THE Performance Marketing Conference The Venetian Resort & Casino, Las Vegas March 15-17, 2016
Search Engine Optimization Workshop: From Visibility to Revenue
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Workshop: From Visibility to Revenue
Workshop Overview Welcome to the LeadsCon Las Vegas 2016 SEO Marketing Workshop led by Jim McKinley of 360Partners. This half-day workshop is designed to give you an end-to-end view of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), how it works, and the tangible things you can do today to improve your SEO performance.
What to do about SEO is one of the most difficult challenges that marketers face today. The importance and significance of SEO as a source of converting traffic is growing, but so is the confusion and complexity around what needs to be done to gain traction.
How to Get the Most Out of the Workshop
The goal of the workshop is to provide you with the theory AND the actionable learnings that you can apply to your website. In each section of the workshop you will learn specific things that you can do today to get started on the road to improving your SEO performance. There are several things you can do to maximize your workshop experience:
Take notes on key points covered in the presentations Ask questions along the way Think about your own website and how you might apply these learnings in your own situation
This workbook will serve as a guide and also as an additional resource of SEO information. The workbook will be referenced at various times throughout the presentations to point out exercises, best practice information, and links to online resources for further learning about specific topics.
We are glad you are participating in the workshop today, and hope this will be an informative and productive experience for you.
Jim McKinley
Principal, 360Partners
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Contents
SEO Philosophy ...... 6 Visibility ...... 8 Clicks ...... 16 Engagement ...... 24 Lead Form ...... 34 Tracking & Reporting ...... 36 Putting It All Together ...... 38 About 360Partners ...... 40
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SEO Philosophy
SEO needs to be thought of as “Search Experience Optimization” as much as is does “Search Engine Optimization”. The overall goal of SEO is to influence each step of the process, from the initial search to the final sale, which includes how users engage with the website and its content. SEO must also be built on a foundation of accurate website activity tracking and reporting. This is important for gaining valuable data insights and information about how well SEO campaign activities are performing.
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The Buying Funnel
The Buying Funnel is a concept that supports the development of SEO strategies that aim to meet searchers wherever they are in their buying process. Keywords, content, and website conversion activities and goals can be targeted to different levels of the buying funnel to create a search-to- conversion process that is more tightly connected with the customer.
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Visibility
Visibility is simply how many people will see your site listed in the search engines’ search results pages. Building search engine visibility is a core component of most SEO campaigns. This section of the workshop provides background information on how search engines organize the information of the internet, and how understanding these processes is the first step to knowing how to build visibility for your own website.
How Google Works
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How to Build Visibility
Organic search visibility is built on four main elements of SEO: - A technically sound website that supports search engine crawling and indexing, and user navigation and conversion - Keyword research that identifies relevant, high-value keyword targets - Content development that is aimed at building relevancy for targeted keyword targets - Content promotion that amplifies the content messaging
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Technical Resources
Mitigating any technical issues that could slow or stop search engines from crawling and indexing your website, or visitors effectively using your site, should be a top priority at the beginning of any SEO effort. The following resources provide additional information on the tools and strategies for ensuring your website is technically sound.
Technical SEO
[Basics] A Beginner’s Guide to Technical SEO: https://www.quicksprout.com/2015/07/31/the-beginners-guide- to-technical-seo/ Technical SEO for Non-Technical People: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how- to/2300520/technical-seo-for-nontechnical-people [Advanced] Moz Collection of Technical SEO Articles: https://moz.com/blog/category/technical-seo Technical SEO Tips: http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/technical-seo-tips.htm Technical Site Audit Checklist: https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015 How to Conduct a Technical SEO Site Audit: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how- to/2200756/how-to-conduct-a-technical-seo-site-audit
Technical SEO Tools [Basics] Which SEO Tools Are Worth Your Time?: http://searchengineland.com/tools-tools-everywhere-seo- tools-worth-time-222123 [Advanced] Technical SEO: Tools and Approaches: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2063967/technical- seo-tools-and-approach The 100 Best Free SEO Tools & Resources: https://moz.com/blog/100-free-seo-tools Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool: http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
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Keyword Research Resources
There are a number of components to conducting keyword research that will result in a targeted, topically-themed list of relevant keywords for your SEO campaign. A number of strategies and tools are available to make your keyword research as effective as possible.
