SEVO Optimization trends - Internet Marketing Podcast Number 210

The SEO Podcast. I know the secrets of internet marketing. My name is Chris Burris, owner of eWebStyle. I am Charles Lewis, your internet marketing specialist. Welcome back to another fun-filled edition. In fact, this is edition number 210. Man, hold up. 210. That's a lot. That's a lot. It's 200. That's like 1 over 209. It's one short of 211. 210. It's a good number. I like it. It's got a good ring to it. As always, there is a tip from our previous podcast, which was 209. And the tip is, your content should be written and presented in a way that assists solo-mo. Solo-mo being? Solo-mo being social, local, and mobile. We're talking content. So you want to make sure that the content that you're publishing on your website assists in those three areas. Make sure it can help with social, right? So include ways that content can be shared and liked and plus-wanted and things like that. In regards to the local, if you're a local industry, make sure your content targets your local industry. Mention your cities. Mention your service areas in that content. And lastly, for a mobile reason, if you have images and rich media and things like that in your content, make sure that they can be viewed across all devices, especially mobile devices, because that's where most of this content is being absorbed at. How many searches are coming from mobile devices now? I think it's more than 50%. 65% plus 60% plus. And remember, a lot of that happens while you're watching TV. It actually happens while I'm watching TV and sitting there on my device actually doing searches. So keep the context of when searches may be happening in mind when you're putting together your marketing campaign. Please remember, we are your friendly local neighborhood top position snatchers. Yes. And our mantra is... Don't be a deuce. We got a little more feedback on that. Of course we did. We always... And I think we'll continue to get more. Yeah. I think that's just the way it's going to

go. If you could, and you have a device, which you probably do, that can allow you to tweet, please go ahead and tweet now. And the way you can tweet is... Or what you should tweet. You should be tweeting hashtag SEO podcast. This is number 210. Be sure to tag us in the at eWebStyle. And that way we can follow you back and do all of our social stuff. And if you want to, if you get value out of our podcast, if you appreciate the increase in quality of the sound, what you could do is one of three things, soon to be four, one of three things. I know, right. The first thing you can do has three steps. All you need to do is go into iTunes, create an account, write a review. And it's much easier than I just described even. If you write a review, go ahead and hit us, send us an email, podcast at e-webstyle.com. The next thing that you could do for us is you could add a review to our G Plus local page. It would be impossible. Well, not impossible. That's an exaggeration. It would be arduous for us to tell you the actual link. So what we've done is made it easy. All you need to do is enter into your browser address bar. Not the search bar, the address bar. E-webstyle.com slash G Plus and slash Google Plus and slash Google Plus and slash Google Plus and slash I messed that up. Google Plus and G Plus. Yeah, I missed one. Any iteration of Google Plus or G Plus will actually take you to our Google Plus local page where we would really appreciate it if you wrote us a five-star review. Definitely. I know that's ten. It's just two. In fact, if you and a buddy wrote two five-star reviews, that would be my hands doing five-star reviews. Definitely. The next thing you can do, we have a review tab. I didn't check the review tab just before this podcast. So maybe somebody has

written a review. If they haven't, then you would be the first. All you need to do is go to our Facebook page, Facebook.com slash e-webstyle. And we have a reviews tab. Go ahead and put a review there. We would really appreciate it. While we're talking about social, why don't we let people know how to get a hold of us? Twitter.com slash e-webstyle. We already covered Facebook.com slash e-webstyle. And you can watch videos, YouTube.com slash e-webstyle. And you can email us, podcast at e-webstyle.com. And soon we're going to have Yelp, so that'll get just... And it's like already created, like, Yelp is... Yeah, never mind. We may end up creating just a review page, like e-webstyle.com slash reviews. Yep. And then from there, you can hit iTunes, Yelp, and all of that. Yeah, we'd appreciate you write a review on all of them. We are not going to stop you. That is for sure. Remember, we do have a referral program. If you have an SEO customer, they come to us. We take care of them. They pay their bill. You get paid. It's that simple. In fact, if you go to our website, at the bottom of the page, there is a referral program link. Just go there and get started. And today, our segment, the algorithm cataclysm, is in effect. Go, Chuck. So, exactly last Friday, Friday evening, October 4th, Google released another Penguin update. What was interesting about this update is it's being named. It has different names depending on the source. So, Google is calling it Penguin 2.1. Okay. Right, boring. But, like, if you check out Mars or Search Engine Land or even Search Engine Journal, they're calling it Penguin 5. The reason being because technically it's the fifth Penguin update. Okay. But Google decided to go with 2.1 because it's a minor update. They don't want to go up to 3 until it's a major update. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, you mean major, like, affecting 10% of traffic or something like that? You know, like the minor change that they

