You’re a marketing director in corporate America, and results are everything. Everything is quantitative. It’s all about the numbers. Work days can be stressful. Just take a look at that hierarchy! So many people, so many personalities, so many individual agendas.

Dealing with budgets, personalities, expectations, work ethic, and awareness make your day challenging. Fortunately, the world is filled with unique folks who are different from you in many positive ways. Unfortunately, it’s filled with unique folks who aren’t thinking the way you’re thinking.

Maybe you have big plans for next year, but perhaps your superior(s) think differently, which affects your budget. Your need to be efficient has never been greater.

You have two options: be qualitative or be quantitative.

Qualitative budgeting

Your decisions are value-driven. You realize the impact of one great partner over many partners. You may not be spread as far. Qualitative budgeting is for the researcher—the director who wants to understand why certain decisions are made. Often times, the qualitative budgeter relies on reason to make a decision. You’re engaged with your vendors, and you care about the organic process and its long-term impact.

Quantitative budgeting

Your decisions are cost-driven. It’s a numbers game. It’s about getting the most for the least as fast as possible. Although research is involved, you’re more occupied by the notion of diversification. Like a stock portfolio, you rely on many different outlets to generate progression. You sacrifice understanding and engagement for your top-level management. Your decisions are based on numbers alone, and you don’t deeply care how you get them.

Arguably, there is no incorrect approach—yours depends on what type of manager you are. Ultimately, quantitative budgeters are prone to overlooking specifics, and qualitative budgeters are prone to getting too involved with the specifics. A fine balance between the two types of budgeters is ideal.

As a corporate marketing director, you’re challenged with the task of being both objective and understanding. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Understand your vendors and your reasons to market. If you don’t, you may find that you’re not only jeopardizing your company, but your job as well.

Suggestion: Research trending data. Where are companies investing their marketing budgets and why? Don’t just follow the herd, use the herd as a barometer for your own success. Then pursue vendors to fill your marketing needs. Research and understand them and their service. Again, don’t hire based on trends alone—this is ignorant. Instead, hire vendors who meet your specific criteria and who understand your needs and your goals.

The post Ignorance Isn’t Bliss For Corporate America appeared first on Clix.

I want to rank for 10 keywords for $10 each. You guys do that, right?

• Odd question?
• Reasonable  question?

If you chose reasonable, you’re not alone! Many small business owners know they need “SEO”. But, they don’t necessarily know what SEO is or where to find it. The reason for this is simple: ignorance.

Take for instance purchasing or leasing property. This is a learning experience, right? Both deserve preemptive research in order to avoid making a long-term mistake. Just like your home, your business deserved hours and hours of research and time to start up. From legal documents and fees to product and service development and employee training, the blood, sweat, money, sleepless nights, and tears that are associated with forming a business is your equity. Think of all your investments. Which ones turned out right? Which ones turned out to be expenses?

Three months after purchasing or leasing your property, did you notice the leaky plumbing? What about the age of the furnace? Or, your neighbor next door (or upstairs) who won’t quit throwing parties? Before you start thinking about the housing market or your 12-month lease, think about the decision-making that got you here. Did you do your due diligence? Did you educate yourself?

Of course you did (I had faith in you)! Why would your online marketing decision be any different?

I’m not saying go out and rent books from the library, comb the depths of the internet, or listen to Audible books until your ears bleed. You’re too busy for that. Rather, be aware and understand concepts.

For example, let’s revisit the acronym, SEO. What does it mean? SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. SEO can be understood within many different contexts relating to technical components of your website, backlink building, social media, content management, and on, and on, and on… The takeaway is this. SEO involves A LOT. So much so, SEO is better defined as online marketing today.

Let’s demystify SEO!

Search engines like Google evaluate hundreds of factors in order to determine your website’s rankings in search. When a vendor tells you that SEO is about backlink building and they’re charging $10 per keyword, be prepared to notice the leaky plumbing, the struggling HVAC units, or the crazy neighbor. You’re about to make a long-term mistake that could have serious implications on your business and the crazy amount of sweat equity within it.

