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Dec
17
2010
Competitions are a great way to generate brand awareness and drive traffic to your website, but did you know it can also be a great way to build back links?
But what are the basics of running a competition?
and how can you use it as part of your SEO link building strategy?
Choosing the right prize
The first step to a successful competition is choosing the right prize. If your company has high-margin products, they can make great cost-effective prizes.
Most marketing teams look for mass exposure when choosing their prizes, prizes that are going to have a wide appeal like iPod or iPad. However, for the purpose of SEO, you should take into consideration what anchor text you wanted to link build for. If you are trying to rank for “Sydney Hotels”, why not give away a Sydney hotel room?
Having said that, the prize does not have to be a product your company sells. It can be as simple as an online gift card. An added bonus of this is that participants are not restricted by where you can send the prize, giving you a larger potential reach.
Choosing the right kind of competition
The next step is to decide how you want to run your competition. Some questions you should ask yourself include:
- What do I want to get out of this competition? – Maybe it’s to grow your email list, create brand awareness or build back links.
- Is the prize I am offering worthy of the effort needed to enter? – Nobody is going to write an essay for a $5 Gift Card.
- Is my demographic comfortable with using the internet? – A funny video contest might be a little too technical if your audience is Grandma and Grandpa.
When thinking about what you want to get out of the competition, it is useful to consider this:
Perceived Value of Prize / Cost of Entry = Amount of Entrants
Where cost of entry is the level of effort required, as well as ‘potential costs’, such as the possibility of being spammed.
Example:
- Writing a blog post or making a video takes a lot more effort.
- Retweeting a message can be considered a low cost of entry, as it required little effort and no risk of being spammed.
- Signing up for an email list is low effort, but there is a higher risk of being spammed.
To run a successful competition campaign, you could combine multiple strategies and have them complement each other. Let’s take the above examples.
- The competition could be to write a funny blog post on an interesting topic. Potentially generating some link bait worthy content.
- Offer extra incentives to encourage people to re-tweet the contest, increasing exposure and amount of entries.
- People who entered the competition are kept up to date via an email list, informing them of winners, and showcasing some of the better entries. Possibly drawing attention to good link bait content and opening up a second round of back links!
Getting links
Avoid asking for links directly. Think of ways that will encourage people to link to you naturally through as part of the competition. Imagine you have a hotel comparison site as a client. Consider running a competition for the 10 most interesting travel blogs. The winners should be more than happy to link back and tell the world how they are recognized as a top blog by your company. Even better, give them a badge to stick on their site!
Good link bait is hard to come by, so why not get others to create it for you through your competition. But to get the results your looking for, you must ask for the right things. Consider the following competitions, which do you think will get you link bait worthy submissions?
Boring
“Write in 25 words, what Christmas means to you”
Better
“Share your funniest Christmas party stories”
Best
“Funniest, Craziest and Most Interesting Christmas Tree”
Great link bait will not get picked up on its on, you must put it out there for everyone to see. Contests with open voting are great in this regard, as everyone has incentive to get their piece out to as many people as possible. Just don’t forget to add a social media bar for easy sharing.
Internally vs Externally hosted competitions.
Another thing you must consider is whether you are planning to host the competition yourself, or simply supply the prize and let someone else, such as a well known blogger, run the competition on their site.
There are pros and cons for each.
Internal
Pros
- Maximum brand awareness, as the site is hosted on your own domain.
- Maximum benefit from any back links generated through the competition.
- Full control over the competition.
Cons
- You have to do all the work yourself, including getting the word out. Depending on your existing traffic, this could either be easy or a monumental task.
When running competitions on your own or clients site, try to use a URL that has the keyword in it and that you can use after the contest. For example.
http://hotelclient.com/sydney-hotels/ is much more valuable long term than http://hotelclient.com/contests/win-sydney-hotel-room
Once the competition is finished, you could leave the page there as it is or 301 redirect to another page.
However a much better alternative is to keep the page, while making a few changes to get the most SEO value from the page. You could have something like “Our Contest is finished, however you can still get great deals on “Sydney Hotels” right here”.
If your contest involved user submissions (such as videos, photos) you can showcase these on the contest page, and depending on the quality of the submissions, possibly to use them as link bait.
