1. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Website Optimization, SEO, and Analytics Bruce Carlisle Digital Axle @rbcarlisle

2. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Optimization means many things User Interface Click Paths Keywords Social Marketing Opt. Forms Copy Call to Action Colors Search Text copy Participation Inbound Links Demographic targeting Behavioral Targeting Image tagging URL Naming Alt Text Copy Use of HTML headlines Matching copy to URL Content Strategy Headline Copy Sharing Buttons Page Load Speed AND MORE…….

3. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Optimization: SEO Technical Expectations External Factors Usability & User Experience Content

4. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Things you have lots of control over SEO Technical Expectations Usability & User Experience Content

5. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Things you have less control over External Factors

6. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved The economics of optimization Not build it and forget it Requires budget and maintenance – Baseline marketing expense Activities should have their own ROI – Content – Social – UX testing & Optimization

7. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved SEO

8. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Search today is…….

9. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Source: Karmasnack.com: Snackfolio

10. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Social Networks

11. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Social Sharing

12. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved SEO: a new language to learn Page Rank Anchor text Text link copy Google penalties Adwords Bid Relevance Keyword stuffing Paid Inclusion Spiders Bots BackLink Recency Google Analytics

13. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Search Engine Optimization Without strong SEO all other marketing dollars contain waste Strong Google ranking can make your website a success Weak Google ranking means your company is spending good money against bad But….. There is a lot of voodoo involved

14. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved The non-technical stuff Decide what keywords matter most Create shareable content Increase your linkability Make tagging and bookmarking easy Reward inbound links Help your content travel Get communities connected Proactively share content Partial Source: Rohit Bahgavra

15. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Analytic Tools

16. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Analytic Tools Near Universal Usage: – Google Analytics Different tools do different things Movement toward “dashboards” – Marriage of “analytics” and “management”

17. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved FREE

18. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Google Analytics

19. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Google Analytics: Traffic Sources

20. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved In Page Analytics

21. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Other Analytic Tools There are now dozens if not hundreds

22. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Quantcast

23. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Alexa

24. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved

26. ChartBeat

27. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Case Studies

28. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved NorCal Honda Dealers Website Optimization Problems: No home page text for search engines to read Multiple prominent home page buttons siphoned traffic away Zip code entry diminished Three page registration path Lengthy form with multiple entry fields Graphic tags don’t reflect content Only 25% of leads tracked Inherited Site

29. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Norcal Honda Dealers Website Optimization Fixes Made: Zip code entry prominent Other links minimized Shortened registration path Shortened form Relevant home page text All text keyword stuffed Full tracking solution Graphic tags optimized More active look & feel Web 2.0 usability Google mapping features Metatags matched to content 800# implemented Rebuilt Site

30. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Honda Metrics: UI Optimization Inherited Website Period: 10/22/07 – 12/20/07 Total website visits: 20,487 Daily visits:341 Unique visitors: 18,944 Avg. time on site: 0:56 Avg. pages/visit: 1.78 Rebuilt Website Period: 03/17/08 – 06/05/08 Total website visits: 53,594 Daily visits:661 Unique visitors: 46,600 Avg. time on site: 1:13 Avg. pages/visit: 1.99 + 94% + 30% + 146% + 30% + 12%

31. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Honda: Landing Page Optimization Minor differences in copy, graphics layout, etc can result in dramatic increases in conversions Create three different ‘landing pages’ based on three separate keyword appeals.

32. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Honda: Lead Form Layout Test C HORIZONTAL FORM B VERTICAL FORM (test) A VERTICAL FORM (default)

33. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Lead Form Optimization Layout Test: Results Option C created a 128% improvement in lead capture Cut lead acquisition costs by more than half Notes: 1)The default vertical layout (A) has the lowest average conversion rate 1)C > A: 99% confidence 2)B > A: 90% confidence 2)The horizontal layout (C) is top performer 1)C > B: 85% confidence FORM LAYOUTIMPRESSIONSCLICKSLEADSCONV RATE A (default vertical layout) 117,0601,311130.99% B (vertical layout - test) 116,5431,352221.63% C (horizontal layout) 117,7041,315302.28%

34. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved What optimization really implies Constant measurement Constant testing HTML maintenance Tagging Content Strategy Content sharing Social Strategy

35. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Whether you like it or not……… Web traffic and performance and by extension your brand and product are captive to: – The Relevance of your content – The Recency of your content – Your use of HTML to comply with Google’s “rules” – Social currency as measured by Twitter, Facebook, etc. a – Your online “authority” as measured by inbound links (quantity and quality) – How people search (keywords) – How people see and use web pages (UX) – What your competitors do

36. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved You can attempt to control the digital space or the web will control you In many respects, it’s not fair It’s generally not cost effective to do everything Resist the “You must do this” chatter / trap Be strategic first… Then tactical Only commit to doing what you can realistically do Only analyze what you can impact

37. ©2006-2010, Digital Axle, LLC All Rights Reserved Bruce Carlisle Digital Axle @rbcarlisle www.digitalaxle.com bcarlisle@digitalaxle.com www.digitalaxle.com