Search Engine Marketing SEM Behind the Curtain: Introduction and Overview Presented to the Business Marketing Association, Houston Chapter, August 2013.

1. Search Engine Marketing
SEM Behind the Curtain:
Introduction and Overview
For the Houston Business Marketing Association August 15, 2013
Erik Holladay, Global Marketing Director
Intertek Commodities Business Lines

2. About Intertek
Intertek is a Global B-to-B Services Company
• FTSE 100 Company on the London Stock Exchange (ITRK.L)
• 35,000 Employees in over 100 nations
• 3 Billion USA Revenue in 2012.
• 17% Growth in Revenue, 19% Growth in Profit in 2012
• Business Roots going back to 1885
• Technical services provider: Testing, Inspection, Certification, Consulting
• Industries & Markets:
Consumer Goods, Electronic Products, Oil & Gas, Refining, Chemicals,
Food & Agriculture, Mining & Minerals, Automotive, Aviation, Manufacturing, Environmental,
Regulatory, and more
• Learn more at: www.intertek.com

3. About Erik Holladay
Global Marketing Director for the Intertek Commodities Business Unit for 10+ Years.
14 total years with Intertek.
Supporting diverse industry niches as Intertek has grown. Targeting global markets, nations, and
languages, for 24/7 lead generation.
Transformed a non-performing a small 3,000 visits/month website in 2003 into a hundreds-of-thousands
of visits/month lead generation website today- team effort!
Called a lead generation “Secret Weapon” by an executive VP, it is SEM lead gen skills which really
deserve the title.
President’s Club Winner 3 Times, Rookie of the Year, B-to-B Business Development prior to full-time
marketing. I know both “sides of the street”, sales & markeing.
Business travel to 25 nations and 77 airports, and counting.
First Website Project: 1998 First Website Lead: 7 days later.
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/Marketing. Minor in Biology/Chemistry, San Jose State
University. Graduate marketing & management classes at Golden Gate University and Florida
International University.
Married, with two children.

4. Why I’m really here: I owe it all to Google
Veteran Google SEO and Adwords
manager since 2003.
Been to Google HQ Twice.
Showed up uninvited the first time.
“What, No Gift Shop???!”
Invited the second time for an
official tour.

5. Marketing Tools Help Your Business Grow
Webpages
Display Ads
Paid Search
Organic SEO
Video & Internal Messaging
Trade Show Banners & Exhibits
Trade Show & Event Support
Brochures & Fliers
Promotional Items
Print Advertising
PR
Social Media
Market Research & Intelligence
erik.holladay@intertek.com

6. Search Engine Marketing Brings Visits
Search Engine Marketing Drives in Visitors:
June 2013 website visits to select Intertek websites:
490,627 total visits
390,093 unique visitors
258,329 visits from organic search engine sites
51,435 visits from paid search engine sites
309,764 total visitors (63.1%) came from SEARCH ENGINES

7. Search Engine Marketing Brings Visits
180,863
303,607
61,669
June 2013 Web Visits Sources:
Other
Organic Search
Paid Search

8. Search Engine Marketing Brings in Quality Leads
Over 4,000 quality leads worldwide are generated every month:
Web-forms
Website Origin Emails
Website Origin Telephone & Chat
At least 85% of the leads are generated from Search Engine
Marketing (conservative estimate).
Lead generation figures are for global business lines managed or monitored by Erik Holladay only.

9. Search Engine Marketing Brings in Quality Leads
Over 4,000 quality leads generated a month from web-forms, emails, and telephone.
Over 3,000 quality leads generated a month from web-form and email only.
Website telephone enquiries bring in 1,000 quality leads a month (conservative).
Lead generation figures are for global business lines managed or monitored by Erik Holladay only.

10. Search Engine Marketing Benefits
10 years of Search Engine Marketing experience:
Conservatively estimated, over 20 Million Dollars in revenue from search engine generated
leads are generated annually on a global basis.
The website leads generated produce higher gross margins and open doors to new,
previously unknown clients.
Quality leads generated range from transactional projects ($500 to $50,000)
to major outsourcing and acquisition opportunities in the multi-million dollar range.
These figures do not count repeat business.
Search Engine Marketing is a significant contributor to Intertek’s organic and acquisition
growth. It can even be a game-changer from revealing strategic opportunities.
Lead generation figures are for global business lines managed or monitored by Erik Holladay only.

11. Search Engine Marketing is High Stakes

12. Search engine traffic is not like other web traffic:
Search marketing attracts customers and prospects when
they are actively seeking information.
Searchers are researching. They are in hunt mode.
Searchers are solving a problem.
Searcher wants to learn more - NOW.
They want relevance and answers - FAST.
They want tangible solutions to their problems.
Search Engine Marketing is High Stakes

13. Lead Generation:
Who’s Really Running the Show?
Search & Web have Changed B-to-B Lead Generation:
Customer Behaviors are Quickly Evolving.
80% of B-to-B buyers contacted the solution provider.
Less than 10% of buyers were contacted via cold call.
75% of leads to come via web by 2015.
Lead Generation Data Source: HubSpot

14. Pull, Not Push, Lead Generation
We must be ready to catch the potential customer’s
attention at the right time of their choosing:
Be found.
With the right content.
The right call-to-action.
When they are looking.
Where they are looking.
Search Engine Marketing does all that.