Keyword Research Strategies [Basics] How to Do Keyword Research: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research How to Do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner’s Guide: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to- do-keyword-research-ht [Advanced] Keyword Research: The Definitive Guide: http://backlinko.com/keyword-research The KISSmetrics Guide to Keyword Research: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/keyword-research-part-1/ How to Build a Customer-Centric Keyword Strategy: http://searchengineland.com/build-customer- centric-keyword-strategy-220472
Keyword Research Tools
[Basics] Google AdWords Keyword Planner: https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner Bing Keyword Research Tool: http://www.bing.com/toolbox/keywords [Advanced] Three Free Keyword Research Tools: http://searchengineland.com/threefree-keyword-tool-reviews- 126217 The Best Free and Premium Keyword Research Tools: http://www.iacquire.com/blog/the-best-free- premium-keyword-research-tools
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Content Development
Website content drives search engine relevancy, and is the single biggest factor search engines have to evaluate a webpage against a search query. There are several critical content elements that can help your website achieve visibility for your targeted keywords and search queries.
Content Development Strategies
[Basics]
A Content Strategy Template You Can Build On: https://moz.com/blog/content-strategy-template The Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing: Content Strategy: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to- content-marketing/content-strategy [Advanced]
Content & Search Engine Success Factors: http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/content-search- engine-ranking How Your Content Strategy Should Affect Your SEO Expectations: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2419874/how-your-content-strategy-should-affect-your- seo-expectations How a Good Content Strategy Can Repair Your “SEO Problem”: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/repair-seo-problem-with-content
Arnie Kuenn’s Book on Content Marketing
Content Marketing Works: 8 Steps to Transform Your Business: http://info.verticalmeasures.com/content-marketing-works
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Content Promotion
Promoting the great content you have created for your website is a crucial strategy for amplifying the messaging and attracting linking and sharing signals of usefulness and authority. There are a number of best practices for integrating social media with SEO and maximizing the potential of your content.
SEO & Social Media
[Basics] The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-social-media The Relationship Between SEO & Social Media is Real: http://blog.hootsuite.com/how-social-media- affects-seo/ [Advanced] Social Media & Ranking in Search Results: http://searchengineland.com/guide/seo/social-media- ranking-search-results SEO & Social Media Alignment: http://searchengineland.com/seo-social-media-alignment-174775 5 Key Strategies for Top Notch Social Media SEO: https://blogs.oracle.com/marketingcloud/5-key- strategies-top-notch-social-media-seo
Social Media Tools
[Basics] 17 Tools That’ll Take Your Social Media Marketing Results to the Next Level: https://www.quicksprout.com/2015/08/14/17-tools-thatll-take-your-social-media-marketing-results-to- the-next-level/ 18 Effective Social Media Tools That Will Save You Time: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/239538 The Best New Social Media Tools for 2016: http://www.inc.com/sujan-patel/the-best-new-social-media- tools-for-2016.html [Advanced] HootSuite Social Media Management Dashboard: https://hootsuite.com/ Tweetdeck: http://www.tweetdeck.com
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Search Opportunity Analysis
One of the first steps you can take towards developing a strategy for increasing your website’s search engine visibility is to conduct a Search Opportunity Analysis. A Search Opportunity Analysis provides input into the current keyword visibility for a website, and where the opportunities for increasing visibility may lie. The following outline is a method for gathering and analyzing the data you will need to make strategic decisions regarding content topics and keyword targets. 1. Download Google Search Console Search Analytics Data
2. Sort the keyword data by Impressions to see the list of keywords that the website is receiving search impressions for and that are potentially bringing traffic to the site. You could also sort by: a. Clicks to see the keywords that are actually bringing traffic b. By Click-Through-Rate (CTR) to see the success rate at which keywords the site is gaining impressions for actually turn into clicks c. By Average Position to see which keywords have the highest search rankings
3. Next, categorize the keywords in the list by any number of keyword types: a. Brand vs. Non-brand b. Relevant vs. Irrelevant c. Product vs. Generic
This now allows you to see which types of keywords the website is most visible for, and where the opportunities for improvement lie. With these insights, you can now assess specific elements of your website such as the meta content to determine if you are “selling the click” effectively on the search engine results pages, and the on-page content to measure how relevant individual webpages are for specific keyword topics. These assessments will help you determine what types of optimization activities may be necessary to improve your site’s organic search visibility.