had with respect to not set. So, according to Matt Cutts, it's a Penguin update. So, it's targeting the same things, looking at spams, targeting links. And it should only affect 1% of Google searches. And remember, when he says 1%, that often doesn't mean that you go from the first page to not in the directory at all. It's, you know, a movement of a couple positions. And maybe some of them will actually get bumped. So, we certainly have seen that. Now, one thing, I will say this, and we'll proceed. One thing that I read that was interesting was that if, indeed, you had been affected by the previous Penguin update, and then you took the process of disavowing links, maybe fixing some content and addressing some other issues on your site, this Penguin 2.1 would have brought you back up to point. And so, if you had not corrected those issues, then Penguin 2.1 probably pushed you further down. Even further down. Yeah. So, definitely evaluate your link profile, log in to Webmaster Tools, and make sure that you have all of that squared away. Yeah, we've had a couple customers walk in the door, and we're assessing their situation. We're like, ah, you got the Penguin Smackdown. Yeah. Or the Panda Black Eye. All right. So, there is news from each pod. By the way, you do notice the extra tier there. I did get onto our Podomatic page, and Soulmates Photography, he submitted a couple of reviews. I actually submitted a couple of them on Podomatic. I didn't want to go ahead and read that. It was a glowing review. Thank you. Punch in the face. Ptoof, Soulmates Photography. And we'll be looking for a review. You guys know how to do it, so please get to it. Thank you. A little bit of news. I saw some cool stuff. Google Maps is now multitasking. So, I think it's on the mobile device, because I know you can do it on a workstation already. You can actually go from one point A, you know,

visit point A, and then B, and then C. Right now, it's just from point A to point B without any intermediary stops. So, that is either released or on its way out. I thought this was cool, and maybe an odd source. Disney has come out with a way where touch screens to give them some 3D effects. So, the reality is, is when you're rubbing your finger across, like, your keyboard, your real physical keyboard, it's a friction issue that tells your mind that you're reaching the edges. It's not actually the, it's not the third dimension. It's a friction issue. And so, they're adjusting the friction on screens. Don't ask me how they do that. Yeah. It's all magical. It's, well, it's Disney. I think there's some fairy dust involved. And so, as you're dragging your finger, so you could have a keyboard that doesn't actually register your punches until you know you're in position, and then you start typing. And then, you know, so you could, it has a lot of possibilities. Probably something similar to the Galaxy feature. You know, how you can swipe and check email without actually touching the screen. And so, I would assume it has some sort of related technology. Some implications to that. Well, this one, I'm sure, my guess would be a little bit more piezoelectric. So, let me throw in some of my mechanical engineering background, where the electronic, adding electricity would adjust the surface friction. Okay. Right? So, as you're dragging your finger, you go from smooth to rougher. You're like, oh, there's a key. And then, you go back to smooth to rough, and then back to smooth to rough. So, you're seeing those intermediary spots. 210. Yeah. All right. So, the next piece of news I got was Galaxy's coming out with a curved, it's called the Galaxy Round. It's a curved phone, including the glass. That's just kind of cool. And no, we are not sponsored by Galaxy. I'm sorry. Not by Samsung. And then, finally, do you know what the next Android version

