How to successfully perform Search Engine Marketing in 3 Minutes

Here are some surprising facts:

• 75% of online searchers never scroll past the first page
• 60% of all organic clicks go to the top three organic search results
• Click-Through Rate for the number one paid result is 9.7%, while the number four result is only 1.9%

How can someone learn Search Engine Marketing and break through all the advertising clutter to win customers?

John Gagnon, a Bing Ads Evangelist, released the following video in cooperation with Stukent.com to provide a framework by which to learn about and improve your search engine marketing efforts. If you have the time, watch it! If not, continue to my highlights below:

How a searcher uses a search engine in 4 steps

Why do you go to a search engine? You’re looking for an answer, looking to make a decision,  and/or looking for a product or service or information. Notwithstanding, the typical searcher journey is as follows:

1. Searchers first arrive at a search engine page, type in the content they are seeking, and hit
   "Enter".
2. The browser then loads a Search Engine Results Page (commonly referred to as a SERP). Every searcher who sees an ad is counted as an "impression".
3. Searchers who select a link are logged as a "click". These clicks load a landing page.
4. Searchers who continue past the landing page to make a purchase within the website are "converts", and are counted as "conversions".

Click-Through Rate is a common measurement in SEM and is determined by dividing Clicks / Impressions. It reveals the effectiveness of your ad copy.

Conversion Rate is another common measurement and is determined by dividing Conversions / Clicks. It reveals the effectiveness of your landing page.

The 3 Minute Drill

Whether you are new to SEM or a veteran, this exercise can help you immensely to evaluate how effective your ads are or will be:

1. What products or services make the most sense to sell online? This should clue you in on to what Keywords you should use.
2. What makes you different? This should give you guidance on what Ad Copy to write.
3. How much is a lead/sale worth? This should inform your Bidding amount.

Let's break some of this process down:

Keywords

This is foundational to your part in the rest of the searcher's journey. You can have a great landing page and ad copy, but if your keywords are off it will all be for naught.

A few key questions to ask are:

• When am I communicating with the customer in their purchase process?
• What is the right next step for them?

As an example, someone searching "advertise my business" may be just at the cusp of expressing interest in a topic. "Online marketing tips" shows increased interest and a desire to learn. "Search marketing" reveals that the searcher is looking for methods to accomplish a goal. Finally, "Advertise on Bing" demonstrates that the customer is ready to make a purchase.

Keywords surrounding each of phase of the customer journey should be created to correspond to a landing page that serves that purpose. If your intent as a business is not to educate would-be customers, then consider avoiding these terms altogether.

Ad Copy

Like traditional advertising, online ad copy should have a Call To Action and a Unique Selling Proposition, as well as the keywords that will drive the ad to show up in the paid search results. After that, it's anyone's guess as to why some ads work and others don't! As such, testing ads becomes critically important. Both Bing Ads and Google AdWords provide A/B Testing to help with this effort. Additionally, MarketingExperiments.com is a valuable resource to help you understand how to create effective tests to begin with.

Bidding

This topic receives a lot of attention but it is actually a lot simpler than it looks. You only need to know two numbers to make an intelligent bid that won't lose you money:

1. Cost Per Action - this is a funny name that internet marketers use for margin. If, for example, you sold an umbrella for $35 that cost you $10 to make, your CPA would be $25.
2. Conversion Rate - okay, I lied, this one will actually take more work to acquire. If you remember from what we discussed above, conversion rate is determined by conversions / clicks. While this sounds easy in theory, you will need to setup up your webpage with analytics software. In the Google ecosystem, it is called Google Analytics. It will allow you to track conversions by giving you code to insert on an "Order Complete" page that counts hits. This isn't difficult to do but it is more work than simply setting up a Bing Ads or Google AdWords account. Let's say in our umbrella example that our conversion rate is 4%.

Once you have these two numbers, you simply multiply one against the other. If you earn $25 per umbrella, and 4% of site visitors convert, then you shouldn't bid more than $1 per click, because it will take 25 clicks to get to a $25 sale. Pretty intuitive, no?

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SEO techniques are not nearly as important as this one thing

Pop quiz, hotshot:

Experience is to a resume as _____ is to an SEO effort.

If you guessed "content", pat yourself on the back! You can toy with all of the frivolous technicalities of SEO as much as you want, but if you're missing compelling content, don't be surprised if your efforts are wasted.

