NOTE: October’s event is the 2nd Wednesday of the month, due to a conflict with the Bend WebCAM/Swivel Conference in Bend, OR.

Please join us on Wednesday, October 14, in the Heritage Room at BridgePort BrewPub as we welcome Marcus Tober from Searchmetrics, who will be presenting The Most Important Ranking Factors for Mobile Search Now and in the Future.

Synopsis

Why are mobile search ranking factors important and what make them different to Desktop Search? Based on his research, Marcus will share with us what are the key factors to succeed in mobile, and show examples to illustrate what you need to do achieve great results. Learn how to optimize content and pages for a successful mobile site.

This is not a monologue session which means there is a lot of time during the presentation to ask questions!

Key Takeaways

• Learn how and why mobile and desktop search are delivering different results and how they developed over the last years

• Get examples and best practices to optimize your mobile website according to most recent ranking factors

• That includes ranking factors for content, technical requirements like site speed and user engagement

Speaker Bio

Marcus Tober is the founder and CTO of Searchmetrics. Marcus also founded Ecards and More, one of the largest German online greeting card companies. When Marcus sold a majority share of the company in 2008 to Rocket Internet, it had as many as 180,000 unique visitors per day and generated up to 30 million impressions—results driven primarily by SEO. Now called Bonnyprints, it is one of Europe’s fastest growing online destinations for print products.

When Marcus began in earnest to develop search analytics software, search engine optimization was a little like panning for gold in the Hudson River – an unruly race between a handful of pioneers. In order to take his work to the next level, he devised a number of tools with which he assembled his own and others’ SEO projects into a dynamic, up-to-date database. With his comprehensive approach and an eye for detail, he quickly became one of the leading minds in the nascent field of search engine optimization. In 2005, Marcus founded his first SEO company which became Searchmetrics in 2007 and rapidly evolved the company to become a market leader in search analytics software.

At Searchmetrics, Marcus drives the ongoing improvement and development of their software while his team of highly skilled specialists guarantees the exceptional standard of data and innovation on which Searchmetrics was founded. A self-described Big Data and stats geek, Marcus is frequently asked to comment on trends in the industry. Every time Google makes a significant change to its algorithm—think Panda—or upsets the apple cart with ideas like secure search, Marcus is in demand. And he doesn’t mind ruffling some feathers with his opinions.

Follow Marcus on Twitter at @marcustober.

Date and Time

Wednesday, October 14, 2015
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Presentation starts at 5:30pm

Location

BridgePort BrewPub’s Heritage Room — see map
1313 NW Marshall Street
Portland, OR 97209

Parking & Transit

There is street parking available around the venue ($1.60/hour until 7PM), a pay lot across the street in the Safeway building (enter on NW 14th), and several pay lots 2-3 blocks away, under the 405 freeway. 2 hours of free street parking is available anywhere west of the 405. Streetcar stops are 1 block north or south, and the nearest bus stop is 6 blocks away on NW 14th & Glisan (route 77). And don’t forget about Uber and Lyft!

Tickets

The post October 2015 – Mobile Ranking Factors with Marcus Tober appeared first on SEMpdx.

Susan Delz of LiveBall

Conversion rates are  the same today as they were in the 1990’s.