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Clicks
Once your website has achieved visibility on the search engine results page, the next step in actually gaining traffic to your website is to entice the searcher to click on your search listing. This section of the workshop provides insights into what drives searchers to click on a particular listing, and how to optimize your listing with great meta content.
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Title Tag & Meta Description Best Practices
Document Summary
The following provides an overview of title tag and meta description best practices as related to search engine optimization. These best practices are meant to provide a framework that can be applied throughout an entire website and for any current or future webpages.
Overview
Title Tags Title tags provide insight into the underlying theme of a webpage. A title tag is considered to be one of the most important on-page SEO elements, and appears in three places:
Search Results Pages (SERPs) – Title tags also appear above the meta description of each listing in search engine results pages.
Browser – Depending upon the web browser being used, title tags will appear at the top of the browser and in all applicable tabs.
External Websites – Frequently external websites, especially social media websites will use the title of a web page as its anchor text (link text).
Title Tag Best Practices The title tag is intended to be an accurate and concise description of a page’s content. Constructing a highly descriptive, keyword-rich title tag is not only important for increasing rankings in search engines, but also aids in creating a strong user experience. The recommendations below highlight the essential elements of title tag optimization as they relate to search engine rankings and usability.
Title Tag Length – Approximately 55-60 characters will be displayed in search engine results pages. This character length restriction is actually based on pixel width and the number of displayed characters may vary. As a best practice, it’s recommended to construct title tags that do not exceed 55 characters in length so that all of the text in the title will be displayed.
Keyword Proximity – According to various studies, the closer a keyword is to the beginning of the title tag, the greater value it will carry in search engine ranking algorithms. Including keywords towards the beginning of a title tag can also lead to a greater click through rate on the SERPs.
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Branding – In most cases the brand name should be included at the end of a title tag. The position of the brand in the title can be modified based on the relative strength and awareness of the brand in the target market. If the brand is well known, it can be included at the beginning of the title, but if brand awareness is minimal it should be inserted at the end of the title tag.
Readability – It is important to consider the entire user experience on the SERPs. In many cases the title tag is a visitor’s first interaction with a page if they arrived from a search engine. Overall messaging in the title tag should also be reflected in the subsequent page copy as well.
General Recommended Title Tag Format: Important Keyword + Value Proposition +Brand
Meta Descriptions Similar to title tags, meta descriptions are intended to provide a description of a page’s content. Meta descriptions are extremely important in gaining users’ attention and promoting click-throughs to a webpage from the SERPs. These short snippets of text provide website owners a way to promote their content to searchers as well as communicate the contents of the page.
Meta Description Best Practices Meta descriptions should incorporate keywords, but also provide a compelling description that will entice users to proceed to the website (in essence, to “sell the click”). Meta descriptions should also be highly relevant and unique to each page on a website. Basic best practice guidelines for compelling meta descriptions include:
Meta Description Length – While a meta description can technically be any length, search engines truncate descriptions longer than 156 characters. For this reason, it is a best practice to keep all meta descriptions between 150-156 characters.
Compelling Ad Copy – Creating compelling meta descriptions with relevant keywords and a strong call-to-action will attract more attention and typically lead to a higher click-through rate. It is also important to note that Google will bold any keywords in the description that also appear in the search query.
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General Recommended Meta Description Format: Brand + Important Keyword/Product Name + Value Proposition(s) + Call to Action
Optimized Meta Content Example:
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Workshop Exercise: Optimize the Meta Content for the LeadsCon About Us Page
Title (55 characters):______
Description (156 characters):______
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Meta Content Analysis Tools
There are a number of free tools available to help you find, analyze, and write title tags and meta descriptions for your website. Here are a few of our favorites.
SEO Meta in 1 Click: http://www.seo-extension.com/
This Chrome browser extension lets you see all of the main SEO meta content for a webpage.
SEOmofo Meta Content Snippet Tool: http://www.seomofo.com/snippet-optimizer.html
This online tool allows counts characters while you type in titles and descriptions, and displays a preview of what your search engine results page listing would look like.
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Bulk Meta Description Checker: http://www.seoreviewtools.com/bulk-meta-description-checker/
This online tool allows you to upload up to 10 URLs and check the meta descriptions for each page.
