Why do you visit restaurants that are rated well or that are recommended by your friends? Why do you skip restaurants that you have heard has gotten bad reviews? We do it because we feel that the well-reviewed restaurants are trust worthy for us to visit we are happy to spend our money there.

I am the same and I go to restaurants that are either rated well on review sites or are recommended to me by friends. For me, it’s simple; it all comes down to the quality of the food. I am not too much into ambience, or value. Value is whatever you perceive it to be so it’s different from one person to the other.

Websites are the same. Some sites provide lots of value to users and others are just spammy with too many ads above and below the fold. A search engines goal is quite simple and that is to give people the most relevant answer to their query. During 2011 and continuing on in 2012, Google has made some big algorithmic updates to improve the quality of websites its showing in its SERPs. We can no longer ignore the facts and that is to make sure that brands build high quality websites to provide the best user experience for visitors landing on their site. Below are some best practices to build a high quality website.

Check out the rest of the article on the Adnews blog.

Aman Talwar

dgm

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A question often arises when we talk to clients about conversion management, is whether they would simply be better off running conversion management in house as opposed to using an agency. The short answer is there really is no right or wrong here.  It really depends on client capability and that means understanding all the components before making the decision. This last point is however important as from my experience the components that comprise a successful strategy are often overlooked.

Whether you are running conversion management practices in house or through an agency, first and foremost there has to be a culture that embraces and supports the practice of conversion rate optimisation. A business that doesn’t cultivate a test and learn approach is not going to succeed whether they adopt an agency or go it alone.

In the recent 2011 e-consultancy conversion rate optimisation report http://econsultancy.com/us/reports/conversion-rate-optimization-report  companies whose conversion rates had improved over the previous 12 months were using on average 26% more methods to improve conversion than those companies whose conversion rates have not improved. That makes sense but in order to do this they were embracing a culture of continuous improvement.

But this really is just the start. Successful sustainable optimisation also requires an understanding of the operational logistics to be successful. Conversion optimisation requires several skills sets which are not often found in a single person. This includes someone with prior testing experience, a strategic leader who understands marketing and statistics, a copywriter, web designer, a technical coder, a web analytics expert, a multivariate testing platform specialist, and ideally a project manager who can coordinate between everyone. This is fairly resource heavy and should also be considered as part of your initial cost considerations.

The conversion process is also an objective process. This means that if you are doing this in house you will need to leave office politics at the door. This can be easier said than done however, as testing often has many more departments and ego’s on the line than other marketing campaigns you might be running.

Long term sustainability therefore requires planning, structure and a commitment both in budget, resource, time and cultural investment. Whilst it can all be achieved, at the very least these areas need to be considered at the start when deciding whether to outsource or do it all yourself.

Tom Edmonds

Head of Strategic Development

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Aman posts his thoughts after his first year at dgm...great work!

Soon, I will turn 1. Well, not literally, but soon it will be my 1 yr anniversary in the agency space. Saying that, I did work as a freelancer for a year and a half before joining dgm and boy working in an agency has been an eye opening experience. I have learned a lot of things over the past year and I have also contributed a lot and it's been really satisfying to see some good results.

Below are a few tips that I want to share with you that have helped me grow in my career:

* Learn from your mistakes – We all make mistakes and I am the first one to admit that I make mistakes every now and then. The key for me was to learn from my mistakes and improve myself whether it was in my communication skills or presenting skills or technical skills. Never be ashamed of making mistakes. Your manager will be more impressed that you bounced back from your mistake so keep improving yourself.

* Be proactive - Try to always be a step ahead at your work place. Always offer your services and grab the opportunity with both hands if it arrives in things that you are keen to take part in. Be perceived as a “can-do” person. It’s important that you make sure that you are always informed of what is going on in your company and any opportunities that may arise.

Please click on the link below to read the rest of the post.

http://www.adnews.com.au/blog-post/the-adnews-ngen-blog-1-year-anniversary

Aman Talwar

Dgm

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Sadly, SEO is usually implemented after a business’s site has been developed and in this process, owners of existing websites quickly learn their website should have been developed from the outset based on SEO principles to avoid complications and additional costs that could have been avoided with better planning!