Or as my great uncle Clayton used to say: "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still stinks."

Duane Forrester, Senior Product Manager of Webmaster Outreach at Bing, released the following video in cooperation with Stukent.com to provide novices like myself the quick-and-dirty of how SEO works, and why, at the end of the day, good content should be your foremost concern. If you have the time, watch it! If not, continue to my highlights below.

Why is content so important?

Let's take a step back and think about SEO holistically: the entire point is to improve your website to make it more relevant to searchers. To quote Duane, "Everything a search engine does is guided by what the searcher responds to." In short, websites are a customer driven effort.

So - what happens when you create lackluster content but have manhandled all of the code on the back-end to get amazing click-through? You'll probably end up with an equally amazing bounce rate. Which, in turn, will have today's top search engines degrade your site's ranking.

Alternatively, if you make great content but lack the sophistication of an Alexa-top-100-site webmaster, then sure, you won't grow as fast or by as much as you could. BUT - you will get an audience, you will create buzz, and you will get shares. You'll create enough momentum to give yourself time to get to the technicalities.

Content is what provides value to visitors to your site. Search engines are designed to gauge that value and reward it with high rankings.

Where should I begin?

"Write what you know" has never been truer than in this age of information overload. If you've been tempted to simply use syndicated content or spin other content with your own flair, know that you are unlikely to build any type of following or community. Search engines punish these practices because searchers don't seem to care for it.

You need a niche. Per Duane:

Owning a niche is like putting a crow bar in a small crack. Over time that crack opens up and you can see more of the world ahead of you. That's the power of owning your niche.

Pick a topic that you have unique experience in. Share that experience and knowledge often and freely. Where startups need a unique selling proposition, you need a unique follower proposition.

Again from Duane, here's a short list of things you can do to be your audience's subject authority:

• Know the topic inside and out
• Engage your community
• Share useful content freely
• Be consistent and useful
• Market your strengths
• Be a go-to resource
• Learn to spot trends in data

Oh, and don't forget to be humble. You're not an authority until other people say you are.

Lastly, don't be afraid to add a little personality to your writing. Try the different "voices" that make you you and see what resonates with your audience.

What should I write?

This is where technique comes into play. Sure, you could listen to your heart, but wouldn't you rather listen to your audience, make educated guesses, and see results?

Both Bing and Google have keyword tools available that will key you in on what your readers are searching for when they find you. This information is gold and should inform your content decisions. It can help you uncover new niches and refine your site's focus. It can provide inspiration when writer's block comes-a-knockin'.

Speaking of writer's block, you should write frequently (horrible segue, I know). If you're strapped for time, once a week should be your bare minimum. Information has a shelf life and search engines know it.

How can I get an audience other than searchers from search engines?

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Or for you, humble reader: if a person writes an article and no one is around to read it, does it even matter? You will probably feel like it doesn't when it happens to you.

Never fear - there are more tools than ever to get your content out. While search engines are the best, using your personal and professional network through social media is a great option. And in so doing, you will likely impact the success of your SEO efforts as well.

Search engines like shared content for the following reasons (italicized items are per Duane):

• Signals topical authority
• Real-time - engines want fresh content, fast
• Integrated social signals influence click actions of searchers
• Social signals are becoming more prevalent relevance indicators for search engine rankings

You may think "I don't have time to measure and manage a bunch of accounts on various social media websites!" Congratulations, you're not the first to think this and the market has provided many, many solutions. Per Duane, here are some of the best:

• Hootsuite
• Alexa.com
• Board Reader
• Sysomos
• Facebook Insights
• Follower Wonk
• Google Insights
• How Sociable
• Ice Rocket trends
• Buffer
• Klout
• Peer Index
• Kred
• Mention Map
• Social Mention
• Iconosquare
• Twitter Counter
• Tweetreach
• Visual.ly

In Summation

Discover your unique follower proposition by finding the niche that only you can speak to. Create quality content that engenders a loyal audience, and listen to that audience with a search engine keyword tool to create more targeted content. Share your content on social media to build an audience that ultimately creates a virtuous cycle of more audience data and better content targeting.

