41.9% of retailers say paid search advertising has been outperforming all other forms of marketing since the recession began last September. This means that interest in firms that specialize in pay-per-click (PPC) and other forms of paid search advertising have been in high demand. Anyone can sign up for a Google AdWords account, but not very many know how to use it effectively with optimized keywords, or even if Google AdWords is even the solution to the particular paid search needs of your business.
Paid search is also highly scalable. Budgets can be scaled back immediately if needed, where advertising through more traditional mediums entails signing expensive and binding contracts. This scalability alone makes paid search the preferred solution for most online and offline businesses.
Despite the success of paid search, only 24.2% plan to increase spending on paid search while 45.9% plan to keep it about the same. These retailers have recognized the importance of search engine optimization and are using the downturn to spend the time necessary on optimizing their sites naturally.
55.3% of businesses surveyed plan to increase spending on search engine optimization to achieve better natural search results. If looked at as a strategy, PPC campaigns are short-term solutions to boost the popularity and visibility of your website. SEO campaigns involve long term solutions to bring more visitors to your site organically through excellent content and an easily navigable site structure, among other things. The downturn is an excellent time to consider SEO, since it usually involves time-consuming one-time projects such as redesigning the site for easier navigibility, adding social media platforms, stripping out redundant code, and creating rich and in-depth content.
Social media marketing is rearing its head as a serious contender in the online world. Early adopters of Twitter and other social media technologies and methods are reporting success with the medium. As a result, over 30% of surveyed retailers are looking at developing a social media strategy. One only needs to look to the example of Whole Foods and Woot and how they have monetized Twitter to get excited about the possibilities in this medium alone.
1-Stop Marketing Solutions has the benefit of being involved in the world of SEO and the internet in general for years. While our experience is highly sought after right now, we are happy to help out new clients anytime. Contact us for a free consultation on what your SEO roadmap should look like and join the other half of the business world that has decided to invest in SEO, PPC and social media marketing.
All survey numbers used are from an Internet Retailer Survey, the statistics from which are available here.
According to a recent research report from Compete, traffic to social media sites continues to climb, as more and more web users flock to sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Last year alone, these two sites saw over 2.1 trillion page views – nearly double from 2007. The stats are based on the daily Web use of more than two million Compete community members.
Among the top search engines, Google led the way in online search last year–capturing 68% of the market share with 116 billion search queries, up 8 points from 2007. Yahoo had the highest average rate of paid search referrals, with 10% of the volume coming from sponsored sites.
In 2008, visits to publishers’ sites like The New York Times, MSN, CNN and others rose 33%, while visits to social network sites Digg, Facebook, Twitter and others rose 23%.
Does your company have a social media strategy? If you’re not sure how to get your brand in front of the millions of consumers who visit Facebook or Twitter every day, contact the experts at 1 Stop Marketing Solutions, and we’ll customize a social media marketing plan that’s right for you.
Gone are the days when selling marketing and website design services to an internet retailer was like pushing a boulder uphill. Due to firsthand experience of what SEO and improved design can do for their ROI, internet retailers are getting with the program where internet marketing services are concerned.
Last year, almost half of all respondents to a survey by Internet Retailer stated that they had implemented a complete redesign of their website. Site optimization was top priority for 73% of the same group. Better navigation and organization of their sites were the chief concerns in this category, underscoring the fact that improved navigability translates into higher conversion rates.
“Retailers are listing site optimization as their top design objective,” stated David Wartzheimer, director of strategy for Alexander Interactive Inc. This more practical approach to site design firmly puts the customer in the driver’s seat which in turn leads to higher sales. Gone are the days when graphic designers and the IT department are considered the gurus on the subject of navigability – experts, business and customers have all shown that site optimization is much more important than a pretty picture.
Close to 44% of the survey respondents will be updating their sites with video in 2009, probably due to demand from customers for more interactive instructions or product demonstrations. Respondents also want more personalization and customizability in their current online shopping environments, allowing more multi-channel sales and encouraging customer loyalty.
The good news for website design firms is that a full 60% of the companies responding to the survey plan to outsource their site design, and only 15% plan to use their current agency. While that may be good news for getting new business, we can all judge by those numbers that the industry needs to do some more work in customer retention and after-sales service.
Most internet retailers found that posting more customer reviews has not translated to greater conversion rates. Video and more interactive features on the site have, leading most of them to want to incorporate more of these services. According to this survey, 2009 should be a fairly busy year!
The term “social media” has been bandied about by us web industry types as a catch all phrase for a number of different web technologies and sites. These include Twitter, Digg and Facebook. If there was a holy trinity of social media, those three would be it. Everything else is not incidental, but if you are going to start on the path of promoting your business via social media these are the three technologies and sites that you should pay the most attention to.
While a website gives your customers instant access to your business, social media takes everything a step further and allows your consumers to interact with your company and its products on a more engaging level. It could be argued that encouraging this interaction and engagement is many times more profitable to your business than spending money on static advertising such as TV, print or radio. The thing that most business owners want to know when they come to us is how to get started on social media. For each of the technologies named below, take a few minutes to visit their websites and explore the technology in order to immerse yourself in the topic a bit rather than just taking our word for it. There is much more to each site or technology than the brief paragraph that we have given you on it.
