Score with search and email…
By Carolyn Gardner

Whether small or large, businesses understand the importance of having a Web presence. Simple or sophisticated ~ it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is going a step further and seeing your Web site as more than an online brochure. Think about how “Google” has become a verb, and email an addiction. When combined, search and email have what it takes to load the bases.

Let’s first set the stage and agree on our definition of search and email marketing: 

Search Defined
Search strategies are used to improve the volume and/or quality of Web site traffic. There are two ways to make your website visible in the search engines:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – aka “natural search” using relevant content with targeted keywords throughout the website, title tags etc.
2. Pay Per Click (PPC) -  aka “paid search” using tools like Google AdWords etc.

Email Marketing Defined
Email marketing is a form of direct marketing that sends messages (special offers, newsletters, invitations, etc.) via email to targeted permission-based lists. These messages are created using HTML or text. Unlike spam, which is unsolicited commercial email, direct email marketing is strategic and permission-based. Best practices include an easy opt-in/opt-out process, segmentation, personalization and the measurement of results (open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, etc.).

Load the bases with search and email…
I know it’s not baseball season but it makes for some good analogies. For example, just putting an email sign-up form on your Web site is like swinging your bat halfway. Unless you’re driving traffic to your site, you’ll likely be waiting a long time to get anyone even close to being on base. I see this over and over again. People call me and say they have an email sign-up but very few subscribers. Email sign-ups are not like “The Field of Dreams”. Just because you “build it” (the sign-up) doesn’t mean “they” (the subscribers) will come. This is why you need a search strategy! Search will help qualify and direct targeted hits to your site.

In baseball, you could compare this to scouts who go out looking for the best players. Then with an easy email sign-up form, you’re well on your way to building an impressive line-up of subscribers. Keep those subscribers engaged by pitching timely, relevant email communications and they’ll be telling their friends. Before you know it, your subscribers will fill a stadium thanks to a winning combination of search and email!

Email Sign-up Tips:

1. Make the sign-up form available from any page on your Web site – remember visitors can arrive on any page.
   
   
2. Keep the sign up process simple – ask for minimal information or risk runaway subscribers.
   
   
3. Show a sample email of what subscribers can expect – link to your archive.
   
   
4. Be clear about frequency and stick to it – if you say it’s monthly, make it monthly.
   
   
5. Offer choice with respect to preferred email format – offer HTML or text versions.
   
   
6. Offer immediate gratification – incent action by stating that if you “subscribe now”, you’ll receive our new trends report.
   
   
7. Provide your privacy policy near the sign-up – explain you will never sell or rent their email address (and so on…).

Search Tips:

1. Create a search engine friendly website that does not use frames, JavaScript navigation, or that does not overdue the use of flash and images.  After all, search engines like text!
   
   
2. Create a text based link to a sitemap and add this link to the sitemap on every page of your website.  This will help the search engines index ALL of your pages (so long as they are all linked to from the sitemap!).
   
   
3. Make use of free tools such as Google Analytics to understand where your visitors are coming from and what they are looking for so that you may provide more search engine friendly content along these lines.
   
   
4. Another free tool is Google Sitemaps which provides feedback on when the Googlebot visited your website and any problems encountered such as missing pages, server issues, etc.
   
   
5. Use a tool such as WordTracker to understand the keyword phrases that people are actually searching for – quite often these are not the phrases you use internally – for example, worm composting vs. vermicomposting.
   
   
6. Make sure your targeted keyword phrases are used in the page title, meta description, heading 1, anchor text pointing to the page and throughout the body of the page.
   
   
7. Last but not least get some links to your website!  Find out who is linking to your competitors and try to get links from those sites as well.  Remember to get links from your “neighborhood” – meaning your industry and/or geographical location – so that the links are relevant.  Links from that online casino you like to visit from time to time are not going to help you achieve search engine rankings for your targeted keyword phrases.

Need help integrating search into your email strategy? Contact us today! And don't forget to test drive the search engine marketing services of DriveTraffic. Get contest details now!