Closed Loop Marketing Blog - thoughts on SEM, SEO, usability and conversion

Interview of Lance Loveday, by RKG’s George Michie

2010-03-11T17:37:51Z

It was a real treat for me to meet Lance Loveday at Shop.org Annual last fall. He’s been a favorite columnist of mine for some time, and getting to know him since then has been a pleasure. Closed-Loop-Marketing specializes in conversion optimization services, and Lance’s team is on the leading edge of fine tuning the shopping experience.

Lance shares our “No Bull” approach to marketing his services and I’m glad to share this Q & A with our readers.

George: How do you know when your site isn’t converting as well as it could?

… (for the complete interview, please visit http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2010/03/10/interview-with-lance-loveday/)

Roundtable Podcast on Testing for Conversion Optimization

2010-03-10T18:01:51Z

This podcast discussion includes conversion optimization experts Brian Eisenberg, Lance Loveday, Anne Holland, and Chris Goward. Some of the topics discussed:

Where should someone new to testing begin?
Does method matter?
Is suboptimization a risk?
Can we trust the statistics behind tools?
What test result has been the most surprising?

To hear the complete podcast, please visit : http://www.webanalysts.info/webanalytics/roundtable-podcast-on-testing/

Conversion Conversations - Anna Telerico Interviews Lance Loveday

2010-03-08T18:15:38Z

My next guest’s tweet from yesterday evening says it all:

We just doubled conversion for a longtime client, for whom we’d previously tripled conversion. Thrilled.

And that’s why he’s next in the line up of Conversations on Conversion. If you don’t yet know Lance Loveday, CEO of Closed Loop Marketing, take a run over to Amazon and pick up a copy of his book, “Web Design for ROI: Turning Browsers into Buyers and Prospects into Leads”. Lance’s twitter bio says he’s: a “CEO - Closed Loop Marketing, Author - Web Design for ROI, speaker, cyclist, husband, father, online advertising freak, usability geek. Not in that order.” I’ll add to that list and tell you he’s a super nice guy, a good conversationalist and a conversion optimization enthusiast to boot. Listen in as Lance and I talk conversions!

Listen to the complete interview here: Conversion Conversations, Episode 2

3 Ways to Leverage Time for More Conversions

2010-03-03T18:52:47Z

Time, they say, was invented to keep everything from happening all at once. Whether we’re performers, filmmakers or UX designers, time allows us to organize events and engineer an audience’s experience.

Time is also a conversion lever that can be as powerful as messaging, placement, color or any other user experience factor—and as deserving of its own study and focus. Three areas in particular are, I think, important to test and optimize in regards to time.

1. A need for speed

Some events just can’t happen quickly enough. The end of Lost and the final, complete obliteration of IE6 certainly come to mind. From a conversion perspective, however, the same is true. The faster certain events happen, the more likely your website visitors will convert. This includes:

The least sexy factor: page load time.

Page load time isn’t very sexy or hip, but it’s fundamental. It’s the plain, beige, lace-free foundational garment of your conversion optimization efforts. All other factors being equal, this single lever alone can improve your conversion rate and customer loyalty.

The conceptual keystone here, of course, is the phrase “all other factors being equal.”

… Read the complete article on Search Engine Land >

The Human Face: How to Choose Effective Website Photos and Images, Part 3

2010-03-02T18:29:50Z

Using faces in photos on your website presents some unique challenges. I’ll group these challenges into two major groups for this article: “Faces draw attention” and “Faces don’t mean the same thing to everyone.”
Major Challenge #1: Faces Draw Attention

People look at faces. That’s just how we’re built, as humans. We look at eyes and mouths in particular to help us identify the person, their mood, and their intent towards us.

This can pose a problem for websites if faces are not used carefully. A face — or faces — in a prominent location on your web page can easily distract attention away from your product, message, or call to action. In other words, faces can become a true detriment to your website. For example, take a look at the Shutterfly home page…

…Read the full article, with image examples, on WilsonWeb.com >

4 Steps to Setting Better Conversion Optimization Goals

2010-03-03T18:54:52Z

Ever failed to stick to a New Year’s resolution, and then blame yourself for poor willpower? Well, it may not be your will that’s to blame—it may simply be the way you phrased your resolution. And the same could be said about the goals you have for your website.

