Organic SERPs vs. Sponsored Ads: A Consumer's Perspective

Like many other SEOs, I work with Google AdWords ads as well as "natural", or organic search engine optimization.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the differences between these two strategies, let's summarize quickly. Having naturally high search engine rank positions (SERPs) for products and/or services is ideal, since traffic from organic search results is free. Getting good organic SERPs requires SEO, which, while requiring a larger investment up front, will yield a higher ROI over time (when executed well).

Sponsored ads (aka Google AdWords ads) can, however, be a great supplement to a solid SEO strategy in many cases, particularly for ecommerce. These ads can provide visibility for highly competitive search terms where obtaining organic SERPs is difficult; used in conjunction with organic SERPs, sponsored ads can also provide a solid branding strategy.

Now, on to the fun stuff.

As a search engine marketer, staying in touch with consumer behavior is critical - which is why I was excited to have the opportunity to put myself in the shoes of a consumer last week.

I've been a light smoker for the past 3 or so years, and while it's been fun, it's time to quit, for some pretty obvious reasons. Rather than going cold turkey, I thought it would be fun to try the new "e cigarettes". Not that I necessarily need the nicotine; I just want something to hold when I get stuck in an oh-so-temping social smoking situation. Also, e cigarettes are typically charged via a USB port, and I think the idea of charging my cigarettes from my computer is pretty hilarious. And awesome.

So I warmed up my fingers, got my notepad ready to take notes, and Googled. Here's what I found:

As consumers often do, I changed my mind mid-query and decided that before looking for vendors, I should look at some reviews. Yes, Google Instant's suggestion that I search for reviews influenced my decision to do so. As you can see, this did not "kill" the importance of vendors being visible in these search results (i.e. SEO), it simply reinforced common consumer behavior. All the more reason for SEOs to take a look at Google Instant's query suggestions and optimize accordingly.

For example, what vendor brands do you see in these organic SERPs? Blu is the only one that is evident, which is important to note. We'll come back to Blu's organic ranking for this term in a moment.

I was intrigued by the sponsored ad titled "Warning: Electronic Vapor", so I clicked. Why did I click? The ad text resonated with an issue which was important to me, the soon-to-be consumer of ecigarettes: what is the effect of ecigarettes on my health? This ad successfully capitalized on a common concern. So far, so good.

Then things took a turn.

What did I think was wrong with this landing page? Well, for starters, it completely fails to deliver on the ad's promise. This isn't a report warning about the health effects of ecigarette vaporizers, it's a list of reviews and, from the looks of it, a pretty biased one at that. There were three brands listed on the page, and the 1st brand, Joy, was the only one the page had anything good to say about.

Importantly, there were no other reviews available to read, making it impossible to verify their supposed findings. I had to wonder where on earth they'd gotten their ratings from. Something smelled fishy.

Also, check out the actual copy. It's rather stiff and uninspired. Not terrible, but also not great. Especially when you factor in the spelling errors.

The kicker: the link to the third product (the only brand I recognized), Blu e Cigarettes, was BROKEN. The person who'd put this landing page together was either incompetent or intentionally misleading. Not great for building confidence.

So, I googled again. This time, I searched for the brands I'd seen on this page. Joy e cigarettes? No reviews to be found. NJoy and Blu had very similar review ratings, and Blu was $20 cheaper. Finally, I went back to my original search term and searched again, this time scanning the organic results. Aside from reviews I'd already seen, what did I find?

Blu e cigarettes.

This time, I googled "blu e cigarettes" and found what I was looking for.

Take a careful look at the organic listings. The brand itself occupies the first two results, with a slew of positive reviews which follow below. Ironically, the last listing praises Blu for its "great looking website", which other sellers seem to have taken for granted.

I couldn't agree more.

In the end, I steered clear of Joy (which copycats the popular NJoy brand name and appears to be a ripoff of Blu) and ended up buying a Blu starter kit.

Why? Blu had earned my trust. The product had good reviews, their organic listings were solid and they didn't present me with misleading ads or links.

I think it's important to note that the reason Joy's AdWords ad didn't work is NOT because sponsored ads are intrinsically doomed to failure. On the contrary - if I would have seen a sponsored ad for Blu e cigarettes, the confidence instilled in me by the positive organic ranking would likely have incited me to click the ad and cut my time spent investigating products in half. The sponsored ad I clicked on failed because the ad was misleading and the information on the landing page could not be verified by a third party.

The moral of the story?

Sponsored ads can be an effective tool when backed by honesty, off-page brand building and organic SEO. If you have a crappy product no one has anything good to say about, rather than using AdWords, you might consider investing in a product that will inspire consumer loyalty. And please. Invest in some decent SEO, for goodness sake.

