Search engine marketing scenarios

Search Engine Marketing Scenario 1

A user manages to find your site at the top of Yahoo.

The user clicks on the link and nothing happens, he waits and waits and waits and waits and waits and then eventually clicks the back button.

Why? Your site was too slow to download, you have 15 seconds max to get the user in through your door and on to your website!

So you got the click and quite possibly you may have had to pay for that click, but, the user did not even manage to get to any information on your site to begin his decision making process. So what let you down here - poor website design!

Search Engine Marketing Scenario 2

A user manages to find your site at the top of MSN.

The user clicks on the link and he his hit by a bright, noisy, animated introduction. He says sod that I hate Flash sites I'm off.

So again you got the click and quite possibly you may have had to pay for that click, but, the user did not even manage to get to your home page because of the 'Flash intro' that your cool web designers 'sold' to you.

So what let you down here? Poor website design, plus a lack of understanding of your target audience's expectations.

A client of ours once had a animated Flash intro, we told them to bin it and they did, especially after we told them that 40% of their visitors were not progressing passed it. Remember not everyone has the Flash plug installed on their machine either!

Search Engine Marketing Scenario 3

A user manages to find your site at the top of Google.

The user clicks on the link and arrives at your home page looking for the piece of information you promised him. He goes to the navigation bar and clicks on one of the buttons and goes deeper into the site, but he can't find the information on that page. He decides to click on another link that takes him even deeper into your site, but he still can't find what you promised him. He clicks the back button and tries another link, again no luck. He then clicks the back button three times and arrives back at the search engine and tries another site.

Not only did you fail to deliver what you promised but you're probably unlikely to get that visitor back to your site again. The end result - no sale' delivered, brand damaged and you paid for his 'click'.

Remember good navigation is key to the success of your website, if a user cannot find what they are looking for within 3 clicks then you risk the likelihood of losing their interest. Poor navigation can stem from bad site design, inappropriate words used on navigation 'buttons' and/or poor 'site-mapping.'

Of course there are many more scenarios that we could highlight and you may have your own unique one (if you have then we'd like to hear from you!) But we tend to find that most businesses suffer from a variation of one of the three problems above. The good news is that they can all be rectified?well, by us anyway!

 

To find out how we can help you improve search marketing efforts why not contact us.

 

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