As we enter a new year, if one of your intentions for 2010 is to improve your website’s conversion performance, then here are some suggestions to help you set realistic and rewarding conversion goals.

1. Treat opportunities like problems

What the heck do I mean by this? Aren’t we supposed to look at it the other way around, seeing problems as opportunities for growth, learning, and all that good stuff?

The problem (if I dare say it) with website opportunities is that they don’t get the same fervent attention that problems do…

(See full article on SearchEngineLand > )

Cross Domain & Sub-Domain Tracking with Google Analytics

2010-01-01T07:03:29Z

Many of our clients have a need to track their web site visitors across domains and sub-domains.

However, Google Analytics does not automatically track a single visitor across different domains or sub-domains using the default set of tracking code, so some customization of the default code has to take place.

All of my past research suggested this should be easy, and like anything it is, if you have all of the information you need.

After many, many, many, many tests, I have come up with the following guidelines.

(Please note this is for the ga.js tracking code, not the older urchin.js code.)

Sub-Domain Tracking

Let’s start with the easy one.

Premise:

Your main site is www.abc.com.

There are links from your main site to your store, shop.abc.com, and your help section, help.abc.com.

You want to track a single visitor who views the pages on your sub-domains.

Your default tracking code is:

<script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-1"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script>

All you have to do is add in the setDomainName() method for Google Analytics to track a single visitor across all of your sub-domains:

<script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> try { var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-213407-1"); pageTracker._setDomainName(”.abc.com”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {}</script>

I don’t care what you’ve read elsewhere, PLEASE INCLUDE THE ‘.’ before the domain name setDomainName(”.abc.com”);. I’ve seen this not work without it.

(Please remove pageTracker._initData(); if you are currently using it. It is deprecated. Yes, I still need to remove this method from our code!)

Cross Domain Tracking

Now on to the slightly more involved stuff.

Premise:

Your main site is www.abc.com.

There are links from your main site to a completely different site that you manage, www.def.com.

You want to track a single visitor who visits www.def.com.

There are a few tasks that need to be completed in this situation.

You need to add three methods to the default Google Analytics tracking code.
You need to add a method/function call to every link or form button that takes your site visitor to def.com.
You should place the customized Google Analytics tracking code in the <head></head> section of your page rather than just before the closing </body> tag (normal recommendation).

Alter the default tracking code:

Default code is this:

Add in three methods:

You need to add in the above methods in red to every domain that you are tracking.
NOTE: pageTracker._setDomainName(”.abc.com”); should be set to the domain the tracking code is actually on.

So on abc.com:
pageTracker._setDomainName(".abc.com");

On def.com:
pageTracker._setDomainName(".def.com");

NOTE:
If you read Google’s recommendations, they tell you to use this:
pageTracker._setDomainName("none");

From all of my research and tests, which includes talking to many other experts, you should NOT use “none” as the setDomainName() value. It can cause duplicate cookies and therefore inaccurate data.

Add _link() and _linkByPost() methods to your code

In order for Google Analytics to track a single visitor across domains, the cookie information needs to be sent to the other domain(s). This is accomplished by calling the link() method on normal hyperlinks and the _linkByPost() method on form submission buttons.

Let me make something clear up front:

You only have to add these links to the domain that your visitor lands on first.

So if your visitor lands on abc.com first, then all links and form submissions to def.com need the _link() and _linkByPost() methods added to them respectively. You do NOT need to add these methods to links or posts FROM def.com to abc.com.

(If your visitors could potentially land on either domain first and then link off to the other domain, then you would want to add the methods to both sites.)

Here’s how to add the code.

Hyperlinks:

<a href="def.com/mypage.html" onclick=”pageTracker._link(this.href);return false;”>Link Here</a>

NOTE: Do not forget the return false; part of the code!