SEO Article Marketing Special: Give Your Brand a Kick in the Pants

So, I don't normally DO "specials". It's not like my copywriting and SEO services are some dusty collection of knickknacks from last season. They're my livelihood.

But when I saw EzineArticles.com's "100 Articles in 100 Days Marathon Challenge", I saw an opportunity that both you (the business owner) and I could cash in on.

Taking on this challenge would be a wonderful way to increase my discipline as a writer and businessperson. But my business doesn't need 100 syndicated articles, and if I'm going to be writing all this content, I want it to be making a difference for business owners and independent professionals. Getting compensated for my time wouldn't be bad, either.

The challenge starts on Thursday and runs through the end of December, so here's the deal.

The SEO Article Special:

From Thursday through the rest of 2010, I'll be offering my article marketing services for a breathtakingly low $50/article. Each article will include:

- A consulting session to determine which keywords/article topic would be most beneficial for your business to target.

- Thorough keyword research tailored specifically to your business' industry/niche.

- A well-researched 400-600 word article written on the topic of your choice.

- 3 in-text links, optimized with keyword and brand anchor text.

- Syndication of the article to Ezinearticles and my own super-secret list of 100s of industry-relevant content sites.

Feel free to take a look at a few articles I've done. See how well they rank in search engines by searching for the key terms in the title.

Boat & Vessel Title Insurance

Home Title Insurance - What Is It, and Why Is It Necessary?

How to Write Great SEO Page Titles

What is Article Marketing, and why should I buy your articles?

Article marketing is, simply put, writing great content and syndicating it to as many relevant online article publishers as possible. There are 1,000s of sites which accept article submissions on every topic under the sun.

In short, article marketing serves two main purposes:

1) To funnel traffic back to your website and/or to establish you or your business as an industry expert on a specific topic. Well written, informative or entertaining articles will attract a larger readership, and other sites will link to this content, driving qualified visitors to you. Content sites require that readers who re-syndicate this content on their own site credit you as the author and retain original reference links.

Articles written using a good SEO keyword strategy and posted to high ranking sites like EzineArticles.com will obtain high search engine rankings for niche terms fairly easily. Just Google "watercraft title insurance" and check out the #2 result. Booyah.

2) To build links. Lots of links. Nearly all the sites that syndicate your content will keep your optimized HTML links, giving your website an SEO adrenaline shot. We don't have time in this post to discuss how and why links are important to your site, but you can read more about it in my website's SEO resources.

If you think about it, $50 for an article which provides your brand with SEO, brand awareness and improves your industry expertise is pretty darn cheap.

Do you need to increase your visibility online for one particular niche service or product? Try one or two articles. Are you a large or ecommerce business facing heavy keyword competition? Buy 20 articles! Remember: I'm happy to consult with you on how to leverage articles to your business' best advantage.

Writing About Us Pages: Not Just Another Space to Sell

Each week, my girlfriends and I get together and drink wine and discuss life. It's extremely therapeutic and often a source of inspiration, both personally and professionally. If you don't have this kind of friend group you meet with regularly, I highly recommend you go out and get one!

Last night, as we were engaging in our weekly ritual, I decided to take the opportunity to conduct a mini consumer survey on an issue which had been bugging me lately.

The issue: About Us pages.

In recent projects, I've noticed a tendency by marketing managers, agencies and/or business owners to use company "About" pages as an extra space to sell their products or services. In other words, "About Us" pages are being used as more of an "about how awesome we are" page rather than an "about our company history and mission statement" page.

While there are no predefined set of rules about what kind of content should go in company About pages, my gut told me this approach was wrong. From a consumer's point of view, this is not the kind of information I look for when I click on a company's About page. Rather, I'm looking to learn more about the company, such as origins, ownership, company mission and practices which make this company unique.

I decided to double check my gut instinct against other consumer perspectives. Turning to the consumers I had on hand, I asked my girlfriends what they thought (let's not forget that women hold a majority share when it comes to consumer spending).

My question:

"What do you expect - or hope - to find when you click on a website's About Us page? Are you looking for more information about the value of the company's products or services, or are you looking to learn more about the company's history, ownership and mission statement?"

GF #1: "I get frustrated when I click on an About Us page and don't find anything about who the company actually is and what they represent. A lot of About Us pages just tell you more about how great they are, not about the company's vibe and ethics."

GF #2: "Yeah, if I go to an About page, I want to know what that company's ethics are, how they conduct their business and what value they offer to their community. If I wanted to know more about why I should buy from them, I'd visit their service or product pages."

GF #3: "Vibe and ethics is a good way to describe it. When I visit an About page, I want to get a feel for what the company stands for and who their owners are."

Ok, so my ad hoc "consumer survey" may not be quite as scientific as a real survey should be, but it confirmed that I'm not alone in my perspective on what an "About" page should - and shouldn't - be.

