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 Table of contents:

FBT Film and Entertainment | Media & Entertainment 4-5

Maid In California | Services 6-7
Buy Recycled Products | Retail 8-9
Le Lys d’Or | Flower Shop 10-11
Easy Cars Rentals | Automotive 12-13
Agreements Online | Legal Documentation 14-15
Apex Predators | Shark Cage Diving & Shark Photos 16-17
Dr. Aleksandra Cerny | Dental 18-19
Flower Spot | Full Service Florist 20-21
Information Technology | RDB Consulting 22-23
Trans-Global Migration | Immigration Consultancy 24-25
Corp Shorts | Internet Video Production Firm 26-27
Smart2BeGreen | Eco-Newsletter Publication 28-29
Segway Personal Transporters | Transportation 30-31
Harford County Cultural Arts Board | Association 32-33
Front Range Honda | Automotive 34-35
Sage Realty LLC | Real Estate 36-37
focusIT, Inc. | Information Technology 38-39
Seraphini | Italian Restaurant 40-41
Pond Liners | Landscaping 42-43
Alpha Oilfield | Oil and Gas 44-45
Custom Fitness Concepts | Health & Wellness 46-47
Elreg Distributors | Automotive Parts Distributors 48-49
Answer is Fitness | Health and Fitness 50-51


Corinne’s Banquet Hall | Event Venue 52-53
GTours | Transportation /Charter Bus 54-55
Overton Security | Security Services 56-57
Subway Sandwiches - KSA | Restaurant Chain 58-59
Everdrive | Used Auto Parts 60-61
Pack and Ride | Affordable Residential Moving Services 62-63
2m2u | Print 64-65
Mo Shapiro | Public Speaker 66-67
Aesthetic Solutions | Health, Beauty & Wellness 68-69
Johnson Equipment | Equipment Manufacturer 70-71
Skyline Whitespace | Exhibition Displays 72-73
Heartland Bank | Finance 74-75
Joya del Pacifico | Real Estate 76-77
Special Needs Family Center | Community Center 78-79
Marcum Group (Margolis & Co. P.C.) | Finance 80-81
Tasty Bite | Food 82-83
White Plains Chrysler Jeep Dodge | Auto Dealer 84-85

APPENDIX: WSI WHITE PAPERS

Conversion Architecture 87-98
Email Marketing 99-109
Landing Page Design 111-125
Your Guide to Paid Search 127-139
Search Engine Optimization 141-147
Social Media 149-160
Web Analytics 161-166



 Media & Entertainment
Challenges and Goals:
FBT Film’s services include underwriting films,
FBT Film and insurance, budget analysis, tax credit filings
Entertainment and location assistance. Prior to building a
website, FBT Film had relied largely on direct
Search Engine word of mouth referrals for their business.
Optimization But with the rapid growth of the industry,
www.fbtfilm.com
they wanted to reach out via their website to
film producers and executives that they did
not have direct contact with.
The Solution:
A new website was developed that captured
the look and feel of a movie-focused
Louisiana based investment firm. The site
included a content management system that
allows for easy updating and addition of new
pages as needed.
WSI created professionally written content
for the website and optimized it to attract
web users searching for related key words
and phrases. This included optimizing the
site for title tags, headers and keywords.
At the same time, WSI began an aggressive
campaign to market the site to online news,
press and article outlets to establish our
client’s expertise in the market. This included
writing articles and press releases filled with
valuable information about timely topics. As
a result, this relatively new site was able to
earn high page 1 rankings in less than one
year for their targeted search phrases.
WSI Consultant:
André Savoie
Louisiana, USA
Results:
This site was launched on a brand new
domain which can be difficult to rank early
on. However, after only 90 days, even with
a brand new domain name and no Pay-per-
Click (PPC) advertising, they earned a spot
on page 1 of Google for key phrases for their
business and on page 2 for some others.
Within a year we were able to help the client
earn natural search results through extensive
article and PR efforts as well as good on-site
optimization. This placed them very high in
search engine rankings.
These include phrases such as:
» Louisiana film incentives
» Louisiana film tax credits
» Louisiana film information
» Louisiana film credits
» Louisiana film tax
» Louisiana film tax credits
» Louisiana film
» Louisiana tax incentives
» Louisiana tax credit
» Louisiana film insurance
Testimonial:
The site looks terrific – it’s clean and
easy to navigate. This really changes
the way we market our business.
Leonard Alsfeld
President FBT Film and Entertainment

 Illustrates the top 5
performing keywords for
each of the major search
engines. Under that we can
see the details including her
click-through-rate, click-to-
call ratio, and click-to-web-
event ratio.

The total aggregated traffic that we

sent them since the beginning of the
campaign
(February 17, 2008 – August 18, 2009).

Totals:
Impressions: 357,659
Visits: 4683
Phone calls (recorded) 1092
Emails: 73
Web events: 3095
Average Visits per week: 62.7
Average Spend per week: $186.73
Average Cost Per Visit: $2.98



Services
Challenges and Goals:
The client tried running PPC programs
Maid In on their own and with the help of other
companies and never achieved a return on
California
their investment. They had virtually no traffic
Pay-per-click and no business from their website.
www.MaidInCalifornia.com
The Solution:
WSI developed a pay-per-click strategy
that drove targeted traffic to www.
MaidInCalifornia.com. We quickly found the
highest performing keywords were actually a
combination of a few generic “heavy hitters”
that drew a lot of traffic, and a high volume
of individual geo-targeted keywords that
only drew one or two visitors each month.
These two strategies have combined to
produce as much qualified traffic as the
client can handle.
Results:
As a result of the campaign, the client
increased her business so quickly she had to
hire two additional people! WSI is delivering
many clients at half the price she was paying
when she did it herself.
The following statistics are purely a result
of the campaigns WSI is running (does not
include any incidental contact points). To
date, WSI has driven the following contacts
from her website:
Total of $13,951 spent to date from February
17, 2008 to August 18, 2009 (18 months)
WSI Consultant: » 1,092 phone calls
Chuck Bankoff » 197 request for cleaning forms submitted
California, USA » 73 emails
The vast majority of these contact points
resulted in a sale. Since housekeeping is a
recurring service, there is a lifetime value to
most of these sales.
Testimonial:
“
I am so sorry we didn’t start working
with WSI years ago. We can’t believe
what a difference it made once WSI
took over our website and search
engine marketing. You have completely
changed our business for the better.
For the ‘After Construction’ campaign
that you are running for us, we made
$5600 the first month on only a $400
investment! Our main House Keeping
campaign is really cleaning up (pardon
the pun). It is a bit difficult to convert
into dollars, but our stats show that in
the last 4 months we have received 245
phone calls, 21 emails and 56 request
for quote forms! Not only that, we are
spending half what we used to spend!
These numbers are staggering for us. I
can’t express how much WSI helped my
“
business.
Deborah A. Kerr
Maid in California