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The Digital Marketing Pros at Entrata Give the Top 3 SEO Trends

The new meaning of "brand", savvy social strategy, and targeting locally

Branding isn't just for digital artists

Alright, so you ARE going to need a digital artist to create your logos and the look and feel of your website. But that is far from the entirety of what "brand" is. During my internship at Dell over the summer, I had the chance to participate in a discussion led by Karen Quintos, the CMO, and she stated:

A brand is a promise you make and keep to your customers.

The pros at Entrata agree: a brand comprises not only the flashy signage for your company but also how people experience the company overall. Google describes it like this:

The new era of branding is spilling out onto the web. Reviews about company interactions are everywhere, from Amazon to Yelp. Great companies like Autozone are teaching their customers how to use them as a trusted adviser to their car problems, while others like "Rockauto.com" are behind the times in only offering products at low prices. In the 21st century, branding is measured by engagement and participation, not by sales alone.

Social matters, and maybe not in the way you think

Rand Fiskin, SEO expert extraordinaire, recently ran a series of online tests and found something pretty odd:

Even when participation is low, the outlier businesses are more active on at least one social channel than their peers.

In English: websites performing better relative to their peers seem to have an abundance of posts on social media. It doesn't even matter if participation (like reviews, user dialog, etc.) are greater on another site, search engines view activity as the most important ranking criteria when weighing social factors.

This doesn't negate the need for branding, however. If two sites are social-media-workhorses and are always posting new content, the one that interacts with its customers will win out. Especially if the site is creating content about real customers and their experiences with their products or services. Google rewards human-ness! So be human!

Google My Business: The Best Free Tool You've Never Heard Of

Have a website? Own a business? Not heard of "Google My Business"? Cancel your plans for the next 15 minutes and follow these steps; they'll make a world of difference to your professional endeavors:

1. Go to https://www.google.com/business/
2. Verify your business location (search to see if it already exists first: Google hates duplicates)
3. Populate your listing with details, like the appropriate business categories
4. Add professional pictures. The more the merrier! Don't forget to add:
1. A caption
2. A URL
3. A phone number
4. An address
5. A geo tag
6. Enabled location sharing
7. Detailed file name
5. Create a YouTube channel and add it to your business
6. ???
7. PROFIT!!!

In A Nutshell

Think about your business as a whole and what you want customers to say about you. Get online to see what they are saying, and bridge the gap in service or product quality to get to your ideal state.

Get active on social. Make a goal to post things frequently. Involve your customers in the conversation.

Start using Google My Business. Take a boatload of pictures of your company, its product, and its location. Create a YouTube channel and make a goal to create content frequently there as well.

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The unspoken interview questions that you are probably fumbling abysmally

Have you ever been in an interview and felt a lingering, uncomfortable thickness in the air? As if there were something left unsaid? As if you had been "weighed, measured, and found wanting"?

We've all been there. And only afterward did we realize that we were responding to some unspoken interview questions, and doing a rather poor job of it.

At Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Business, alumni are called upon to form boards to help current students prepare for their entrance in to the job market and excel in their chosen fields. I recently had the opportunity to hear from alumni in our Marketing Board, including Scott Overson of Intel, Scott Pulsipher of Needle, David Hunt of Illusive Networks, Jordan Archibald of Qualtrics, and Whitney Seamons (formerly of Microsoft and J&J). They were invaluable in helping demystify those hidden job interview questions and taught how to approach them with grace and confidence.

In no particular order, here are the hidden questions you need to nail to put you ahead of other candidates:

How do you analyze a problem?

There are two traps when discussing our past experience. One is to simply address the duties that we performed. This is easily the most egregious mistake as well as the most boring for the interviewer to endure.

The second is talking about accomplishments without context. While it may be wonderful that you increased market penetration 17% through a customer acquisition strategy, that doesn't spell out to the listener what actions you took to get there and how those actions make you special.

So do the interviewer a favor: set up the problem for them in a sentence. Why was this problem important? What did it mean for the company? Give your story some drama! Then talk about the one or two things you did to really understand and address the problem. Sure, you may have done a lot more, but they don't want your autobiography. The interviewer wants the highlights. And third, make sure to include those results. Again, the most meaningful, and only the most meaningful.

Are you willing to work past 5:00 PM?

For obvious reasons, no interviewer is going to ask this outright. Just like you're not going to ask about work-life balance (really: don't). But the interviewer will WANT to ask about it. And they'll do everything in their means to tease it out of you without being utterly direct.

