Queen Bee Marketing’s Blog About Marketing, SEO, and Design.

Google has now launched it’s own free 411 service. All you have to do is dial 1-800-GOOG-411 and tell it where you are an what you want and it will find local listings for you. What will these guys get into next?

They already have blown people away with street mapping and created a stir because some people feel their privacy has been invaded it they where on the street when the Google camera vehicle rolls thru town.

I’ve loved the trending lab for years now. Google video ranks right up there with Youtube.  They also have Google Page Creator  where you can create you own web page.

I’ll be real impressed when they get around to creating Google health insurance, Google global cooling, or Google pedophile identifier.

Matt Cutts recently wrote a post regarding junk mail he received soliciting search engine submissions. While the simple fact that they are sending this junk to him is extremely funny, this is a common problem in the SEO world.

Today, most of the major search engines don’t need you to submit your site to them, they can find it on their own- if you have search engine friendly links from other sites on the Web. So to pay an SEO company to do something the search engines do automatically is a little ridiculous. There are however some common misconceptions. I read an article recently in a trade publication for Realtors regarding SEO and it was very informative and mostly accurate, but the article stated a submission to Yahoo cost approx $300. This is not totally correct, a listing in their directory cost about $300, but if your Web site is designed correctly and you have a link program in place, your site should be found by Yahoo naturally and included in their search results without paying to be in their directory. I do recommend that many businesses pay to be listed in the Yahoo directory, because of the qualified traffic the directory can provide, but again it is not required.

While we normally don’t need to submit the Web sites we create to the major search engines, we do monitor the sites to see if they have been indexed or not, and if a site hasn’t been indexed within a reasonable time frame, we will take the steps to submit the site (at no charge to our customers) to the needed search engine.

I have heard of many instances where a business owner was charged hundreds of dollars by a web design company to submit their site to Google. To me this is an unethical business practice since it only takes a few moments to submit your site to Google and there is no charge from Google themselves. The argument can be made that the SEO company is getting paid for their knowledge and ability to perform this function, but I really don’t think it’s worth the hundreds of dollars many business owners have paid.

You’ve all heard the saying that “It is better to give, than to receive.” I firmly believe that if you give of yourself you will get more in return.

I like Mexican food and and will stop by my local Chipotle for lunch on a regular basis. They always have a fishbowl there for people to drop business cards into for a free meal and it’s always full. I am happy to say that they do indeed provide free meals to people that drop their card in the fishbowl. About 2 weeks ago, I got an email from my local Chipotle at 86th and College Park telling me that they had drawn my card out of the bowl and that I could schedule a lunch or dinner for between 15-20 people! So, I called up some family and friends and we met for a great little dinner this week. On a more national level, Taco Bell recently promoted it’s “steal a base, steal a taco” idea to the U.S. (I like this example because it’s about Mexican food again).

These are both very specific examples, but I’m sure you’ve been to a fair, trade show, sporting event, or any number of other public events where a business is handing out free stuff. Ok, so a little taco may only cost them $.20 each, but if you end up giving away 500,000 of them… it comes out to a $100,000.00 price tag (I have no idea what the actual operating cost of a taco is for them, or how many they actually gave away). But the question becomes: Why would they do that?

The biggest reason is the belief they will get business in return. So they give away a $.20 taco, the average consumer is likely to walk out the door having spent 5-10$ after getting their free taco. About half of the family and friends that dined at Chipotle with me this week had never eaten there before. I know they enjoyed the meal and I’m sure some will return in the future and others may even become regular customers.

While the motive may normally be to generate further income, I am happy that several charities and those in need have benefited from the generosity of businesses. For example, how many of our homeless received a free taco because of this promotion? You may think that idea is a little far fetched, but you may not have seen Tom Mabe’s idea on feeding the homeless.
My point is this: If you want to increase sales and promote goodwill, practice the art of giving. Even if it doesn’t return a profit, you may help to make this a better place to live.

If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you’ve likely heard about about the recent Class Action Lawsuit against Target by The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and BJ Sexton, a blind California Student. The suit was approved by judge Marilyn Hall Patel recently, but she threw out part of the NFB lawsuit. Although, this ruling doesn’t provide that all Web sites are required to be ADA accessible, it is a big towards ADA regulations being applied the internet.