is called? I do know. Let's see. I didn't. I read it the other day. It's called, oh. And it was like an old article. Like, this is the 18th time we've seen it. I'm like, really? I didn't even know the name. I can't even think of it. I probably had heard of it. It's scrumptious. It's my favorite candy bar. Rocky, oh. It's not Rocky. It's, oh. It's, ah. I can't think of it. Cat. That's what it is. It's Kit Kat. I just thought that was good. I don't know. That's what it is. It'll be a little bit better. You know, each time they come out with a new version, it's a little bit better. So, that is the news. That is the potatoes of our podcast. It is time to get to our meat or maybe a couple punches in the face. Well, yeah. I do got a punch in the face to Jennifer Spangler. Punch in the face to you. Thanks for the retweets. She's actually following us at eWebStyle and at BestSEO Podcast. Excellent. And she's been retweeting us. So, thank you for your support. I hope you're tuning in right now. That's it for that. Cool. All right. Let's get to the meat. So, I wrote a post, right? You know, thinking about a comment we had a few weeks ago. Somebody said we always regurgitate somebody else's article. So, we're making some conscious efforts to bring you more original content. Yep. And today, we're doing just that. Boom. So, we wanted to talk about Sevo. I'm going to give myself a punch in the face. Yeah. There you go. You should give yourself a punch in the face. P-tiff. Mm-hmm. All right. So, I want to talk about optimizing for conversions. Search engine visitor optimization. This will be published on our site and I'll share it with you guys. But the thing is, you know, we talk a lot about landing pages and driving traffic. You know, Chris shares a story about the unfortunate situation of a website that's good. It's

good. And then somebody else. Lots of traffic. But no business. What's the cause? And there's really two, right? Potentially bad traffic. So, the wrong kind of traffic. Or a website that's not designed to do what you're going to teach how to do right now. Exactly. So, what I want to talk about now is your site. What can you do to address those conversions? And I think first we should address what a conversion is. Oh, yeah. Right? Because there are different types. You have form submissions, right? Which could be a free quote or a consultation or something like that. You get phone calls, right? Call today. Call now. Blah, blah, blah, blah sort of deal. Or you get subscriptions. Right. You can maybe subscribe to an RSS feed or subscribe to a newsletter or something like that. Or you get downloads. Yeah. Download this or download that. And the last one, I'll go with this purchase. Usually with an e-com site. Buy now. Add to cart. And by the way, you could purchase some of the things that were previously mentioned. You could purchase a download. You could purchase a product. Exactly. You could purchase a VIP newsletter or something like that. And so, all of these, these are five kind of main basic kind of conversion types that we deal with. Of course, there are others depending on what your industry is. But I want to address these. That's a download. It is a download. I thought I had one. So, in regards to the form submissions, I think one of the key things to remember is to make sure that whatever CTA you have associated with that form submission is consistent with your message in the search. So, for example, if they searched for, I don't know, hot water heater repair, and then they landed on your ad, and your ad says something about water heater repair, then when they get to your site, your form, if you're using the same form across all pages, I get that. And so, the form may not

necessarily have to say water heater repair, but it definitely better say something in regards to plumbing or something related. So, when they do see it, they'll understand that they're in the right place. Now, if you had the resources to maybe do a custom landing page, then that form should say water heater repair. And so, that way, exactly what they searched is exactly the ad they clicked. And so, when they get ready to convert, talking conversions, then their conversion strategy is based on what they were looking for. And I'm guaranteeing you, your conversions would go up. Another thing about forms. Called continuity. Continuity. And that's the word I wrote right there. Boom. Continuity from search. Another thing to keep in mind in regards to forms, if possible, limit how many fields are in your form. Right? There's no need to have first name, last name, main number. Middle name. Office number. Right? Best time to call. Come on. These forms scare people away. And at the end of the day, if you're looking to end up with a conversation with this person anyway, then you don't need all that information. I'll tell you what, you could use it. And you know this. Yeah, you could. More information is always better. Well, and so more information is obviously better because it might enable you to construct a sales strategy before you even pick up the phone. Right? The other is, what if you're getting too many leads? We'll use this, hey, let's make the form more arduous so that the people who really see the value of what you're offering have to jump through a hoop or two. Because the people who don't see much value but just want to fill out a three-field form, you know, boom, now you've got to call them and it could be potentially waste your time. I think it depends a lot on your sales process. Exactly. If your sales process is phone heavy and you spend a lot of time on the phone, then I think a really short form