External
Pros
- Depending on how popular the external site is, you can leverage their existing network and relationships.
- Depending on the quality of their site, you could get a valuable link from the contest page. The link would increase in value if the competition takes off, and a lot of links start pointing to that page.
- Ultimately, the competition is driving more traffic to their blog, so they have a big motivator to get the most out of the competition (ie. They will work hard!)
Cons
- You do not have full control over the competition.
- There is no guarantee that the competition page will stay online.
- You will only get part of the value of any back links pointing to the competition page on another site.
To save time, it is a good idea to approach blogger who have done sponsored competitions in the past. You can find these sites in Google with some clever use of search strings. For example, if I were an online retailer trying to rank for the term ‘iPad’. I would do a search using the following string.
win iPad + competition + blog + “sponsored by”
Promoting your competition
Your competition will end up being a big flop unless it is seen by the right people. A great place to start is submitting your competition details to the ‘comping’ community. There are many such sites out there, some Australian ones you could consider include:
http://www.competitionwinner.com.au
http://competitionsclub.com.au
http://compingclub.com
http://www.winbig.com.au
If your Prize is something like an iTunes gift card or Amazon voucher, there is no reason why you cannot open your competition to overseas entries. Some well known sites around the world include:
http://www.contestformoms.com
http://www.sandysrealm.com
http://www.contestalley.com
Once the competition has started, build momentum by encouraging people to share the contest. For example, you may consider setting up a secondary prize for people who retweet the contest details or send the link to their friends.
Facebook is another great way to maintain momentum, as each time someone interacts with your competition, there is a chance that it might show up on the homepage news feed, putting your competition in front of their entire friends list.
Final thoughts
Competitions have long been known to be a great branding and marketing tool. However with a bit of creativity, you can turn it into a powerful link building strategy which will generate valuable back-links and drive traffic to your site.
Dec
14
2010
Digital Ministry have just released their final wrap of digital people for 2010. We’re happy to say that it features First Rate’s own Head of Business Development & Marketing – Tom Skotidas.
Congrats Tom, and very well deserved.
It’s quite the line-up of 28 of the industry’s most experienced and talented people. Denise Shrivell of Digital Ministry mentions that with such a diverse spread of expertise across digital channels, the major issue raised has been ‘measurement’ – with other issues such as an increasing talent void, social media and diversifying revenue streams being the much debated factors.
Read Tom’s entry at number 14 below or view the full roll call here Digital Ministry Roll Call 2010
1. How, where and when did the digital industry find you?
I discovered online bulletin boards and chat channels while at university in 1992, and quickly got addicted to the “online” world.
I got professionally involved in digital in 1996, when I started using AOL’s messaging functions to conduct 1-1 online direct response for my agency at the time.
2. What is your current role and what do you actually do?
I head the marketing division of First Rate. This includes driving Brand & PR, Client Account Direction, and Business Development. I have a team of senior account managers who help me implement all of the above.
3. Can you give us some insights into First Rate, your market position and forward plans?
First Rate (www.firstrate.com.au) launched in Sydney in 2006, and since then has become one of Australia’s largest search marketing agencies, with dozens of blue chip brands as clients. We specialise in SEM, SEO, and Conversion Rate Optimisation. Actually, we are one of a handful of agencies that do enterprise-level work in both SEM and SEO. This allows us to offer significant cross-channel insights and tactics to clients that retain us for both.
Our forward plans are to continue leading the market in search marketing. We have clear, innovative plans in place to grow our clients’ search engine dominance, and online market share, over the next 12 months. At the same time, we plan to grow our client base within our core market, the Fortune 500.
4. What insights can you offer regarding search & digital marketing strategies today?
Since 2004, I have worked with hundreds of marketing managers and reviewed the work of hundreds more. More than 90% are too busy chasing new digital channels with unproven ROI models (e.g. social media being the biggest one) when they have not yet nailed their 3 biggest channels (SEO, SEM, and Display). My insight is this: disciplined marketing managers who don’t get overly-excited about the latest craze have an amazing opportunity to invest in proven, dominant channels and generate ROI that drives their business and makes their CFO happy. At the end of the day, just think about the opportunity cost.
