One of my favorite sessions was 10 Things to Supercharge your SEM Campaigns in 2010 delivered by Michael Mothner and Michael Stone of Wpromote, Inc. While this session ran the gamut (PPC, SEO, website IMG_0194optimization and social media), the focus was on actionable ways to improve your online marketing efforts. Here I'll share 8 tips from that session that you can try:

  1. Always test everything!
    • You may be surprised. Smart marketers don't always know what's right. You need to let users decide and you'll be able to see what they like (and what will work for your site, campaigns, etc.) through testing.
  2. PPC + Retargeting
    • As you know, PPC drives targeted users to your site. Retargeting starts when a cookie is dropped to remember this user. Then, if the user doesn't take the desired action on your site, when they leave your site the cookie is recognized on sites around the web and relevant ads are shown to remind them to take the action you wanted to see.
  3. Optimizing PPC in the Content Network
    • Content can add value and can be a great companion to search efforts. Leverage the content network by creating a separate campaign, include small keyword groupings and present display ads.
  4. PPC Keyword & Ad Grouping
    • This is important because it's one of the biggest things that can help, or hurt, quality scores, optimization, and ROI! Grouping by location is key because this will tie back to the user's search behavior.
  5. Out of the box Link Building
    • SEO boils down to content and inbound links
  6. Creating amazing SEO content
    • Content is king. Be sure to have a strategy for adding content to your site. Think about adopting a "page a day" strategy. This can be done through various means including blogs, FAQs, images and videos.
  7. Be Timely, Seasonal, and Hip!
    • While seasonality is obvious for some businesses (e.g., marketing flowers around Valentine's Day), for other businesses seasonality should be leveraged when it makes sense (e.g., adding winter and gift-giving elements to your site during holiday). You may be selling the same thing year-round, but by marketing it as a gift may help drive sales. Remember tip #1 to know for sure.
  8. Crafting the Right Message
    • Ideally we would tailor our sales pitch for each visitor. While this isn't feasible, you can segment your users and tailor your message to each segment - this can help dramatically increase results.

Give these a try. Start with one or two and always remember to test in order to see what works best for your site and marketing efforts. Then, move on to another one or two until you've worked your way through the list. Here's to boosting your conversion rates!