Let’s say your site ranks #1 on Google for the best terms imaginable. What’s more, people are searching for those keywords. And most importantly, those people are actually going to your website!

But then, when you’ve got them right where you want them…they leave. They leave without buying, they leave without signing up, they leave without contacting you.

Why? You don’t have a call-to-action. Calls-to-action get people to convert. SEO doesn’t amount to anything if you don’t have conversions.

If your call-to-action is buried at the bottom of a page or deep within the site, how do you expect people to convert? Don’t think you’re putting your “buy now”, “sign up now”, or “call us now” buttons in people’s faces too much. There is, of course, a limit; but the truth of the matter is you need to make it obvious what you want people to do next.

Let’s look at SEOmoz‘s website as an example. They’re pros (excuse the pun) at this.

What do you think they want you to do?

Subtle, yet above the fold. And tells you exactly what to do. There are a few calls-to-action on the SEOmoz homepage, but the Pro Signup is where they make money. (For some great specific pointers on how to make a call-to-action, check out this post.)

Calls-to-action aren’t SEO. But if you don’t have great calls-to-action, you can’t count on high conversions.

Nicki Hicks
What do you want people to do?

If you use Google AdWords, you should be using the conversions measurement. If you’re not, never fear, all you need is Analytics!

I’ve been using Google AdWords conversions for quite some time now, but haven’t noticed (until today) that you can import your Google Analytics goals (as long as your AdWords and Analytics accounts are connected) as AdWords conversions. That way, you only need to install one set of code: your Google Analytics code. Evidently, the ability to do so has been available for almost a year!

Confused yet? These screen shots should help explain.

Under the Reporting tab, click “Conversions.” Without any conversions set up, you should see a screen that looks like this:

Again, you’ll need to connect your AdWords and Analytics accounts to see this screen.

Click “Import from Google Analytics”. In the past you would have had to insert a code (and you still can), but now you have the option to sync your Analytics goals.

Click import, and you’re good to go!

Nicki Hicks
Google: Making life easier one day at a time

Conversions are more important than rankings – they are the goal.  Sure, good rankings should lead to higher conversions; but being #1 should not be your first priority.  Using Google Analytics, you have the opportunity to set up a total of four goals for each website (should you have multiple sites) to track your conversions.

Click the edit button on the Dashboard page in your Analytics.  There, you’ll find all of the settings for your account.  What we’re interested in are the Conversion Goals and Funnels.

Again, you see you have four goals to choose from.  Pick “edit” for one of the goals.

1. Turn the goal “on”.
2. Choose Match Type. Exact Match requires the URL you enter to be exactly the one your users will land on – good for things like a Thank You page for email subscriptions.  Head Match is best for URLs with unique values – checkout pages, for example, where the content is dynamically generated.  Regular Expression Match is best for pages where the stem and/or URL is dynamic.  Google uses this example: “page=1 will match http://sports.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1&id=002 as well as http://fishing.example.com/checkout.cgi?page=1&language=fr&id=119.”
3. Goal URL/Goal Name/Case Sensitivity.  All fairly self explanatory.  Insert the URL – or landing page – where your customer will complete the goal.  A thank you page for an email sign up or filling out a contact form.  For E-commerce sites, a checkout page for continuing to checkout or a receipt of payment for the actual sale.  The goal name should be specific – something other than “Goal 1″.  Case sensitivity is explained above.
4. Goal value is the dollar amount of what a single completed goal will mean to you.  For example, if you know that for every 10 people who fill out a contact form, 1 will do business with you; and the average person will spend $10,000 with you, then your goal is worth $1,000.  (NOTE: Be sure to leave the amount without $ sign; as in 1000, NOT $1000.)
5. If you would like to track your conversions through the steps your customers take to get there, use funnels.

Once GA starts collecting data, you can view it in the Goals section of your account.

Nicki Hicks
Happy Converting!

About a month ago, it seemed that Google blocked WebPosition Gold for good.  However, just yesterday a post on Search Engine Roundtable proved otherwise. Here is the gist of the post:

Just about a month ago we reported about the issues people were having with WebPosition Gold and other rank checking tools. We first thought Google was going after these rank checking tools but then we learned that the issues were due to Google testing out new HTML structures and layouts in the search results pages.

After reading the article, I ran a client’s ranking report on WPG and found that yes, in fact, I can get Google’s ranking results again!  At the same time, I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it: while higher rankings are the short-term results you want from SEO, better conversions are the long-term goal.

Nicki Hicks
Psyched About WPG

Earlier this morning I made a few searches to determine where some of our clients rank for the keywords we optimized their sites for. Needless to say, this became necessary due to a recent tiff between Google and WebPostion Gold. So there I was, minding my own business, scanning through the first few Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), when I made my final search (I’d made only 12 altogether). That’s when this little beauty of an error message showed up:

Without having to read it, Google basically told me they thought I was spam and they’d like me to verify that I am, in fact, human. I typed in the code, and again, I get a Google message of love:

I’m sorry too. I’m sorry because I’m not spyware, spam, or some nuisance of a spider. I just like to make a lot of searches…is that so wrong?!??!

Neither here nor there. I think Google was making a point. High rankings are great, yes, and speaking strictly short term, they are the major goal of SEO. However, do you get paid for ranking #1? I wish, but alas, not the case.

The long term goal of good SEO is qualified traffic being driven to your site, resulting in whatever transaction you want your customer to make (be it a text book retail purchase, newsletter sign up, or software download). That, my friend, is a conversion. When conversion rates increase, that is when you know your search marketing strategy is working.

The issue, however, is that this is not a perfect world. Like nearly every other form of marketing or advertising, when your company participates in multiple strategies at once (SEO being one of them), it’s nearly impossible to tell which tactic is making (or unfortunately costing) you money.

Let’s think positively though – with a good SEO strategy, your rankings should increase. With higher rankings (all the while optimizing for the right keywords), you should see more qualified traffic. More qualified traffic should undoubtedly yield higher conversion rates. And then the wonderful cycle of search marketing begins all over again!

So…lesson of the day? Don’t pay so much attention to where you rank as to whether or not you’re making a higher profit!

Nicki Hicks
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