5. Take a punt on the next ‘big thing’ in digital?
* The integration of Display / TVCs into Paid Search
* iPhone / Android Mobile Phone Apps
* Mobile Search
6. What trends do you think the digital marketing industry will see in the next 12 months?
Currently, 3 trends stand out for me:
* One is the increasing attempt at integration of SEO and SEM. I have noticed that an unusually large number of pitches that First Rate has been invited to, call for a dual SEO+SEM presentation. This is encouraging, as it tells me that more marketing managers are started to think of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) a lot more, rather than just thinking of natural and paid silos.
* The second is the increasing adoption of SEM bid management & optimisation technology. Up until six months ago it was rare to hear marketers discussing SEM technologies such as SearchIgnite, Kenshoo, or Efficient Frontier. Today that discussion is growing, and I predict that SEM technology will become a key feature in most SEM programs by June 2011.
* The third is the emerging integration of iPhone Apps into digital marketing programs. We are going to see an acceleration of this trend – to the point of becoming mainstream – when Android grows its market penetration.
7. How do you see the digital and other media evolving in the next 5 years?
I see the following evolutions:
* The mainstream integration of TVCs into Display Advertising
* The emergence of more paid advertising models among social media websites
* The integration of Paid Search into more devices, such as iPads and TV sets
8. What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better, right now, to position itself in the broader media landscape?
Digital agencies, and especially search agencies, need to divorce themselves from ATL agency partners (i.e. ad agencies or media agencies), and start going to market as a full digital / marketing solution. This type of agency and channel independence will fuel large transfers of budget to digital. Otherwise, digital will continue to be thought of as an add-on to ATL.
9. If you were starting a new business in our industry today, what would it be and why?
Although I don’t intend to start a business in this field, I have often thought that starting an agency that specialises in Acquisition eDM would make for a solid business. Using eDM for acquisition (as opposed to in-house email marketing) is a channel not very well understood by most marketers. This agency would need to be full service, offering end-to-end strategy and tactical implementation (including email and landing page design).
10. Where do you get your industry information from?
Subscriptions to dozens of publications, LinkedIn, Twitter, the Google and Yahoo teams, and my peer network.
11. What industry groups or networks are you a part of?
AIMIA, ADMA, AMI, LinkedIn
Nov
22
2010
Analytics for Beginners
We promised the Search Marketing Bootcamp delegates that we would make Mark’s presentation available on our blog, post event so here you go guys:
This presentation covers
- What Is Web Analytics?
- What Packages Are Out There?
- What Should I Be Measuring?
Download the presentation here:
SMX Boot_CampAnalytics
We regularly hold Search Marketing Bootcamp sessions with ADMA in Sydney, get in touch with ADMA to find out when the next session begins and how you can enroll www.adma.com.au
Nov
22
2010
Last week we sponsored the SMX & eMetrics summit dedicated to new trends and research into search engine and mobile marketing. It was great to see so many First Rate clients attending, and for the primary event in Melbourne quite an impressive turn out.
In true online marketing trade show style we held a digital competition, showcasing the newest edition to Q Ltd’s product family – Great Promotions if you or your client is looking at hosting a promotion;
1) go digital, it just makes sense for accurate and efficient data capture, and
2) go Great Promotions, it’s robust, interactive and can be used in conjunction with social and viral campaigns.
check out more info at www.greatpromotions.com.au
Congratulations to Karen Howard of Always Shine Brightly who was the lucky instant winner of the iPad, as a small business owner attending the SMX Search Marketing Bootcamp session that Mark Baartse presented, she assures us that it will be put to good use in assisting the growth of her business.
And in confirmation to the proclamation that Apple’s brand score is truly through the roof, we had queues a mile long at the First Rate booth filled with delegates hoping to be the lucky winner. Here are some pics below:
Nov
22
2010
Cross channel attribution. It is a very different way of thinking about measuring marketing, It can be a bit tricky to grasp at first.
The Problem:
Prospect views a display ad, clicks.
•Next day, searches for the product, and clicks on a paid search result.
•Later, types the brand name, clicks on organic results and converts.
Which channel gets the credit?
Organic does.
Would the sale have been made without the first 2 steps?
Unlikely. So why is organic the hero?
