Think Beyond the Click: Top Tips to Improve Landing Pages
Source: Kellysearch.com

A new Webinar from Kellysearch.com offers practical suggestions for turning a landing page into a new-business engine: what content to include (and leave out), how to best format landing pages, and tips for landing page maintenance and optimization.

To view the Webinar, click here.

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B2B Purchasers Turn to Search
Source: eMarketer.com

Vendor websites, search engines and industry information websites are passing word-of-mouth and trade publications in B2B sale influence, according to Enquiro's "2007 B2B Survey," sponsored by MarketingSherpa and ZoomInfo.

This contradicts other reports which emphasize the importance of word-of-mouth in B2B sales. However, Enquiro studied B2B purchaser responses rather than those of C-level executives, which accounts for the difference.

The Enquiro study found that nearly 70% of purchasers used search engines as their primary B2B research resource, and that Google was the first choice for B2B purchasing research.

Many purchasers relied on B2B vertical search engines to help gather information for negotiations.

The study also examined click-throughs, and found that the first four organic listings captured 52.6% of all click-throughs, with the top organic result capturing 27.1%.

For sponsored listings, the top-listed pay-per-click ad prompted over twice as many click-throughs as the second-highest ad listing.

For full article, click here.

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Boost Your Keyword Intelligence
Source: Search Engine Watch
Authored by: Jessica Bowman

The foundation to any search marketing campaign is keyword research. However, in the B2B marketplace, keyword intelligence can set you apart from the competition.

Know What They're Searching for When
Because of the complex buying cycle in the B2B marketplace, you want to not only understand what people are searching for, but also at which phase of the buying cycle they are searching for it – so you can best determine which pages you take the user to.

Years ago, I worked in research and development, and my job was to learn about a product or technology and figure out how it can be used within the company.

When doing this initial research, I was searching for broad terms. After my findings were published, executives searched more distinct terms for the shortlist of top providers, while engineers would search terms to see how the product could integrate into our environment.

Your challenge is to understand who is searching for which terms.

Be Listed in All Phases of the Buying Cycle
Just as each stakeholder searched for different terms, there are variations in searches at various phases of the buying cycle.

Because it's easy, you may want to go after the tail terms. Unfortunately, tail terms tend to fall later in the buying cycle, when the user is clearer about what they want.

If your product has a complex buying cycle, with a lot of people involved in the purchase decision, seek broader search terms that are used early in the buying cycle. Remember, it is hard to be considered if you're found late.

Keywords that are Both B2B and B2C
Some search terms are both B2B and B2C. If you have doubt, go to the search results to see who is ranking for the term. If the results are B2C, it may not be the best term. If a B2B user searches this term and the results appear to be B2C, they will try again, or worse, they'll review the results but your website may get lost in the amount of B2C websites, giving your website no visibility.

If you find that these terms are relevant and you want to target them, consider using vertical search engines that deliver only B2B websites for any search term.

Know Who is Searching to Target Your Sales Pitch
Imagine telling your sales team the likelihood of a sale, the quality of the lead and their phase in the buying cycle – all based on the keyword that drove the prospect to your website.

If you mine your analytics to know the search term that brought a visitor in, you could deliver vital information targeted to each lead. You could identify the type of person most likely to search for a given term (as in executive, junior researcher or engineer), which sets expectations of the discussion your sales person is about to have with the prospect.

Start improving your B2B keyword intelligence and you'll find less need for keyword refinements, enjoy greater competitive advantage and a search strategy that leads to success at a faster pace.

For full article, click here.

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