Search Basics Part 2 – Free Tools, Results, and Google vs. Yahoo
June 22, 2009
June 2009
This is part two of our interview with our new CBWD associate, Craig Harkins. Craig is working with us on our new area of Search Engine Marketing. We are publishing the interview in a two part series. Click Here To Read Part 1.
Craig is also the owner of Fencing.Net. He has worked tirelessly to build a community from the ground up and also runs the ecommerce end of the business. Craig has learned from the trenches of his own successful business the ins and outs of Internet marketing. In the process he discovered that in addition to he passion for fencing, he also has a passion for Internet Marketing. We are now offering this invaluable service to boost search results and grow business.
In this interview, Craig answers a few questions on this vital topic. Please feel free to contact us with more questions or to develop a plan with you to grow your business using the Internet.
Search Basics Part 2 – Free Tools, Results, and Google vs. Yahoo
If I want to DIY what are the top three free tools to help me?
I have several tools that I use that are in the hundreds per month that I use for anything from competitive research to improving the conversion rate on my ecommerce sites.
Starting out, I bootstrapped a lot of that using the free tools that were available. These days there are a lot more and better tools out there.Three that I recommend:
Google Webmaster Tools: – This is a suite of tools that Google offers to web site owners. The core package is the Analytics package, which helps you measure your overall web site traffic and monitor which key words or web sites are driving customers to your site.
The webmaster tools also provide reports on how well Google is seeing your site and if there are problems with any pages. There are also a lot of webmasters who actively share tips on how to get the most out of the tools that Google provides.
Niche Watch: – With this free service you can type in a phrase (like “Atlanta lawyers”) and your web site address and the tool will return not only the top 10-20 web pages for that phrase, but also tell you how well your page ranks.
It’s a great tool for getting a feel for a market and seeing how optimized your competition is. I like to use this tool when I’m researching for a client to figure out how to break into the first page of Google’s listings.
Google Trends: – Is it a good idea to launch a patio furniture store in September? Hit Google Trends, type in your keyword phrase, and you’ll find out that people aren’t really searching for patio furniture until March, with searches peaking in April/May. Launch the site in September to start building up your rankings, but be ready for the lean months until the warmer weather gets your customers searching for patio furniture.
You can use Google Trends to scope out any market and see the seasonality. That will help let you know if the reason why you’re seeing a boom in business is because you are just that awesome at search marketing, or if it’s an indication of the overall industry increasing.
How do I measure progress and success?
I let my bank measure the success. We’re talking about business success here, so I approach my online efforts just like any marketing spend. The first thing you need to know is your key metrics. What are you willing to spend to get a new customer in the door? What is the lifetime value (or LTV) of a new customer? Once you get a customer to buy from you (either a hard product or a service), how many more times can you sell to them and what other products do you have queued up to offer them?
Once you know what your sales funnel looks like and what your metrics are, then you have a good idea of what you are willing to spend to get that customer in the door.
What is the difference between Google and Yahoo? Do I just need to place on Google?
Google is the biggie. ComScore said that 64.2 percent of the searches conducted by Americans in April were at Google sites, up from 63.7 percent in March. Yahoo!’s share of the search market slipped 0.1 percentage points in April to 20.4 percent while Microsoft saw its share fall by 0.1 percentage points to 8.2 percent.
If you want to be a player in your field, you need the Google searches, both the “organic” (on non-paid) search and the PPC. It is far easier to generate leads by paying for them with PPC while you work on the long term search engine strategy.
What a lot of online marketers do is focus just on Google. However, you can still pick up new customers from Yahoo! and MSN with a little less effort. The new networking sites like Facebook also offer new ways to get your message out to customers. Over the next few years’ companies will need to fold the social media sites into any online marketing strategy.
Cordelia Blake Web Design is now offering Search Engine Marketing services. We are offering both a coaching package where we guide you on how to effectively manage your own campaign and a consulting package where we manage the whole process on your behalf.
Please contact us today to learn the many ways that Search Engine Marketing and and Effective Website can increase your bottom line.
Would you like us to speak to your business group about a technology topic of interest? We can discuss Search Engine Strategies, Marketing Yourself Online, Developing An Effective Email Marketing Campaign, or another topic. Please contact us today for more information.
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