The basis of the suit states that Target.com is discriminatory to blind users that access the site using reading software to vocalize hidden text on the page. The main complaints: alt tags missing on images, purchases are unable to be completed without a mouse, missing headings needed to navigate the site, and that image maps are inaccessible.

This isn’t the first time ADA regulations have been pushed online. In 2002, Southwest Airlines faced a similar suit from a blind Florida resident. This will be an interesting argument and case to watch. The Target case involves printable coupons not accessible to the blind and the inability to navigate store locator’s thus denying a disabled persons full enjoyment of services/goods of a covered accommodation. Disability Rights Advocates representing the NFB states: “If a pure internet business looked at this case and said ‘we’re off the hook’, they’re greatly mistaken.”

So what does this mean to businesses in general? Creating a Web site that is SEO friendly will likely improve your accessibility to all users, disabled or not. Vocalization software used by the blind is similar to search engine bots that index Web sites. Both are programs that have limitations that visual users do not, so designing your site to be “search engine friendly” should also help to provide access to disabled users.

There are two sides to this case and we should try and evaluate both sides. This case could open the floodgates for future lawsuits and may push socialist agendas on a capitalist society. In my opinion the potential for increased revenue by servicing all possible customers, being non-discriminant, and the potential negative PR should all out-weight the opposing viewpoint.

The term “Long tail” was originally coined by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 post on Wired. Essentially “Long tail” is the theory that the collective sales of low demand products/services can exceed those of popular demand. The term has taken off in Search Engine Optimization circles with regards to unpopular or lengthy keyword phrases. The old 80/20 rule which states 80% of the business can be obtained from 20% of keywords has actually been proven to be the opposite in many cases. Below is Chris’s chart which helps to understand the importance of long tail in the marketplace.

A recent client of ours www.oopermits.com is a prime example of the long tail theory. This is a startup company who’s Website became active in early July, and in just under 3 months of operation has had 320 different keywords/phrases utilized to find their Website. I calculated the total number of hits they received from keywords that resulted in more than 1 visitor to the site (short tail visits) vs. those keywords that only brought 1 visitor to the site (long tail visits).

64 Short tail visitors vs. 256 Long Tail visitors

As you can clearly see the Long Tails ended up kicking some tail. I usually play devil’s advocate and would argue that this example is on a new site, covers a short period of time, and is based upon a single specific site within a niche industry. Sure I’m aware of all this; but it doesn’t change the facts that 20% of OOPS’s traffic came from short tail and 80% came from long tail.

In short (sorry for the pun), don’t forget that while targeting your short tail keywords that long tail keywords can actually be more effective in gathering traffic, conversions, and are easier to rank for in most cases.

Let’s talk about value first, so we’re going to go back to Dictionary.com to get a definition.

Value: relative worth, merit, or importance

I just read a post by Chris Silver Smith discussing Print Yellow Pages vs. Online Yellow Pages, and he makes a point I strongly agree with: People are leaving the phone books and going to the internet to get information. The phone books have been a prime source to provide information to consumers in the past, but is not the only one. The main marketing medias in recent years have been:

TV
Radio
Newspaper
Billboard
Direct Mail
Magazines
Phone Books
Online

So what medium has the best value for your business? Depends on your business. Each marketing option has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. I found a profile of the major media types on www.iesbdc.org which was very interesting. They listed the advantages and limitations of each media type and only listed two of them as having low cost in the advantage category: Online and Billboard.