When optimising existing sites, common roadblocks emerge which prevent the optimisation of critical site elements and often a site redesign is needed. These roadblocks can include:

• A website designed in flash does not allow the search engine spiders the maximum capacity to easily crawl and index the site. As best practice, the site should be designed in html. 
• A rigid navigational structure may not allow you the flexibility to add target keywords due to the character limitations.
• The CMS may not be SEO friendly as URLs, titles and meta tags cannot be easily changed to ensure they include relevant keywords. 
• Databases that have been custom-built for an existing domain can also present problems - especially when new content and new functionality is required in order for the website to effectively appeal to targeted search volumes. 

Building a new site based on SEO principles is highly recommended due to the flexibility, control, and minimal future expenses such as additional design or development time, and at the same time providing maximum potential to achieve the best possible SEO goals. 

If you are planning to build a site using SEO as a foundation, below are some tips to consider.

1. Use SEO Friendly Technology

Choose the right CMS to suit your needs as well as having the flexibility to easily change URL page names, titles, meta tags, H1 tags and content. Consider Drupal as a potential CMS (content management system). Have the functionality to be able to add additional categories, navigational links and content without breaking the site. Ensure robots.txt and html and xml site maps are implemented to enhance accessibility and indexation. Use Google webmaster tools to identify any crawl errors and duplicate content that needs to be addressed. Create useful 404 pages to help users navigate to existing pages.

2. Understand what your customers are searching for

Use the Google keyword tool to understand what keywords your customers are using and the potential search volumes.  Use Google Insights for Search to understand the seasonality and trends. Gather information on consumer behaviour through online research panels and third party research.  Use free online tools such as Survey Monkey to get customer feedback.  Visit online communities (blogs/ review sites) and view common topics or questions that your consumers need helping answering

3. Give your customers what they want to see

Ensure your site domain addresses your brand as well as keywords that best describe your business. Give them what they are searching for.  Categorise the keywords into themes and reflect that within the website’s information architecture.  Place your target keywords in the titles, meta description, page name URLs, H1 headings and content.  Be the source of great content to retain customer interest. Google loves content too!  Be creative by using blogs, videos and infographics to communicate your value proposition or simply providing useful content.

4. Make it easy for your customers to find what they are looking for

Design a clear and easy navigational system to provide positive user experience. Provide multiple points of access – main nav, footer nav, bread crumbs and site maps, and in text linking. Include target keywords within the navigation and in hyperlinks. Consider the user journey and make it a simple process. Use search functions such as Google site search. Provide search filters if the information is vast. Apply usability testing methods.

5. Engage with your customers

Create social media pages such as Google +, Facebook and Twitter and allow for two-way communications. Google + for your business is becoming REALLY important. Get started now! Embed social media buttons onto the site and encourage consumers to share or like your blog posts, promotions, useful content etc. Social media’s influence on SEO is becoming increasingly significant. Encourage consumers to become involved in user generated content, this can come in the form of comments, user content submissions, polls or even competitions. • Gain customer feedback to help improve your site and add additional content.

6. Build an online network to gain authority & search engine trust

Ask corporate partners to link back to your site.  Gain natural external links through press releases, article submissions, spreading infographics, and blog commenting.  Build great relationships with other high authority sites and request them to link to your site.  Ensure target keywords are used within the hyperlinks.

7. Understand your traffic sources and site performance

Implement site analytics technology such as Google Analytics to measure traffic performance, site performance and identify problem areas.  Understand traffic and conversion levels of your target keywords.  Use ranking software to report on how your target keywords are performing. Testing, Testing and Testing is key to improving site performance. There are website optimisation tools available such as Google Web Optimiser and WebTrends.

Ask yourself this, would you purchase a new car or fix an old one? If you knew that the cost of fixing an old car and its maintenance over time outweighs the cost of purchasing a new car, you would realise that a new car is worth its bells and whistles. 

Fix an old car? Or purchase a new car?

Similarly, you could build a new site based on SEO or choose to SEO an existing site. If you understood that the obstacles would cost you more money than building a new site, then you know a good business decision is made when you choose to develop a new site with SEO as a foundation.   

Maryanne Vongpraditn is a Senior Account Manager at dgm

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Did you see any of the commercials that ran during the most expensive ad slot on earth, the Super Bowl?  At USD$3.5M for 30 seconds we always wonder what the ROAS is for these commercials and how do you measure it?

One that caught my eye this year – and  is related to a topic very dear to my heart – was  this one for Teleflora.