 Retail
Challenges and Goals:
Before working with WSI, the client had a
Buy Recycled brochure style website (FibrexGroup.com)
Products that lacked even the most basic optimization.
He was spending over $2,000 per month for
eCommerce Google AdWords paid search advertising
and sending traffic to the site with no regard
www.BuyRecycledProducts.com
to conversion tracking and Conversion
Architecture. The client had no reporting to
show the effectiveness of his site in terms of
capturing leads and converting visitors into
paying clients.
The Solution:
For this project, WSI used the eMerchant Pro
eCommerce solution because of its capability
to have multiple categories, cross selling,
order tracking, customer tracking, etc. WSI
was responsible for project management,
troubleshooting, and assisting the client with
advanced features of the platform.
WSI fully optimized the site for search
and continues to provide advanced SEO
techniques to improve search results. We
are also running a limited paid search
advertising campaign for 2 of the client’s
product categories.
WSI Consultant:
Darren Kincaid
Virginia, USA
Results:
The client recovered his investment
within the first month after launching
the eCommerce site with sales exceeding
$14,000 USD. Site sales after the first year
reached $125,000 USD exceeding business
revenue goals by 25%. Second year revenues
are up by 47% over the first year.
The client was so pleased with the results
that he contracted WSI to redevelop his
brochure site, FibrexGroup.com, to coincide
with his new catalog publication.
FibrexGroup.com, which averages 5,000
unique visitors a month, compliments
BuyRecycledProducts.com by giving site
visitors the option to purchase the item
through a “Buy Now” button that links to
the eCommerce site, saving sales reps
significant time.
Testimonial:
WSI has been wonderful to work with.
They have been so responsive to all our
needs. The website is amazing. It has
helped us realize our dream of an online
store and it couldn’t be more impressive.
WSI is our Internet partner for life!
Suzanne Leenders
VP, Buy Recycled Products

10
 Challenges and Goals:
Flower shop
With the construction of a new University
Le Lys d’Or town, the community developed into a true
city. As a consequence of this economic
Search Engine development of the city, several new flower
Optimization
shops emerged; in particular, one in a big
www.lysdorfleuriste.be mall at a strategic location. Le Lys d’Or’s
income figures were showing a 10 to 15%
decrease over the last 12 months and the
flower shop was bound to close up if nothing
was done quickly.
The Solution:
WSI did an initial consultation and Internet
Business Analysis (IBA) to uncover all aspects
of the problem at hand. We then discussed
in detail the target groups within which to
implement a persuasion driven solution. It
was obvious for budget reasons that PPC
could not to be proposed at this stage and
we focused on SEO.
» Online: We worked on the title and
description Meta tags, Alt tags, H1 and
content. We also designed a Google
Maps page.
» Offline: We subscribed to Google Maps,
worked on a strategy of carefully selected
back links, always keeping in mind the
importance of the use of key phrases in the
anchor text.
» We also provided guidance on the
newsletter and the news/promo feature in
WSI Consultant: order to optimize the use of key phrases.
Dominique De Coster
Brabant Wallon, Belgium
Results:
One of the early pieces of good news was
that in a very short period of time we could
see listings for Lys d’Or in top positions on
Google search for local phrases like “Fleuriste
local areas”. In less than three months the
same phrase would also feature the Le Lys
d’Or website in 1st place on Google. Relevant
keywords like “Conseil fleuriste”, “fleuriste
creative”, Arrivages de fleurs” were all in 1st
page rankings. Lys d’Or was in second place
via affiliated page for marriage events. Lys
d’Or was in first place on Google Belgium
pages. The number of marriages and funerals
they had to work on was up by 20%.
The number of direct orders through
the website was reaching +/- 5 per week
although the order form was not on secured
pages. The overall TO is probably going
to reach a 20% increase for the fiscal year
which, if the previous trend is taken into
account, could be assumed to be about 30%
higher than what would occurred without
WSI’s efforts.
Testimonial:
“ Since you convinced us to have our
own website, we regained confidence
in the viability of our business ... You are
constantly thinking of our business like
it was yours. As a consequence we really
“
feel today you are part of Le Lys d’Or.
Marc & Jacqueline Delens
Le Lys d’Or
11
12
 Challenges and Goals:
Automotive
Easy Cars Rentals had been struggling to
Easy Cars find new client leads. Prior to contracting
the services of WSI, Easy Cars Rentals
Rentals
were doing most of their advertising in an
Search Engine Optimization offline classifieds newspaper called Junk
& Pay Per Click Mail. However, because of the nature of a
http://www.easycarsrental.co.za/
tangible newspaper, they weren’t able to
track, measure and analyze feedback. Easy
Cars Rentals were spending in the region of
$6,000 per month on Junk Mail advertising.
Their decision to not focus on online
marketing was influenced by the fact that
their target market was people in financial
difficulty and in most cases; they would not
have access to the Internet.
The Solution:
WSI rebuilt their website and applied search
engine essentials to ensure that the website
was search engine friendly.
In terms of Internet Marketing:
» We developed landing pages and various
PPC campaigns
» We wrote ads and submitted them to
online classified listings and directories on a
regular basis
» Content marketing articles delivered by
WSI help drive “long tail” traffic while we start
with focused link building phrases in the
anchor text.
WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat
Gauteng, South Africa
Results:
Easy Cars Rentals experienced an average
of 11.64% conversion rate spending only
$2 to convert a client. They are now gaining
20 new clients per month from their online
marketing to a value of $100,000 per
month. With detailed keyword research we
identified a number of phrases that would
generate leads.
These results are measured daily with
Google Analytics and presented in monthly
review meetings to the client. We get
over 1.2 million impressions with a high
conversion rate of 12.71%.
Testimonial:
“ Before we met WSI we never used any
online marketing to attract new clients.
Our advertising was focused on specific
motor related newspapers and maga-
zines. WSI audited our website and re-
coded it to be search engine friendly. We
started a Google Paid search campaign
and achieved immediate results. We
now get over 1,300,000 impressions on
Google per month and our conversion
“
rate for enquiries averages 12%.
John Storey
Easy Cars Rentals
13
14
 Legal Documentation
Challenges and Goals:
Agreements Online provides downloadable
Agreements legal documentation (contracts, legal

Online agreements policies) to an online market. The

company is owned by a lawyer that wanted
Search Engine to know how she could go online with her
Optimization business. WSI suggested that she start up a
www.agreementsonline.co.za
venture that sells agreements and all kinds of
legal documentation to an online market.

