Get More from Search - Trends in Search & Social Media

Vortaloptics Inc. has obtained a patent for its vertical search engine software. premise of the search invention is a Net-native administrative interface that gives users instant control over search results, enabling specific keywords to be associated with specific URLs within a search database.

David Gosse, CEO of Vortaloptics and co-author of the patent, assigned the patent rights over to Vortaloptics shortly after it being officially awarded on October 21, 2008 by the U.S. Patent Office. He explains how a genuine need for controllable search software prompted him to invent the software: “I wanted to create search engine software that could be controlled. The search engine that I wanted to embed into my websites and client websites needed a way to administer the results and change them so that they were more relevant for the site. So I co-invented a controllable search algorithm.”

The unique control mechanism provides flexibility to customize each URL in a search database and thus, every keyword assigned to that website.

Search results returned to users are prioritized based on relevancy (keyword match) and the total relative score of the search terms used to conduct the query. Additional relevancy and priority controls are provided via the administrative interface.

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Author: Mark MorrisSearch Engine Marketing, has frustrated even the most technically savvy marketers. A necessary part to the online marketing area, including affiliate programs, email marketing, online placement, and sponsorships, requires that a smart marketer not only understand business objectives but then applies them to the major components of Search Engine Marketing.

1. TRACKING YOUR R.O.I. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) can be tracked far better than some other forms of advertising. You track success of campaigns right down to the exact keyword or phrase a searcher typed in to find you. With the proper implementation of analytics software you can tweak your ROI more easily.

2. TESTING YOUR PERFORMANCE In general, testing online advertising is easier than offline. But in the case of SEM it’s even better. Test things on the fly and see what performed better.

3. PRE-QUALIFIED Most searchers have ALREADY MADE A BUYING DECISION. They are using search engines to research vendors and products. Prospects from search are usually more qualified.

4. CONTROL Because SEM is so flexibel you have more control over you message. YOu can create a more relevant message to each of your targets.

5. INFORMATION WEALTH Because there is such a big boom in SEM right now, there is a wealth of information to be found. SEM is not as mysterious as it used to be and much easier to jump in to.

About the author:

We cracked the code to making a fortune on the Internet, and we can teach anyone how to do this. Will it take work? Yes. Is there a small learning curve? Yes. But can you do it? YES!

www.CashWaveTraffic.com

Assuming you are already into an affiliate program, what would be the next thing you would want to do? Double, or even triple, your commissions, right? How do you do that?

www.Netprofits.PRomoBlackBox.com

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Our attention spans are shorter these days. With the immediate answers available from search engines, we’ve come to expect more from the websites we visit. As such, we’re all guilty of nibbling on site after site, looking for the right combination of design, content and product that will stop us in our tracks and engage our busy minds.

Your website visitors follow this same pattern. If, for instance, your website takes too long to load, they’ll just continue onto another site. Your goal as a website owner is to slow visitors down, giving them time to absorb your message and let your product or service make a lasting impression. So how do you capture their attention without frustrating them?

Simple is better. If you give people too many choices they will become overwhelmed and will go to a site that will make it easier for them to choose. Even if your company prides itself on a plethora of products and services, your bottom line will be better served by putting the spotlight on a few timely, best-selling products and guiding visitors to learn more about those products. A little bit of information can go a long way. Don’t overwhelm users with the details. Instead, focus on the information that is important to them – often the key benefits and purchase-critical information (shipping, privacy, guarantees, customer service, etc.). If you provide them with too much information it will confuse them instead of clarifying the offering.

Relevant content is great, but too much or the wrong content is great at driving people away. You’re the expert in your field, but don’t expect your visitors to read protracted discourses on your company’s virtues. Those are better left for business plans, not for websites. Remember the simple is better philosophy and always be relevant. Strive for engaging, succinct editorial that invites an action. Try call-outs in the sidebars with various call to action items to cater to various personalities – make sure that your visitors can get to know and get in touch with your company in the method they’re most comfortable with.

