Brittany Ecker

Throughout the semester, our objective was to optimize a certain page or blog on our website. One of the ways I went about doing this was through on-page factors such as the “All in One SEO package through WordPress.” This program allowed me to embed keywords and phrases that I thought people would search in order to find my phrase through Google or Yahoo, which would result in them clicking on my site.

We were assigned to do different diagnostic tests to show how well the optimization of our site was doing.  When we first started, my site was rated 60 out of 100, which was fairly decent considering I had just started my own website.  However, as the semester trickled on, my rate went down to a 59 out of 100.  Surprisingly, even though my marketing rate went down, when I typed my optimization phrase into Google, my website was listed on the 4th results page, whereas before it wasn’t even in the top ten pages. 

I also used a program called CrawlerFX, which shows how well your search engine optimization is for your website.  I definitely learned some other techniques I could use towards my site in order to raise my results.  As fas as organic keywords, which shows how many commonly-searched terms your website shows up for in Google, mine could be improved. The higher the number, the more traffic your website gets.  However, in order to get that high number, I need to combine quality links that point to my domain as well as my content pages. My estimated current google pagerank isn’t the best score either, which was mainly because my website is so new.  Although it is a new site, I can still create some helpful content about my industry and ask affiliates for a link to help raise my score.

Marketers should really become familiar with Google Webmaster Tools if they haven’t already.  One, it provides you with a tool called the keywords table which shows keywords that Google finds most on your website when crawling from all your pages and ranks them according to most prevalent to least prevalent.  Second, GWT provides you with a tool called the click through rate, which shows you a percentage of searchers that used a particular keyword to get to your website.  You can also use this tool to predict whether that keyword is going to trend upwards or downwards.   

Webmaster Tools provides a lot of information in regards to your site.  One of the sources you can use in order to learn about your site is called Search Queries.  The Search Queries page provides information about Google Web Search queries that have returned pages from your site. In addition, you can also see information about the pages on your site that were seen most often in search results. Through this tool, you can also see the positioning and the amount of impressions that certain phrases and words are providing for your website.

There is one feature on Google Webmaster that I would really like to learn more about and that is Internal Links.  It shows a list of sample pages that have incoming links from other pages.  Depending on the number of internal links, it shows how important that page is in relevance to your site. I think this could be a critical part in maximizing your website because you could learn a lot about which pages you should consider reviewing as far as its internal links structure.

Deb Van Horn, a James Madison Alumni, has currently been working with the Rockingham Group, located in Harrisonburg Virginia, in the Support Services Sector for around ten years now.  Just to give you a little background of her past experiences, she was a president of the local group called SHRM and she was a member of the Human Resources Department at Pilgrim’s Pride. 

When Ms. Van Horn came and talked to our class, one of her main points she touched on was Social Media.  Im sure most of us know about the new Facebook layout called the “Timeline.”  She mentioned some points about benefiting your company while using this new trend.  Through their Facebook page, they use a tool called an engagement rate, which refers to how their audience is interacting with their companys’ Facebook, in terms of comments, likes, and shares on Facebook, relative to their fan base.  So, for every fan, how many interactions are they receiving. 

Ms. Van Horn also talked about how they advertise their company, the Rockingham Group.   They use a strategy called Google Ad’s which shows them their total impressions, how many times their ad is visible to users, total clicks, how many times users click on their ad to visit their page, the click through rate, which means how many clicks per impressions, and last but not least the average CPM, the cost per 1000 impressions.   By using these research statistics, their company can change and implement various types of advertisements which will trigger people to click on their site, such as text ads, image ads, and display ads. 

The last topic that Ms. Van Horn mentioned was about Email Marketing.  Their company personally uses a program called mailchimp.com which shows industry benchmarks.  They use this company to make sure that their industry percentage is right around the industry benchmark, as far as open rates, click rates, and unsubscribed rates.

Through her presentation, she taught us about different areas that we could improve on.  As marketers, we need to make sure that we stay on top of what is new out in the world and what trends are currently hot in the market.

I would like to personally thank Ms. Van Horn for coming and talking to our MKTG 470 class last week! You really taught us a lot of valuable information which I will definitely take with me!

If anyone would like to contact Ms. Van Horn in reference to job inquiries, business deals, expertise request, or anything in general, her contact information is as follows: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

What is retargeting you might ask? In the simplest terms, retargeting means putting messages in front of lost customers who have left your website in order to attract them back and convert – finish the purchase, sign up for the newsletter, or whatever action you’re looking for.

In my personal opinion, I think retargeting is one of the most beneficial ways to retract customers to your website. When customers leave your site and browse the Internet, your ads will be displayed on other sites they visit, keeping your website in the top of their mind. Those ads can display the exact product they were viewing while on your site, multiple products that relate back to the one they were looking at, or anything else you choose. By using these ad reminders, the potential customers will return to your site.

Relationship marketing is one of the most important factors as far as sustaining your company. The internet is a great way to gain information about potential customers and coming to a conclusion about what they like and developing a relationship with them.  However, a customer expects their information to be confidential. With retargeting ads, I think some companies might be using this secondary data in an unethical manner. Some customers information is being traded, sold, and bought for other businesses’ use without the customers’ permission. However, on the other hand, when examining Facebook’s privacy policy, for example, by entering your interests and/or personal information on your profile, you are making it possible for those advertising on Facebook to group you into a “category”, which is then used for marketing or retargeting purposes. So, people need to understand that whatever you put on the internet could in fact be used for anyone and everyone’s use.