SEO is online marketing. Just like your house, online marketing should be a long-term commitment you’re excited to start. It should be an investment, not an expense. By understanding the concepts and the benefits of online marketing, you’ll understand the difference between bargain bin solicitors and dynamic online marketing partners.

Suggestion: You’re a small business owner. You’re very busy. Take some time or have someone on your team review our FAQ and other online resources. We’re advocates of informed decision-making, and we’re more than happy to answer any questions you may have!

The post Ignorance Isn’t Bliss For Small Business Owners appeared first on Clix.

The importance of website speed has become more pronounced as a result of Google’s search quality updates. Online marketing teams are veering their focus from binging on backlink building to developing the functional components of a website.

Site speed is an important component of what should be an “all-in” approach to online marketing, or inbound marketing. Inbound marketing closely resembles a car in that different components of the car such as the framework, engine, tires, gas tank, gas, steering, etc. are required in order for it to run properly.

For example, if we ignore on-page optimization, content planning, strategy, creation, and sharing, then we’re missing the framework, driver, and fuel. If we keep on-page optimization, but neglect the structure of the website, then the framework of the car is compromised. Nuts and bolts could be missing, and it could fall apart at any moment.

Your website is the chassis of a car. It forms the foundation upon which design, content, and additional functionality is built. This is a higher priority today with respect to ranking. With access to site speed suggestions via Google Analytics, inbound marketers can now see how efficient their clients’ websites are as well as the necessary steps that should be taken to rev the engines and make their sites faster.

The post Google Analytics Integrates with Google Pagespeed appeared first on Clix.

1

The Mistake: You’re trying to wear too many hats.

1. First and foremost, small business owners can’t do it all forever. At some point, the time spent doing tasks that take away from business development cause small businesses to stop growing and level out or regress. For example, if you run a small bicycle shop in Kirkwood, Missouri, but neglect your customers by investing your time in areas outside of your expertise, you’re bound to get a flat tire. Often times, we get the response from small business owners, “I can just learn how to do my own online marketing.” This is absolutely true. Anyone can learn anything in my humble opinion. If I wanted to learn programming, I could research a starting point, then buy a textbook (I prefer paper over digital). If I were to try and learn how to do everything inside and out, I would have no time for online marketing. Unfortunately, it’s virtually impossible to be good at everything. I wish that weren’t the case. A lack of focus is distractive. Undivided attention that takes into consideration necessities such as marketing your business (offline and online) and development of internal efficiencies is much healthier than dividing your attention among many different areas.

The Fix: Be willing to delegate components of your business to invested partners.

2

The Mistake: You’re not staying educated, which leaves your business vulnerable.

• Understand what you’re getting into. If you hire an agency to manage your online marketing, then they should be expected to help you understand what their services entail. Depending upon your personality, you may want to know a lot or hardly anything about online marketing. My advice is to have at least a top-level understanding of online marketing and your goals. Retain the information that your agency sends you, be proactive, and ask questions. Part of the reason you’re hiring an agency is to have an experienced source for education, i.e. consulting.

The Fix: Be involved as much as you can. Marketing is dependent upon collaboration. You can’t expect to have a successful online marketing campaign that includes SEO, PPC, social media, content, and lead nurturing without communication, feedback, and execution.

3

The Mistake: You think marketing (online or offline) guarantees XX leads per month. Supply and demand, comparative shopping, and browsing exist online too.

• Understanding the components of online marketing lends itself to realism. There is a difference between setting lofty goals and unrealistic goals. Is their a fine line between the two. No. Goals in general take into account a myriad of variables, one of which is accrued data. Online marketing is founded on making decisions based on data. Without data, you’re in the dark. If you’re a small business owner who is unwilling to track online conversions-or be patient enough to accrue the data-how can you expect to make educated decisions moving forward? Marketing is an investment, not an expense. This is the true difference between someone who is driven by value and understanding compared to someone who is strictly driven by cost. There certainly is a hybrid, e.g. someone who would invest more into their monthly online marketing budget because they understand the value of driving visitors to their website. Unfortunately, they’re still very small. We understand and empathize with this particular business owner. However, your goals still need to be realistic. If you’re a small business competing against a national brand with great placement, a seemingly limitless online marketing budget, and a massive social media presence, then you certainly can’t expect to compete nationally with only a small fraction of their resources.