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Engagement
When a searcher clicks on your website’s listing on the search engine results page and lands on your site, engaging them to do something productive on the site is the next goal. Engagement is achieved in two ways: 1. Fulfilling the promise of what the searcher will find on the webpage made in the search listing 2. Providing the visitor with unique, relevant, and useful content, and leading them to a conversion action
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Webpage Relevancy Signals
Search engines use webpage content as signals of relevancy for a given search topic.
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Webpage Layout
While traditionally outside of the scope of SEO, the presentation of information on a webpage is an important aspect of user engagement. There are many elements to consider in webpage layout and design, including coding, iconography, graphics, typography, accessibility, and more. Below are a few webpage layout resources to get you started.
Additional Webpage Layout Resources
[Basics] Web Design Elements: Examples and Best Practices: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/web-design- essentials-examples-and-best-practices/ Responsive vs. Adaptive Web Design, Which is Best for You? http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2014/05/responsive-vs-adaptive-webdesign-which-is-best-for-you/ [Advanced] Best Practices in Modern Web Design: The Ultimate Round-Up: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/03/best-practices-in-modern-web-design-the-ultimate- round-up/ Responsive Web Design: 50 Examples and Best Practices: http://designmodo.com/responsive-design- examples/ 10 Rules of Best Practice for Responsive Design: http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/10/19/10-rules-of- best-practice-for-responsive-design/#gref
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Web Content Development Best Practices
Document Summary
This document provides a general overview of web content development best practices and includes a list of key web-writing stylistic guidelines to use when developing content for new web pages or editing current content. Overview
Developing great web page content is a critical component of successful SEO campaigns. Providing content that is relevant, unique, and authoritative is important not only for users who are seeking information or who want to conduct a transaction, but also to the search engines that are trying to serve searchers with the most relevant web pages for a given search query.
There are several key best practices that should be incorporated into the content development process to ensure that content is organized and presented in a way that informs and engages users.
Tell your audience something new. o Regurgitating familiar or obvious information is the quickest way to bore your audience and cause them to leave your site.
Frame your content with the audience in mind. o A user’s number one concern is “What’s in it for me?” o Be very clear about how the information you’re providing is helpful to the audience and why they should care.
Each page’s content should have a tightly focused theme. o If your page is about carpet cleaning, stick to writing about carpet cleaning. Don’t talk about carpet installation or carpet repair as well – that information belongs on other pages.
If you run out of things to say, stop talking. o Lengthy text ≠ better search engine rankings. o Search engines are more interested in the quality of your content (unique and user- friendly) than the quantity of your content.
Don’t repeat yourself. o Search engines penalize websites with duplicate content. o If you can’t think of anything new or original to write on Page C that you haven’t already said on Page B, then Page C should probably be removed from your website.
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Web Writing Style Guidelines
Studies show that people don’t actually read web content – they scan it. Thus, the tactics below are employed to make web content more scanable (i.e. user-friendly).
1. Chunking – Breaking up large blocks of text into smaller “chunks” makes the copy seem less lengthy and overwhelming to online readers.
2. Bolding – By highlighting certain key phrases with bolding, readers can quickly gauge what the page’s content is about with just a few seconds of scanning. Once readers know that they are, in fact, on the right page, they are more likely to actually read the page’s content.
3. Headers & Sub-heads – Along with chunking, headers and sub-heads help break up large sections of copy into more manageable pieces. Use plain language not “marketese” in your headers to help readers quickly locate the information they are seeking.
4. Lists Readers’ eyes are naturally drawn to lists because of their visual distinctness compared to paragraph-style body copy. Lists can be particularly useful when you want to call your readers’ attention to something specific. Furthermore, users are more likely to read lists because they are short and simple (i.e. less intimidating).
5. Hyperlinks – Like bolding, hyperlinks call attention to a few key phrases by making them visually distinct from the rest of the text, which aids in scanning. Hyperlinks also have the added benefit of linking to additional content that the reader may find useful. The longer the user stays on your site, the more trust is built, which makes the user much more likely to complete a desired action (e.g. make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, etc.). When creating your hyperlinks, it is important that you carefully consider the actual language of the anchor text, since those are the words that will be “highlighted.” Choose important keywords or unique value propositions. Never use “click here” in your anchor text – it is boring and redundant, given that the majority of users already understand that a hyperlink is clickable.