To make it more interesting… most analytics software will give credit to the organic click, adwords will give credit to the paid click, DART will give credit to the display ad, any deduping software will give credit to whatever the business rules are configured as. If you had 3 separate agencies they would probably all take credit for that 1 conversion. Heaven help anyone on a performance contract!
Download the presentation by Mark Baartse, Head of Consulting at First Rate to explore the subject further.
First Rate_CrossChannelAttribution_SMX Mel 2010
Nov
17
2010
We’re down at SMX and eMetrics Melbourne at the moment listening to some really interesting conversations around new trends in social media. Our favorite comment so far…’Q: where do narcissists, stalkers and the socially inept convene? A: Twitter!’
Mark Baartse, Head of Consulting at First Rate spoke about some thought provoking points about multi click attribution yesterday and is about to lead a Social Media clinic at Online Marketer Boot Camp.
BTW Mark has just come out of a session on LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) and his head is spinning, huge things to come.
P.s We’re also giving away an iPad to a lucky someone down here at the event.
Say tuned for a copy of Mark’s presentation and pics of the conference and winners.
Nov
17
2010
Google announced last week that it had added a new feature known as “Instant Previews” to its search results page which would allow users to preview search results without having to click-through to visit the page…
Before delving into the possible implications of Instant Previews it is important to understand exactly what this new feature is all about.
About Google Instant Previews
Google Instant Previews provides a graphical overview of search results and in some cases includes call out texts that highlight relevant sections of the page making it easier for searchers to determine the context of a match from just the preview.
Google argues that instant previews would allow users to easily compare search results and find the most suitable result. Tests carried out by Google revealed that people who use instant previews were on average 5% more satisfied with the search result they clicked on.
To activate Instant Previews click once on the preview icon next to any search result. Hovering over a search result, with instant previews enabled, displays a graphical preview of the page. To deactivate instant previews, click a second time on the preview icon.
Google instant previews attempts to include the most relevant sections of the page within the preview and uses torn edges to indicate sections of the page excluded from the preview.
Implications of Google Instant Previews
Outlined below are some of the ways in which Google Instant Previews might impact on websites and online businesses.
1 Decrease in website impression and keyword search volume
As users using instant previews are on average 5% more likely to be satisfied with the search result they click on, they are also less likely to continue searching which would result in decrease in website impressions and keyword search volume.
2 Decrease in natural search traffic
Instant Previews users are likely to filter out low quality and spam websites based on the page layout displayed in the preview. This will result in less traffic sent to low quality or poorly designed websites.
A less common scenario that could result in traffic loss for a site is the case where users find answers to their query within the call out text displayed in the preview without the need to visit the site as shown below.
3 Increase in conversion rate and decrease in bounce rate
Instant Previews is likely to result in lesser but more relevant traffic sent to websites which in turn would result in a lower bounce rate and higher conversion rate. Note that this does not imply an increase in conversion.
4 Less focus on the top search results
The ease at which users can preview search results might encourage users to browse further down the search results page bringing more focus to the search results within the middle to bottom section of the search results page.
5 Call Out text optimisation
A major feature of Instant Previews is the call out text included within the preview which if optimised has the potential to significantly improve the click through rate of a website.
6 Website layout and design optimisation
As searchers on Google are likely to filter out low quality and spam websites using Instant Previews, the click through rate of a website can be improved through optimising the design and layout of the website.
At present, flash based content is not displayed within Instant Previews but Google says it is working on a fix to be released soon.
Final thoughts and recommendations
Instant Previews is still in its infancy, however as more users begin to utilise this feature, we expect to see noticeable changes in the way people search and new ways to optimise websites around this new feature will become apparent.
The take up of Instant Previews is likely to be slow as it requires a level of curiosity on the part of the user to click on the preview icon to begin to use the Instant Previews feature, however this might be overcome through an education campaign by Google.
As an organisation it is important to make sure your search team or agency is aware of Google Instant Previews and the potential implications, and are keeping a close eye on your website metrics for out-of-the ordinary changes.
First Rate will continue to investigate into the possible impact of Instant Previews and look into ways in which to optimise client sites to take advantage of this new feature.