15. Where People Search
Google, BING, and Yahoo Dominate USA Search.
COMSCORE USA June 2013:
Google: 67%
Bing: 18%
Yahoo: 11.5%
19.2 billion core search queries:
Google: 12.8 billion searches
Bing: 3.4 billion searches
Yahoo: 2.2 billion searches

16. Organic and Paid Search Engine Marketing
Both Organic and Paid Search have unique advantages and play
important complementary roles in lead generation.

17. Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
Organic Search
Results.
“Natural Search”
Source: http://www.dogsofdesign.com/sites/dogs/files/webucation/anatomy-of-a-google-serp.jpg
Paid Search

18. Organic Search Engine Marketing
Organic Search Engine Marketing and Characteristics.

19. Organic Search Engine Marketing
Organic Search Optimization (SEO):
• People “trust” organic (natural) search results more than paid.
• Professionals & Technical People to prefer organic search results over paid.
• Organic search success is “free”.
• High Organic Rankings for desirable search terms is extremely valuable.
• Just one catch:
You’re at the complete mercy of Google & Bing Search Algorithms for
SERP results.
Organic Search Engine Marketing and Characteristics.

20. Paid Search Engine Marketing
• Obtain high rankings if organic SEM fails.
• PPC is cost effective for leads & conversions if properly managed.
• Targeting by language, location, demographics, keyword type, more.
• Branding tool – Impressions are free exposure.
• Combined with organic search rankings, ads build an impression of trust and
competency.
• Display Ad network reaches far beyond pure search.
• Just one catch:
Needs $$$$$$, time, and competent management.
Paid Search (PPC) brings flexible approaches to lead generation.

21. Great Search is like a Great Concert
Successful Search Performance Needs:
Concert Hall = Website
Orchestra = Webpages
Music = Content

22. Great Search is like a Great Concert
The Well Designed Website:
• Webmasters are true collaborative partners
• Hire Webmasters who get Search and SEO
• “Don’t Make Me Think” Website Design and Navigation
• Crawlable Links for Search Engine Bots
• Clean, well structured Code on Website
• HTML Text, Links, Descriptions (Google Friendly)
• Careful use of Flash, Images, Video
• A lot more. Follow best practices.
• Webmasters create the foundation for SEO Success or Failure.
Hire Good Ones!
• http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development

23. Search Engine Bots: Source Code View of a Webpage:
WE
NEED (Good)
WEBMASTERS
is
WHY
THIS

24. Great Search is like a Great Concert
Webpages work together:
• Webpages are organized and logical
• Organize pages by theme, content
• Mini “Home Pages”, Pages are Hierarchical
• Webpages complement each other
• Minimal content duplication
• Clear and easy navigation between pages
• Silo by Industry, Niche, Content Theme
• More

25. Webpages Organized Logically
by Hierarchy and Niche Content:
Petroleum
Services
Petroleum
Testing
Petroleum
Laboratory
Petroleum
Sulfur
Analysis
Petroleum
Inspection
Petroleum
Loss
Control
Enhanced SEO!

26. Great Search is like a Great Concert
Webpage Content:
• Concise
• Precise
• Relevant
• Contains Desired Keywords
• Crafted for your Target Market
• Lean, Mean, Focused
• Cross-linked to related pages
• Not too long, not too short, just right!
• Human Friendly means Google Friendly

27. How do People Search?
• People search for information and solutions as individuals, using
their own frames of reference, prior knowledge, and vocabulary.
• The sheer diversity of search terms used by your potential
customers will be broad and surprising.
67,000 Organic
Search Term
Variations of
“Testing”
in 6 months.

28. Learn How People Search
• Don’t ASSUME what keywords prospective clients will use.
• Research for the Search Terms your potential customers are using.
• Reference your own client interactions, and those of your colleagues.
• Research Website Analytics for search terms.
• Research Paid Search accounts for search term popularity.
• Use Keyword Research tools (Google, WordTracker).
• Experiment with search terms on Search Engines – do you rank? Should you?
• Avoid internal company jargon terms no one else uses.
• What are your competitors doing?

29. Researching Keywords
“Search Engine Marketing”

30. “Long Tail” Search Term Tactics
Widget
Widget Testing
Widget Testing Lab
Widget Testing Laboratory
Source: http://www.lakeshorebranding.com/company/blog/tips-for-leveraging-the-long-tail-of-seo/

31. Search Engine Battleground:
Rankings for Organic & Paid

32. Google liked this landing page better than
113,000,000 other webpages for organic
relevancy for “Fuel Testing”.
This webpage is a prime lead generation tool.
So What Happened?

33. The Same Webpage, from behind the CMS Curtain.
C
CMS = Content Management System
Pick a robust, proven, CMS which
produces clean webpages for SEO.