Emphasize the incredible level of effort you applied to the impossible feat you accomplished. Be specific about timelines and how you achieved them. For example, "I worked well into the night weeks on end, but seeing our PageRank increase from tens of pages in Google's search engine results to the second page made it all worth it."

Scott Pulsipher's background included working at Amazon, and while he didn't 100% endorse the working conditions (see the New York Times article "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace") , he understood that to do unique, market-changing things required a superhuman level of effort, which Amazon has a knack for consistently applying. He even confided that, on average, since business school he has worked 50 hours per week.

Why are you here?

No, we're not getting philosophical (although if you're interested, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does have a great answer to this called "God's Plan of Salvation"). Interviewers constantly meet folks who have boring reasons for sitting in front of them, like:

• "I want to work here because this area is close to my extended family."
• "I'm here because I saw the job posting on Indeed.com and thought the responsibilities sounded interesting."
• "I'm interested in this job because I heard it pays well, and the hours aren't bad."
• "I want to work here because I've used your products or services and I like them."

These aren't bad reasons, but most people have a slew of these for any given job, and they aren't particularly interesting. Nor do they say anything about you, since 99.9% of the population cares about the same thing.

You should be sitting in front of an interviewer because their company stimulates your intellect on many levels. They do something no one else does, and it resonates with you because you've done something similarly heroic in the past. Or maybe they do something that you believe is incredibly valuable for the economy, for nature, or for the world at large and you find yourself pursuing similar goals.

Whatever your reason, be authentic, and speak to how you and the company "are one". When interviewers talk about "fit", it's not an exercise of the interviewer trying to weigh your attributes and place you in the right spot within a company. It's an exercise of you explaining your spot in the company and them visualizing it without effort.

What questions do you have for me (that really say something about you)?

Alright, so this one does get asked in interviews, but it's so commonly bungled it is worth discussing. Some questions are just no-no's:

• How much does the job pay?
• How much time off do I get?
• What are the benefits like?

These can be answered later after the bigger questions are addressed, or they can be answered more discreetly through a friendly alumnus or alumna who is willing to get real with you in a private conversation.

Other questions are too revealing that you haven't done your homework:

• What's your day to day job look like?
• What group in the company holds the most power when making strategic decisions?
• What products or services make up your offering?

The first two are better suited towards an informational interview with an alumnus or alumna (the second will require a degree of candor that you may not find in the interview and could be a deal breaker before even interviewing), and the third is easily searchable.

So what do good questions look like? Good questions are current, show your insight into the company, and are relevant to the position you want to obtain. If you're pursuing a digital marketing career, a good question for a company like eBay might be "I know as eBay turns 20 this year that mobile is a huge focus. What are your digital marketing teams doing to leverage traditional customer data from the website to improve mobile platform conversion?" Alright, maybe not the best, but you get the idea.

Public relations and investor relations pages are a great place to get company news and should be leveraged for these types of questions. For the question above, I used a story from eBay's investor relations page, titled "Introducing eBay 4.0".

Practice, practice, practice

Now that you know the unspoken questions, the best way to nail them to the ground is practicing answering traditional questions while flavoring your answers with some of the elements we've discussed above. Get your mentor, your good friend, or your significant other to ask you a series of questions and see if they can pick up on some of the subtle hints you are trying to drop.

Now go forth and interview successfully!

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Mike Tyson

Even a guy with a checkered past can have good wisdom to impart:

"You have to be humble in life, and if you are not humble, life will make you humble."

- Mike Tyson

Movie Quotes

Two little mice fell into a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned, but the second mouse, he struggled so hard that he eventually churned that cream into butter and he walked out.

- Catch Me If You Can

A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is who is gonna close?

- Boiler Room

Smile. It enhances your face value. 

- Steel Magnolias

The loudest one in the room is the weakest one in the room.

 - American Gangster

You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone. 

- Miracle

You got a dream you gotta protect it. People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can't do it. 

- The Pursuit of Happyness

Everywhere I've been today there's always been something wrong--too young, too old, too short, too tall. Whatever the exception is, I can fix it. I can be older, I can be taller, I can be anything. 

- The Secret of My Success

No intensity, no victory.

- Any Given Sunday

Motivators

At work, there are really only 5 motivators:

1. Paid Time Off
2. Advancement
3. Recognition
4. Training
5. Money