Form Submissions:

Place the Google Analytics tracking code in the <head></head> section of your page

If you are using any _link() or _linkByPost() methods in your code, then the Google Analytics tracking code should be placed in the <head></head> section of your page.

This is because the ga.js file needs to be loaded before the _link() or _linkByPost() methods are called.

Chances are the page would load (and therefore the ga.js file) before a user triggered one of the methods, but better safe than sorry.

NOTE: If you want to track cross domain AND sub-domain traffic, just follow the Cross Domain Tracking guidelines above.

That’s it. Go forth and track.

Neuro Google: The Day All the Damn Lies Ended

2009-12-16T18:07:06Z

George sat in a white lab room, next to an MRI machine that was vibrating softly to a U2 song. No, that was his iPhone. George twitched and slapped at his pocket to silence it. The blonde woman in the dark blue suit turned and frowned at him. “Did you bring your paperwork?” she asked. “Um, yeah, hang on.” George pulled a wad of papers out of his back jeans pocket. The woman frowned even more deeply as she took and unfolded the wad onto her clipboard in small, precise motions. “Well,” she said, “I see you’ve signed everything properly, at least.”

… (Read the full article on Search Engine Land > )

How to Choose Effective Website Photos & Images - Part 2

2009-12-16T18:03:30Z

This article continues a series of guidelines to help you with website image selection. In Part 1, I covered some general principles to consider, including the image’s mood, uniqueness, content quality, and contextual cropping. In this article I’ll discuss ways to use images to support and reinforce a business brand.

Guideline #1: First, have a clear understanding of your brand

Before we look at how images can support your brand, let’s back up one step and look at your brand itself. How clearly can you describe your brand? Do you know what qualities you wish it to convey? If you were to summarize your brand with only four descriptive words, what would they be? And, even more importantly, would your target audience agree with your assessment?

… (See the full article and examples on Web Marketing Today > )

How to Choose Effective Website Photos & Images - Part 1

2009-11-02T20:52:39Z

Not all images are created equal.

The right image on a web page can capture attention, inform, and even persuade your site visitors. The right image can communicate who you and your company are more quickly and powerfully than words alone can do. The wrong image, however, can confuse, annoy, and even repel your visitors. The wrong image can give your audience a negative impression of your product, service, or company that you may never have a chance to correct.

Since the selection of images can be so crucial, I plan to cover the topic in several separate articles, each covering basic guidelines that will help you learn to evaluate and select just the right images for your site…

——————————-
This article provides foundational image selection guidelines for non-designers. Read the complete article here:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/design/niehaus-choosing-images1.htm

Button Balance: Using design to differentiate and prioritize buttons

2009-09-29T00:28:58Z

It matters where you put things.

I learned this basic design principle in 4th grade band class, where I noticed that each type of instrument had a specific place to sit within the larger group. The soft-sounding flutes were up front, closest to the audience, while the loud tubas and drums were in the very back. To reverse this arrangement would’ve unbalanced the sound of the band, making tubas too loud and flutes pretty much nonexistent.

Thus, one of my first design lessons: Look at the context, and arrange things so they balance the way you intend. Tubas in back, flutes in front.

What is button balance?

What I call button balance is simply a broader view of button design, one that considers the impact of where the button will be placed and what’s around it. It takes into account the button’s context, to help ensure the button is as effective as it should be. In other words, it means looking at the whole band, not just the trumpet section (wonderful though trumpets may be)…

Read the full article on WilsonWeb.com, here >

E-Commerce Catalog Optimization

2009-08-31T19:53:34Z

Could your e-commerce technology platform be costing you money? How can you make your e-commerce catalogs more effective?

Tim Ash, author of the book Landing Page Optimization continues his webcast series of the same name with an interview of Lance Loveday, CEO of Closed Loop Marketing. Lance discusses some of the challenges e-commerce site managers and business owners face, and focuses in particular on ways to improve product detail pages and the checkout process.