The Solution:
WSI created a Voloper OBS website, provided
a new design and all the web copywriting.
We optimized the entire website for all
their services and ran successful PPC & SEO
campaigns. We created an eCommerce shop
and provided focused link building through
directory submission, blog posting and
content marketing with website articles.

Results:
Agreements Online is currently ranked at
number one on Google South Africa for
the keywords “Legal Agreements”. They are
making in the region of $3,000 - $6,000 on
a monthly basis because of their online
presence.
WSI measured the results using Google
Analytics and measured the number of
visitors finding the website through over
4,000 different keyword phrases and WSI
conducts monthly reviews with the client to
discuss the results.
WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat
Gauteng, South Africa
Testimonial:
I cannot believe the return on invest-
ment I have received from WSI. I could
never have imagined the business that
was available to me online. As a lawyer,
you tend to think one dimensionally;
however, WSI and their team have
shown that additional money can be
made without spending long hours in
the courtroom.
Kerry Jack
Agreements Online

15
16
 Challenges and Goals: Results:
Shark Cage Diving &
Shark Photos Before WSI became involved, Apex Predators Results are measured with Google Analytics.
was unable to measure the feedback they We also use Advanced Web Ranking (AWR) to
Apex measure the performance of the keywords
were getting from their website. They were
Predators unable to tell what people were doing when we track.
Web Analytics they reached the website. They were not
sure of where most of their Web traffic was
http://www.apexpredators.com
coming from (geographic location). Apex
Predators did not know how many people
were using their website or which sources
they were coming from (search engine, direct
referrals, external links, etc.)

The Solution:
Apex predators’ website receives a lot
of traffic from an overseas client base so
the web analytics information that WSI
provided was able to help their business get
an improved scope on their e-commerce
ventures. Prior to WSI’s contribution, they
were struggling to find an effective way of Testimonial:
marketing their shark cage diving trips and
shark photos online. We implemented a
secure online form that showed where the
majority of leads were coming from. We
“ Prior to WSI’s involvement with Apex
Predators, we were unaware of the
opportunity that was available on the
implemented Google Analytics. Internet for our industry. We had a fancy
website but we did not know about the
Apex Predators is now able to plan well marketing opportunities that the Inter-
because they can tell the exact number of net presents. WSI’s steps have enabled
people that booked a shark cage diving us to build lasting relationships with
trip from the website, how many people clients from all corners of the globe. Our
are ordering their shark photos online, and online forms have made it easy for us
how many people are subscribing to their to plan our trips accordingly and also
newsletter – a good indication of content
interest.
to make sure we have sufficient stock
of the in-demand photos that we sell
“
online.
WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat Monique
Gauteng, South Africa Apex Predators

17
18
 Challenges and Goals:
Dental
Most dentists face the same problems when
Dr. Aleksandra marketing their businesses and Dr. Cerny was
no different. Dentists rely on word of mouth
Cerny
referrals and Dr. Cerny’s business relied 100%
Internet Marketing on word of mouth. Dr. Cerny’s husband
recommended WSI to her, as we had just
www.DRCerny.co.za
completed his company’s website.
WSI evaluated Dr. Cerny’s current website
and found it to be a “frame based” website,
which did not feature on the search engines.
In fact, the website was invisible to Google
due to its technical structure.
The Solution:
WSI created a website with separate Web
pages for each of the dental services that
Dr. Cerny provides. Each of these pages
was optimized using information that
we identified from our keyword research.
From the start, WSI implemented a Google
pay-per-click campaign in order to achieve
immediate results. We submitted the website
to various Internet directories and wrote and
submitted ads to a number of busy Internet
classifieds websites. WSI then started a link
building campaign and created specific blog
links that rapidly increased the site’s search
engine positions for Dr. Cerny’s services.
WSI also provided Web analytics and from
our interpretation we created a number of
specific landing pages that further increased
website traffic. Our efforts resulted in
obtaining the first 8 of 11 positions in Google
WSI Consultant: for Dr. Cerny’s dental practice.
Francois Muscat
Gauteng, South Africa
Results:
In the first week, Dr. Cerny received 9 online
bookings. At the end of the first month,
21 bookings were made directly from the
website, all of which came from search
engine traffic. On average, a new client
has three appointments and the average
revenue value is $300. At 6 months old, the
website generated 150 new clients with an
average of 450 appointments. The value
of 6 months’ revenue from the website is
$45,000. The website cost over the 6 month
period was $1,200, resulting in a return on
investment of 3,750%!
Testimonial:
“
Before WSI, we had a website but had
not received any queries in the 2 years
since creating it. WSI showed us ex-
ample reports of some of their customer
successes and convinced us to build a
new website that was search engine
friendly. WSI were so confident that
they would generate interested traffic
to our website and provided us with a
monthly Internet marketing solution
that included the cost of the website
“
build. This made it attractive to us as we
would get an entire solution right from
the beginning.
Dr. Aleksandra Cerny
Lonehill Dental Clinic
19
20
 Full Service Florist
Challenges and Goals:
Flower Spot is a one-stop shop for fresh cut
Flower Spot flowers and all flower accessories. The store
has grown from a local flower shop to a
Search Engine destination store carrying everything from
Optimization
party décor to scrap booking to giftware.
www.flowerspot.co.za Prior to WSI coming onboard, Flower Spot
had a good website but it wasn’t rendering
much business since it was nearly impossible
to find it on major search engines. The site
was not optimized.

The Solution:
We did extensive SEO work including link
building with blogging and copywriting.
WSI’s Internet marketing services included:
search engine optimization, web copywriting,
content marketing with website articles and
paid search advertising with Google.