Limit distractions. There’s always the potential that an engaged visitor one second will become another site’s visitor or customer the next. Incorporating third-party ads can be a great income generator, but they can also invite site hopping. Go for ad serving technologies where you can control the ad content and disable competitive messaging whenever possible. Your goal is to keep visitors on your site as long as possible because the longer they stay; the more likely they are to purchase a product or service.

Remove the stumbling blocks. Leaving the prospect with the potential for too many decisions will send a 90% closed sale into a missed opportunity. Once a visitor turns into a prospect, you’ve got to make absolutely certain that they have all the decision making pieces in full view (i.e. price) or within one pop-up window away of “Buy now” or “Contact us.”  Abandonment is often due to not enough of the right information and that’s just an unnecessary faux pas.   

Design for easy navigation. Keep your page design fairly consistent to minimize confusion. Site visitors look for critical information in the top menu of a website – so make sure the most important pages and action items are always visible.

Not driving visitors away from your site means slowing them down long enough to understand your message and learn why they should buy your product or service. To do this, incorporate these principles:  keep it simple, relevant, non-distracting, decision-making friendly and easily navigable. By doing this, you’ll convert visitors who really want to learn and enter into a purchase. The people who are just nibbling aren’t ready to convert – but your site will be memorable and who knows, they just might come back when they’re ready to stay.

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We know that search is the #1 tool that consumers use when researching products and services but it’s interesting to see that other media continues to facilitate the motivation to search.  

In a survey conducted by BIGresearch for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, it was found that consumers are often motivated to search after interacting with other media outlets including magazines (47.2%), reading an article (43.7%), watching television (42.8%) and reading a newspaper (42.3%). Men are more likely than women to start a search after listening to the radio (34.4% vs. 24.9%) while women are more likely to respond to receiving coupons than men (41.8% vs. 29.0%).

Which outlet deserves more attention from your budget? It depends on your audience’s media patterns. Market research and studies will help you drill down the particular areas you need to focus on, but the new purchase pattern of consumers and businesses involves a multiple media approach – and that means that your business must adopt the same pattern for your marketing campaigns.

While many forms of advertising are beneficial, such as product reviews in magazines, radio ads, and relevant TV commercials, it is unlikely that the prospect will act on that information immediately. Over time, repeated exposure or a genuine need will drive your customers to a search engine where they’ll begin their decision-making process in earnest.

While we’ve been reading about this paradigm shift for a few years now, the connection is still far from seamless in the minds of so many marketers. Yet, the new reality is that advertising is a means to drive traffic to your website or to vertical sites that foster the research/purchase cycle - and that actuality can take some getting used to.

Crossing the chasm to capture the purchase cycle interest requires that you always feature online activities (search, website, communities) in the call to action in all ad campaigns. Based on the knowledge that the majority of your customers are going to look in search engines for you or visit your site directly when you’ve caught their attention, then you must gear everything you do toward that behavior.

If you’re running a magazine ad for a new high-tech add-on to an existing product, prominently feature a micro-site for that product. That micro-site can do more for conversions than 1000 full-page ads ever could. It’s about delivering the complete decision-making package to the prospect instantly: text, video demonstrations, customer testimonials, and if applicable, outgoing links to retailers/reviews/social networks that support your product. And don’t stop with creating micro-sites, practice best SEO techniques to get the most relevant content into the search engines ASAP.

Additionally, you should customize the online destination for each campaign for the audience and the product. Sometimes, a favorable product review might be the best landing page for a campaign. Or, if you have an active blog community that engages a loyal readership and creates a transparency with your brand, that might be the best scenario for a buyer demographic that thrives on casual but intelligent repartee. 

Another important realization is that your consumers will communicate with each other after they have purchased your product.

Joe Pilotta, Vice President of BIGresearch says, “Retailers must realize that online communities are now producers and through their stories are able to extend the distribution of traditional media with a trust and truth not even approximated by mass media.”