would work. Yeah, because you'd want to get them on the phone and all of those questions you would normally ask are discussion points. Yep. Right? But, yeah, if your sales process is not that phone call interrelated and you need to weed out a lot of information, then add more fields to your form. Yeah. Just be aware that the more fields will likely deter people from filling that form out. Without a doubt. So keep that in mind. So that was the form. In regards to the phone calls, you want to make sure this has the same continuity, right? So if they search for water heater repair, your landing page, if you're pushing for that call, call us today to analyze your water heater situation or whatever it is. The key here is make sure that whatever verbiage you're putting next to that phone number is consistent with the marketing message across the board. From search to what they clicked to on the page that they land on. So something like if they search water heater, to stay with your example, and right by the phone number you have plumbers standing by, it has less continuity, it's less impactful than if you have water heater experts standing by. Standing by, water heater technicians available on call. Right. That sort of deal, because if they're calling by the water heater, it's probably an emergency. They either need hot water or it's broken, right? One of the two, which in case they still need hot water. Nobody likes cold showers. Nah. Well, maybe. So it just depends. Those are just the crazy people. Yeah, so definitely make sure that your phone number is consistent with the message. Number three, we talked about subscriptions, you know, newsletters and things like that. And so you want to make sure that that subscription, that you highlight the benefit of that subscription. Why am I subscribing to your newsletter? Because I need up-to-date information fastest. I want to be the first on this list to get whatever it is. Just make sure you

highlight that so people will be encouraged to subscribe. We talked about downloading. This is another reason why you should highlight something. Why am I downloading this? What's the benefit in downloading this? What's the value in downloading this? And I think you have to highlight that information so people will know. Download this because you can have it first. Maybe this is an exclusive download to people who are subscribing now. That sort of deal. And you have to make sure that that information is present and that it's published and that it's easily accessible by those who visit the site. So that way they can take advantage of whatever it is you're offering. Last but not least, purchase. That's another kind of prominent activity, especially for an e-com site. The whole concept is the purchase. And so I think in regards to that, you have to really identify the logic behind purchasing. Why should I purchase? Because let's be real. In regards to an e-com site, whatever you're selling, somebody else is probably selling it too. And probably several other sites. And so why would I purchase from you instead of them? You have to highlight that reason. What's that advantage? Maybe it's free shipping. Maybe it's buy today, ship today. Something like that. But whatever it is, be sure to highlight that. And if you have competitors that are doing it as well but you happen to do it better, it may be worth highlighting that. You know, we'll ship faster than blah, blah, blah. Yeah. You know, or something like that. And so you definitely have to encourage people about buying and what they should be doing when they do purchase. So we'll get into a couple of basics, conversion basics, and we'll wrap up. Number one, we talked about the form, right? Limit how many fields in your form based on your conversion type. I think you have to have a better understanding of your business, right? If you're driving phone calls, then you really want a short form. Name and email and phone would