Results:
We began optimizing the Flower Spot
website 2 years ago. The consistent amount
of articles that are added to the Flower
Spot website on a monthly basis has driven
traffic exponentially. The link building has
contributed to Flower Spot’s excellent search
engine ranking.
We use Google Analytics and Advanced Web
Ranking (AWR) reports to monitor Flower
Spot’s website performance.
WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat
Gauteng, South Africa
Testimonial:
Flower Spot had just completed the
development of its 2nd ecommerce
website with local developers. We have
a great website but no online exposure.
My local developers introduced me to
WSI. Within 6 months we started to re-
ceive a steady stream of leads and now
we get over 1,200 queries a month that
are generated through search engine
marketing.
Dennis Duarte
Flower Spot

21
22
 Challenges and Goals:
RDB Consulting
Prior to retaining the services of WSI, RDB
Information Consulting relied on cold calling to introduce
their company services to corporate South
Technology
Africa. They did not think that their website
Search Engine would produce leads for them as they are
Optimization so specialized in providing Oracle, SQL and
www.rdbconsulting.com
Sybase support services. After reviewing
the existing website we found it wasn’t
optimized. We recommended creating for
them a new website and a new, professional
web presence that would differentiate
them from their competition. We created
a resource website that would support
their credibility, generate leads and boost
recruitment opportunities.
The Solution:
We created a Voloper OBS website, provided
a new design and all the web copywriting.
We optimized the entire website for all their
services and provided focused link building
through directory submission, blog posting
and article marketing.
Internet marketing services provided:
» Search engine optimization
» Web copywriting
» Content marketing with website articles
» Paid search advertising with Google
WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat
Gauteng, South Africa
Results:
WSI began optimizing the RDB Consulting
website in October 2008. They are now
ranking at number one on Google South
Africa for “Database Outsourcing” which is
their main service. Since February 2009, they
have acquired 13 new clients with an annual
project value of $400,000 – many are notable
Blue Chip organizations.
WSI provides monthly analytic reports and
reviews focusing on business goals and
monthly reviews are held with the client.
Testimonial:
“
I called WSI the other day and told them
that my website costs me nothing! The
amount of business that we have re-
ceived over the past 6 weeks is amazing
and if we never get another lead I will be
more than happy. WSI and their team
have become my salesmen. The results
we have achieved are truly amazing. I
recommend everyone that I know to use
WSI’s services. I would also like to add
that WSI has done amazing work for
my wife’s dental practice. Her website
“
generates over 20 new leads per month.
Jaro Cerny
MD RDB Consulting
23
24
Immigration Consultancy
Challenges and Goals:
Trans-Global Migration provides a simple
Trans-Global 3-step process for South Africans wanting to

Migration immigrate to Australia, New Zealand, USA,

Canada and the UK. Before contacting WSI,
Paid Search Marketing Trans-Global Migration was spending a large
portion of their marketing budget on offline
www.tgmigration.com
print advertising – newspapers, magazines
etc. They experienced difficulties with offline
advertising because they couldn’t tell where
most of their client leads were coming from.

The Solution:
WSI rebuilt their website and began an
aggressive Pay-Per-Click campaign to
generate queries and conversions. By using
Internet Marketing we made sure our PPC
campaigns clicked through to relevant,
accessible landing pages. We wrote ads and
submitted them to classifieds websites on
a regular basis. WSI also developed content
marketing articles that drive “long tail” traffic
while we start with focused link building.

Results:
We managed to decrease their marketing
budget from $3,000 to $500. Trans-Global
Migration has a conversion rate of 12.18%.
Results are measured daily with Google
Analytics and presented in monthly review
meetings.
Testimonial:
I did not know about Internet Marketing
before I met with WSI. WSI has really
helped my business generate a lot of
leads and decreased our spending on
traditional media advertising, tenfold.

WSI Consultant:
Francois Muscat John Gambarana
Gauteng, South Africa TG Migration

25
26
 Internet Video
Challenges and Goals: Results:
Production Firm Corp Shorts was unable to generate leads Results include:
via the Internet due, in part, to its flash-based » Increasing visitors to Corp Shorts’ Web site
Corp Shorts Web site and lack of relevant content. Less by 500%
than ten inbound sites linked to the Corp » Being listed on the 1st three pages of
Internet Marketing
Shorts Web site, and it did not rank in search search engine results for more than 20
www.corpshorts.com engine results. The firm needed an Internet targeted keywords
marketing strategy to drive large amounts of » Over 1,200 keyword phrases are converted
traffic to its site. to Web site visits
» More than 240 different sources deliver
traffic to the Web site
The Solution:
» Videos are viewed by several thousand
WSI implemented a comprehensive, multi- visitors on YouTube
phase Internet marketing solution that » Over 4000 followers/friends/connections
included: on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo
» Adding keyword-rich content to every page significant time.
of the Web site
» Implementing social bookmarking and link
building strategies
» Pay per click (PPC) advertising
» Building a social networking presence on
YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and
other networking sites
» Developing email marketing campaigns
» Creating and disseminating keyword-rich
press releases

A key partner in our complete Internet

marketing solution was Novo, Inc., a
copywriting firm specializing in search
engine optimization (SEO), to write articles
on a monthly basis. These keyword-rich
articles helped Corp Shorts significantly
increase its online exposure by ranking on
the first page of Google and other search
engines for several targeted keywords.

WSI Consultant: The impact of our Internet marketing

Gregg Towsley solution after the first year is extensive.
California, USA

27
28

Eco-Newsletter Publication
Smart2BeGreen
Social Media
www.Smart2BeGreen.com
Challenges and Goals:
Smart2BeGreen needed exposure, qualified
visitors to their website, and new subscribers
to ensure success for their Internet business.
Also, Smart2BeGreen.com did not rank in
search engine results for their top target
keywords.
The Solution:
Tools Used: Google, Twitter, YouTube,
Facebook, LinkedIn
WSI implemented a comprehensive, multi-
phase Internet marketing campaign for
Smart2BeGreen that included:
» Adding keyword-rich content to every page
of their website
» Implementing social bookmarking and link
building strategies
» Building a social networking presence on
Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn
» Automating updates for new content
distribution
» Link building campaign for inbound links
from other websites
Results:
The impact of our Internet marketing
solution after the first six months is
staggering, results include:
» Increased visitors to Smart2BeGreen
website by 900%
» Listed on the 1st three pages of search
engine results for more than 780 targeted
keywords
» 1st page listing in Google search results for
top 10 keywords
» Over 1200 keyword phrases are converted
to Web site visits
» More than 450 different sources deliver
traffic to the website
» Over 4000 followers/friends/connections
on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Plaxo
» Videos are viewed by several thousand
visitors on YouTube

Testimonial:

“ WSI’s keyword research, competitive

analysis, search engine optimization,
and social media marketing helped our
“
website rocket in the ranks of the search
engines. Our business has grown as a
direct result of WSI’s solutions.

