Online Marketers Missing the Optimization Mark


September 16, 2013
Online Marketers Missing the Optimization Mark

This Week, MarketingSherpa released an interesting statistical insight into the complex world of website optimization (also known as conversion rate optimization). The marketing resource website conducted a survey to discover which website optimization tactics are most popularly implemented by small, medium and large businesses. Several interesting aspects of the report prompted Ontario SEO to explore what these statistics mean for your marketing strategies.

Conversion optimization tactics employed by small, medium, and large businesses

Most Frequently Used Optimization Efforts

Large and medium sized businesses stated that, most frequently, they create unique landing pages to optimize their websites. The purpose of custom landing pages is to create page content that aligns with a specific offer i.e. an online or radio advertisement. This alignment helps to carry the web user along with the marketing message to result in a higher conversion rate. Potential customers directed to a highly relevant landing page are more likely to take the action you want them to. Increased actions may include; signing up for a newsletter, downloading a pdf or making a purchase.

Alternatively, small businesses focus their SEO efforts on optimizing the design and content of current pages. This means that their websites will favour quality over quantity. The website size will remain the same, but content will be highly original and in-depth.

This opposition raised several questions for MarketingSherpa. Is it smart for small businesses to think small? Arguably, small businesses have limited resources; therefore, this optimization tactic could help them to avoid spreading their capacity too thin across too many unique landing pages.

However, at Ontario SEO, we found this pattern quite surprising since small and medium businesses generally have the advantage of being more flexible and able to react faster than their corporate competitors. For this reason, they should take the time to create extra landing pages that are unique and relevant to their marketing campaigns — even down to the product level. Once created, marketers must optimize each and every page to maximize user experience and conversions.

The either/or mentality expressed in these statistics will always leave the glass half empty and prevent marketers from truly maximizing the profit potential of their sites. If you don’t have time to boost quality and quantity you should consider outsourcing to an SEO agency. A professional SEO strategist will give your website the five star treatment it needs to make your online presence outshine competitors.

One thing is for sure; this study reveals that online marketers are still missing the mark. “Only about half of marketers regularly optimize their website for SEO purposes.” This means that 50% of online businesses are not maximizing their marketing potential. By neglecting to frequently optimize their digital presence, businesses are allowing themselves to be overlooked by potential customers.

To put it plainly, you would not allow your physical storefront to become outdated or irrelevant so why would you allow your web business to slip out of virtual view? Everyday, billions of potential customers use the internet to shop for services and products. Can your business really afford to fall behind competitive sites? If not, reconsider your SEO strategy to ensure you incorporate monthly analytics and optimization. Always keep your users in mind and authentically optimize for better user experience. That way, you’ll stay top-of-mind and conquer the cyber market.

Websites need to demonstrate to Google that they contain the answers that potential consumers are looking for. If you do not update your content and check that you are targeting the correct keyword topics on your pages, then each week you will be walking off the rankings plank. That is why monthly SEO is key to online marketing success and should always be incorporated in online marketing projects.

Last, but not least, people appear to be sticking to the Godfather motto, “It’s not personal Sonny. It’s business.” However, online marketing platforms must be personalized to generate business. 80% of small, medium and large companies admit that they do not personalize their web pages to the demographics and desires of visitors.

MarketingSherpa points out that personalizing with cookies is not the only way to go. But, that does not mean that marketers can let creating personalization fall to the wayside. At the very least, you need to direct particular web users to the pages that will most appeal to them. When it comes to SEO, nobody likes the chase. Satisfy the curiosities of your consumers immediately. Not only will Google reward your thoughtful optimization, but this strategy is also more likely to lower bounce rates and boost conversions.

Not sure if your optimization is up to par? Contact Ontario SEO now for a comprehensive competitive analysis of your site.