 2008)


Why Your Directory Matters

• Prospective advertisers may find you– Name Searches (vanity searches)– Category Searches

• Your directory may act as an entrée– Digital Services– Print and Online Display

• It’s an advertising platform


ON-SITE SEOLet’s Start at the Base


Onsite SEO Tactics

• Use relevant keywords – keyword research• Top Level Categories• Locally/Niche Relevant Content• Advertiser Communities• Social Networks for Advertisers• Blogging


Keyword Research for Content

• Don’t Guess - Use Tools• Google = Free

• https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

• Google Trends• http://www.google.com/trends/

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

http://www.google.com/trends/

http://www.google.com/trends/



Deciding on Keywords

Group like themes based on account structure and personas


Proper Keyword Placement

• With on-site keywords in content, you should use them wisely and integrate them as naturally as possible.

• Keywords should generally be placed near the top of the page and at the beginning of paragraphs but they should not be forced.


About That…

• “The first time you mention a word, you know, ‘Hey, that’s pretty interesting. It’s about that word.’ The next time you mention that word, ‘Oh, okay. It’s still about that word.’ And once you start to mention it a whole lot, it really doesn’t help that much more. There’s diminishing returns,” – Matt Cutts, Google Guru


Core Concepts

• Search Engines Only Read Text• Flash and Images don’t contain text

• Don’t Slow Down The Spiders• Fast loading sites get indexed faster

• Text links are unambiguous

• Every Page is An Island• Just because you’ve built it…


Content – “Invisible” Content• Title Tag

• MOST IMPORTANT TEXT ON PAGE• Meta Description

• Low ranking value; high marketing value • Meta Keywords

• Widely ignored; still useful in lesser search engines• Image Alt Tags

• Most valuable in image search; critical for search in image based navigation


Invisible Content ExamplesTitle Tag

Meta Description<title>New Orleans Chiropractic | New Orleans Chiropractor - Dr. Gordon DuBois D.C.</title><meta name="description" content="New Orleans Chiropractic - Gordon Dubois specialized in Chiropractic Adjustment and TBM. Let New Orleans Chiropractor Dr. Dubois ease your Back and Neck Pain and help you on the path to wellness." />

Alt Text


Content – Visible Content

• Heading Tags• HTML (the language of the web) was developed by

engineers – they think in outline form – the higher the heading level, the more important <h1> being foremost

• Text on Page• It is possible for a page to rank without saying the

phrase for which it ranks but it is definitely harder


Visible Content ExamplesH1

On Page Text


Techniques for Visible Content

• Internal linking structure– Get rid of image, JavaScript or Flash Links– Use keyword relevant anchor text– Link consistently throughout your site– Give Google an XML Sitemap– In Content Linking

• Whenever you are creating new text content look for other internal pages to link to




A Relatively Simple Model

• He/She who has the most relevant content and the greatest number of relevant inbound links…


Wins!


How do you Know What to Optimize?

• Much of it lies in how the site is setup• You can natively have optimized title tags,

meta & H1 on every page• You then need to decide where to place some

extra effort.


Use Google Analytics

• Use your Google Analytics data to see • What keywords driving people to your site

now? • What pages are being visited the most?


Local/Niche Relevant Content

• Know your community—what is the local/niche buzz?

• Take advantage of topics that are trending in the your local/regional/niche community.

• Look for trending topics and conversations ideal to target the community

• Research your market to assure relevancy– Ex: (You will find “snow removal techniques” irrelevant in

South Florida but highly relevant in Maine)



Local/Niche Relevant Content

• Are there upcoming events that you could mention in your social media alongside posts on your directory?

• The more engaged you can be with your audience, the easier it will be to source info for local/niche relevant content.

• Don’t overlook opportunities to be part of the conversation in your community.



Advertiser Communities

• Build your community by creating your own social network.

• “Employ” the general public to report on relevant local content.– This keeps content fresh and abundant.– Use what www.Patch.com does as a model.– Hold contests and reward the community points

for contributions.

http://www.Patch.com/



Blogging

• Your blog should live on the site• Posts should be a minimum of 500 words• Much like other on-site content, blog content

should be unique. • Optimize posts with targeted keywords to

rank organically for terms.• The content written would be completely

relevant to the blog goals.


Blog Examples


Optimization Techniques

• Directory Listings– Collect local data from advertisers such as

their NAP information.– Keep business profiles on their own landing

page.– Add photos & video.


The Anatomy of NAP

What is a local citation?N A P + W

Name

Address

Phone #

Website


PAGINATIONPa-g-un-a-shon



rel=“next” & rel=“prev”

• These codes will tell Google that it should recognize your series of content (multiple pages) as a whole entity

• It will send users the most relevant page/URL – Typically the first page of the series


Source: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/09/pagination-with-relnext-and-relprev.html


OFF-SITE SEO


Offsite SEO Tactics

• Quality Links• Quality Content• Viral Content• Infographics• Video• Guest Blogging• Social Bookmarking



Links Build Credibility & Trust

• Sincerity is the most important thing…• In non-competitive categories even low value will do

the trick• Not hip, not sexy, but effective nonetheless

• Lots ‘o links if you know where to look• Many categories (particularly for state Searches)

don’t show maps• Making top of Organic Search all the more important


How to get Good Links

– Create the “Best of” awards in your local markets.• Take nominations• Get people to vote

– Make “Review me on” or “Find us on” badges available to business to put on their websites.

• Publicize this.


Infographics



SOCIAL MEDIA



Social Media for Your Advertisers

• Using promoted posts – Add value by promoting advertiser posts through your own

social channels– Using promoted posts to increase visibility of your own

content

• Create groups and events– Providing them with advertiser knowledge through this

group– Better engagement & relationships with your advertisers

• Brand awareness in the community & for advertisers


Create Facebook pages for highly followed local interests


Promote Advertisers Socially


Just because you paid for it doesn’t make it less satisfying…


Sponsored Stories


• Pinterest: Top 10 social site (CNET, December 2011)

• Pinterest hits 10 million U.S. monthly unique faster than any standalone site ever

(TechCrunch, February 2012)

• Pinterest drove more referral traffic than Twitter in February ‘12

(PC Magazine, March 2012)

Pinterest

Source: www.pinterest.com


Newspapers on Pinterest

http://pinterest.com/joannephillips/newspapers-on-pinterest/



Takeaways

• Optimizing your directory will help to build gross revenue

• Implement on-site and off-site SEO to build the visibility of your directory

• Make sure you have local/niche relevant content

• Use social media in your SEO Strategy• Don’t be afraid to offer SEO & Social to your

advertisers, they want it


Thank you!

Will Scott– searchinfluence.com/blog– [email protected]– twitter.com/w2scott

mailto:[email protected]