Making Paid Search Marketing and SEO Work for StartupsJanuary 29, 2013

Corey Quinn@coreyquinn

About Me• Born and raised in Los Angeles• VP of Business Development at The Search Agency• MBA from USC

• Also have a deep passion for startups

MyTherapistMatch.com Story• Frustrated with the ‘finding a therapist’ process• Has to be a better way…

Metcalfe's Law

Therapists Therapy Clients

Offline Online

Marketing Focus

My Fantasy:

My Fantasy:

What Actually Happened:

Meh…[Spike of not very qualified traffic]

[then nothing]

Enter Paid Search• Brought a paid search (ppc) consultant onto the team• Developed highly targeted set of keywords• Launched focused campaigns on a tight budget

• Immediately drove traffic• Feedback on our product, pricing and messaging• Within six months, was able to hit our target cost per

acquisition.

• Invested in high quality SEO content

Over Time, Reduced Dependence on Paid Traffic by 77.6%

Traffic Type

Organic 76.08%

Paid 4.27%

Other 19.65%

Traffic Type

Organic 46.20%

Paid 19.04%

Other 34.75%

December 2010

December 2012

While increasing traffic by 15 times

A Purple Cow Is Not Enough

“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them”- Steve Jobs

(particularly when redefining or creating product categories)

Earned Media Alone Is Not Enough

Viral Media Alone Is Not Enough

Paid Search Alone Is Not Enough…

But It Can Help

• Immediately drive traffic • Near instant feedback on your product, site experience, &

pricing• Keywords target your audience based on intent• Brand visibility• Easy to test multiple variables

• Keywords, Ad copy, Landing pages

• Lower funnel traffic = higher propensity to buy

How Paid Media Helps:

Yay! Money!

Stimulus Purchase(1st moment of truth)

Experience(2nd moment of truth)

Source: ZMOT, Google 2011

Traditional Mental Model for Marketing

Stimulus Purchase(1st moment of truth)

Experience(2nd moment of truth)

Zero Moment Of Truth

Search Social Content/Reviews

Source: ZMOT, Google 2011

New Four Moments Mental Model

Consumer Decision Journey

Consideration Evaluation Buy Advocate

GROWTHto new audiences

CREATE Relationships &

Remarketing

CONVERTyour audience

NURTURERelationships

• TV• Radio• Print• Display• Social Media

• SEM• SEO• Display• Email• Social Media• Mobile

• Landing page optimization

• Shopping cart optimization

• Click to call• Mobile

• Social Media• Email

Source: The Search Agency, Inc.

Why Should I Care About Search?

There are over 17.5 billion searches conducted each month

Source: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/6/comScore_Releases_May_2012_U.S._Search_Engine_Rankings

Search Is A “Lean Forward” Activity

We Are Hunting

Search Share

Google

Bing

Yahoo

Others

7 out of 10 searches are on Google

Anatomy of a Search Page

Paid 30%

Organic 70%

Consumers Value Search• 91% of consumers say they found what they were looking

for• 86% learned something new or important• 73% believed information was accurate and trustworthy• 66% said that search engines are fair and unbiased• 50% found info they didn’t think they could

Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/Press-Releases/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012.aspx

Search Engine Position Matters

75% Of searchers

never scroll past the first page of search results.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/24-eye-popping-seo-statistics/42665/

MY #1 TIP FOR SUCCESSFUL PAID SEARCH MARKETING

Hire Someone Who Knows Search To

Manage It For You.

While it’s tempting to jump in with both feet and run

pay per click on your own

Otherwise…

PAID SEARCH KEYWORDS

Keywords and The Conversion Funnel

30,400,000

165,000

250

50

Mother’s Day Flowers

Mother’s Day Red Roses

Mother’s Day Red Roses Same Day Delivery

Flowers

Use keywords that are very specific, even if there is low search volume

“Fitness” “Wearable Activity Tracker Under $200”

Specific keywords ensure targeted, high intent traffic

Start with small number of keywords

Test, iterate, test

Then, test some more

Source: http://phraseologyproject.com/phrase/keep-it-simple-stupid

Group keywords into small, narrowly themed ad groups

Account

Campaign Campaign

Ad Group

Ads

Keywords

Bids

Ad Group

Ads

Keywords

Bids

Ad Group

Ads

Keywords

Bids

Source: The Search Agency, Inc.

Campaign Structure

Campaign

Business Types

Ad Group

Start Up

Keywords• business start up

financing• loan for start up

business

Ad Copy

Campaign

Loan types

Ad Group

Unsecured Loan

Keywords• unsecured personal

loan• unsecured loan

companies

Ad CopyAd Copy

Campaign

Small Business Loans

Ad Group

Small Business Loans

Keywords• small business loans• apply for small

business loan

Source: The Search Agency, Inc.