Twitter – www.twitter.com
Your company should have a Twitter feed that is advertised and linked to on your main website. This will allow fellow Twitterers to “follow” your company as you post new information in real time. Twitter should be updated a few times throughout the work day in order to maintain a constant flow of information to your followers. A good tool to use to do this is Digsby, which may be downloaded from Digsby.com. This tool also allows you to see short descriptions of e-mails as they come in, which saves you the time of checking your inbox. In addition to many other features including being an all-in-one message client service, Digsby allows you to post new tweets “on the fly” without doing anything more than opening up a box quickly on your taskbar. Twitter gives you the power to advertise promotions instantly without having to wait for a customer to open an e-mail or click on your site. It shouldn’t replace e-mail blasts altogether, but it does engage your followers more directly.
Digg – www.digg.com
If you have a company blog, you should make the contents of the blog “diggable”. Digg is a website that allows users to share content with other users from anywhere. These are known as “social bookmarking” sites, and StumbleUpon and De.lic.ous are two others. One of the objects of a lot of internet marketers is to make their blog entry hit the first page of Digg – in your case you only need to make your blog accessible to Digg so that your loyal customers can share the content with their friends. How do you do this? If you have a Wordpress blog installed, there are many plugins which allow you to share content on various social bookmarking sites, including Digg. One of our favorites is Bookmarkify, which can be downloaded from here.
Facebook – www.facebook.com
While you may not have heard of Twitter or Digg, you’d have to be living under a rock in order to not have heard of Facebook. Your kids are on it, you’re on it, your employees may be on it too much for your liking. Turn their interest in Facebook to good use in creating a page and group for your company on Facebook. Some businesses think that it is enough to create a page on Facebook – this simply isn’t the case. A page is static and doesn’t encourage any interaction between customers. A group allows you to have a Wall, Discussions and posted photos. Facebook is a place for you to be more casual than your website – post photos of your office, staff and other fun items to give your customers more of a sense of interaction. Interaction is what Facebook is all about.
We think you’ll agree that we’ve given you enough homework for one day by just checking out one of these technologies. Pick the one that is most appealing to you and get started today!
Search Engine Optimization and Web Design and Development
Ruff Ruff and Meow asked us to develop an ongoing SEO program that would land them on the first page for many competitive target keywords including dog tank tops, dog sweatshirts and dog t-shirts. This was accomplished through a link building campaign and content optimization, in addition to other means.
1 Stop Marketing Solutions also takes care of Ruff Ruff and Meow’s blog, allowing them to focus on what’s really important – your pets! We are developing an advanced ecommerce website for them featuring a content management system and dynamic content.
Search Engine Marketing, Strategic Consulting
eMatchPhysicians needed an interactive website developed to act as a recruitment portal for physicians. After careful examination of similar sites, 1-Stop Marketing Solutions developed a site for them that balanced unique site content with a carefully targeted SEO campaign.
1 Stop Marketing Solutions assisted in the development of their logo, tagline and print marketing materials. We also managed a PPC campaign on Google AdWords for eMatchPhysicians.com.
Client Testimonial:
“Michelle is personable, detail oriented and a highly motivated marketing consultant. In only a few months, she has taken my business from its early stages to the top rankings on search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Michelle and 1-Stop Marketing Solutions have helped eMatchPhysicians gain a wealth of exposure online and via direct marketing to healthcare organizations and medical societies around the country. We now compete with multi-million dollar websites and our growth chart continues to trend upward, gaining more momentum daily. Michelle’s communication and follow through are unmatched. I would recommend Michelle and 1-Stop Marketing Solutions to any company in need of a strong embassador in their online marketing endeavors.”
- Jessica Joseph, CEO of eMatchPhysicians.com
Web Design and Development and SEO Services
Simple Solutions Digital Entertainment needed an online solution that was just as luxe and high quality as their deluxe home theater installation service. 1 Stop Marketing Solutions delivered in the form of a Flash enhanced website with a blog that we manage for them on an ongoing basis.
Search Engine Marketing services used by Simple Solutions include an aggressive PPC campaign with a monthly budget of $2000.00 for Google AdWords which led to a significant return on investment for Simple Solutions Digital Entertainment, as well as SEO services, including link building, directory submissions and content development.
Client Testimonials:
“I cannot speak highly enough of Michelle Carroll and the work she has done for our company. Michelle is an extremely bright, energetic, creative and forward thinker who has our best interest at heart. Michelle needs little direction, offers excellent ideas and follows through in a timely and efficient manner. We think of Michelle as an integral part of our team. One of my goals in managing my business is to find the best and brightest people available who have an expertise and passion for their work. Michelle exemplifies these qualities.”
- Richard Berrie, CEO of Simple Solutions Digital Entertainment
Web Desgn and Development
Brad Meltzer, New York Times Best-Selling author, asked 1 Stop Marketing Solutions to help him launch a new website supporting his latest book. The website, www.ordinarypeoplechangetheworld.com, was a huge undertaking that involved interactive Flash and content pages. We worked with content producers to develop original content for the site.
1 Stop Marketing Solutions also helped to organize a charity auction through eBay’s Giving Works that raised over $50,000 to support the Siegel and Shuster Society to save the Superman House on behalf of OrdinaryPeopleChangetheWorld.com.
Our PR Campaign to promote the new site and the ongoing charity auction was picked up by the New York Times, USA Today and dozens of other major media outlets.