WSI Consultant:
Gregg Towsley Bill Gueringer
California, USA President and CEO of Smart2BeGreen.com

29
30

Transportation
Challenges and Goals:
i-Segway was looking to increase the
Segway
awareness of Segway Personal Transporters
Personal (PT) in the region as well as generating
Transporter more leads online. The objectives were to
Web Design, Development,
establish an online presence in the region for
and Search Engine
Optimization Segway PT in order to improve the client’s
www.i-Segway.com brand and increase awareness. Also, it was
very important for this client to get qualified
leads from their website in order to cover
the website expenses and to generate more
profits to the business.
The Solution:
WSI prepared 6 concept drafts for this client
using our in-house design expertise and
the client selected two designs, which were
further enhanced and improved to help the
client make a final selection. The final design
got excellent feedback from the client and
the site visitors. WSI also conducted some
usability testing to make sure the website
was easy to navigate by users.
Furthermore, WSI used special images
representing various countries from
the client’s target region to relate to
the audience and improve overall site
conversion. As far as technology features
go, the site includes a content management
system, online forms, document
management system and a photo gallery.
WSI also assisted the client locally to do some
developmental adjustments to page layout,
CSS, site footer and navigation menus.
WSI Consultant: In addition, we have implemented a
Husam Jandal comprehensive Search Engine Optimization
Dubai, UAE program for Segway PT in the region, which
consists of ongoing keywords research,
online competitive analysis, advanced
Web and search engine optimization, and
traffic generation strategies from search
engines, mainly Google, Yahoo and MSN.
We have also integrated leading analytical
technologies on the website to track
site performance and identify areas of
enhancements on a regular basis.
Results:
In the first 12 months post launch, the
website received more than 13,000 visits and
the client is getting new leads every day. The
client is extremely happy with the website
and was amazed with the magnificent
results in terms of traffic and leads that are
generated on a daily basis via the website.
The client’s business is now very profitable
and the website was one of the main factors
for their success.
Testimonial:
“ When we first looked at expanding and
enhancing our Web presence, we set a
Web generated sales goal of four units.
Little did we know that we would not
only meet that but would rapidly exceed
it. In fact, in the eight months since
WSI team designed and implemented
our website, we have seen our Web
traffic increase dramatically and,
more importantly, our Web-generated
sales leads increase almost ten-fold.
... I can easily say that WSI has been
instrumental in our sales growth this “
year and I believe the same will be said
in the years to come.
Steven A. Brown-Cestero
CEO, i-Segway
31
 Testimonial:

“
The Harford County Cultural Arts Board
is very pleased with the website that
WSI created for us, and it was a well
placed investment....The best part of this
project for me has been working with
WSI. You’ve made every aspect of this
huge project simple and a lot of fun!
“
Huge kudos to you!

Tonya Woody
HCCAB Coordinator

32
 Association
Challenges and Goals: needed the ability to adding events to the
arts calendar.
The Harford County Cultural Arts Board was
Harford
looking to:
County » Improve customer service by providing
Lastly, WSI included an opt-in email marketer
Cultural Arts online grant application submissions
to replace a rather basic one the client was
already using. They hope to eventually add
Board » Increase their exposure within the greater
Business Edge and SEO discussion forums in each discipline within
Harford County arts community in order to
www.culturalartsboard.org the arts, and perhaps some news feeds
make grants available to a greater number of
related to the arts nationwide.
artists / organizations
and the client is getting new leads every
» Become THE resource for arts related
day. The client is extremely happy with
events in the area
the website and was amazed with the
» Develop an online community for the
magnificent results in terms of traffic and
artists in the area
leads that are generated on a daily basis via
» Provide greater exposure for some of the
the website. The client’s business is now very
smaller or lesser known arts events and
profitable and the website was one of the
groups in the county
main factors for their success.
» Be able to update their own website at will
(which they could not do before)
» Utilize the talents of local artists to create Results:
the design for the website In the last 30 days, the HCCAB website has
logged over 580 site visits, with 57% of those
The Solution: being return visitors who utilize the site
regularly:
WSI addressed the client’s needs by
» 51% of site visitors found the site through
proposing a WSI Business Edge website that
search engines
could be placed on the client’s domain and
» The site ranks #1 in Google for “Harford
could be optimized for the search engines.
County Arts” (out of 242,000 results), “Harford
WSI Business Edge was the chosen platform
County Artists,” and “Harford County Grants
because of its ease of use for the client and
for the Arts,” “Harford County Arts Calendar”
end user, as well as the wide selection of
and “Harford County Arts Events”-- all goals
modules and features that are included
identified prior to the start of the project.
within this WSI branded solution.
» The site even ranks higher than the Harford
County Government website (parent
The Web solution required customized forms
organization) for all of these key phrases!
for the grant applications and an interactive
» The site has over 100 registered users,
events calendar with a customized Add Event
with more than 30 arts groups regularly
module. It also required site registration that
contributing events to the arts calendar.
WSI Consultant: would allow only registered members to
Jeff Harrison have access to certain pages, including the
Maryland, USA interactive grant applications. The site also

33
34
 Automotive
Challenges and Goals:
Front Range Honda had been implementing
Front Range a pay per click (PPC) campaign with Google

Honda and Yahoo! in house, spending $2,500

per month and not tracking any results.
Search Engine Optimization The goal was to dramatically increase the
& Pay Per Click client’s Internet exposure, branding and click
www.FrontRangeHonda.com
through rate for less money.

The Solution:
We knew we could get them as many clicks
as they were currently receiving for $1,000
less, as approximately 50% of their ads were
not being seen. We planned to accomplish
this goal with some optimization efforts and
by reducing the client’s bids.

Results:
Within the first 30 days, WSI accomplished
what we said we would with regards to the
pay per click campaigns. Next, WSI advised
the client to apply the money they saved
toward a 10 term/10 page search engine
optimization and link building campaign.
The client’s website traffic increased 80% in
6 months.
WSI is currently maintaining a Google
AdWords campaign and the 10 term SEO
and link building campaign for the client.
This account led WSI to later close the Al
Serra Auto Dealership made up of 4 separate
businesses and websites.
WSI Consultant:
Jerry Kane
Colorado, USA
Testimonial:
I would highly recommend WSI as a
search engine marketing provider. WSI
is a professional organization with top
notch customer service. They are always
available to answer my questions. We
have been more than satisfied with WSI
and their performance and support.
They have more than exceeded our
expectations within a very short period
of time.
Diana Weaver
Front Range Honda