The Fix: Be realistic in setting your goals. Understand that certain components of online marketing take time (e.g. SEO and content), while other components have instantaneous effects on traffic flow (e.g. PPC). Marketing revolves around providing a solid product or service, presenting it effectively online (on your website), and marketing it online (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.). Remember that your actual product or service is the foundation of which marketing is built.

4

The Mistake: You’re not staying up to date with online marketing.

• Your product or service may be terrific, but adaptation is a necessity online. If your still telling your friends about your awesome website that was built in 2000, then you’re in need of a reboot. Today, it’s pretty easy to identify that technology is always changing. New hardware and software are being released at alarming rates. Online marketing is affected by these rapid changes. Take for instance mobile devices. Exponentially more people browse their smartphones and tablets today to interact with their friends online, shop stores, research products, find and call service companies, get directions, and more. The world is eagerly adopting mobile, which means that your online marketing requires adaptation. If you still think that Google provides 10 search results for the multitudes of desktop searchers, then refer to common mistake number 2: education. There are factors that have an effect on search placement today that weren’t in existence a year ago! Does this mean that your budget should be flexible and be ready to expand? Not necessarily, just budget accordingly. Unfortunately, online marketing agencies need to remain focused as well and can’t afford to provide an all-you-can-eat buffet of existing services and new services for $XXX per month.

The Fix: Be ready to adapt when it comes to online marketing. Within an environment that is regularly changing, it’s imperative that you rely on an experienced agency, stay educated, be realistic, and be adaptable.

The post 4 Online Marketing Mistakes You’re Making appeared first on Clix.

I’m sure you’ve happened upon a magician at least once in your life. And, hopefully that magician was relatively decent at what he or she did. From elementary card tricks to elaborate hoaxes, magicians of all types have built their craft with the intent to entertain and perplex. However, what if every magician you met revealed how they do every trick? I think of this analogy when clients refer to SEO as magic, trickery, and manipulation. The reality is that humans (us) inherently question or push aside what we don’t understand. We try to lump the complex with what we feel is “digestible”. In this case, SEO is largely perceived as complex by small business owners, especially baby boomers. And, what is complex is categorized underneath an umbrella that is comprehendible, i.e., “online marketing” or just “marketing”.

Part of our job as online marketers is to reveal the secret behind what business owners perceive as magic, trickery, and manipulation. Hopefully after educational meetings, emails, and phone calls, the intangible becomes a bit more tangible and understandable. Today, SEO/Online Marketing is a recipe (minus the fixed quantities), not a series of magic tricks. Backlinks should not be brought, exact match anchor text abuse is not permissible, microsites with the wrong intentions are wastes of time in the long-term, and so on…

Given the in-depth nature of online marketing, capable and willing search engine optimizers are evolving into online marketers for better or for worse. On the other hand, search engine optimizers who solely relied on manipulation are drowning. Changing how small business owners perceive SEO by expanding their understanding of online marketing as a whole is crucial. Communicate the importance of:

In the outline above, it is obvious that optimizing your site for search is not what it used to be. Optimization is comprehensive. Additional weight has been placed on the importance and value of engaging content that is marketable both online and offline. And, today it’s not so much about redefining search marketing as it is re-evaluating it so that we can answer consumer questions for our clients like:

By catching up with online marketing, understanding where search is headed, and adopting the attitude that SEO is about marketing-not magic-a website online (even if it means through offline methods), then you’re ready to leave “what was” SEO behind and embark on a more collaborative and long-term online marketing approach.

The post Is Your Approach to SEO Outdated? appeared first on Clix.

Often times we get the question, “Should I invest in Pay Per Click or Search Engine Optimization?” from clients, prospective clients, inquirers, passersby, and next door neighbors (ok, maybe not your next door neighbor!). In most – if not all – cases we recommended a combination of both PPC and SEO. We can’t help it! PPC is instantaneous. We want our clients to be an option out of the gate, while we help them build their organic presence!