As far as the future for retargeting, I think it is very promising. Performance Marketing is acknowledging how to convert potential people into customers. Retargeting is already a key aspect in many networks, but as technology continues to develop, retargeting is going to become a very valuable tactic within a companies overall marketing strategy. It will keep your ads in front of the potential customers eye, encouraging them to revisit your website and giving them additional chances to convert.  Also by using retargeting, you can focus your advertising on each of your customer tiers, encouraging them to engage in resell, upsell, and cross-sell opportunities above their initial business with you. And last but not least, with the increase in social media advertising, companies are starting to use a lot more retargeting through Facebook, Twitter, etc. as a way to bring customers back to their website. Next time your on Facebook, take a look at the different advertisements offered. You might be a little surprised about how their all targeted to your specific interests!

Google Adwords offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, cost-per-thousand (CPM) advertising, and site-targeted advertising for text, banner, and rich-media ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. However, before you start using google adwords, there are some things that you need to do before you start.

First and foremost, you need to write about something interesting. People aren’t going to want to read something that doesn’t catch their eye. After you have come up with a catchy topic and headline, I would recommend using a program called google adwords. It is one of the most simple ways of driving traffic to your website.

To start off, you need to create campaigns. Usually these campaigns are targeting around one page on your site, or a post that you want to draw people towards. Once you have created campaigns, your next objective is to create Ad groups. These Ad groups are simple 3-lined phrases and people will read when they type in a word that matches up with your keywords. Within google analytics, you are able to come up with your own keywords that you think people would use when trying to find something about your post or page. For example, if my campaign was about going to James Madison University, people might search JMU, James Madison, Virginia Schools, Schools in Virginia, etc. By using these keywords, you can also narrow down the search by using “” and []. It lets the search know that they are only looking for those words or phrases specifically.

By taking all these steps, you are guarenteed to drive traffic to your website.  Have fun exploring the wonders of google adwords!

Social media is a critical tool as far as Marketing goes.  With Facebook and Twitter, people all around the world are able to connect and say connected with eachother with simple posts. However, most people might not know about Pinterest, the virtual pinboard.

This social media tool lets users organize and share all the beautiful things that they find on the web using a simple “pin it” button. Each item of media is known as a “pin” and can be a picture, video, or discussion.  Pins can also be grouped into “boards,” which are sets of pins created on a given topic, for example weddings, home decor, food recipes, and inspirations.  Also with Pinterest, you are able to share your pinboards with other people.  By having this capability, it allows you to discover new things and get inspired by other peoples’ interests.

To make life easier, you can access Pinterest by adding the “pin it” button to the desktop bookmark bar, “follow me” and “pin it” buttons added to personal website or blog pages, and the Pinterest iPhone application available through the App Store.  Registering for a Pinterest account is just as simple.  New users must receive an invitation from a friend that is already a member with Pinterest, or request an invitation directly from the website. Once this process is completed, the user then has to link their personal Facebook or Twitter account. Then, let your heart pin away!

Pinterest is going to be the next big thing, just like Twitter and Facebook were. With just the simple click of a button, people can share all their favorite things to other people. So, go out a become a member of Pinterest! I promise you’ll become addicted!

Before this class started, I wasn’t into Twitter at all.  I thought that it really didn’t offer people a lot of choices and all it consisted of was people blogging about their random thoughts.  However, I couldn’t be more wrong.  It gives people an enormous amount of possibilities, not only personally but in the business world as well.  People can find out news that hasn’t even hit the media yet!  Also, you are able to find out everyday things of someone’s life that you wouldn’t normally know through basic emails and other social media forms.  In my opinion, Twitter allows people to get to know the “real world” and by doing so, it makes people feel more connected and apart of each other’s lives.  Unlike Facebook, Twitter is very simple and straight forward.  It’s not so much about the content of the tweets, but more about keeping each other up to date with just a few words about their daily activities.  As far as career goes, by tweeting certain things, you are able to engage the community on certain events that you might be holding, or products that you might be selling, etc.  Also, Twitter is a super easy way for job hunting.  For instance, @Bestjobsonline, @USjobopenings, and @jobsyellow are just a couple that someone could use to help them find a job!

As far as the importance for Twitter in terms of Marketers, there are several reasons why Twitter is a must! First, with Twitter, niche marketing is much more simple because you can select your niche industry. Second, Twitter allows you to have automated advertising.  With this, even if you aren’t able to sit down and write your own tweets throughout the day, Twitter will periodically post tweets for you. And last but not least, with Twitter, advertising allows for a quick delivery!

Welcome to my blog.  I am currently enrolled in Strategic Internet Marketing (MKTG 470) taught by Dr. Theresa B. Clarke at James Madison University.  As one of the course requirements, all students will be completing some of the assignments as blog posts.  This is my first official blog post for Dr. Clarke’s course in the JMU Department of Marketing.