Web Analytics for the Holidays
Nov 29th, 2006 by Jennifer LeClaire
Tailoring SEO and SEM strategies concurrently is an important practice, according to a new survey from Web analytics firm WebSideStory that demonstrates how equally efficient these tactics actually are. As it turns out, paid search has only a slight edge — 9 percent to be exact — in conversion rates over organic search.
“There is a strong synergy between paid and organic search. The bottom line is that marketers need to optimize both to achieve maximum results,” said Heather Lloyd-Martin, president and CEO of SuccessWorks, a search engine optimization firm.
With conversion rates 50 percent or higher than overall site conversion rates, both paid and organic search remain very important acquisition sources for online marketers, Lloyd-Martin said.
However, the goal is to use Web analytics best practices to understand how to truly optimize SEM campaigns and conversion rates.
With only a few weeks of holiday shopping — and with those few weeks typically accounting for a large percentage of an e-tailer’s revenues — search initiatives must be effective or go bust.
The steps may be the same year round: Build a list of relevant keywords, write targeted titles and descriptions, and prepare an effective bid strategy. However, the proper approach to those activities can be dramatically different during the holidays.
Click here to read the rest of my story on the E-Commerce Times.