35
36

Real Estate
Challenges and Goals:
Sage Realty was using a generic realtor’s
Sage site for website design and hosting--one of
the Web companies that provides websites
Realty LLC
for thousands of realtors. The site could not
be correctly optimized. It had non-friendly
Search Engine
URLs, no access to the root so search engine
Optimization
www.findahomeinpa.com sitemaps and robot files could not be added.
FTP Access at the page level was also not
allowed and code could not be added at
the page level. The traffic reports did not
record data for stretches of time and the data
recorded was not believable.
Many of the pages were canned and had
duplicate content. The site was not well
designed. It permitted strict template
designs and only had the ability for one
layer of navigation. The site was confusing
to navigate because it had no sub pages
or drop down menus and any additional
pages were floaters. The site pages had
minimal marketing calls to action. The site’s
performance was poor. It was down for
lengthy periods (more than 4 hours) of time
and the hosting support was terrible. The
Multiple Listing Service (MLS) also did not
work and tended to have old data more
often than not.
The Solution:
WSI used a local graphic design strategic
partner who worked with the client for a few
months on the concept draft. We created
a new site map which transferred the data
from the old site to the new site. We added
WSI Consultant: the marketing and SEO strategy to the
Nancy Vinkler sitemap. We trained the client and her staff
Pennsylvania,USA on how to maintain the site themselves and
using keyword research, they were able to
make all the website copy more optimized
for search engines.
Results:
In the worst economic conditions for the real
estate industry, my client has told me that
this month she had to turn away business
because she is so busy. The bulk of her
business is now coming from her website
versus referrals from past buyers and friends.
In 4 months, this is almost $5 million in real
estate sales for my client. In addition to
reviewing the traffic and ranking reports, my
client has measured the results in terms of
the business the website has brought her.
Testimonial:
WSI provides the benefits of a small,
“
highly personal service provider with
the technology and know-how of an
international Web solution company.
We had the following results this year
so far from the new website: 3 new
clients in March, 2 bought a total of
$1,975,000 value homes and one is still
looking with me in the $400,000 range;
2 new clients in April, bought $558,200
value homes; 1 new client in May,
under agreement to buy a $315,000
value home; 1 new client in June who
decided to rent but will buy in the next
9 month with me in the $500,000 range
range; 1 new client in July looking in
the $400,000 range and a new client in
“
August seeking a $700,000 home ...
Linda Walters
Sage Realty LLC
37
 Testimonial:

“
Wow, the SEO work is really kicking
in this month. We received four leads
in two days from our website for PDS
hosting. We usually receive 2-3 per
MONTH. Nice work! We had a ton of call
activity this week from people saying
“I found you on the web”. That’s all
your hard work paying off. Thanks for
“
everything!
Josh Bopp
President focusIT, Inc.

38
 Information Technology
Challenges and Goals:
Prior to their engagement with WSI focusIT,
focusIT, Inc. Inc was struggling to generate leads for
their services. They were using an outside
Search Engine Optimization sales person who would contact mortgage
and Paid Search Marketing companies and try to setup a demo. Since
the focusIT solution was best suited for
www.focusitinc.com new implementations, often times they
would miss these early opportunities due
to low exposure on the Web. Additionally,
their GoToMeeting demos would take
about 2 hours – valuable time that was lost
because their sales person was wrongly
targeting a client who was not a good fit
for their product line. focusIT was missing
opportunities and spending too much time
chasing bad leads.
The Solution:
To meet the client’s objective we started with
a 20 keyword SEO optimization package.
We used some of the data from their current
Google AdWords campaign to develop a
successful keyword set. We wrote quality
content and began implementation of the
content pages with a complete metatag
revamp of the existing site.
In doing the SEO keyword research we
noticed the CTR (clickthrough rate) on their
Google AdWords campaign was below 1%.
They were getting lots of impressions, but
very few clicks. Their positioning was good,
but their pay per click cost was high and they
weren’t generating quality leads.
At this point we took over management of
the PPC campaign. We started by removing
their campaigns from the content network.
Then we consolidated the campaigns and
WSI Consultant: reviewed all keyword sets. We removed
Scott Robbins those keywords that were generating high
Arizona, USA impression rates, but very low click volumes.
We implemented a goal conversion metric to
determine which keywords brought the best
traffic. By eliminating the high impression,
low performing keywords we were able
to increase the budget on the higher
performing keywords.
After optimizing the PPC campaign we then
built a landing page specifically for the PPC
customers. The page was designed with
conversion in mind. Lastly, we developed
an entirely new website on the eFusion
platform. The website was much cleaner,
easy to navigate and communicated much
more information. We implemented a 301
redirect strategy and careful page naming in
the migration. To date we have seen no drop
off from prior rankings. We also integrated
all the forms on their site with their existing
SalesForce database to ensure lead and
support capture.
Results:
From these efforts the client gained a 100%
increase in the amount of traffic generated
from the website. In addition they were
receiving an average of 3.8 leads a week
from the website, while prior to this they
were generating about 2-3 per month
through all their efforts. This metric was
generated through SalesForce captures and
WSI Voice Marketer. In fact, because of the
client’s exposure on the search engines for
keywords related to Calyx Point, the Calyx
Software Company decided to offer an
exclusive agreement with focusIT, Inc. for
hosting of their Calyx Point Data Server, now
called PointCentral. To measure the results,
WSI used many metrics such as percentage
of traffic from search, keyword popularity,
clickthrough rate, and goal conversions to
measure success.
39
40
 Italian Restaurant
Challenges and Goals:
Seraphini wanted to develop a website to
Seraphini promote their new restaurant, which opened
in September 2008. WSI benchmarked the
Business Edge and client’s main competitors, and based on
Internet Marketing
this information, we worked on the graphic
www.Seraphini.com.br design and Web development to ensure the
client’s restaurant stood out.
The main objective was to promote the
restaurant. WSI developed a website
that reflected the sophistication of their
restaurant and their dishes and to show their
visitors comments made by experts on the
Imprensa (press) page.
The Solution:
For this client, WSI chose the WSI Business
Edge solution because of its flexibility, ease
of use and familiarity with the platform. Since
it was a very simple project, the website is
composed of content pages, a media gallery
and map modules, which are included in the
technology.
We worked their client base by running email
marketing campaigns. With that we were
able to identify different groups of interest
and target them with specific messages in
order to increase conversion rates.
Since clients in Brazil don’t choose fine
restaurants based on search engines results,
we decided to focus on building incoming
links. We advised the client to work with their
WSI Consultant: PR agency in order to increase the number
Waldemar Antonaccio of reviews and news articles related to the
Rubens Kim restaurant in the print media (such as local
Sao Paulo, Brazil magazines) and their online counterparts.
Results:
Within 3 weeks of launching the site, it had
over 2,300 visits and 1,812 unique visitors,
which helped generate over 30 reservations
per day! The client is very happy with the
new website and the compliments they
receive. They are also very impressed with
WSI’s work and the way WSI handled the
project in order to launch it within 10 days.
The website now averages 900 visits per
month (78% of new visitors and 700 unique
visitors). 50% of their visitors come from
referring websites (30%), search engines
(10%) and our e-mail marketing
campaigns (10%).
Due to the profile of Seraphini´s customers,
it is much more effective to work with
restaurants reviews on specialized gourmet
sites, magazines, newspapers and their
online versions. We chose the websites and
blogs that their customers usually visit and
that are very popular on Google and Yahoo,
so Seraphini would benefit indirectly from
their well ranked results on these search
engines.
41
42
 Landscaping
Challenges and Goals:
The objective was to design a site with
a unique pond liner calculator – one
Pond Liners that would take the length, breadth and
depth pond measurements given by the
Conversion
customer and calculate the exact pond liner
www.pondlinersonline.co.uk dimensions required and the cost of each
type of pond liner for that dimension. The
customer would then select a pond liner/s
and go through a secure checkout process. A
further objective is to ensure that the site is
informative and a useful resource to anyone
wanting to plan and construct a pond. WSI
wanted to use the Internet as the sole means
of marketing the product.
Results:
Since June 2008, the website is receiving
3,000 visitors per month with a sales
conversion rate of 3-4%. WSI’s reports show
an average site visit time of 4.2 minutes
and 4 page views per customer, as well as a
visitor bounce rate of 22% (improved from
27% in June). Since June, the client has
received more than £25,000 worth of orders
averaging at £500 per day. They were thrilled
when WSI completed and launched the
website, particularly because they received
their first orders the day the site went live on
the Web, and have continued to do so since.