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Web Copy “Don’ts”
Don’t… …use the word “click” in the anchor text for a link. o Bad example: Click here to learn more o Good example: Learn more about how Acme Co. can save you 15% …use long and/or complex sentences. o Bad example: Priorities, such as costs, longevity, and ease of construction, are sure to vary for different projects, but if you’re looking for something durable, affordable, beautiful, and environmentally conscious, redwood lumber fits the bill. o Good example: Priorities, such as costs, longevity, and ease of construction, are sure to vary for different projects. But, if you’re looking for lumber that is beautiful, affordable, and environmentally conscious, choose redwood. …use semi-colons in web copy – usability studies show that they are difficult to read on screen (plus, they tend to make for longer sentences). …use “clever” (i.e. “market-ese”) language for titles and headers. Use straight-forward language and terminology. o Bad example: Go Green to Get Green o Good example: Save Money with Green Technology …use overly advanced vocabulary. Use language that is accessible and understandable for a wide audience. o Bad example: Superfluous operating expenses have artificially inflated the cost of insurance. o Good example: Unnecessary operating costs have needlessly driven up the price of insurance. …go overboard with your use of exclamation points. No one likes being shouted at. One or two exclamation points per page (hopefully, around the call to action) should be plenty. …be afraid to use sentence fragments, when appropriate. Sentence fragments help reduce sentence length and provide some variation in sentence/paragraph structure. o Example: Acme Co.’s unique business model can save you 15% on your home renovation costs. How? Competitive contractor bidding. …write a lengthy explanatory paragraph when a simple table or graphic could explain the same concept with greater ease and expediency. …forget a call to action! Each page should be designed to guide the user to a specific next step, whether it’s making a purchase, filling out a form, downloading a PDF, or simply clicking through to a specific piece of content on another page of the site. Usually, it’s best to place the call to action at both the beginning and the end of the page.
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Call-to-Action (CTA) Best Practices
A call-to-action (CTA) is a text link or graphical button placed on a webpage that drives website visitors to take some conversion action – fill out a lead form, download a PDF document, watch a video, add a product to a shopping cart – the possibilities are almost endless. The CTA is the connection between your regular webpage content and the higher-value offer on the page. The CTA is an important element, and it should be interesting and relevant enough to persuade the visitor to complete the conversion action.
CTAs can have different purposes, and should be designed to match the conversion action. Some examples include: Lead generation – links to gated content or contact forms Social sharing – the ubiquitous social sharing buttons that appear on most webpages Lead nurturing – links to special offers and free trials Closing the sale – CTAs that encourage the visitor to buy or contact sales Event promotion – registering for conferences, webinars, and other events
The following CTA best practices can help ensure that your webpages are converting to their full potential. CTA should be:
Specific and action-oriented – CTAs such as “Download Now”, “Get the Free Offer”, or “Register to Hold Your Spot” are much more powerful than “Submit” or “Click Here” Short – five words max Located in an easy-to-see spot that follows organically from the rest of the webpage content Visually striking so that it stands out from the rest of the regular text on the page Large enough to see from a distance, but not so large that it detracts from the rest of the content on the page Easy to understand and set appropriate expectations – state exactly what the visitor will receive
When designing and writing CTAs, keep three important questions in mind to guide you:
1. What do I want the visitors to do? 2. How will they know what to do? 3. Why should they do it?
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Additional CTA Resources
[Basics] Click, Tap, and Touch: A Guide to CTA Best Practices: https://litmus.com/blog/click-tap-and-touch-a- guide-to-cta-best-practices Call to Action Buttons: Guidelines, Best Practices and Examples: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/call-to- action-buttons-guidelines-best-practices-and-examples/
[Advanced] How to Design Call to Action Buttons That Convert: http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate- optimization/design-call-to-action-buttons/
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Reducing Bounce Rate
Bounce rate is an SEO metric that you should be paying attention to in terms of how well searchers are engaging with your website once they land on it. Google Analytics defines bounce rate as the percentage of single page sessions on your site.
Another way to put it is that it is the percentage of people who land on your site from the search results page, but don’t do anything else or visit any other pages on your site before they leave. Bounce rate is broadly interpreted as a measure of how well visitors found your site to meet their needs, answer their question, provide what they were looking for, etc.
