ADVERTISING

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University Communications and Marketing Fall 2005
Workshops
Take Control of the Wheel How to Drive Traffic
to Your Web Site
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First Things First

• To effectively drive traffic you must ask
• Who is your target audience?
• What do you want them to do on your Web site?
• How will you get a return on your investment?
• What is your available budget?
• Source American Marketing Association

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Quick Definitions

• Traffic - broadly refers to number of clicks,
  visitors, or unique users into your Web site.
• Return on investment (ROI) - traffic in and of
  itself is not the objective of driving traffic.
  Real objective is getting a measurable return
  from your investment to drive that traffic.

Source American Marketing Association
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Measuring Conversions Beyond Profit/Sales

• Filling out a contact form
• Registering for an e-newsletter
• Ordering a catalog

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Establishing Metrics Beyond Profit/Sales

• Repeat visits
• Length of visits
• Click-through rate
• Customer satisfaction

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Keepin It Simple

• Often Overlooked Tips for Driving Traffic to Your
  Site

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Top 10 Simple Tips for Driving Traffic to Your
Web Site

• Add your URL to the signature line of all
  outgoing e-mail
• Record your URL in your voice mail message.
• Put your URL on all print communications.
• Put your URL in readable type.
• Encourage readers to visit your URL to find out
  more at end of every article.

Adapted from American Marketing Association
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Top 10 Simple Tips for Driving Traffic to Your
Web Site (continued)

• Ask your audience to refer colleagues and friends
  to your site.
• Work with other webmasters to implement
  reciprocal links (to your site and vice versa).
• Keep your site up-to-date add new content
  frequently.
• Run contests or giveaways, if appropriate.
• Stay on top of it its an ongoing process.

Adapted from American Marketing Association
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Other Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Web Site

• Viral marketing
• Pay-per-click
• Paid advertising (banner campaigns)
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

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Viral Marketing

• Spreads quickly like virus.
• Common execution is a friend's referral program.
• Web site asks for a friend's name and then sends
  them a e-mail/letter endorsed by referrer.
• E-mails more likely to be opened and responded
  to.
• Referrer/friend accrues points/prizes.

Source American Marketing Association
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Banner Advertising

• Must consider host Web sites audience, mindset
  during surfing, your target and how these align.
• Bought on a per activity basis
• Number of times displayed (impressions).
• Number of click-throughs, later purchases or
  registrations.
• Click-throughs declined to average of less than
  one-half percent.
• Keyword search engine banner placement buy
  banners triggered by specific word(s) typed into
  search engines.

Source American Marketing Association
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Pay-Per-Click (PPC)

• Also known as paid search.
• Pay only when users actually click on an ad.
• Supplements search engine optimization offers
  critical and timely traffic.

Source American Marketing Association
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Search Engine Facts

• 84 of online Americans used search engines (107
  million) a Pew Internet American Life
  Project, 2004.
• 75 of Internet users visit search engines each
  month Online Publishers Association and
  Nielsen/NetRatings, 2004.
• Search engines on top (41) compared to other
  processes when consumers were asked how they find
  product Web sites DoubleClick study, 2003.

Source Fathom SEO
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Search Engine Optimization

• Improves ranking of a Web site in search engine
  listings
• Increases site traffic
• Assists in converting unique visitors to
  customers

Source Fathom SEO
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Search Engine Optimization What You Can Do

• Register your site re-register periodically.
• Ex. http//search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html
• Keep keywords and meta tags current.
• Spread keywords throughout content revise text
  as necessary.
• Charge someone with monitoring and updating
  keyword referrals, and search engine referrals
  and placement.

Source Fathom SEO
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SEO Tips - Choosing the Best Keywords

• Pace Yourself

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Tips on Choosing Keywords

• Think through business goals objectives.
• Think through brand names.
• Watch the broad search terms.
• Be careful with narrow search terms.
• Check Google competing pages.
• Watch the quotation marks.

Source Fathom SEO
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Tips on Choosing Keywords (continued)

• The singular vs. plural debate.
• Dont get excited about misspellings.
• Give low numbers a shot.
• Learn how to form search terms.
• Know how people search.
• Two-word phrases (32.58)
• Three-word phrases (25.61)
• 2004 report by OneStat, an expert in Web analytics

Source Fathom SEO
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Tips on Choosing Keywords (continued)

• Be careful when mining keywords from competitors
  Web sites.
• Dont use competitors corporate names or brands.
• Ask people all kinds.
• Dust off your thesaurus (or go online).
• Analyze log files.

Source Fathom SEO
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Now What?

• Get your keywords onto your pages
• Meta data behind the scenes
• Title tags
• Description tags
• Keyword tags
• Visible Content
• Build relevant links and link popularity

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SEO No Nos

• Avoid Bad Techniques

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Search Engine Optimization Donts

• Don't use frames in the page design
• Avoid long URLs and and ?
• Dont duplicate copy

Source Fathom SEO
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Description Overload

• Avoid long meta descriptions.
• Laundry list of keywords may not match content.

Source Fathom SEO
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Overdone Visible Text

• Massive keyword repetition in a small space may
  annoy Web site visitors. Looks blatant.

Source Fathom SEO
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Too Many Links

• Yes, links in content are useful.
• Too many may be viewed as spam.

Source Fathom SEO
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Text in Unusual Places

• Avoid all forms of hidden text.
• Make font colors and sizes match design.
• Excessive keywords offer no value.

Source Fathom SEO
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An SEO Case Study

• www.kent.edu

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Meta Data in Commonspot
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Meta Data in Source Code
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Content Modifications
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Lets Test It!
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KSU SEO Ranking Highlights
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KSU SEO Traffic Highlights
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KSU SEO Traffic Highlights
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Traffic and SEO Resources

• American Marketing Association
• http//www.marketingpower.com
• Fathom SEO
• http//www.fathomseo.com
• http//fathomseo.blogspot.com
• WordTracker
• www.wordtracker.com
• Know your link popularity
• www.checkyourlinkpopularity.com
• Free Search Engine Marketing Tools
• www.marketleap.com
• UCM Resources
• www.kent.edu/ucm

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Questions?

• E-mail smoore1_at_kent.edu