Listen to the complete interview here:
E-Commerce Catalog Optimization with Lance Loveday >

How to Dominate Google AdWords - an Interview with Lance Loveday

2009-08-26T19:29:25Z

Last week while at SES San Jose, I took a break from being a panel jockey and meeting meister to talk about Google AdWords campaigns with Dr. Ralph Wilson of Web Marketing Today. This interview covers what I consider to be the Top 10 steps anyone using Google AdWords should take to dramatically improve their results.

Check out the two-part video interview here:
www.wilsonweb.com/paid-search/loveday-dominate-adwords.htm.

Enjoy, and let me know your thoughts and comments.

FitBase: Answering Ecommerce Questions with Research & Resources

2009-06-09T23:16:13Z

One great thing about attending conferences is finding new tools and resources we can use and recommend to our clients. Recently, while the CLM team was exhibiting at the ACCM conference in New Orleans, I was introduced to a valuable resource site targeted to ecommerce, one that I’d like to pass it along to the CLM blog readership: FitBase.

If you’ve read many of my posts or heard me speak, you’ll know that I think ecommerce, in general, still has a long way to go. There are hundreds of competing platforms that all claim to solve the needs of online retailers, with more coming online nearly every week. And in my humble opinion, most of these platforms are losers. They’re hard to truly customize - no matter what they may say to the contrary - they’re difficult to manage, they don’t incorporate even basic conversion optimization or SEO guidelines. And that’s just the beginning of the problems.

Retailers may not know to look for certain game-changing features (such as single-page checkout), and often end up selecting a platform based on unreliable reviews or anecdotal information. Or they don’t know how important an informed management strategy is for the ongoing success of an ecommerce venture. Plenty of credible research papers, blog posts, and discussion boards are available to address these topics, but they’re scattered across the internet in a disorganized fashion.

This, then, is why I’m recommending FitBase. It’s the first significant effort I’ve seen to pull together reliable ecommerce reviews, research and comparison, and keep it all up to date. Some of the information is free to all, much of it is subscription-based but looks well worth it. It’s an education resource for ecommerce strategy, planning, marketing, and managing. In the words of FitBase’s parent company, FitForCommerce:

“FitBase is the most comprehensive knowledge base created for and by the eCommerce community. With access to thousands of best practices, feature evaluations, expert know-how and solution provider insights, online retailers have what they need to make informed decisions and stay competitive. FitBase content is specific, actionable and organized to help you get to the in-depth info you need - saving you time and effort.”

That about says it, except for the full disclosure that Closed Loop Marketing is one of the vendors listed in their “Providers” directory. Personally, I think it’s about time for a resource like this. The sooner retailers understand that ecommerce is difficult and that a platform won’t solve all their problems right off the shelf, the sooner I can stop grumbling about it. So, thank you, FitBase.

Seriously, though, if you’re serious about improving your chances at ecommerce success, check it out. You’ll be glad you did.

Bing a Google-Killer? Get Real.

2009-06-09T21:23:44Z

Yes, this is another article about Bing. But I’m going to take a different spin. Instead of doing another expert review of the quality of the results and the cool interface like all the other search geeks (I use the term with affection), I want to review Bing the way that normal people will. So I’m going to take off my search expert hat and approach Bing from the perspective of the average user, who has very different concerns and motivations than the average search expert—starting with the fact that they don’t give much conscious thought to them at all. Because let’s face it: while every search geek in the world has been checking Bing out this week, our moms don’t even know it exists yet.

(Read the full article on Search Engine Land, here: http://searchengineland.com/bing-a-google-killer-get-real-20510)

Designing for the Subconscious Mind

2009-05-11T21:19:30Z

In last month’s column, I brought up the idea that the first impression your web site makes can have a bigger impact than many of the more traditional design considerations we tend to regularly obsess about. My theory is that users’ gut-level reactions when seeing a new site for the first time—and the split-second judgments they make about the site based on that first impression—have a major influence on the likelihood that they’ll ever end up transacting with that organization. I was intrigued to find that the amount of time it takes a major league baseball hitter to decide whether to swing at a given pitch is exactly the same amount of time it takes web users to start forming judgments about a site. The magic number for both turns out to be 0.05 seconds, or 50 milliseconds. Which is way faster than we can think consciously.