The Solution:
WSI chose a customized solution due to the
database requirements of the pond liner
size calculator. Working with the developers
on the functionality of the pond liner size
calculator was a challenge but the final
result is a unique, user-friendly pond liner
size calculator. In the development process,
the difficulty was rounding up the metre
squared dimensions. The pond liners are
supplied via the manufacturers in fixed
measurements with the “on the-role” PVC
pond liner dimensions differing from that
of the rubber pond liners. So the calculator
had to work in both imperial and metric
Testimonial:
measurements, rounding up to the closest
0.5m in one dimension and closest 1m in
I am very pleased with the results of
another for PVC, and to the closest 0.5m in my WSI solution. I was not expecting
both dimensions for the rubber liners. The to receive so many sales in the first
pond liner dimensions have to be absolutely two months of the site going live!
WSI Consultant: accurate to avoid wastage or the liner not
Mike Leask
Brian Holroyd fitting into the hole exactly. Precision was key
Pond Liners
Bedfordshire, England, UK in this project.

43
 after

before

44
 Oil and Gas
Alpha Oilfield
Search Engine Optimization
& Pay Per Click
www.alphaoilfieldsupply.com
Challenges and Goals:
Prior to working with WSI, Alpha Oilfield
Supply only had a very basic website. It was
a work in progress with not a lot of pages
completed, nor much content on any of
the pages. Most of the pages said “Under
Construction”. The original website had been
live for a couple of years, and didn’t provide
them with any leads.
WSI’s objectives were to provide Alpha
Oilfield Supply with a professional looking
website that would give a true representation
to the types of products and services that
they provided. We also wanted to provide
them with an Internet Marketing System
(IMS) that would offer them with maximum
exposure on the Internet, since they sell their
products worldwide. WSI wanted to make
sure, if someone was doing a search on the
Internet that they would be able to find
Alpha Oilfield Supply, no matter what country
they were doing the searching in.
The Solution:
WSI created an entirely new website for
Alpha Oilfield Supply utilizing the MicroSite
platform. In addition, we supplied them
with essential SEO for their website, as well
as started doing pay-per-click marketing, as
soon as the site went live.
Results:
Alpha Oilfield Supply has had to move into a
larger building, and is already beginning to
outgrow where they are now. We bring the
traffic to their website, convert the traffic into
prospects. They convert the prospects into
customers.
They were very pleased with the results.
They had started a website without much
information on it. With the exposure that
we brought to them via the search engines,
they are now getting leads through their
website from all over the world. Last year,
Alpha Oilfield Supply picked up a client
who found them by searching for one of the
products they sold. In early February of 2007,
John Johnson called WSI to let us know that
they billed out $100,000.00 to that client in
January.
Within the first 2 years of implementing an
Internet marketing strategy with WSI, the
client’s sales have doubled every year. In fact,
they’ve had to increase their staff, as well as
move to a larger facility. They have almost
more work than they can handle at times,
which is a good problem to have.

WSI Consultant:
Michael Richards
Ellen Richards
Missouri, USA

45
46

Health & Wellness
Custom Fitness
Concepts
Search Engine Optimization
www.CustomFitnessConcepts.com
Challenges and Goals:
Custom Fitness Concepts was struggling
with a site that had been built by one of their
clients who could not keep up with frequent
requirements for change. This provider
could not offer any input or suggestions
on how to make the most from their Web
presence. They also were spending in excess
of $2,000/month on PPC advertising, which
was their main source of new business, but
at a high price for their size. They were using
1st generation graphics for the branding that
did not suit the image the owner wanted
to portray as a professional and successful
company.
» A monthly review in which we evaluate
performance and continue to improve
overall lead generation per $ spent on both
our services and PPC
Results:
Overall traffic has increased by 64% to nearly
4,000 visitors/month
» Trial and actual class enrollments are
up 63%
» Personal training enrollments are up 252%
» PPC spending has dropped from over
$2,000/month to under $500/month
» WSI measured the results primarily with
Google Analytics

The Solution:
WSI created a corporate identity package
and we worked closely with the client to
come up with the new logo and design
concept. We then used our in-house
resources to create a WSI Business Edge
skin and implemented the new site, porting
over existing contact and building custom
features such as their location finder, and
personal trainer directory.

As for Internet marketing, WSI implemented

an SEO program that involved:
» Keyword research and forensics
» Optimization of the existing content for
proper use of meta tags, titles, H1s and other
best practices
» Used an authorized WSI supplier to perform
50 directory submission
» Added 20 pages of new content focused on
WSI Consultant: fitness boot camp keywords
Gary Levine » A complete overhaul of the PPC ad
Virginia, USA campaigns, bid strategies and landing pages

