Search Behind the Curtain: Diving Deeper into Multi-Channel and Post-Web Analytics / Events

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Search Behind the CurtainDiving Deeper into
Multi-Channel and Post-Web Analytics / Events

• presented by
• Apogee Search
• William Leake, CEO
• leake_at_apogee-search.com
• Tel [phone] x 701

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Why we might know something (aka shameless
plug slide)

• Apogee Search is the largest pure-play online
  marketing firm in the Southwest, and one of the
  20 largest nationwide
• 150 clients, including Keller Williams,
  Golfsmith, Lance Armstrong Foundation, Olive
  Garden, PerkinElmer, Interstate Batteries,
  Gannett Digital, Olive Garden numerous
  VC-backed technology firms
• Paid Search, Organic Search, Online Media,
  Website Effectiveness
• Our management team built the first company to
  ever sell a million dollars of product on the
  internet
• Our management team has been doing search engine
  optimization since 1995, and paid search since
  early 1998 (within 1 week of its start)
• Founders background includes McKinsey Co.,
  Dell, and executive roles at successful,
  private-equity-backed firms
• All programs are results-focused and metrics-based

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Why I might actually be an idiot

• Tuesday I forsook Austin and SXSW for
  Minneapolis, Minnesota

versus
31?F
77?F
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Agenda

• Beyond the Basics Some things dont change
• Best Practices Trends in Tracking Search beyond
  the Curtain
• QA

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Its a Google World United States July 2007
Source Net Applications, July 2007
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Its More than Clicks Traffic
Internet Searchers (Advertisement Impressions)
Website Visitors (Advertisement Clicks)
Website Transactions (Sales or Leads)
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Search Analytics Basics

• Understand your business goals
• Do PPC (AdWords) as market research against a
• Transactional Website / Landing page(s) / email
  form(s) with a
• Web Analytics / Tracking System(s) installed that
• Tracks conversions by keyword, by category, by
  campaign, to
• Establish a baseline conversion rate

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Transactional Websites

• Site Should be More than Brochureware
• Lead Generation or E-Commerce
• Even Branding Sites can be Transactional
• Lead Baiting
• Give something in return for contact info
• Numbered lists work well
• F.U.D. can be effective

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General Fundamentals

• Online (and search) just a piece of overall
  Marketing
• (Avoid online industry myopia)
• Integrated usually works best
• Both PPC and SEO together
• Search plus other online
• Online plus offline
• WOMMA is always the best
• Measure twice, cut once

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Online Metrics Development
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Agenda

• Beyond the Basics Some things dont change
• Best Practices Trends in Tracking Search beyond
  the Curtain
• QA

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• Track Further Down the Funnel

• B2C - move beyond sale to lifetime value of
  customer (eCRM)
• B2B - ensure that you are integrated with the
  Sales Automation / CRM system
• BOTH change your optimization focus to post
  click and post web events

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• Case Study 1 - B2B Software Firm

• Spending 110 k per month in PPC, with well
  understood CPL (cost per lead) metrics
• Started doing PPC optimization based on
  human-scrubbed lead data (not web forms)
• RESULT 40 shift in PPC spend allocation, 20
  uplift in software sales

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• Case Study 2 - B2C Internet Retailer

• Largest retailer of golf products in the country,
  with a successful and diversified online
  operation
• Started measuring online traffic value according
  to data from the eCRM system (e.g. after the
  first sale)
• RESULT significant decrease in affiliate
  payouts, increase in PPC and SEO

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Cross-Channel Conversion Tracking

• Requires more sophisticated use of Analytics
  tools
• Looking for conversions that resulted from
  multiple sources
• Banner Search
• Search Query 1 Search Query 2
• Search Affiliate
• Some questions to ask Which source came first?
  Is banner advertising driving additional search
  volume? Are broad search terms instrumental in
  subsequent narrow term conversions?

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Cross Channel Tracking Value

• Find other marketing channels that help drive
  additional search volume
• Properly attribute conversion value across all
  contributing search queries

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Exploiting Search Traffic with Post-web
Follow-on Marketing

• Search Email is a powerful combination
• Assign mailing list signup with a conversion
  value and factor into overall ROAS
• Confirmation email immediately after lead capture
• Lead nurturing with tools like Eloqua, Unica,
  Vtrenz, others
• Additional follow-on with direct mail or other
  integrated campaigns

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TIP Event-Driven Search Marketing

• How much do you spend on events per year?
• Planning to exhibit at an important conference
  for your industry. . . Start running PPC search
  ads on the conference name to reach your target
  audience
• Consider having a virtual trade show both
  pre-and post- your physical show, and also for
  shows you dont attend

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Alternate Conversion Types(important)

• Conversion doesnt have to occur on your website
• Tracking phone calls from search
• Integrating chat to drive conversions
• Printing coupons for in-store purchase tracking

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Using Online to Inform Offline

• Contrary to Conventional Wisdom
• Email ? Direct Mail
• Rich Media ? Broadcast
• Banners/Sponsorships ? Print Ads
• Paid Search ? All

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Whats New and Next

• More and more a Googleverse
• Local Search
• Universal Search
• Personalized Search
• Mobile Search
• Social Media

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QA (aka additional resources)

• Apogee Search Blog (www.apogee-search.com/Blog/)
• Apogee Glossary (www.apogee-search.com/Resources/G
  lossary/)
• Digital Point Forums (forums.digitalpoint.com)
• Google Webmaster Central (www.google.com/webmaster
  s/)
• John Battelles Searchblog (battellemedia.com)
• Daily SearchCast (dailysearchcast.com)
• Sphinn (sphinn.com)
• MarketingSherpa (marketingsherpa.com)
• ClickZ (clickz.com)

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Heffalumps Woozles,BEWARE

• Alas, 95 percent of our industry falls into one
  of these categories
• Pirates Snake Oil (Ahoy, Opportunity to
  loot)
• Graphic Artists (How hard can it be?)
• Full-ServiceAgencies (Oh yes, we do that)
• Technogeeks (What keywords, boss?)