PAID SEARCH AD CREATIVES

Test Targeted Phrases• “Buy ___”• “Start Download”• “Click Here”• “Shop Now”• “Get Started”• “Free Delivery”• “Buy 2, Get 1 Free”

What are my product's most important features and benefits? What is my competitive advantage?

Line up your paid search ad next your competitors’ ads

My Ad

Competitor Ad #1

Competitor Ad #2

Competitor Ad #3

• Which one would you choose?

• Ask your friends & colleagues to choose their favorite. Did they choose yours?

PAID SEARCH LANDING PAGES

Design Landing Pages to Convert

Align Visitor Intent with Page Purpose

Source: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/tips-for-improving-high-bounce-low-conversion-web-pages/

Promise Made

Promise Delivered

(I am probably not going to even click this ad because it doesn’t meet my intent)

Promise Made:

Promise Delivered???

I am looking for Men’s Yoga Pants!!

Not a personal stylist.

I’m outta here!

Am I going to get black dress shoes? I am not sure.

(I am probably not going to click on this one)

Promise Made:

Promise Delivered???

Now I need to navigate to dress shoes even though I’ve already provided my

intent.

UGGGGG!

Promise Made:

Promise Delivered???

Pretty Good!!

Test Test TestControl (A) Test (B)

1650%Lift

Source: The Search Agency, Inc.

MOBILE & DISPLAY NETWORK

Source: marin software

Mobile Has Arrived

Source: Marin Software

• Mobile searches are expected to account for 25% of all Google searches by the end of 2012.

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2219730/Paid-Search-Growth-Continues-to-Slip-CPCs-Down-But-ROI-Improves-in-Q3-2012

Lower Cost Per Clicks (“CPC”) and Higher Click Through Rate (“CTR”) on Mobile

Mobile-unique ad features: Ad Extensions

• Place your ads on websites that are relevant to what you’re selling.

• Show those ads to the people that are likely to be most interested.

• Manage and track your budget, campaigns and results through Google Adwords interface

Google Display Network

Source: http://www.google.com/ads/displaynetwork/

TRACKING PAID SEARCH

Conversion Funnel

Landing PageChoose A

PlanPayment Thank You

Measuring Performance of Your Paid Search Campaigns

Place Google’s Conversion Pixel on your “Thank You Page”

The Two Metrics That Matter• Cost Per Acquisition (“CPA”)

• What does it cost to acquire a customer?

Click costs / number of new customers from pay per click clicks• What is my conversion rate?

PPC clicks / number of new customers• How does my CPA relate to the (expected) revenue / life time value

per customer? Is there Return On Investment (“ROI”)?

• Conversion Volume• How many customers did I acquire and at what price?• Is there potential for scale?

Use Website Analytics to ID Areas for Optimization

1% 18% 0%

Use Website Analytics to ID Areas for Optimization

1% 18% 0%

Focus Here

Don’t Forget…• Remarketing

• Marketing to site visitors who haven’t converted

• Retention• Keeping your customers coming

back

• Referrals• Incentivizing your customers to

promote your brand

ORGANIC SEARCH MARKETING

Old SEO

#1? No problem!!

Google Launch

1997

FloridaUpdate

2003

UniversalSearch

2007

MayDayUpdate

2009

PandaUpdate

2011

Google Adwords

2000

NoFollow &Personalized

2005

Vince / BrandUpdate

2009

Social SignalsUpdate

2010

PenguinUpdate

2012

Google Effect on Old SEO

“a holistic approach to SEO”

Source: The Search Agency

“Demonstrate topic expertise”

• Onsite demonstration of vertical and industry knowledge

• Create content that connects

• Understanding of user intent

INTENT to CONTENT

Rand FishkinSEOMOZ.com

Source: The Search Agency

• Invested in creating a library of “therapy 101” content• Clear demonstration of topic expertise• Users and Google now reference our site on this and related topics

“Socially Confirmed Topic Expert”

• Off-site topic authority

• Who else thinks your content is ‘cool’?

• Social Sharing

• Content Marketing

• Social Indicators

• Linking

THINK BEYOND the LINK

Source: The Search Agency

FINAL THOUGHTS

Constraining Your Spend

Geo targeted campaignsLimit your budget with daily

capsTest Google Display network

following Google Search

Expand spend where you see positive results

Summary• Invest in paid search to drive targeted, lean forward traffic• Start small and grow with successes• “Fail fast” & test everything• Take advantage of the mobile cost per click arbitrage• Remember SEO

Corey Quinn

@coreyquinn