Blog
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
(Mis)Use of Content Syndication
While doing a little research for a client the other day I came across interesting results in Google when searching for swarm season. This term relates to termites ... the results relate to termites ... and who has the top ranking - a discount dental plan provider!
As a search engine marketing professional, I understand the benefits of using syndicated content for seo, but I feel there is a fine line that needs to be drawn between the use and misuse of syndicated content.
This particular website has a "dental and health articles" section of their website. Yeah, that makes sense to me as it's related to their website. Some of the topics covered like cosmetic dentistry are dead on. Others like pet care, book review and real estate just don't make any sense. I understand why they are doing it, but I just don't agree with this strategy. Will they get traffic due to these articles? Sure. Is it good traffic? Nope. I highly doubt these visitors will convert. They're selling dental plans, not termite protection. Is it likely that someone who is actively looking for information on the termite swarm season will all of the sudden decide they need dental coverage? Doubtful.
There's an obvious disconnect between termite swarm season and discount dental plans. If you choose to syndicate content on your website, you should only use content that would be useful for site visitors and relevant to the subject matter on your website. There's zero connection here.
Oh, and by the way three of the first four results for swarm season are this same article, two of which come from dentalplans.com from distinct urls. Come to think of it, this could be considered duplicate content, but that's another story altogether.
posted by David at 5:37 PM
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Tell Your Customers Where To Go
One day, in a fit of frustration, I decided the time had come to tell a whole bunch of customers exactly where to go.
It worked. Conversions increased dramatically. Information requests started pouring in. Every time I looked at my daily stats, more leads had come in!
Why was I frustrated, and how did telling customers where to go resolve my frustration?
I was frustrated because I was running a pay-per-click campaign that wasn't giving me the results I was hoping for. My goal was to get Web visitors to request a particular resource from a client's Web site. I had a good budget to work with. I had spent hours on keyword research. I had toiled meticulously over my ad text. My carefully designed landing page offered potential customers all the fabulous options they could possibly hope for. Where was I going wrong?
The answer was right in front of my nose, and the solution was really quite simple.
The problem lay in the bit where I "offered potential customers all the options they could possibly hope for". I was distracting them by allowing them to browse the generous selection of options that the Web site offered. So I decided to funnel them straight to the "cash register". In this particular case the cash register was not a purchase, but rather a request submission for the resource the client was offering.
Funneling them in the right direction was really not that difficult: I simply removed all the options and narrowed the clickable links down to just one powerful call-to-action. It was a tad scary because this went against everything I believed about giving visitors lots of great choices on Web sites. But the results were instantaneous. Conversions went from 12, to 56, to 69, to 98...and are still rising.
So what did I learn?
That a landing page should not be an invitation to browse a Web site. It should be an invitation to fulfill the goal of the pay-per-click campaign.
That when you give a potential customer multiple options you are also giving them opportunities to choose the wrong option.
That you should not make any assumptions prior to launching a pay-per-click campaign, but rather, do your best, and then constantly improve on it.
That when you tell customers what you want them to do on your Web site, provided they are in the market for your service - they actually do it!
posted by Carolyn Price at 4:39 PM
Thursday, January 11, 2007
New Website Launched!!
After months of hard work and dedication from the ADI team, we're proud to announce that we've launched our new website. We feel the new site better represents the services we offer and what we're all about. Drop us a line and let us know what you think!
posted by David at 2:46 PM
Thursday, January 04, 2007
New Year, New Ownership
To All Our Valued Clients,
Advance Design Interactive has seen many changes over the years - most have been welcome, but all have been positive. Last year proved to be no exception.
As we look forward to the year ahead, we do so under new leadership. In October of 2006, Advance Design Interactive was acquired by Binary Research, Inc. Although ADI will continue to operate as a separate entity, our clients now have the benefit of added services provided by our sister companies Binary Research, a software application development firm, and 123File-IT, a provider of document management services.
Ashleigh Barnett will continue as ADI's president, along with many of the same team members who have assisted you in the past. Sue Thomson and Doug Hughey, however, will not continue in their roles as CEO and CFO, as they have chosen to follow other opportunities. Their decision to leave was difficult, but they remain grateful to all ADI's clients, who provided ongoing support during their tenure, and they hope that you will continue to support ADI under the new ownership.
Somers ("Sandy") K. Butcher has assumed the roles of owner and CEO of ADI. A business veteran with over thirty years of experience in the technology sector, Sandy brings invaluable technical expertise and strategic thinking to every project. In addition, Kristina Butcher is now responsible for all aspects of bookkeeping, including invoicing and accounts payable.
Please feel free to call Ashleigh Barnett at 215-233-5010 x104 or Sandy at 215-233-3200 x207 if you have any questions regarding this change. As always, we look forward to serving you in the years ahead and continuing the partnerships that we have developed with all of our clients.
posted by Michele Fedgechin at 11:18 AM