Many business owners understand the importance of being one of the top organic search results in Google by now. Unfortunately, some business owners overlook the advantage of being both a paid and organic option. At Clix, we use analogies to make sense of EVERYTHING. In this case, would you rather throw one hook in the water or two or more hooks?

According to Google Think Insights, having both an organic and paid presence can dramatically improve your site’s traffic and CTR. In 2011, Google conducted an experiment and paused search ads on over 400 Adwords accounts in four different countries. Their findings were significant.

Google discovered that 89% of ad clicks were incremental to clicks on organic search results. This means that these organic visits would not have happened without the company investing in PPC and being a sponsored result. Simply, organic clicks would not have made up for the absence of paid clicks.

Below is a Google infographic that illustrates their results:

The post PPC – Accounting For Clicks You’d Never Get appeared first on Clix.

After a while, it becomes more like educated guessing ( My Product/Service + This Strategy ≈ C ).

Then, it evolves into a reliable way to forecast sales ( My Product/Service + This Strategy = C ).

This evolution in expectation is realistic. It acknowledges the fact that there is no sure bet when it comes to having people accept your product or service. From the most fundamental standpoint, marketing is establishing your target market and the media they use, then presenting your product or service and its benefits to your market in a digestible manner.

The typical types of media used for marketing are:

Although this is not a comprehensive list of media, it gives the impression that there are a lot of choices out there when it comes to marketing your product or service. However, the nice thing is that marketing can integrate with one another.

Take for instance the Nike commercial below. This commercial is available for viewing on YouTube – an example of television integrating with online marketing.

Another example is when a radio station streams their shows online. Rather than just leave their listeners to the car radio or boombox (seriously, who carries those anymore?), radio stations can stream their shows online and retain a higher percentage of their listeners throughout the day. Print media post their stories online and integrate reader feedback with Facebook, Twitter, Google + and more.

It’s common practice to integrate marketing strategies with one another to form strategic marketing plans. Today, it is important to reach your market online due to the medium’s versatility. It integrates easily with almost all other forms of marketing, and your website is open 24/7, offering a place to go for those seeking to research your products or services. Today, the answer doesn’t get more easy. Online marketing requires strategy and research, but it is a valuable resource for any business looking to gain exposure, build brand awareness and potentially increase sales.

Out of the gate, online marketing doesn’t provide an exact answer to the equation, Your Product/Service + This Strategy = C, but it adds a variable to the structure (we’ll call it “OM”). When OM is added to the equation, Your Product/Service + (OM + Print Media) + (OM + Television) + (OM + Radio) = C, it supplements other strategies and fortifies them. This creates a stronger, more organized marketing plan that addresses both your online and offline needs.

The post Does Your Marketing Plan = C, ≈ C or = ? appeared first on Clix.

Organic search driven by a series of algorithms, which are then driven by another series of algorithms. It’s both complicated and simple at the same time. The complicated aspect involves every single little factor that Google takes into account when ranking a website organically. From title tags and crawlability to reach and backlinks, Google measures your site from header to footer. The simple aspect is text. Text brings everything together and it is how Google provides results. Imagine only having a site with images or videos without text associated with the images or videos. Your site would not rank. Those videos and images may reveal the secret to life, but your site won’t be shown to someone who is searching for the “secret to life.”

Perks:

• Traditionally, optimizing for organic search is prone to pay off for most product/service companies
• More than 80% of people perform research online prior to purchasing a product. Being found in organic search increase your chances of closing a sale

Cons:

• Rankings are subject to the search engine
• A long-term strategy (6 + months)

Local search is important to Google and it’s not going away. Google Maps pages are gone and it’s now Google + local that you need to use. Local search is driven by local search algorithms that we can assume run in conjunction with organic search in some way, shape or form. This resource displays a pretty in-depth article regarding how to rank for local search. Although it is a bit dated, some of the principles still apply today.

Perks:

• Highly relevant for the local searcher
• Integrates with Google +
• Customers can leave reviews on Google + profile

Cons:

• Rankings are subject to the search engine
• Relevancy is objective in regards to the search. Your actual location makes a difference
• A long-term strategy

Paid search is front and center. Commonly referred to as “pay-to-play”, Google’s paid search algorithm (CPC) runs completely independent of organic and local search. For all intensive purposes, it is an online auction for best placement within the ads sections of Google and its search partners. One of the chief benefits of paid search is instant pay-off. Once your campaigns are live, they are live. No waiting around for organic and local search results to climb the ranks. Competition is fierce but paying for the best placement for the most relevant visitor to your site may mean the difference between small and large ROI.