I decided to test this concept a bit at some recent speaking events. During my presentation, I show the audience a glimpse of two different sites, flashing each up on screen for about half a second (as fast as PowerPoint would let me). I then asked the audience which site they’d rather do business with. The results have been overwhelmingly one-sided. Almost everyone chooses the second site. When I ask people why they chose the site they preferred, they used words like “professional” and “credible.” For the losing site, they used terms like “small-time” and “cheap.”

Ouch. Pretty harsh judgments for a split-second view.

Read the full article on SearchEngineLand >

Tools to Make Online Search Easier

2009-04-16T18:43:13Z

With Google dominating the US search industry popularity contest, it’s easy to forget about lesser-known search tools and enhancements. For example, here are a few that regularly make my life easier and my search experience more useful:

1) Google Preview (Firefox plugin)

Google Preview, despite its unilateral name, works for both Google and Yahoo search results. This little plugin inserts a thumbnail screenshot image of the search result page, making the results list dramatically easier and faster to scan. Here’s how it looks in Google:

It also adds in a “popularity rank” bar, which draws on Alexa ranking data. I largely ignore these rankings, and they can be turned off entirely in the Google Preview preferences.

Here’s the link: Google Preview Plugin for Firefox

2) Showing more than 10 search results per page in Google

If you’re like me and often search for more obscure topics, you’ll typically dig past the first page of search results. In this circumstance it can be a pain to see only 10 results per page, but you can change this number in Google’s preferences. Here’s how to do it:

On the Google.com home page, click the small “Preferences” text link next to the search box

This brings up a preferences page, where you can set a number of options, including preferred language, Safe Search filtering, and Number of Results. You can opt to have Google display up to 100 results per page, which for me is a real time-saver.

NOTE: you must set these preferences on each computer and each browser you use.

3) DogPile.com

For a long time I was irrationally put off by the name of this search tool, but once I overcame my squeamishness and started using it, I’ve found it a valuable comparison tool for more obscure, non-commercial topics. Dogpile displays combined results pulled from the major search engines, annotating each listing with the original source of the result. Here’s how a results page in DogPile.com looks:

My one caution about Dogpile is that it mixes paid advertising right in with the “natural” search listings. Even though these search results are annotated as “Sponsored by”, it can still be confusing and potentially misleading if you’re used to the separation of sponsored results as seen on the major search engines.

Visit DogPile here to try it out: DogPile.com

4) For more serious researchers, on Mac only: DEVONagent

A frustration for researchers using standard search engines is the lack of good filtering, archiving and organizational tools. Enter DEVONagent, a low-cost ($49.95 as of this writing) search agent for the Mac OS that adds helpful functionality such as intelligent result summary, search scheduling, and optional integration with a DEVONthink database. This software runs on your computer, pulling results from major and specialized search engines. Its functionality allows you to create a truly personalized results set, with suggestions for further exploration and expansion.

From the Devon Technologies site, here’s a screenshot example from the interface:

Check out DEVONagent here, including a free trial: DEVONagent

So many tools, so little time…

Of course, there are many other search-related tools available in addition to the ones I mention here. The key takeaway? If you’re curious by nature and love exploring the web, don’t assume that you’re limited to the results you see in the major search engines. However useful the standard search tools are, a few enhancements and alternative tools can improve your overall search experience.

Happy searching!

Do Your Landing Pages “Feel” Right?

2009-04-13T17:44:03Z

Question: What do web users and professional athletes have in common?

Answer: They both make fast decisions about their next action based on limited information in the blink of an eye.

This thought occurred to me as I was reading How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer. It’s quite an amazing book. I say that because it’s a book about brain science and psychology (ooh, gotta get me some of that) and yet it’s really fun to read. Seriously.

