website statistics Archives by Mark Murnahan

Improve SEO Return on Investment (ROI) With Simple Math

I share a lot of information about marketing topics and SEO (search engine optimization), but I realize that many people still wonder if SEO is real or just make believe. I have a pretty good idea of why this is the case, and I will share that with you. It is usually due to a history of low return on investment (ROI) for their SEO efforts, or a fear of low ROI for future SEO efforts. This pretty well covers it in basic terms.

Let’s face it, if you knew that you could hand a dollar to the search engine optimizer and they would hand you three dollars back, you would go to great lengths to get your hands on more dollars … to hand over to the SEO. So, what in this world would ever hold you back from that? I will venture an experienced guess. It is mostly a concern of whether you can actually see a return on investment, right? You want to know there is profit in the future, before you spend money on something you may or may not fully understand.

I am going to give you some simple math to help you understand and improve ROI of SEO in your business. I will also provide tools to help you measure your market potential. I hope that you will pay attention and use this to your benefit.

A big step to achieving this good math I speak of is to use mathematical logic in your marketing and stop fussing about low budgets, drained bank accounts, or anything else outside of these more important numbers of how to grow your profit. You see, this math will be lost on deaf ears unless you can overcome your own obstacles surrounding effective marketing. If it is mathematically sound, and a better answer for your business, it is your job to do what it takes to achieve better results.

The first thing to understand will be the potential value of SEO to your business, and then realize that SEO is extremely measurable. Thus it carries a very low risk when it is done well, and done completely.

How Much Potential Business is There For You Online?

If you are not yet aware of your market potential, we must get past this part. Do you have something worth marketing? I wrote an article on this not so long ago titled “Things You Cannot Sell Online“, but the list is pretty small. My wife even sells wedding cakes online … and lots of them! She does not take the orders online, but because of her online presence, she is busy enough to turn away customers every day.

If you are not clear on how much business is available to you, try using a tool like SpyFu, WordTracker, or Google’s keyword tool to find out how many people are searching for what you offer. Once you have some idea of the potential, which is likely more than you would expect, and even more than you will discover in just a few minutes of effort, it is time to turn it into an increase in your business.

Turning Market Potential Into Real SEO Numbers

Using basic figures, let’s consider this: If your average customer is worth an extra $50 to your business and you know that one in every 1,000 exposures to your business will bring you a new customer, you can see how 100,000 exposures to your business will be worth $5,000. This is easy so far, right?

Now, what if you could relatively easily raise some of these numbers? Which will you raise first? Maybe a better marketing message could reduce that one in 1,000 exposures to one in 700 that becomes a customer. That same number of visitors would be worth over $7,100.

What if there was an even easier way to improve your ROI? What if you had better market segmentation and a more targeted audience searching for exactly what you offer? Then, it may mean you earn a customer’s business once in every 500, 250 or even fewer exposures. That could add up pretty big.

Now, let’s consider increasing volume. What if you could realistically multiply your traffic just by moving up one or two positions in search results? Do you think that is impossible, improbable, or just doesn’t happen to people like you? Well, let me comfort you a bit by saying that it is clearly definable in the math, and it is quite achievable, too. Somebody will be there at the top of every search, and it is not just by luck.

It is true that where you are listed in search engine results for any given user’s search will have a huge impact on your reach and your ROI. Just how much does your search engine position relate to exposure to your brand? Allow me to explain it with math.

Using Simple Math to Improve SEO ROI

Let’s consider some very reliable numbers to help you increase your SEO return on investment. These are not sketchy make-believe numbers. These are numbers which are widely accepted and observed across the industry.

First, second, and third positions returned for a search receive over 50 percent of users’ clicks.
First page search positions receive over 90 percent of users’ clicks.

Now think about this: It means that if you are in the top three search results, you can expect that over half of the people visiting a website when performing the particular search will land on your website. On the other hand, if you are on the second page, you can expect a website visit from only a minuscule number of people searching for the given term. The way the math works out, if you are number seven and there are 10,000 monthly clicks to websites from searches for a given phrase, you can expect 2-3 percent of the search users to visit your website on average. That means 200-300 visitors for that search phrase each month, whereas the top of the list can expect over 5,000 by being just six spots above you. Now try plugging that math into the examples I gave earlier about value per customer, reaching a better audience, and the potential profit.