What caught the eye specifically was not the beautiful lady but the “unique” coupon call to action, seen in the screen snapshot.

Let me tell you why this coupon promotion is an #Epic Fail.

Firstly, this is not a margin play but a simple discount to all users. Well, at least the coupon is unique to the Super Bowl right? Perhaps this coupon code could be measured at the back end to look at direct sales metrics by counting the coupon redemptions?

Wrong.

This Super Bowl ad is far from measurable because the coupon is not unique to the Super Bowl. Here it is splashed all over the top of Teleflora’s home page.

Surely the coupon code for the Super Bowl could have been “SuperBowl”, making the commercial measureable. A different code on the homepage could still be used and the results of their stratospherically expensive commercial therefore would not have been contaminated.

For the past three years at dgm, we have reported on the phenomenal increase in the number of coupon related searches within Australia, and the world for that matter. 

Since 2009, dgm predicted 100% increase in searches year on year and the statistics substantiate our predictions. 

While these stats are impressive, what has it meant to our clients, who use our “7 habits of a successful coupon strategy”, is far more sophisticated than a discount strategy. Perhaps Teleflora and their ad agency would have benefitted from these simple rules.

1. Use coupons on high margin products
2. Use “X% off when you spend $Y” where $Y is 50% greater than your average transaction value
3. Use coupons for up selling
4. Plan for your coupons to go viral
5. Ensure your online checkout can reject inactive coupons
6. Set expiry dates and unique identification to measure redemption
7. Always include Terms & Conditions for coupon use

http://www.powerretail.com.au/insights/retailers-beware-of-the-e-coupon-bandwagon/

We implemented these rules to counter the many cries from unenlightened advertisers who rejected coupons as a discount strategy. I will say again that coupons are NOT a discount strategy (take note Teleflora.com).  Stick to these rules and we can guarantee that coupon sites will deliver you higher margin products, and higher average transaction value shopping carts than all other channels including CRM, Display and Search.

We measured over $65M worth of electrical retail sales over a quarter for three consecutive years and found the following results

When these ATVs (average transaction values) are reviewed as percentage change between coupons and the other digital channels, we can see coupons are delivering a significantly higher ATV.

Further, if we extend this to additional channels including Shopping Comparison Engines and Social Media, we see the same conclusions easily hold water. 

Coupled with this, dgm managed coupon siteswere delivering 8% of the total online sales volume and a significant higher net margin than all other channels above.

Quickly, lest we forget, let us not confuse coupons sites with group buying.

Coupon Sites

Find and share coupon codes and promo codes for great discounts at thousands of online stores.

Coupons site www.retailmenot.com or tjoos.com.au

Group buying sites

Group buying, also known as collective buying, offers products and services at significantly reduced prices on the condition that a minimum number of buyers would make the purchase. 

Group Buying site www.scoopon.com or www.groupon.com

So how do we at dgm take advantage of this massive consumer trend in both search and conversion for our customers?

No matter what your products, high margin coupons will kick start your revenue generated.

Take for example another of our advertisers, a well known international fast food chain. Via a coupon site, this advertiser is benefitting from many tens of thousands of sales per month on products where margin is key with a ROAS of over $20.

Coupon sites without fail deliver constantly higher order transaction value and margin than all other digital channels.

Chris Garner - Account Director - dgm

http://chrisgarner.posterous.com/

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Further to our first post on the new dgm blog - The lovely people at Marketing Mag have published the award winning submission:

http://www.marketingmag.com.au/case-studies/case-study-etrades-mid-gfc-search-marketing-campaign-10811/

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As an ongoing push to cement Google Plus as a leading social network and to improve search quality for users, Google has released a rather large update to its Search Engine Results Page (SERPS) that incorporates social recommendations into existing results providing users with a search experience tailored to them and their social network, or as Google describes Search Plus Your World (SPYW):

“We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships.”

So what will change?

SPYW has not fully rolled out globally as of yet, so performing a search in Google today (Feb 1^st) won’t return the same results as below, we expect a full Global rollout to occur over the coming few months…

Don’t feel like reading? Google has put together an introductory video showing the major changes with SPYW, watch it here -

Personal Results

The most expected and obvious update is now results will be directly influenced by your Google Plus network, so if someone you are connected to has recommended (+1’d) a site relevant to your search it will be pushed further up the search results with a social recommendation from that user.