34. Keywords and SEO: An Art and a Science
Keywords on Webpages for Organic SEO:
• Use keyword(s) in first paragraph on webpage.
• Keyword(s) in Title and H2.
• Keyword in link URL: intertek.com/blue-widget
• Don’t “over-stuff” keywords on a webpage.
• Content must be ‘natural’ and make sense to humans.
• Too many different keywords on one webpage will dilute SEO.
• Split long webpages into shorter more targeted webpages.
• Focused each webpage on a core topic or keyword(s).

35. Search Engine Optimization
• More SEO Basics for Organic Search Optimization:
• Benchmark and evaluate SERP results
• Use Analytics to ID opportunities, trends, threats
• Don’t use “Black Hat” tactics
• Use local search tactics
• Don’t let good webpages age – update and refresh
• Incremental, intelligent, continuous, content updates
• SEO tactics, chatter, and fads abound, but the basic principles remain
• Don’t produce spammy pages of little value

36. More Organic Search Engine Optimization
• Focus on value proposition and call-to-action
• Conduct keyword research
• Use “long-tail” search tactics
• Research current rankings, act upon results
• Organize and prioritize pages
• Cross-link relevant pages
• Clear and easy navigation
Image source: PPCBlog
http://www.ppcblog.com/how-google-works/

37. CONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KING

38. CONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KINGCONTENT IS KING
Great Content Attracts Great Leads.
• Content is king.
• Effective Content brings quality visitors and professional links.
• Search Engines reward Concise, Precise, Relevant content.
• Avoid lengthy webpages.
• Reduce verbiage that is ‘fluff’ and not needed.
• Have a clear, obvious and effective call-to-action.
• Be careful, effective, and efficient with content.

39. CONTENT FOR LEAD GENCONTENT FOR LEAD GENCONTENT FOR LEAD GENCONTENT FOR LEAD GEN
http://www.imninc.com/lp/content-marketing-research-report-2

40. Paid Search Engine Marketing:
Pay Per Click (PPC):
• Google Adwords – DOMINATES. PPC Campaigns on Adwords is essential.
• Microsoft Bing – Number Two and trying hard. Worth using
• Other Platforms – All Minor or using Adwords and Bing
• Advantages: Market Research. Keyword Research
• Beware: It is easy to “waste money” on paid search
• Pay close attention to key metrics and monitor for changes and trends

41. Adwords: Clicks Versus Ad Position:

42. Paid Search Basics:
• Campaign Structure
• Adword Group Structure
• Keywords
• Negative Keywords
• Ad Content
• Landing Pages
• And more….
• Y mas…. (Language)

43. Paid Search is a Parallel Universe to Organic:
• Impressions
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
• Clicks
• Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
• Cost-Per-Acquisition (CPA)
• Conversions
• Conversion Rate
• Quality Score
• Ad Types
• Budgeting
• Geo-Targeting
• Scheduling
• More, More, More

44. Search Engine Marketing Feeds the Sales Funnel
Search Engine Marketing feeds quality business
enquiries, and helps promote our business to the global
marketplace, and inside the company.
Helping Grow Top Line Revenue @ Superior Gross Margin since 2003.
Image Source: http://magicbrad.me/the-sales-funnel-awareness-interest-desire-action/

45. Search Engine Marketing:
A Strategic Role in the Marketing Mix

46. SEM Educational Resources:
Books, Videos, Newsletters, Websites, Blogs, Conferences, Classes, Seminars.
Google ‘em to learn more.
Google: Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide .pdf
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) website
Adwords Seminars for Success
Matt Cutts, Chief Google Search Quality Officer
Search Engine Strategies Conference (SES)
Search Marketing Expo Conference (SMX)
“Internet Marketing, An Hour a Day”, Matt Bailey, SiteLogic Marketing
Brian Geddes, Paid Search Expert and Trainer
“High Rankings Advisor”, Jill Whalen, SEO Expert
Search Engine Watch
Search Engine Land
Many other resources!

47. Search Engine Marketing is a Team Sport:
Special thanks and recognition is given to individuals
who have supported and played key roles in our global
search engine marketing success:
Mark Loughead: Visionary, COO, and Executive VP, Retired.
Blake Barr: Web Strategy Director. A Digital Mastermind for Good.
Brian Lerche: Webmaster since 2004. Worth his Weight in Gold.
John Morris: Talented Web-design and Multimedia Resource.

48. Search Engine Marketing
Will Grow Your Business:

49. Search Engine Marketing
Will Grow Your Business:
Content is King. Precise, Concise, and Relevant.
Good website hierarchy, structure, coding, and navigation.
Use Organic and Paid Search for maximum benefit.
Constant incremental updates & improvements bring success.
Be focused, patient, consistent. Play to win for long-term.

50. Thank You for your time.
For more information please contact:
Erik Holladay
Global Marketing Director
Intertek Commodities Business Lines
Email: erik.holladay@intertek.com
Email: erik.holladay@gmail.com
Tel: +1 713 407 3533
Skype: erik.holladay.intertek
Marketing Blog: http://erikholladay.blogspot.com/
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikholladay
“Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity”
- Lucius Annaeus Seneca