It really is true that you can have many times the number of people looking at your website and checking out your offerings, simply by moving your search engine rank upward. Sometimes, it is just a small move that keeps you away from success, but do you know which terms you are almost successful with? I hope this is some pretty serious thought for you, because you may actually be on the edge of success, but you do not know it or know what to do with it.

If you are concerned about the ROI of search engine optimization, the first place to look should be whether you are almost there already, but only doing it part-way and ending up somewhere down the list. If you budget and plan for top 20 ranking instead of top three ranking, you will often waste money and risk wanting to slash your wrists sometime down the road. On the other hand, if you plan and budget for top three ranking, you will shoot coffee from your nose while laughing on the morning you walk into your office and see all the new business coming in.

Reducing the Competition Can Raise Your ROI

Another place to look for better SEO ROI is in the pieces your competition left behind. If you are only focused on highly competitive keyword phrases but only making it to the second or third page of search engine results, you are likely thumbing your nose at a lot of money. Two reliable solutions are to do more of what it takes to reach the top, and also refocus some of your effort toward lateral keywords which are more achievable and can be snatched up by the thousands. Yes, by the thousands!

For example, searches for terms like “lateral keywords“, “SEO meta tags“, or “how to sell SEO” (which, by the way, has a lot to do with being able to do it well) will show my articles in the top of search engine results. Although these items receive a lower volume of searches than other keyword phrases, they are valuable because there are thousands of phrases like these where users find my websites … and your websites, if you choose to embrace your lateral keywords.

Less competitive lateral search terms are often very specific to the users’ search, which means they are more precisely getting what they want. It is a winning solution which can often dramatically increase the ROI of SEO. Oh, and I want to repeat that there are thousands of these potential search terms just ready for you to sweep in and rank at the top.

ROI Requires Investment

Yes, return on investment requires investment. Are you surprised?

I see it every day how a potential client will flinch at the cost of good SEO. In fact, depending on how serious they are about increasing their business, I am lucky that some of them don’t stroke out and lie dead before me. I would really hate to administer CPR to somebody before the check is written, but I have come close a few times. So to minimize the risk, I try to have some good numbers to explain the process and benefits of SEO done well.

If you do not have an investment, you surely cannot expect a return on investment (ROI). This is pretty simple to understand. I realize how scary an investment can be. It is especially scary when it is something that you do not fully understand. I hope this has given you some thought on how you approach your search engine optimization efforts and how to increase the ROI with some very basic math.

Now after all this math, can you believe there are actually trained and experienced SEO for hire who can do all this for you and minimize your loss of ROI? It is a crazy thought for some, but you want to increase your SEO ROI, and I am sure you will try to use this information wisely.

Here are two more articles you may appreciate that discuss marketing cost:

Please be sure to add your comments.

*Photo Credit to Acid Wash Photography via Flickr

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Statistics Obsession: Another Huge Internet Time-Waster

Do you check your statistics to see if your web traffic has moved up since you checked it an hour ago? Do you ever feel just a tinge of obsession over your Google Analytics or Clicky statistics? Do you wait impatiently for the next update of your score on Alexa, or Quantcast? Do you get frustrated when your Klout score is a day behind and you just have to know if they actually picked up on all of your hard work?

Stop it! Just stop it!

I know how easy it is to feel better when you go and see how (or if) people are interacting with your website or your social media profiles. It is actually very important information to know. Knowing your statistics, and understanding what they mean is extremely valuable for effective online marketing. The problem arises when it is taken to a level where productivity is lost.

Don’t take this wrong. I am not berating you, because I know how easy the trap can be. Allow me to jest. I am one of those guys who is drawn to statistics like a moth to a bug-zapper. I will probably know if you click this link before you can even pick up the phone to call me and ask how I can help you to grow your business. It is one of my important calls to action for people to visit my “About Mark” page to find out more about me, or my contact page to reach me about better marketing. (UPDATE: I no longer accept loser clients.)