Perks:

• Instantly get placement
• Target specific keywords that are most relevant to your product/service
• Drive targeted visitors to your website
• Rankings are subject to your campaign settings

Cons:

• Must pay for a click or impression
• Search engine users generally search organic results more so than paid search results

The post Pros & Cons of Organic, Local & Paid Search appeared first on Clix.

The bad news is that these webmasters and/or search engine optimizers need to find a way to fit this in amongst all of the other tools on their belt without getting carried away.

Let’s not forget that search engine optimization is a proactive process – not a passive one. Spending most of your time trying to change the past is not time well spent if it takes precedence over building great, engaging content that can be shared and spread (for reference, I would spend no more than 10-15% of my time on this).

With this in mind, let’s create a step-by-step list of how to export a .CSV containing links to your site, then how to spot low-quality links. Please note that all instructions below are dependent upon your site being verified on Google Webmasters.

1. Go to Google.com/webmasters and log into your account



2. Select your site



3. Select Traffic and Links To Your Site





4. Select Download Latest Links (This is important for sites who have received an “unnatural links notification”)



5. Export to .CSV or Google Docs

After exporting this spreadsheet to whatever format suits you, it’s examination time. If you or your client received an unnatural links notification, then I would advise looking at the sites linking to yours around the date of detection. For example, you wouldn’t start looking for low-quality links in October 2012 if you received a notification in June 2012.

Now, it’s time to identify potential low-quality sites. What defines them? The checklist below should cover the fundamental tells of a low-quality site.

• Advertising is everywhere! From the header to the sidebar to the footer and beyond. Advertising is a natural component of the internet. However, when it’s done wrong, you know. And, there is something fishy about a site that has a banner front and center.



• Content is surrounded by exact match anchor text.



• Content itself is poorly constructed. This includes grammar mistakes, evidence of spinning and lack of thought.



• Site looks unprofessional and lacks credibility.

Before attempting to disavow any links, try to contact the webmaster of low-quality sites via http://whois.domaintools.com/. I would only suggest disavowing any links if you received an unnatural links warning and the sites’ webmasters don’t respond.

For a more detailed and informative list of how to spot poor links and what to do thereafter, contact me at paul@clix.co!

The post Link Audits, Short & Sweet appeared first on Clix.

Let’s say for instance that company A has heard that their competitor, Company B, has begun marketing their site online via this strategy called search engine optimization. Woah! Search engine optimy-what!? The fact of the matter is, is that SEO has been around a while now (more than a decade). The industry has grown, shifted, adapted and changed with Google in order to make ends meet. However, many small and medium-sized businesses still don’t know the value that SEO brings to the table, especially when they have terrific products and services!

In this case Company A, in response to Company B’s SEO onslaught, has hired a third-party to do their SEO because they know their services are better. Unfortunately, this third-party is about doing things the wrong way. The contractor outsources their link building to the Philippines and next thing you know you have 5,000 exact match backlinks for “exercise widget A”. The rankings soar, but unfortunately this is only a short-term solution.

Over time, Google updated their algorithm to address SERP quality and Company A’s rankings began to fall drastically and subsequently their sales. The moral of this online marketing parable is this: don’t trust gimmicks. Trust experience, methodology and research. Online marketing isn’t a matter of go, go, go. Rankings aren’t supposed to be manipulated. Instead, they’re supposed to be relevant.

This disavow backlink tool does just that for companies like Company A who have unknowingly been abused. It gives them a chance to work towards removing unnatural links without having to deal with a dysfunctional webmaster half way across the world.

This reason alone is what makes me excited about this tool. I hope that over time, it becomes even more refined, focused and foolproof.

But, without further adieu, here is Matt Cutts’ video on how to use the new Google disavow backlink tool… Enjoy!

The post Disavow Your Links appeared first on Clix.