Nov
04
2010
When building an international SEO strategy, the debate most webmasters face is what strategy to pursue when going global…
The choice is normally between having a ccTLD (country code top level domain e.g. .co.uk, .co.nz) plan vs. a sub-domain approach (uk.domain.com) vs. a sub-folder (.com/Spain or .com/India) strategy. There is no right or wrong answer in choosing one of these strategies as each has its own advantages and disadvantages, some of which are mentioned below.
ccTLDs
Advantages
1. Local Country TLDs present an advantage in penetrating the local market as they can be perceived to be more trustworthy from local visitors to the site
2. Benefits from targeting in local search engine as attaining various types of local links may be slightly easier
3. Provides the strongest geo targeting signal used by Google
4. Server location is less relevant as a geo targeting factor
5. This approach works best if your company has a smaller footprint or a simple product offering.
Disadvantages
1. Can require more maintenance to manage all these sites and can be more expensive
2. Link building scalability is tough since more link building would be required to cover all the different domains
3. There may be cross-domain tracking issues or complications when setting up web analytics.
Sub-Domains
Advantages
1. Easier to set up and provides an effective way to establish sites as different identities while still retaining the global corporate branding
2. Can rank alongside the main domain in search engine results for two/more very similar pages
3. Possible to “host crowd”, i.e. have more than 2 results of the main domain in search results (although recently sub-folders can now rank too)
4. Sub-domains can be treated as a semi-separate site and can be hosted on a different server; therefore links from these can have slightly more value
5. Global brands with bigger product offerings and larger footprints might be better to use this approach.
Disadvantages
1. Sub-domains can be treated as a separate site, therefore don’t inherit the main domain’s SEO benefits and require their own link building effort
2. Can be more difficult to setup and more expensive
3. There may be cross-domain tracking issues or complications when setting up web analytics.
Sub-Folders
Advantages
1. Content is hosted on one site which is easier (and likely cheaper) to set-up, handle and maintain. Tracking can also be easier
2. Easier to manage when dealing with a country speaking different languages (e.g. Canada)
3. Sub-folders can be registered individually in Webmaster Tools and geo-targeted to the country you are working in
4. Link juice is flowing to sub-folder within just the one domain (that probably already has good site authority) which only enhances the value of the sub-folder and the site as a whole
5. Similar to sub-domains, global brands with bigger product offerings and larger footprints might be wise to use this approach.
Disadvantages
1. Ranking in local SERPs can potentially be hard because of competition from local country players
2. Perception from search can vary. For example, some European countries prefer a ccTLD over a .com domain when clicking on a search result. Hence a sub-folder might not be preferred over a ccTLD in this case.
3. There is a small chance that duplicate content issues can arise (different websites targeting multiple countries and languages with largely the same content). The likelihood of this is minimal especially if your site is geo-targeted properly.
Personally I think “perception” or the “trust” factor is the most important element. Trusting a local domain (especially for long-tail terms) is likely to have a higher click through rate (leading to higher traffic and greater conversions) especially if you want to be perceived as an international brand. However, if you are restricted by a CMS, a sub-folder strategy is another option that you can work with. To determine what works best for you, consider a Cost-Benefit analysis for all three strategies and always remember to apply and follow the general principles and tactics that are usually recommended by search engines when optimising your site.
Rohit Padgaonkar
Senior Internet Marketing Consultant
Nov
02
2010
I recently headed to sunny California to attend the 3 day Google Analytics Certified Partner (GACP) summit at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View. It was an exciting journey that took 14 hours of air time to get to, meeting GACP & WOAC partners from all around the globe, engaging with the Google Analytics team and definitely checking out Google’s cool offices and facilities!
Although I cant go into the exact details of the summit’s content (yes, they have Google alerts monitoring me right now, perhaps even my phone!) but what I can say is that it is great to know Google is focused and determined to make Google Analytics into a really kick-ass enterprise level web analytics product.
Main highlights were the development roadmap for Google Analytics, future features and also the collaboration between the Google team and the GACP partners on strategies on how to make Google Analytics and the partnership better.