When I see those things, it means somebody is interested in my services. Well, sometimes it means that. If they click on my link for “What Others Say About Mark” it must mean that they are going to spend a ton of money, and I can take a few more minutes to check out my stats on other sites, because I have already practically got their money in the bank. You know, because people are clicking all the right stuff, and I had a four percent increase over an hour ago in the stuff I wanted clicked. Now I am freed up to do more statistics-surfing. Maybe somebody retweeted me, maybe they bookmarked me somewhere, or maybe I have more FeedBurner subscribers. If I check these things, maybe I will feel better, like Oprah Winfrey with a double-scoop ice cream cone.

A Better Waste of Time

The Internet is such a fascinating place. It amazes me what kind of things you can find. Perhaps a better waste of time for those moments when you want to go and check those stats again would be to watch this nine minute video of some guys frying bugs in a bug zapper.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you are not checking your website statistics to know what your readers want and how they are interacting with your material, you should be. Just don’t be too obsessed with it.

Improve Social Media Interaction With Wibiya

I am such a fan of this product that I want to tell you this right upfront: I have not been hired by Wibiya to market for them, and I do not have anything at stake here. My reason for blogging my review of Wibiya is nothing of the sort. It is just so cool that I was compelled to give my testimonial. Now, shouldn’t we all be so fortunate to have fans who feel like that?

Wibiya is kind of a funny name, and it may not just roll off the tongue the way Twitter, Facebook, or Squidoo does. All the same, I think this is a social media service you will see in use a lot more in the future.

Website Toolbars Are Not Created Equal

I have used toolbars on various websites before, and some were pretty cool. I have even scripted my own website toolbars from scratch and made them work really nicely with social sharing links, custom URL shortener, and all of the neat stuff you can pack into the little 50-80 pixel space you would expect from a toolbar. I am kind of geeky like that. I very often choose the hard way of programming, by doing it all myself from beginning to end. That way I get the exact result I am looking for, and not include all of the extra junk that most off-the-shelf programming code will include for meeting every possible scenario on every possible type of website. As you can see at the bottom of each page on my blog, I have chosen Wibiya on this website, and for some good reasons.

Here are just a few things I like about Wibiya:

Non-invasive and fast-loading (unlike some web toolbars).
Wibiya is highly customizable.
Simple site-search function located out of the way of other site elements.
Easy photo and video gallery implementation with multiple photo sites.
Nice RSS features.
Users can do more and see more without leaving the site.
Additional statistics reporting for Wibiya application usage.
Many available applications ready for use.

Social Media Interaction and Wibiya Toolbar

Social media interaction is clearly an important part of my job. I interact with blogs (mine and many others), Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and a big list of other social networks. There is no better way to know if my work is useful than to share it with others and hear from others to gather their opinions. That is why most bloggers love comments on their work. It means people are paying attention.

Another way to know if people are paying attention is how long they are on your website and how many pages they visit. My blog has an average time on page of over four minutes, over two pages per visit, and a bounce rate around 20-25 percent. To me, that is about as awesome as bacon (I love bacon)! So, any way that I can improve these stats would be even more awesome … like cigarette and coffee flavored bacon.

One great way I have found is to not just let people see that little piece of you, but to see a bigger picture. This goes for big corporations and individuals alike. If you have something valuable to share, you should share it in whatever way people want to receive it. That can mean meeting them where they are, on their terms, and on their preferred networks. This is something Wibiya can help to improve.

Try it out and see what I mean. There is a Wibiya toolbar on the bottom of each page on my blog. Click a few things and find out why I like it. I will also include a couple websites by friends (and my wife) who chose to use Wibiya. Check them out and see how they used it.

Social Media Philanthropy by Jeff Gibbard
RuhaniRabin.com
Mad Eliza’s Cakes and Confections

If you decide you want one for yourself, you can get yours at Wibiya.com. There is a free version and multiple upgraded packages available to choose from.