Let’s have a closer look (for the sake of example I’ve used SEO and Rand Fishkin who is an industry leader and founder of SEOmoz).

The first thing you’ll notice is the information directly below the search box which announces how many personalised results are included. In addition there is a button to hide personal results which is a great way to get an idea of what a regular user (that is not signed in to Google) will see the search results.

Types of personalised results include:

Basic Search Result

Image Search Result:

Google+ User Post:

You’ll notice that all personalised results are labelled with a

Profiles in search

When typing a search query Google will now return related profiles in the auto suggest drop down box as seen below:

Profiles & Pages in Results

Finally SERPs will include Google plus pages and profiles in the right hand column related to your search:

This pushes PPC ads further down the page which is an interesting move by Google however with the experimentation I’ve done with SPYW, these “People and Pages on Google+” suggestions appear on only a few terms at the moment suggesting Google is looking for the right balance of personalised search and advertising.

What happens now?

These are some massive changes to Google’s search results which will affect how your users will search and interact with your brand making it more important than ever to add Google+ to your social media portfolio and grow your circles and interaction now.

As Google+ is still in its’ infancy there is a great opportunity to capture user that have heard or seen Google+ but not yet used it, people are much more likely to connect with you and add you to circles when they first sign up compared to once they are fully ingrained in a network. Just think about how hard you have to work to get users to ‘like’ you on Facebook.

Some tips to get you started:

-          To create a brand page in Google+ simply sign in as yourself and visit http://www.google.com/+/business/  - Once the page is created you can easily transfer ownership to a different email.

-          Once created, create some circles and start following people. For example, if you are in the travel industry create a circle for Australian Travel Resources and find any organisations or information sites on Google+ and add them. As I mentioned above now is the time you will most likely get followed back, so get cracking.

-          Complete your profile:

o    Fill out all available information

o    Add links to your website and other social media properties (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

o    Add images (look back to how personalised images are also returned in search results)

-          Make sure you engage:

o    Run a competition or special offer through Google+

o    Post exclusive content to Google+

o    Interact with users who take the time to post on your Google+ profile

o    Share to G+ whatever you share on other Social Networks

-          Finally and Most Importantly link to your G+ profile on your website so users know it exists!

If you want to read more into the SPYW update and how it affects you, your clients, search and PPC check out this great list of resources posted on the Kissmetrics blog - http://blog.kissmetrics.com/45-resources-on-gspyw/

Chris Hamlin is an SEO Consultant at dgm

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dgmAustralia has been appointed by computer seller DELL to its affiliate account in Australia/New Zealand after a competitive pitch, continuing an eight-year run for the online acquisition agency on this account.

 The agency will be handling all aspects of affiliate marketing for DELL.

 John Matthews, general manager of dgmAustralia, said DELL is one of the most sophisticated direct marketers in the world, especially via the online channels.  

 “DELL is a foundation client for dgm in Australia, and over the past eight years we have worked together on some highly successful campaigns and have pioneered new strategies in online customer acquisition. It’s a testament to dgm’s performance and continued innovation in the space that we have retained this account once again.”

 dgm was one of Australia’s first dedicated online acquisition agencies when it launched in 2003, and continues to be an independently owned innovator in the sector

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SYDNEY, 15 NOVEMBER 2011: dgmAustralia scored Bronze at the Digital Media Awards on Friday night in Beijing, for its search campaign for E*TRADE.

The pay-per-click campaign for E*TRADE coincided with the brand relaunch in November 2010, and resulted in a 40% increase in conversions year-on-year, outperforming all other marketing channels.

 John Matthews, general manager of dgmAustralia, said the win shows that an independent agency in Sydney can compete with the big media groups around the region.

 “We have been working with E*TRADE for the past seven years and we are exceptionally proud of the work we’ve done together. This award is the icing on the cake.”

 The 52-member jury was led by Mat Zucker, chief creative officer of OgilvyOne Worldwide, New York. The fifth year of the awards were held in Beijing at the Grand Millennium.

 From E*TRADE, Matthew Loughnan, head of retail said: “E*TRADE executed a brand relaunch in November 2010. dgm integrated the new brand with our existing paid search campaign and showed excellence in understanding our marketing objectives.

 “Off the back of this launch, our paid search campaign delivered results above and beyond our targets, and continue to improve in a flat market.”

 This is the fourth year that dgm has been successful at these awards.

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