be sufficient. Right. And maybe even just phone. Maybe just phone. Exactly. But if you need more information, then, you know, ask for more information. Just understand that could affect the conversion. A good example like our web analysis form has to have the URL in it. What is your domain name so that we can do analysis of your website? By the way, if you want a free website analysis, just go to our website, e-webstyle.com, and on the right you'll see a form. Fill that form out and we'll get analysis off to you. Definitely. So the number two conversion basic is make your call to action stand out. What do I mean by that? I mean, like, experiment with different text on your buttons, for example. Maybe instead of send email or maybe instead of submit, maybe your text on the button has some information more related to their search query. Ding. Right? For example, maybe your button says schedule a water heater repair technician. Now. Now. Yeah. Or something like that. Maybe not that deep, but you get the point I'm saying is experiment with the text on your button. Right? Maybe that text should say the action. Schedule a call back now sort of deal. So that way when they click it, they understand that you're going to be calling. And so that should increase your conversions. Number three, the photos that are on your site. You know, we really push and strongly recommend custom graphics. If you had a resources and a time available, create custom graphics, take photos, have your graphic designer hook them up because they have more value in search. Number two, they're just better. And number three, they show your creative side. And the people who view them understand that you put some work into it. And you'll likely treat them the same way. If you're going to use stock photos, nothing's wrong with stock photos. But if you are, my suggestion is that you doctor them up. Right? Don't take the same stock photo that a thousand other people

have had. I mean, we've all seen. The chick with the. The chick with the. Yeah, like, you know, with the smirk. Yeah. Like, yeah, she's on like nine different sites of main big brands. She's a veterinarian also? Exactly. Yeah, like what call center does she work at, you know? But if you're going to use stock photos, dock them up. Maybe add a filter, change a color, add a message. Add a minimum. Add a minimum. Add a message. Add a minimum. Add a message to it. And so that way it's not just some stock photo. It's at least related to the content on a page that you put it on. And then that message, of course, should be some sort of CTA, some sort of message that would encourage a conversion. And it should be text. And it should be text. And I'm not talking text embedded in the graphic. I'm talking about text overlaid on top of the graphic. Because Google can't see text in images. They can see text overlaid on top of graphics. Definitely. So that's that. Number four, make your phone number prominent. Not only make it prominent, but earlier we talked about, you know, giving a message with that phone number on why they should call. But we were talking about social, local, and mobile. So one of the things you have to do with that phone number is make it a link. So that way, since Chris said it, 65% of searches are done on mobile devices. So that way, if you do come up in a search, they can tap to call. And they won't have to hold it down, copy it, paste it in some phone, you know, program or whatnot. They can just tap it. Wait, wait, wait. You're saying it should make it easier for the user to call you? Definitely. From a mobile device? From a mobile device. And a website? Yeah. Wow. That's phenomenal. Yeah, it's like, you know. Really? Rocket science, right? Yeah, so make it a link. But people don't do that.

Yeah. People will put the phone number there. And I can say this because we've done it. Yeah. Right? You know, we had to go back in retrofit sites. Okay, all these phone numbers need to be links. Just have to do that. So make sure the phone numbers are links so they can be tapped to call. So, yeah, that's probably the point of that is if you created your website a while back, make sure that the phone number, hopefully it's prominent and well displayed and has a good call to action next to it. And hopefully, if it isn't now a link, you need to make it a link. Definitely. Number five, use social wisely, right? And when I'm talking social in this point, I'm really talking about reviews, right? So if you're on Yelp or you're on Angie's List or CitySearch or Better Business Bureau or whatever it is, have those badges on your site. Like, especially if you have good reviews there, right? If you have, you know, five reviews on Yelp and four of them are bad and one is good, then you might not want to promote that. Step one, improve your business. Definitely. Step two, encourage customers who have experienced the new and improved business to write reviews. And we can help you with that. I mean, we have a whole program in place that will proactively target legit reviews from your existing clients. Well, actually, you give us a list of clients you want us to contact. We'll contact them, ask them a couple survey questions, and then steer them towards maybe a Yelp review or a G Plus Local review or Angie's List if they happen to be on Angie's List. Depending on their email and their situation. So it's a very proactive way of generating positive reviews to flesh out bad ones if you have them or just to add them if you don't have any reviews at all. And you'd be surprised how many users, like, make purchasing decisions based off of reviews. Yeah. Me too. That's 100%