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Google Website Marketing: How to Improve Website Traffic

Have you ever taken a moment to consider what people are really looking for when they come to your website? Of course you have, right? Maybe you have tried some keyword research tools and done your best to discover as many lateral keywords as you can possibly optimize. What may be surprising is how many customers you are missing, and the relatively simple reasons why. I want to give you some Google website marketing ideas for how to improve your website traffic, and optimize the traffic you already have.

Let’s take a look at two types of website traffic that come from a Google search. I will call them “first-search” and “second-search” website traffic. Both are important, but most companies are too focused on one to even recognize the other. Their loss may be your gain!

Website Visitors Google What They Want!

I see a lot of companies scramble to be found in a Google search for what they sell, without enough consideration for the real reasons people are searching. I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody told me “we are in Google” and they think that is what matters. They may even be well ranked in Google for their product or service, and still be missing a huge number of potential sales. This often happens because much of their website traffic is from second-search users (I will explain in a moment) and competitors searching to check out the competition. I don’t know about you, but in a lot of industries, the competition is not the best target customer. Now, that is not true for every industry, because other SEO and Internet marketers are good clients for me (SEOs see “How To Market SEO and Vertical Internet Marketing“). I actually want to be a great resource to my “competition”, but for most people wanting to improve website traffic, the competition is not their best target.

Improve Website Traffic Through First Search Not Second Search

What is this “first search” and “second search” thing that I am writing about? An important Internet marketing factor that a lot of people do not measure or understand is that many people who search for something perform multiple types of searches. I will just give two main categories to explain this. I will call them “first-search” and “second-search”.

First-Search Website Traffic: First-search traffic comes when people search for what they want. If their toe hurts, they may search for “big blister on toe” as a first search. It helps them get direction. They want to know what to do with that big blister, and maybe what caused it. They are researching. They are not quite sure yet just what they want or need, but they are trying to find their way. Once they know their way and learn the industry-popular terminology and can refine a search, then they will use a second-search approach to filter through the available solutions.

Second-Search Website Traffic: If you are a podiatrist (foot doctor), you may feel that it is just great that they can find you when they search for a podiatrist, but what if you caught them in the first search? Wouldn’t it be more likely that if they found you in the first-search category that they will see you as a greater authority when they discover you again in the second-search? Then, once they figure out they need a podiatrist you will be a more likely choice to help them. Doesn’t this seem like a great idea to be an authority in both searches? Of course that makes sense, but do you think you are accomplishing the task? For most people, the answer is no. This includes your competitors.

Increased website traffic and better Google rankings are not the only things that matter. I could go into the topics of search conversion (getting more people to click on your website once they find you in Google listings) and website conversion (getting more people to take action once they are on your website). Those are both great topics for other articles, but what I want you to think about here is how to improve website traffic by answering people’s problems. In order to solve their problem, you will have to look at the core of your business. What do you do? I don’t mean looking at it as “practicing podiatry” but rather “we help people with sore toes who want something to help toe pain.”

As you notice the heading of this page states, “Google Website Marketing: How to Improve Website Traffic” and that is what I am here to tell you. “Google website marketing” is my example of first-search traffic, and it reaches my equivalent of a person with a sore toe. Once they learn more about my industry-specific terminology, they refine their search to compare solutions. For example, “reasons to blog” or “compare SEO” may be second-search considerations, because now they have a better feel for what they need.

Improve Website Traffic by Knowing Your Return Visitors

There is often a huge disparity between what a company hopes people will search for and what actually creates more business. I find that for many companies, even when they know what people search for, they often only mimic the competition by targeting the second-search users. They know that these second-search users become customers, but often ignore whether they are actually returning visitors who found them previously. Any business should target people who search for their product … the actual things that they sell. It just makes sense. What is too commonly missed is the website visitors who are actually returning first-search users, or otherwise knowing where they have been before they came to you. They may have been highly influenced long before the search term that you recognize as important. Imagine the value in knowing what they looked for the first time and honing in on those search terms. All of this is measurable, but many people just overlook the importance.