The report goes on to say that for a billboard the cost are- “$3,000 to do artwork and install media on billboard; rates depend on impress level, ranges from $5,000 to $500,000 (the higher the qualify of the artwork and the larger the demographic group, the higher the price); minimum contract is 16 weeks”. So lets simply say the low end of $8000. $8000 divided by 16 = $500 a week. Other costs were as such:

*Newspapers- $1300 a week for 2′ x 2′ ad
*TV- $200,000 for 30 seconds of prime time
*Direct Mail- $1500 for 1000 standard postcards including postage
*Radio-$90-$120 a week on a rotator
*Magazine- $1200 to $5000 per month or issue
*Online- $.60 PPC or $1200 to $1800/month for aggressive PPC campaigns

These numbers seam fairly accurate (depending upon several different factors) to me, but what disappoints me is the fact that the report actually excluded SEO efforts. What is the value of being the #1 natural ranked result for targeted keywords on search engines such as Yahoo, Google, or MSN? Of course the exposure alone is worth it’s weight in gold, but also consider the credibility factor. Do you want to use the company that finished in 1st place or in 10th place? It’s a little simplistic, but people have been naming their companies “ABC Whatever” just to be listed 1st in the phone books for years.

It’s difficult to establish an average cost of SEO because their are so many different levels of effort and needs, but for companies that do not have geographical boundaries for their product or services, online marketing is the most cost effective and controllable media type available. Geographically defined companies can’t overlook the need for SEO though, because it has been estimated that between 25-50% of searches done are local in nature. If someone goes online to find a mechanic they will search for one near them.

Of course the biggest disadvantage to online marketing is skewed demographics- if the consumer doesn’t own, use, or have access to the internet- you won’t reach them. The other ongoing debate between push vs pull marketing was recently reviewed by Blog Bites Man. While you must evaluate all marketing avenues to find the right mix for your specific business, it seems that many companies are overlooking this extremely cost effective and valuable form of marketing.

In an age where domain names like www.business.com are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, it’s still hard to evaluate what the value of being ranked #1 for your industry specific keywords is. Many people ask “What will it cost to perform SEO for my website?”, when the real questions is how much you want to make? The reason companies are willing to spend $200,000 or more for only 30 seconds of TV air time is because they believe it will create a positive return on the investment. For many companies, proper SEO will maximize your expense-return ratio better that any other media type.

Welcome to the initial evolutionary stages of the “Information Age” within our society. Have you ever forgotten where you put something? Your keys, ID, money, or worse? We are currently in an age of human history where information is constantly, instantaneously, and via multiple channels being distributed and controlled. Communication channels such as phone, fax, TV, radio have been the prominent avenues for the last ten years until the advent of the internet which can perform each of these functions.

What does this have to do with me losing my car keys you ask? Fugitive Information is simply put; information that is currently unavailable to you. Examples are:

You no longer have access to the information
You are unable to locate the information
The information has been forgotten
The information is not known
The information resource is currently unavailable

Consider the average consumer in today’s society. What is the most effective way for the general buying public to find information about a company, product, or service?
The Internet

Marketing and sales are the fuel to any profit machine. Information management and lead generation are currently most effectively performed via the following top 3 avenues:

1. Online
2. Phone
3. In-person

I am a strong believer in the “so what” question. So what does this mean for my business? If you are online reading this- then I hope you are closely evaluating and monitoring your company’s online presence. Your actual Web page or Web site (on-page) is the 1st place to start. Then you need to turn your eyes outward (off-page) to see what’s going on.

Effective online marketing can drastically reduce marketing expenses for many businesses. Initial relocation of marketing funds towards this approach can improve the long-term marketing budget. Making the information- resources, availability, contact information- about your company or organization easily and readily accessible is most effectively and efficiently done online in today’s marketplace.

Do you want to help those that would be best served finding you? Do you want to help your consumers avoid “Fugitive Information” regarding your business or organization? Do it online.

I was writing down a list of ingredients to make some mixed drinks for this holiday weekend, and my mind drifted over to SEO. What do you think is the optimal number of short-tail keywords you can optimize a Web page for? I went back and started thinking about my drinks for the weekend again, and realized the good ones all had about 2-4 main ingredients.

My wife likes a White Russian, which has Vodka, Cream, and Kahlua - 3 ingredients. I’m more of an Amaretto Stone Sour kind of guy. The main ingredients there are Amaretto, Sour Mix, and Orange Juice - again 3 ingredients.