in this podcast. And so you definitely want to give people an easier access to see those reviews, right? I mean, if you're selling a product, why not have a link to Yelp reviews about this specific product or service? Especially if you've configured your Yelp page correctly with the link back to your site. So when they do come, they can come back and complete their purchase. So use social wisely, especially in regards to reviews. Number six, display your unique selling proposition. Right? A lot of people may not know that, you know, for example, ours is we're the host of the most popular SEO podcast on iTunes. That's a unique thing for us. No one else is that. And so we make sure we highlight that. So whatever uniqueness you have about your company, whether it's something in regards to your product or maybe it's something in regards to your service, be sure to highlight that. Make it prominent so that way when people see it, they'll know that. Because if they don't know, then you can't use it to help convert them. So highlight that information. And lastly, number seven, make sure your offer is valuable. Right? Make sure it's more than just a free quote. Everybody has a free quote. Everybody has a free estimate. Right? What makes yours any different? Right. Like, a good example would be Geico. They're going to give you a free quote as well, but they're going to do it in 15 minutes or less. I mean, that sort of deal. Right? Yeah. We've all said that. I've spent more than 15 minutes filling out an insurance form before. That's true. Yeah. And so, but even with them, you go into it knowing this is going to take more than 15 minutes, but they said 15 minutes and so you do it. So make sure your offer is valuable. Right? Make sure that you can compete with the people you're competing against. If your offer is the same and their site looks better, then, hey, I'm going to go with

the better looking site. Call us. Yeah. Exactly. Let's see here. And I'll give you this bonus tip. Take advantage of your thank you page. Right? So we're talking conversions. And so most of these conversions should lead to some sort of thank you page. Thank you for your quote request. We'll be contacting you shortly. Thank you for downloading this. Thank you for subscribing. Whatever it is on that page, take advantage of that page. Because remember, these people have reached that page because they've just converted, meaning they're still in a purchasing decision. This is an awesome time to upsell them or to sell them something else down the line. Hey, we'll be contacting you shortly. By the way, like us on Facebook. By the way, you know, let's say, again, with the water heater guy, maybe your thank you page says, thank you, we'll be contacting you shortly. In the meantime, write down the maker and how old your water heater is. Right. And so that way, when our technician calls you, you have this information available. Because they'll likely get right up and go do just that. And so take advantage of the thank you page. It's a great place to offer other incentives. And make sure you have Google Analytics and a goal on your thank you page so they can track your conversions. You can track your conversions. I mean, you can even do stuff from the thank you page, like redirect them back into your site. Hey, here are some pictures of other tankless water heaters we've installed. Or maybe you want to send them to Yelp now. Here are some reviews of some people we recently dealt with. So that way, when you contact them, they're already sold more. And all you have to do is close the deal. So take advantage of the thank you page. And so, yeah, optimizing for conversions, search engine visitor optimization. We'll post it. And I hope you enjoy it. See those. And that one was written by Charles Lewis. Woo-hoo. That was an article written

by Charles Lewis covered here on our podcast. See, all we do is just cover articles. It's just, it's funny how that works. That's what we do. Hey, do we got any blank stare or what news? Do we? There's always something. I just can't think of it right now. Can't think of it right now. Probably. So we'll save what? Somebody out there did something to deserve a what at. Yeah, that's true. All right. Well, this has been podcast number. Houston's weather. It's hot right now, but Monday, it felt really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the what is, we're back to heat and humidity. All right. So this has been podcast number 110. You have been listening. 210. 210. Wow. Yeah. Kick it. Ouch. Kick in the katoosh. Kick in the shins. Podcast number 210. You have been listening to the most popular SEO podcast on iTunes. That is because of you. Our count is right around 9,000 downloads per week. 9,000. Thank you guys for making that happen. Keep listening. Keep checking in. We actually, we're on air at 12.15 today. We got started a little bit later, but right now we're going to be sticking to our 12.15 Central Standard Time on Fridays. So come check us out. Again, my name is Chris Burris with E-Web Style. Charles Burris. Bye-bye for now.