If you analyze your web server logs, your Google analytics, or other website analytics tool to find what people search for when they find your website for the first time and match it with the returning traffic, it may surprise you. Sometimes a better target is to reach people searching for the solution to a problem. Then, if you do not make them a customer in the first-search, you can be there for the second-search when they want to compare you to the competition. Analyzing your website traffic logs and giving close attention to returning website visitors can tell you a lot about what drives people to buy from you. If you are not paying attention and taking appropriate actions, you will miss a whole lot of customers.

A Real-Life First-Search and Second-Search Example

Many people find my websites for things like “compare SEO“, “lateral keywords“, “h1 tags“, and “Google SEO Starter Guide“. I rank nicely in searches for the things I do. However, I often find that some of my best clients came from first searches that were less industry-oriented, but then returned to my website as a result of a much more sophisticated search that shows they have done their homework. Reaching these readers in the first-search phase and repeatedly being there through their learning process is invaluable to me. Monitoring for these trends is important.

Maybe you rank nicely for your industry terms, too, but it is sometimes not the things that you do or sell that your best buyers will initially find you for in a Google search. If you improve your first-search exposure, you may find it a lot easier to reach the second-search buyers.

So, what do you think?

Blogging Dilemma: Truncated Blog Excerpts or Full Blog Articles?

Excerpts or Full Articles: A Grizzly Question

Blogging and SEO (being found in search engines) go hand in hand. If you have read more than a couple of my articles, you know that I am a strong proponent of blogging. Blogging is a huge asset to anybody wanting to be more visible to the public, and so it should not be taken lightly. If you do not have a blog, be sure to read “10 Really Good Reasons to Blog“.

Blogging comes with a lot of choices, and those choices include whether to truncate your blog posts and show excerpts on the home page, or to include full articles. Let us consider these options.

Truncated Blog Excerpts vs. Full Articles

As you may notice, I have opted to truncate the blog articles on my home page. Until this weekend, my blog has always included full length articles on my home page, archives, tags, and categories, but I decided to try something different. I will tell you a couple of pros and cons to the decision. I will talk a bit geek for some people here, but I will circle back around to something human that everybody can clearly grasp.

How Do You Like Your Blog? (My Blog Too!)

When I looked at the option of using blog excerpts on the home page, I thought of readers first. Perhaps you have had to make this judgment call as well. Sure, I see what other bloggers do, but I seldom do things just because somebody else does it. Well, except for smoking … the cool kids smoked so I fell into that trap. When it comes to writing a blog, I like to believe I can do something original. Please tell me you didn’t already read this somewhere else. There simply is not a solid rule for this, because bloggers have different styles … millions of different styles.

I tried to be deliberate in my decision making. I tried to think of everything, and I crossed my fingers hoping it will not explode in my face on Monday when you see this, or in the future, after my decision kicks in with more readers. I considered website performance issues such as page load times, average article length, length to truncate the excerpts, search engine indexing, and others. I will be happy to share my thoughts on these matters and l how I addressed them if you ask me.

From a reader standpoint, I know that you do not want to wait around for a page to load. Nobody wants to wait … even for me. Crazy thinking, I know. I considered how it may affect existing search engine rankings, because my home page ranks very well for anything I write. I considered a long list of other technology issues, but I mostly considered you, the reader.

How do you want my blog to work? After all, I am writing this for you as much as for me. I do not just write this to be stagnant and without public attention. Without readers and potential clients who actually take action on my blog, I will have a pretty hard time explaining to my wife why our kids are eating so much cake instead of other kid food (my wife is a totally amazing cake decorator, by the way). Cake does not make a great diet in the long run … believe me, I tried. I like eating grilled animals, and she does not make that kind of cakes. I have to buy my animals the hard way, so I need to find readers with action running through their veins and ready to push the marketing go button. That means I have to reach about 30 squillion of you before one reader takes their business to the next level with my services. I cannot do that alone, and I cannot do it with a mediocre blog … and neither can you. So I had to take this pretty seriously.