There are two main reasons visitors leave a site immediately or without going any further:
1. The visitor did not find what they were looking for 2. The site was too difficult to use
You only have about 3 seconds to engage a website visitor. If they don’t find what they are looking for quickly, they will likely return to the search results page and choose a different listing.
Bounce rate data can be found for each page on a website in Google Analytics. Once you have identified pages with high bounce rates, you can assess each and develop a strategy for reducing its bounce rate:
Review the page’s meta content – does the meta content accurately represent what the searcher will find on the page, or is there a mis-match that should be corrected? Review on-page content layout – is the page’s content easy to scan and understand quickly, or does it look like it will be a lot of work to read through? Review your call-to-action – is there a clear CTA on the page that stands out, or is it buried in the text of the page somewhere? Review the topic scope of the page – is the page specific enough to answer questions about a particular topic, or is it too general? Should more narrowly focused pages should be added?
Additional Bounce Rate Resources [Basics] How to Decrease Your Bounce Rate: https://www.quicksprout.com/2014/04/17/how-to-decrease-your- bounce-rate/
19 Simple Tips to Reduce Your Website’s Bounce Rate Today: https://www.ventureharbour.com/reduce-bounce-rate/
Reduce Bounce Rate: 20 Things to Consider: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how- to/2237250/reduce-bounce-rate-20-things-to-consider
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Lead Form
A lead form is an opportunity for a transaction: website visitors are trading their personal information for something: - A whitepaper - A product or service demo - Communication with a salesperson Using lead forms that are easy-to-understand, communicate expectations, and request an amount and type of information that is appropriate for the value of what you have to offer are keys to maximizing the conversion rates of your lead form pages. Best practices for lead forms can be difficult to quantify because they do not always apply to every situation. Given that caveat, there are five high-level best practices 1. Simpler is better – generally, simple lead forms convert at a higher rate than complex forms – unless there is a user expectation for providing a lot of information (e.g. home mortgage application) 2. Well-designed forms create less friction – any elements that make the lead form hard to follow, unclear, slow-loading, etc. will reduce its conversion rate 3. Users must know the payoff for submitting their information – users generally want to know what they will receive in return for filling out the lead form, and you should communicate that clearly 4. The form should help the user overcome objections – the use of trust marks (e.g. Better Business Bureau) can help users overcome any fears about providing their information 5. Form validation impacts conversions – the form should be helpful in showing users where they made mistakes or where required information is missing Additional Lead Form Best Practice Resources: [Basics] 7 Ways to Optimize Your Conversion Forms to Get Better Leads: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/optimize-conversion-forms 7 Best Practices for Perfect Landing Page Forms: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/07/27/landing-page-forms [Advanced] The Anatomy of a High Converting Lead Generation From: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2015/08/05/anatomy-lead-generation-form/ Conversion Form Best Practices for B2B Lead Generation: http://www.weidert.com/whole_brain_marketing_blog/bid/116616/Conversion-Form-Best-Practices- for-B2B-Lead-Generation 17 Examples of Lead Gen Forms Optimized for Conversion: http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate- optimization/optimize-lead-gen-forms/
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Sales Best Practices
Obtaining a lead is an important achievement in the sales process, but it has to result in an actual sale in order to count. There are a number of basic tenets of successful sales programs that have been proven with sales results data. He or She who calls first gets the sale – almost 80% of sales are closed by the first person to make a connection to the buyer Attempting to contact a lead six times results in the maximum probability of making contact based on marginal return Emails sent between phone calls can raise the chances of achieving contact with a lead by 38%
Additional Sales Process Best Practice Resources:
[Basics] The Ideal Length of a Sales Email, Based on 40 Million Emails: http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/ideal- length-sales-email 26 Sales Email Subject Lines That Get Prospects to Open, Read, and Respond: http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-email-subject-lines-that-get-prospects-to-open-read-and-respond [Advanced]
The Fast & the Frequent: How Speed and Persistency Close Deals: http://www.insidesales.com/insider/immediate-response-2/the-fast-and-the-frequent/ 7 Data-Backed Sales Best Practices: http://www.insidesales.com/insider/best-practices/7-data-backed- sales-best-practices/ 20 Best Practices all B2B Sales and Marketing Organizations Should Adopt: http://www.inflexion- point.com/Blog/bid/69716/20-Best-Practices-all-B2B-Sales-Marketing-Organisations-Should-Adopt
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Tracking & Reporting
Tracking and reporting the performance of your website is one of the most important, but often overlooked, aspects of SEO. Without accurate and relevant website analytics data, the key insights that drive SEO, as well as larger business decisions, are usually missing. The following websites provide additional, in-depth resources for helping you understand and implement effective SEO tracking and reporting practices.