The thrust of the book is that the traditional model of how human beings make decisions based on either a rational or emotional basis is flat wrong. Instead, the author’s position is that we make decisions using both our rational and emotional minds simultaneously.

Pretty heady stuff, to be sure. But Lehrer weaves in such compelling and well-written stories that otherwise dry subject matter really comes to life. I was reading a passage about New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s decision-making ability on the field when the similarities between his thought process and that of a new user arriving at a site for the first time hit me.

Here are the lessons I took away from the first part of the book:

Read the full article on Search Engine Land >

Diversify with Business.com: Great Results, New Enhancements

2009-04-08T17:39:04Z

If you are managing PPC across the three major search engines, I would guess that your budget allocation looks very similar to many of our clients’ – ~75% to Google, ~15% to Yahoo and ~10% to MSN.

And honestly, that’s being pretty generous to the latter two, unfortunately.

Truth be told, as happy as I am with Google (no seriously… minus some frustrations, I really am), for the sake of diversification I would very much like to see our spend more evenly distributed. Similar to investing for retirement, it is worrisome to have too many eggs in one basket.

But, alas, I don’t see any major shift in spend among these three Tier 1 engines happening anytime in the near future… if ever. The search volume from Google, combined with the ease of their platform, the robustness of their reporting tools among other pluses leaves us pretty much addicted to Google.

But what about the 2nd tier PPC engines, comprised of platforms such as Ask.com, Business.com, 7Search and others? Is this a source of diversification worth exploring?

Results from Tier 2 engines are mixed as you can see from PPC Hero’s recent survey that asked ‘Which second tier PPC search engine has generated the best results for you?’. 31% of advertisers have never tried a 2nd tier engine. 16% of advertisers said that none of the Tier 2 engines have ever worked well for them. But there are some bright spots like Ask.com and Business.com that are producing results for some:

Until 1/2 year ago I would have been among that 16% who had tried 2nd tier engines, but not seen good results. Recent experience, though, lands me happily in the purple piece of the pie. We have actually seen some great results for some of our B2B clients on Business.com and are excited about the unique features this platform provides! If you are a B2B advertiser and you have not yet explored Business.com, now is the time to do so for a number of reasons.

Reason #1: Data Speaks. Here are last month’s PPC results for one of our clients. As you will note, Business.com is the 2nd highest campaign for lead volume and the cost per lead is $22 less than Google:

Reason #2: Cool Features. Business.com has some unique features that make this a pretty sweet channel to include in your marketing mix.

For starters, you get a WHOLE 60 characters for your headline and 150 characters for your description! Holy PPC, this is like Christmas for those of us who are used to squeezing in 95 characters total into an AdWords box!

Second, it is not a blind auction. You can actually view the top 5 bids to help make judgments about what to bid yourself. There are pros and cons to this, but I have to say that I personally find this to be a nice mini-vacation away from the blind auction/quality scoring black box.

But what I like best about Business.com, is the option to include ‘Multlinks’, or multiple landing pages/calls-to-action as such:

Reason #3: New Conversion Tracking. The clincher. For those of you who have steered away from Business.com in the past due to their lack of conversion tracking, those days are gone. Granted in beta, you can now track your listings to conversion and ROI data:

So will Business.com work well for all B2B advertisers? Absolutely not - among our clients, the results have been mixed thus far. As with any channel, you’ll need to test, track, analyze and refine to determine if Business.com is a viable marketing channel for your organization.

Best of luck if you decide to diversify and venture down the Tier 2 path - Business.com or otherwise. Feel free to share your experiences, we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Web Design for ROI - Huge in Poland

2009-04-06T21:43:47Z

One of the coolest parts of being an author is receiving unannounced foreign language copies of your book in the mail. Last week we received the Polish version, which they apparently named “E-Business.” So watch out, Czech Republic; Poland just gained a competitive advantage.

Sandra is upset about a minor color shift in the cover design. And that button label is way too long! But otherwise it looks very nice - great job on retaining the page layouts!

For the English version and related freebies, visit http://www.WebDesignForROI.com.