Many things were learnt through the summit and I’m very exciting and proud to be a part of this great product and global team. Look forward to the GACP Summit 2011! Until then, happy analysing.
p.s we liked the Google cookies… points to those who get it…
Danny Ng
Consulting Manager
Oct
27
2010
“I can’t make my display advertising work…”
“I am finding it hard to come up with the right creative message…”
“My banner click-through rates are weak…”
If you have ever carried out any display banner advertising, you know that display offers one of the lowest click-through and conversion rates of any online channel.
As a result marketers predominantly use this channel to boost brand presence when it could be embraced for its direct response attributes.
It’s not hard to develop creative that is so outrageous that everyone wants to click – just get your creative agency to develop banners that read “Click here and receive $5,000!” and see the clicks flood in.
However, I’m pretty sure that while you’ll generate a boost in traffic, 99% of this traffic will not add any serious value to your business.
So how do you increase traffic without compromising quality? Engage focus groups to analyse your products and services? Pay thousands of dollars to research houses to supply in-depth market intelligence?
In fact, there’s an easier, cheaper solution: Use search data to draft your ads.
Search engines and analytics packages are loaded with valuable data that can be used for display advertisements. These include Keywords, Search Volumes, Click Volumes and Conversion Data.
There is a lot of information here. You just need to study this data to find the opportunities.
Here are two tactics that I recommend trialling that use search data to help drive display advertising.
Approach 1: Use Paid Search data
If you are running any Paid Search (SEM) activity, then I recommend extracting a report of the best performing Text Ads from your program. Ensure you capture their corresponding Click-through Rate (CTR) and Conversion Rate (CR) performances.
The data available here can be, at the very least, just as valuable as any other market research that can be purchased, and a lot less expensive too.
The data tells you the story of how consumers are finding, interacting and converting on your site. Assuming that your Adwords and Analytics are implemented correctly, Paid Search can provide compelling data.
So why not use this to build your display creative as well?
- Get your team to do an extract of the Text Ads within your Google Adwords campaigns
- Ensure the report contains “Text Ads”, “Text Ad Impressions”, “Text Ad Keyword Click-through Rates”, “Text Ad Conversion Rates”
- Sort initially by Conversion Rates – highest to lowest
- Add a 2nd sort by Click-through Rates – highest to lowest
After cross-referencing Click-through and Conversion Rate, you can assess the data and determine the best performing Text Ad based on driving the highest number of clicks and conversions.
Example
Using this intelligence you now have a blueprint of what keywords and Ad copy should be adopted in your banner creative. In this example, it’s easy to see which keywords performed strongly and, therefore, were incorporated into banner ads.
 
Approach 2: Use Google Keyword Tool
- Go to Google Keyword Tool and select your region (in our case, Australia)
- Start typing in a wide selection of keywords that relate to your products or services. Google will make further suggestions of keywords you can use; select where appropriate.
- Once you have a good selection of keywords, set the filtering to to ensure you only capture exact searches (no phrase variations)
- Sort by local search volume from the previous month.
Now take the keyword with the highest search volume and integrate it into your banner creative.
For example, look at the keyword “Property Investment”. This keyword had approximately 175% more user searches in July 2010 than the next highest searched term, “Property Investing”.
By using the term “Property Investment” in your marketing you have taken an existing insight and preempted the user’s future search action. Google Keyword Tool can give you the most popular phrasing that consumers are using. Combine its use with an offer and this ad becomes highly targeted and relevant.
Example
Liaise with your creative agency to develop a simple animated banner which looks and feels like a search text box. Have the animation feature a blinking cursor in the text box, then typing in the keyword identified in your initial research, before clicking on the “Search” button.
Follow up with an offer to prompt a user action.
Summary
You do not need to invest thousands of dollars with a creative agency or market research house to come up with winning creative concepts.
In fact, you can actually come up with strong creative messaging just by using data through Google Keyword Tool or your own Paid Search Data. Gather insights, understand your target audience, how they interact and convert with your site. Once you have this intelligence then the creative almost writes itself.
Please note that the above recommendations should only been seen as a preliminary step to developing your creative concept. If you are already running some display activity, then at the very least you should use best practice marketing techniques and TEST these concepts against your current display activity.
Raphael Pantelis is Senior Account Manager at First Rate. He has five years experience in Online Marketing and is a specialist in SEO, SEM, Performance Online Advertising and Email Marketing.
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