10 Landing Pages Conversion Optimization Tips and Best Practices

1. Relevant–You have to be relevant with each landing experience. Create optimized landing pages for keyword groups. Sometimes you can create individualized pages by search engine. Create localized versions of landing pages. If you don’t know where someone is coming from, ask them.
2. Interactive–Create cool creative for your landing pages. Try HTML 5 for landing pages across platforms. Light boxes are a good option to support your conversion. Accordion content is a great way to bucket content for users to engage with, tabbed content also for interactivity above the fold to support conversions.
3. Dynamic–Use technology to make your page more relevant. Dynamic keyword insertion can add relevance to your landing pages by adding language your customers are actually using and searching. Geo location targeting is another way to add dynamic elements to your pages.
4. Progressive–Progressive profiling can funnel people through the buying process using cookies across different sessions. Use different pages as they cycle through the buying process. Multi step forms are great if you have submission abandonment. Tailor second pages based on first form submission field if they leave part way through the form submission process.
5. Mobile ready–Almost 7% of US web traffic comes through mobile. Dedicated mobile pages create relevance, increase conversions, and help build your brand. Make it easy to convert on a mobile site. Automatically optimized mobile sites change the landing page to be site specific.
6. Social–Embrace social. Social beacons can provide assurances. Fans and videos provide “social proof”, which is huge for ecommerce and lead generation. Social engagement can be a form of conversion or a secondary conversion metric. Landing pages can also be a great way to start a conversation. Create dedicated Facebook landing pages, even for B2B.
7. Social Sign In–Social sign in gives people an easy way to convert. Its accurate data and makes conversions easy. 25% of online publishers and ecommerce companies have implemented social sign in. This is not limited to B2C.
8. Disposable–Make landing pages quickly, efficiently. You have to be able to move through different message pages quickly for quick experimentation.
9. Data-mined–Use analytics to find the greatest opportunities.
10. Integrated–Get out of your offices and go talk to people. Try everything.
11. TEST!!

Brian Jones of Dealer.com

Mobile Landing Page Conversion Optimization Tips: Increasing Conversions in the Mobile Space

Mobile is Big

• 75 million US adults access the internet daily via mobile.
• Mobile web adoption rate is 8x greater than desktop was in the 1990’s
• Mobile ad spend is expected to be $6 billion in 2014

More than half of smartphone searchers purchase. 67% of mobile users continue research. 68% visit a business. 59% of mobile users discuss mobile searches.

Do you have a mobile strategy?

Have you implemented a mobile strategy?

How often do you test mobile?

If it is so big, why are the majority of people not doing anything about it?

Why test ad copy between mobile and desktop?

Because mobile users are trying to do different things than someone on a desktop. People at home are researching something; mobile users are trying to do something. “Visit now” vs. “Call us now”.

Mobile Ad Copy Best Practices

1. Highlight click to call functionality
2. Mention the fact the user and site is on a mobile device
3. Add local specific ad text
4. Include immediate calls to action: find directions or store nearby, call, find coupons.

Mobile Ad Formats

Google has 4 mobile ad formats. Click to call, click to call phone extension, click to download for apps, and call only.

Why increase bids on mobile?

Because there’s much less real estate. Be more aggressive with your bids.

Mobile Bidding Best Practices

1. Bid separately on mobile
2. Max of five ad spots on mobile vs 10 on desktop
3. Consider bidding 2x your desktop bids.

Mobile Budget Best Practices

• Internet and mobile media consumption are growing, investment lags.
• Determine your website’s percentage of traffic on mobile using analytics.

Mobile landing page strategy

1. Ease of use/simplicity is key.
2. Users want video for mobile.
3. Mobile call tracking is key for mobile campaigns.
4. Reduce navigation.
5. Get mobile specific analytics.
6. Create mobile specific design.

Best Practices

• Keep it simple.
• Don’t use flash.
• Put the most important information at the top.
• If you must scroll, scroll down not across.
• Minimize content.
• Minimize load time.
• Provide a link to the desktop version.

Jordan LeBaron of REI

Conversion Optimization Tips

Example: Slack line guy in Superbowl halftime drove a lot of slack line searches and purchases.

Where do you start your testing?

Most people will go and look at competitors first, and the stimulus can get overwhelming and distracting.

Learnings:

1. Don’t try to go big, you can get way in over your head. Minimize the process to streamline your efforts.
2. Start with baby steps. Outline your competencies and your gaps that remain and make decisions accordingly. Competencies: executive sponsorship, thought leadership, established process, technology, agency partners. Gaps: HIPPO (Highest paid persons opinion: “vanity keywords”), no expertise, no testing framework, IT roadblocks, limited budget.
3. Start with money drivers.
4. Identify a testing element.
5. Iterate, iterate, iterate!!! Test and learn, test and learn, test and learn.
6. Document and share your learnings. Create a formal template for proposals and testing so you can sell it across your organization. Don’t hog your learnings, share them across your organization.

The post Searchfest 2012: Conversion Optimization Tips with Susan Delz, Brian Jones, Jordan LeBaron appeared first on SEMpdx.