Let's look at an example of an "About Us" page which is actually an "About How Awesome We Are" page:

What does this page tell you about company ownership? Company history? Mission statement? Ethics? Not much. It gives us plenty of information on the business' value-added services and the level of quality they strive to provide, but none of the kind of information we might look for in an "About Us" page.

If I wanted to see this kind of information, I'd go to the "Why choose..." page, service pages or home page. Or I'd go watch some TV ads.

Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this page's copy; I think it highlights the company's main selling points very effectively and could be quite valuable - on a different page.

So what SHOULD an About Us page look like?

I think it's a matter of switching perspectives. Think like a consumer, not like a business owner/marketer. There's no reason your About page can't be a great sell page - but it needs deliver on its promise of providing information about your company. Stop and think:

- What parts of your business' beginnings, ownership and philosophy are inspiring or unique?

- What is your business' core mission, and how does this separate you from the competition?

These are the answers consumers are looking for, and they can pack a much more powerful punch than "we have industry expertise".

Internet marketing software company Hubspot's About page is a dead-on example of an About page which subtly doubles as a direct sell piece. Notice Hubspot's simple strategy: on the surface, their About page simply answers the questions When, Who, Why, What and Where. The fact that they've named the URL to the About page "www.hubspot.com/internet-marketing-company" is, incidentally, also very awesome (from an SEO standpoint).

Acclaimed copywriting company Men with Pens (I definitely want to be James Chartrand, who is actually a woman, when I grow up) takes a different yet equally effective approach in their About page. The what-we-do-style intro strongly conveys a sense of the company's "vibe" and approach, then the content launches straight into introducing you to the individuals who make up the company's team. Beautiful.

Bottom line: save direct selling for your service and home pages. Use your About pages to give an honest reflection of who your business is and what it represents, and let the selling happen organically.

Need help coming up with the perfect angle for your About Us page? I happen to know a web content copywriter who could help you (see what I did there?).

Why On-Page SEO Content? Boosting Traffic for Longtail Keywords

In a recent interview with a potential client seeking SEO services, I was posed with an interesting question. It was the kind of question which made me pause to reconsider my SEO copywriting methods and how I market my services.

"Marjorie," he said, "I like what you're saying about the importance of content, but I can't help but notice that your approach seems quite different from many of the other SEOs we've spoken with. They've talked a lot about links and meta data, while you seem to be much more focused on site content. What can you say about that difference?"

I tend to consider myself a writer, first, SEO second. It just so happens that SEO is often easiest to apply when integrated into site content writing and content marketing. You want me to write content for your website? Well, why not do the keyword research and incorporate optimized page titles, meta data, header tags and internal links into the content while we're at it? You'd like me to write articles or feeder sites to market your website? Why not include well-researched, optimized titles and links with strong anchor text? It just seems to make sense.

Ironically, my emphasis on quality writing seems to have only pushed me deeper down the SEO rabbit hole. It's as if quality writing and SEO go hand in hand!

In answer to the potential client's question, I pointed out that my end strategies and goals were very similar to those of the other SEOs he'd spoken with, they just took a different approach. My proposal contained plenty of recommendations for link building and optimization, but they were expressed in terms of content rather than in terms of straight text link building. I pointed out that in order to gain a substantial number of quality links, SEOs must at one point or another syndicate articles and content. The other SEOs didn't reference content writing because they most likely planned on outsourcing article/content writing at bottom dollar, while I included article writing as part of my service package.

But there was another important difference he was picking up on: my emphasis on on-page site content optimization and writing. Other SEOs emphasized link building as the priority - why did I place such importance on on-page content writing?

Well, first, because I'm a writer. If you want someone to pull grey or black hat SEO ninja moves and acquire thousands of links for you in a short span of time, I'm not your girl. True, more aggressive link building strategies can be very effective for ecommerce sites in competitive markets, but there are plenty of SEOs who specialize in that area, and I don't care to compete with them.

But there's another reason I place a strong emphasis on on-page SEO copywriting: it works. In the long run, having lots of well-written SEO on-page content tends to develop more sustainable search engine rankings while drawing more qualified traffic - or, in other words, people who are more likely to buy.

Why? Because on-page content allows you to optimize your site not only for competitive main category terms (i.e. "auto body repair"), but also a host of niche longtail keywords as well (i.e. "car bumper dent repair", "fix auto paint scratches").

Why target longtail keywords? By their nature, longer search queries are more specific AND less competitive, allowing you to market your site to people looking for very specific products or services with a lot less effort.

Neglecting to optimize your site for longtail keywords means missing out on a huge sector of your market. Recent figures indicate 56% of buyers searching online use queries of three words or more, and 20-25% of all Google search queries are completely unique. Studies have also shown that visitors brought in by longtail keywords tend to have higher conversion rates.