Blog Excerpt Pros and Cons

Something I knew going into this is that by truncating my blog posts and using short excerpts on the home page instead of full articles, I would be increasing the number of blog posts showing right upfront. This means people can scan through things easier to find what they want to read, and then click on it if it looks interesting to them. A couple of thoughts on this were that it should look interesting, and even quicker than before. I would have to try and set the hook with new readers sooner than ever with just a short excerpt. People don’t like to click around to find what they want to read … they want it right now. The three click rule is written in the laws of Internet statistics (I should add that to my 11 Important Internet Marketing Laws article). We “Web Geeks” know the rule of three clicks, and we know that readers will go *poof* like Cinderella’s carriage at midnight if we ask for a fourth click. I also had to consider that a massive number of people enter through pages other than my home page. I had to know where they enter, and why. I had to analyze their usage and consider the user bounce rate of the home page in relation to other pages, and a whole lot of other great geek almighty blogging factors. I really needed to feel secure about this decision, but I do not want to feel too secure, because it is not my decision as much as it is your decision. If you do not like it, I need to have a quick fist-full of clicks to bring it back to blogging as usual. Even if you do not tell me with comments (which I hope you will), you will still tell me by your usage patterns. Make no mistake … the masses will win this decision, and mine is only one little vote in that decision.

Using excerpts also means more database work to load all the articles, tags, categories, and images. Since I generally try to include just one or two images per post. Using full articles, including one image per post was fine, and I could still load full articles pretty quickly. Increasing the number of posts on my home page means increasing the number of images on the home page, because I wanted each article to be represented with a thumbnail and I would be adding more articles. More images normally means slower pages. At the same time, I had to weigh in the consideration that most of my blog posts are very long. Yes, I have no idea when to shut up most of the time. So maybe I could balance that out, since the text of a typical Murnahan blog post is about long enough to make up for a huge image download.

Another consideration in favor of truncated excerpts in place of full blog articles is reducing possibilities of duplicate content. It is a big problem for a lot of blogs, because the same full article content is on the home page, each individual article, archive pages, tag pages, category pages, and etcetera. I have always done things to help reduce duplicate content issues (search engines don’t like duplicate content) like using a meta “noindex, follow” tag in my archives, blog tags, and category pages. That helps, but I also really wanted to focus on individual articles, so along with implementing excerpts, I reworked my XML sitemap to boost the indexing priority of individual posts and reduce the priority of categories, tags, and archives, which already had “noindex,follow” meta tags in the headers.

Blog Usability Comes First

What I know above all else is that you, the reader is what matters more than anything. I know that if I write information that people can use … the things that they really like, and that other people cannot or did not produce as well as I did … that is what matters. How much does it matter to me, and to blogging in general? It is what makes the big difference in why most SEO fail at link building. Great … no, fantastic website content is what matters more than even the blog structure. If you have great usable content on your side, you can kill grizzly bears with a toothpick and a rubber band.

Grizzly Bear SEO and Pink Ponies for Sale

Just as I was writing this, I was alerted to a very fresh article about grizzly bear SEO writing. The article linked back to a piece that I wrote titled “SEO Directory Submissions and Pink Ponies for Sale“. What?! Yes, this is what makes my SEO world spin, and I do know when people link to my work. It is usefulness and marketing talent that matters more than website structure, alone. Blog structure matters a whole lot for SEO, so do not get me wrong, but the bottom line is usefulness. That means useful in every way, and sometimes that means testing and pushing the envelope.

If you get all the pieces just right, and you give people something useful and interesting, the rest of the SEO factors fall into place divinely. To see what I mean, just brave the wild Internet enough to go and see the grizzly bear article I mentioned, along with my response to the grizzly bear poo and pink ponies offered out there in the SEO marketplace.

Now I ask for your input. What do you think? Do you like the new truncated blog excerpts or full blog articles? Answer me with your comments, or answer me with your actions. Either way, I am paying close attention and I do care. After all, my kids can only eat so much cake!