Official Google Analytics
Home page: https://www.google.com/analytics/
Resource portal: https://www.google.com/analytics/standard/resources/
Google Analytics blog: http://analytics.blogspot.com/
Google Analytics Training and Support: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/4553001?hl=en
Google Search Console
Home page: https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools
Background information: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/4559176?hl=en
A Beginners’ Guide to Google Search Console: https://moz.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-the-google- search-console
General Analytics Resources
50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/50-resources- for-getting-the-most-out-of-google-analytics/
Essential Google Analytics Resources for Marketers: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/essential- google-analytics-resources/
Make Measurements Meaningful: How to Create an Actionable Web Analytics Strategy: http://www.mycustomer.com/marketing/data/make-measurements-meaningful-how-to-create-an- actionable-web-analytics-strategy
Digital Marketing and Measurement Model: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/digital-marketing-and- measurement-model/
Google Analytics Tips: 10 Data Analysis Strategies that Pay Off Big: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/google-analytics-tips-data-analysis-reports/
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Putting It All Together
Additional Resources
This workbook is an overview of many of the most important SEO topics, with best practices general implementation guidelines, but it is by no means an exhaustive list of SEO information. For more information, news, updates, and insights on SEO topics, or for more help implementing any changes, additional industry-leading resources are listed below.
News/Blog/Guide Sites
• 360Partners – http://www.360partners.com/category/blog/ • The Beginners Guide to SEO – https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo • Moz Blog – www.moz.com/blog • Search Engine Land – www.searchengineland.com • Search Engine Journal – www.searchenginejournal.com • Mashable – www.mashable.com • Matt Cutts’ Blog – www.mattcutts.com/blog • SEO Book – www.seobook.com/blog • Occam’s Razor – www.kaushik.net/avinash • Analytics Talk – www.cutroni.com/blog • SEO by the Sea – http://www.seobythesea.com/ • LunaMetrics – http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/ • Simo Ahava’s Google Tag Manager Blog – http://www.simoahava.com/ • Kissmetrics – https://www.blog.kissmetrics.com • Distilled – https://www.distilled.net/resources • SEM Rush Blog – https://www.semrush.com/blog • Hubspot SEO Blog – https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/topic/seo
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Free Tools
• Pingdom (page speed) – tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ • Page Speed Insights (page speed) – developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights • Copyscape (duplicate content) – www.copyscape.com • Redirect Checker (redirects) – www.internetofficer.com/seo-tool/redirect-check/ • Mobile-Friendly Test (mobile friendliness) - https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ • Structured Data Testing Tool (structured markup) – https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/ • Google Trends (search trends) – https://www.google.com/trends • Google Analytics Debugger (analytics utility) – https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-analytics- debugger/jnkmfdileelhofjcijamephohjechhna?hl=en
Official Resources
• Google Analytics – www.google.com/analytics/ • Google Webmaster Tools – www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ • Google Webmaster Central Blog – googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com • Bing Webmaster Tools – www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster • Bing Blog – www.bing.com/blogs • Google Analytics Blog - http://analytics.blogspot.com/ • Google Inside Search (official Google search blog) - http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/
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About 360Partners
360Partners is an online marketing agency focused exclusively on search engine marketing (SEM), including pay-per-click (PPC), conversion rate optimization (CRO), and search engine optimization (SEO) services. Founded in 2005 and based in Austin, Texas, the agency has experience helping businesses in all types of industries reach customers in a significantly more efficient and affordable way.
360Partners works with a focus on ROI, and gauges success by measuring the metrics that are most important to its clients. 360Partners also considers transparency to be a key quality, and wants clients to understand what the agency is doing and why it works, and clients are always kept in the know and involved in the process.
Learn more about 360Partners by visiting www.360partners.com or contacting the agency at [email protected] or 512-982-4242.
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