In a recent article on optimizing content for longtail keywords, SEOBook.com used the following diagram. Take a close look at how the On Page Optimization slice of the pie chart differs between competitive and longtail keywords:

According to SEOBook.com's research, on-page optimization only has a 5% influence in gaining rankings for competitive keywords, while it has a whopping 50% influence on rankings for longtail keywords. These figures seem very low, and from my experience, on-page optimization tends to carry more weight than 5 and 50%, particularly for smaller niche industries and local businesses (i.e. sites with lower competition). Still, these figures demonstrate an important point about marketing sites for longtail keywords: it requires on-page content.

And what does good SEO on-page content require? Good SEO copywriting.

Lead Generation: Give Away Your Best Ideas for Free

In an effort to participate in the delightful LaVonneEllis' #customerlove challenge, I'd like to take a break from SEO to talk about a more personal kind of lead generation.

While blogging, twitter and SEO can be great tools for marketing, sometimes it pays to take a break from mass content syndication and find a much smaller - and more qualified - pool of potential leads. Industry forums, niche social networking sites and LinkedIn groups can be all be fantastic places to hunt down people who are interested in the products or services you offer. Even better, many of these people are actively asking questions that YOU KNOW THE ANSWER TO.

"How much should I pay for SEO?"

"How do I find a way to tell my brand's story?" (Cottage Copy, I'm looking at you)

"Why am I loosing money on my Google AdWords campaigns?"

What better way to get your customers to love you (as a consultant/writer) or your product (as a retailer) than to step in and provide valuable, expert insight?

It's not quite as easy as it sounds, however. As it turns out, people really don't like having sales pitches shoved under their noses - especially when they're in spheres which are designed to protect them from in-your-face advertising. The idea is to answer peoples' questions in a way which draws them to you rather than alienating them.

So how do you put your brilliant, genius skills (or products) on display without coming off as a door-to-door salesperson?

Simple. Write answers which are 100% relevant and valuable.

If you're within 500 miles of the web marketing industry, you hear the term "valuable content" a LOT. How do you engage customers on social media? Engage in discussions with valuable content. How do you build qualified traffic with a blogging campaign? Blog valuable content. How do you make your article marketing strategy successful? Write and syndicate valuable content.

You get the idea.

So how do you turn your would-be sales pitch into a relevant, valuable answer? You pull out the stops. Don't just give enough information so that leads need to contact you to find out the rest of the answer - give the WHOLE answer, including the "secret" tricks you've been cloistering away.

For lack of a better example, let's look at a forum response I posted which helped me snag a new client. I provide social media management services/consultation to a lot of automotive repair shops, and one of my clients was kind enough to invite me to participate in a nationwide forum of auto repair shop owners. As a twentysomething (blonde) web marketer, I could potentially be on very treacherous ground with this crew. But I chose which conversations to engage in very carefully, and I try my best to make my contributions genuinely valuable to the audience. No one's booted me out yet, which I take as a good sign. Here's a thread I posted on:

Original thread:

I wrote a 2800 word article on How to Market Your Automotive Business Online that I think folks here would like. Let me know - edits or feedback on it would be appreciated! - D. Anonymous

Reply:

Loved the article, Dave. A very thorough summary of solid SEO
strategies. I can't emphasize the importance of thorough keyword
research and analysis enough. Finding high volume keywords isn't
enough; those keywords need to be 100% relevant to the web page (or blog post, if you use a blogging strategy like the one I manage here:
www.keepthecar.com). Increasing traffic is worthless if your visitors
are looking for something other than what you're selling.

Also, segmenting services into multiple sub-pages is a great way to
gather traffic for specific niche services, like "corvette repair" or
"computer automotive diagnostics".

If you're feeling confused, my web marketing
blog (www.creativewebbusiness.blogspot.com) has plenty of down-to-earth SEO tips for DIY business owners. - M. Steele

My answer was very specific, and I gave up many of my "secret tricks", but I also took full advantage of any opportunity to provide access to my portfolio. Less than 24 hours after I posted the reply, I had an email in my inbox from a new lead asking for a phone interview. Within a week, I had myself a new client. At 1 lead per post and a 100% conversion rate, I'd say the 45 minutes it took me to post a thoughtful answer to D. Anonymous was well worth it.

Here's another great example of creating #customerlove by giving away your great ideas for free.

While this post mostly addresses business-to-business lead generation, this concept could just as easily be applied to business-to-consumer and retail industries. The interweb hosts forums for just about every industry and product under the sun, and search tools like Google Social Search, Google Alerts and Twitter Search are fantastic ways to listen to questions your customer base is asking.