You can try to optimize a page for any number of keywords, but to actually get effective rankings most businesses will need to keep things simple and focus on a few keywords per page. The Long Island Iced Tea or Hairy Buffalo is not for everybody. The inexperienced drinker, or someone celebrating their 21st birthday, won’t go far if they start their night with one of these elaborate drinks, containing many highly concentrated ingredients. Unless you’re a powerhouse, it’s best to keep your optimization efforts simple, straightforward, and focused.

For the lightweights (those new to SEO) it might be better to start with a simple light beer, wine cooler, or Shirley Temple. For example, target the low competition keywords that will give you a good feeling but not make you sick.

I hope everybody has a great holiday this weekend! I don’t know what caused me to think of the drink/SEO analogy, but if anyone has some other drink ideas, feel free to share!

I heard recently that most of marketing can be considered science because it is normally a matter of trial and error until you find the formula that works. I agree with the basic idea, but would emphasize that there is normally a strong theory behind the original trials that result in error. Thomas Edison’s quote : “I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work” is the best example of what I mean.

We recently ran a branding experiment using PPC ads. Knowing that click through rates are statistically very low, we decided to design the ads more towards branding than to achieve actual clicks (granted we weren’t against click through). We identified keywords where INTX Microbials wasn’t ranking as strong as we would like and then designed PPC ads with the company name in all the ad variations. We also targeted keywords in which they had front page SERPS and used the same PPC ads.

The results? A 10% higher click though rate on ads where INTX had natural front page placement. What does this tell us? Not much really, but you can make some assumptions (or theories). Double placement solidified users interest and trust in the company and while click through rates on PPC ads are normally low, there can be arguments made that they can be a powerful branding tool if designed correctly.

I was reading Bruce Clay’s blog and Lisa Barone had an article about Promoting Yourself Using Other Brands which was very interesting. I agree with Lisa that using PPC ads to market your business on competitor brand names is not likely the best tactic available, but it is a clear example of using PPC as branding.

I’ve done my share of PPC advertising and haven’t been a big fan in the past mainly due to cost, but using the ad placement to obtain exposure and increase company branding has warmed my heart towards PPC advertising in recent years.

So you’ve heard about SEO (search engine optimization) and have decided it is a good fit for your business model. The question now is: “Where do I begin?”. The answer is simple: Keyword research. SEO practices without proper keyword research is a little like fishing without any bait. If they’re really hungry you may get lucky, but odds are you won’t catch anything worth keeping.

I recently met with a business owner that sells manufactured homes (better known as mobile homes). The company is established and has decent branding, but lacks a Web site (thus the reason I was there). Preliminary meetings with our prospective clients normally involve quite a bit of investigation into the business, their primary target audience, and brainstorming about potential keywords. During the meeting I learned about his industry, clients, and the challenges his business encounters. He explained very clearly that they despise the term “Mobile Home” and preferred the terms “Manufactured Housing” or “Modular Homes.” I am also a Real Estate Broker and have seen this marketing shift in the last several years and was not surprised.

After the meeting was over and I got back to the office to begin the research, it quickly became obvious that the business owner was not going to like what I was going to tell him. The term “mobile home” was searched approximately 5x’s more than “modular home.” If he wants to build an effective Web site for his company, he would need to optimize for the term “mobile home” - the term he despises.

This story is a prime example of what keyword research is all about. SEO is not just about making the site rank high in the search engines, it’s about doing market research and then targeting the desired traffic. Please don’t misunderstand, just because one keyword has more traffic than another, it doesn’t mean it is better for your business to optimize for that keyword. For example: As a Real Estate Broker would it be smarter to optimize for “homes for sale” (A) or “Real Estate Agent” (B)? Even though (A) may have 10x’s the amount of traffic; an individual that searches for (B) is likely a better target market. Some people can browse for homes for years without actually buying, while someone searching for the services of a Real Estate Agent is more likely to convert.

Keyword research and analysis is the basic foundation of SEO work. It can mean the difference of success and failure for your online marketing strategy. I have been fortunate enough to be involved in campaigns that actually increased specific keyword traffic via integration of Offline and Online marketing techniques. In most cases though, the end human user is the driving factor which determines the direction of your SEO efforts and Web design.