Word of mouth is a powerful tool and even online consumers are most likely to communicate about a product or service face-to-face (68.9%), but bear in mind that consumers do utilize other methods for communicating their experiences: email (53.1%), telephone (50.9%), and cell phones (30.0%). Young adults are more apt to use new media sources to communicate about products and services they have purchased, including instant messaging (37.5%), text messaging (23.7%), and online communities (20.6%).

In summary, a diverse advertising strategy is important, but it has to: 1) communicate to your audience within the media that they’re most likely to interact with; 2) drive potential customers to the Web where they will search for your brand, make their decisions and communicate with other consumers post-purchase.

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Online video is the rising star in the advertising community. Why then do so many large companies continue to advertise with display ads? According to data from TNS Media Intelligence Vonage, AT&T and Dell spent a combined $489 million on display ads in 2006. Display ads hold 21% of the market share with US online advertisers while online video only holds 8% of the market share. That places display ads with triple the amount of market share over online video. This doesn’t mean that marketers are dissing online video, however. While advertising spending for display ads will remain flat over the next few years, online video will steadily increase until by 2011 they will have 17% of the market share for online advertisers.

Companies are finding that the more diversified you make your advertising the more effective your campaign will be. A study was released in December 2006 by comScore Networks that determined that if companies utilize both search and display advertising their campaign will be more engaging and effective than companies that use a single type of advertising campaign. Per the study, online users who were exposed to both display and search advertising increased their page views compared to competing sites by 68% and increased their time on the sites by 66%. Among those exposed also increased their purchases of the advertisers products and services by 244% online and 89% offline when compared to online users with similar behavior who didn’t view the ads.

Diversifying your marketing campaigns take planning, but an engaging multimedia campaign will pay you back with better ROI and make you look like the company rock star. All advertising is important; you just have to research what truly works best for your company and utilize the outlets that best connect with and influence your future customers.

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How did you develop the information at your website? Did you use offline material or spin off content from press releases, news items or your internal communications? Then, did you layer on some graphics, maybe a little Flash animation to jazz it up some programming and think that your audience would get the message?

In actuality, your website may be failing to communicate the message you really intend to offer to your visitors. You need to open a dialog to effectively communicate - and you can start by thinking of your visitors as an audience that gives feedback, instead of just customers with credit cards in hand. Doing so can create a more enjoyable user experience, and will keep them at your site longer, engaged with your brand. This in turn creates the end goal you desire: more sales from a more loyal customer base.

It begs the question, “how do I go about creating an interesting website that will engage my precious site visitors, turn them into an audience and then into customers?” very successful method is to create a website that blends information, entertainment and community.

While the written word is the foundation for your website, it is also necessary for search engine optimization and it engages the reader types among your audience. Yet,  some Web 2.0 tools are within reach for most companies and offer so much benefit for the investment.

One tool that can help do that is web video. Video has a lot going for it, providing a platform to showcase your products, employees, customers or affiliated events in a rich media experience that is becoming commonplace. Video presentations need to have enough value to them that people want to share them with others and both the presentations and content must create a memorable experience that entertains the individual.

Video is not the place to lay on the sales pitch - your audience is looking to be entertained, not hit over the head with a self-serving show. Instead, create short videos that work together in creating a subtle brand campaign - engaging enough to keep their interest - and fresh enough to keep them coming back to find out what happens next. The underlying theme is your product, but the consumer is being entertained in the process. Buy-ready consumers are more likely to remember brands that entertained them.

Look to the Internet for other successful campaigns, Video sharing sites (i.e. www.youtube.com) and Web advertising awards (i.e. www.webbyawards.com) are a great place to start for what’s viral and what’s got the attention of consumers and brand marketers alike.

To improve your website, start the thought process from scratch – how can you best communicate with your online audience? Web users form an opinion about your company within seconds of reaching a website. Capture them with fresh content and keep them coming back with engagement tools like video. Stop talking (about your company). Instead, start communicating.

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