47
48

Automotive Parts
Challenges and Goals:
Distributors Elreg Distributors had a previous website
that was outdated and ineffective. They
Elreg wanted to redesign their website with
Distributors an engine that could allow visitors to
Conversion Architecture search through a database of over 1,000
and Internet Marketing products, select the products they are
www.elreg.com
interested in and add them to a dynamic
quotation submission shopping cart. They
also required website traffic generation via
Internet marketing. WSI’s objective for this
project was to get the client good leads.
Our approach was to apply Conversion
Architecture to their Web solution and
persuade website visitors to submit quote
requests online. WSI also planned to utilize
Internet marketing to drive the right people
to their new site.
The Solution:
WSI provided Elreg Distributors with
a professional website design and
development. We modified the eCommerce
system to allow for product selection and
quotation request submissions to take
place. Once the site was launched, WSI
initiated pay-per-click and email marketing
campaigns. Later on, WSI implemented
search engine optimization services for the
client to drive even more traffic to the site.
Results:
As a result of WSI’s services, Elreg Distributers
WSI Consultant:
went from an almost non-existent Web
presence to receiving an average of 8-10
Jason Gervais new leads or sales opportunities each day.
Denise Gervais Traditionally, the company only distributed
Ontario, Canada throughout North America, but now gains
clients from all over the world as a result of
WSI’s search engine marketing. The website
has become a significant revenue source
with each month’s sales from website
inquiries exceeding the previous months’.
Since implementing their search engine
optimization strategy nearly a year ago, their
visitor traffic has more than tripled and now
there are thousands of unique visitors
each month.
Testimonial:
“
We knew that our website was dated
and needed a major overhaul ... WSI
truly wanted to present to us with an
ongoing strategy that would help us
increase our sales for years to come ...
What a terrific experience!
WSI listened and responded instanta-
neously to recommendations that were
made along the way. They continually
presented innovative ideas to make the
site more effective ... Most would think
that the job was done at this point.
Quite the contrary! WSI immediately
started presenting ways to optimize
and make our site more effective by
ensuring potential clients were finding
us. This has been an ongoing process
ever since the site was launched three
months ago. WSI continually tweaks
our site, develops landing pages and
looks for ways to ensure we are increas-
ing our sales. It’s like having another
sales agent working for you – actually
“
better.
Joe Zundl
President, Elreg Distributors
49
50
 Health and Fitness
Challenges and Goals:
Answer is Fitness was looking to generate
Answer is more leads and had an outdated site that
Fitness was done 100% in Flash. Their numerous
direct mail efforts were not generating
Search Engine Optimization the leads needed to be able to fund the
& Pay Per Click opening of a second club. Together, we
www.answerisfitness.com
specified a new site heavily focusing on the
look and feel and the calls to action that
we felt they needed to have. The objective
was to develop a professional looking Web
solution that would take advantage of search
traffic and become the primary source of
generating leads.
Results:
The owner, staff and customers of Answer is
Fitness all love the new site. Answer is Fitness
is now on page 1 of Google for more than 10
key search terms in the 3 towns that make
up their target market. The combined efforts
of search engine optimization and WSI Local
AdWorks generated 70 new membership
prospects in the first 25 days after launch, 32
of which have become members so far. They
expect their closing rate to be greater than
80% on these leads.

The Solution:
WSI’s focus was on personal training
and weight loss prospects. We chose the
WSI Business Edge platform because of
the ability to create a modular look we
felt was needed in order to emphasize
Conversion Architecture. It’s a simple site
with a slideshow Flash module on the home
page, numerous call-to-action links, and
information resources on fitness, staying
healthy, weight loss and personal training.
The services WSI provided included graphic
design, website development, content
writing, page layout, Web SEO, analytics, and
paid search through WSI Local AdWorks.

Testimonial:
This is exactly the site that I would
want if I could have described it. How
is it that not everybody is focusing on
Internet marketing? The results are
WSI Consultant: just incredible!
Joseph Coupal - David Dos Santos
Massachusetts, USA Owner, Answer is Fitness

51
52
 Event Venue
Challenges and Goals:
Corinne’s Banquet Hall knew that 50% of
Corrine’s their current leads came through their

Banquet Hall existing website. They were convinced that if

they could show up on page one of Google
Search Engine for service related terms in surrounding
Optimization geographic areas, they would see a huge
www.corinnesbanquets.com
increase in business.

The Solution:
WSI provided SEO which included key word
research, competitive analysis, page creation
and modification of the existing site, on-page
optimization, meta tag changes and wrote
new content. The objectives were first to
get the client on page one of Google and
Yahoo! for 20 different geocentric terms. The
second objective, which is just as important,
was to generate traffic for their targeted
market segments. For the analysis, we used
Wordtracker.com, WSI Local Adworks traffic
estimator tool and Quintura.com.

Results:
As a result of our efforts, Corrine’s Banquet
Hall is now on page one in Google for more
than 20 geocentric terms for Pawtucket and
Providence, RI and Attleboro, MA which were
the prime targeted areas. They loved the
new look of the Home page and the Live
Entertainment and Seated Dinner pages. Testimonial:
More importantly, they were truly amazed
that the site was on page one of Google for I had heard these types of results were
possible but I had no idea how to do it
so many different terms. Immediately they
or who could do it.
noticed a significant increase in calls and a
WSI Consultant: boost in business. This level of satisfaction Jarrod Ilkowitz
Joseph Coupal resulted in a new 6-month deal for SEO and Operations Manager/Partner,
Massachusetts, USA an email marketing campaign. Corinne’s Banquets

53
54
 Transportation
Challenges and Goals:
Charter Bus GTours is a charter bus company that
provides services in the state of Texas,
GTours mainly, Austin and San Antonio, expanding
to southern Texas (Brownsville, McAllen and
Search Engine Harlingen) and Houston. They were not
Optimization showing in the first 50 positions in Google,
www.gtours.info
Yahoo! or MSN. Most of their marketing
and customers are online and reachable via
– organic searches. GTours wanted to appear
on top of search engines targeting locations
such as San Antonio and Austin, Texas to
capture that market.

The Solution:
We not only positioned GTours in the
first page of major search engines for San
Antonio and Austin but also positioned the
company in the first place for cities such as
McAllen, Brownsville and Harlingen within
1 month. WSI provided SEO and is in the Testimonial:

“
process of upgrading the SEO and moving
on to Social Media Optimization (SMO) too.
Results:
The client was able to double their sales in
3 months to the extent that he had to buy
another bus to keep up with the growing
demand. GTours was so satisfied that they
want to increase spending and start an SMO
campaign. They also want to target cities
such as Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth and
expect that with this strategy they will be
able to eliminate seasonality for summer and
winter when it is the lowest for their service
WSI Consultant: in South and Central Texas. WSI measured
Jesus Monroy the results using Google Analytics and
Texas, USA information received from customers.
My company received 75% of its
business from brokers. Depending on
brokers made my business vulnerable
because if brokers decided to work
with other companies I would be out of
business very fast. I learned that brokers
received more than 85% from search
engines. This is when WSI approached
me and we decided to go give it a try.
We proved this decision to be the best
we have ever made in our business.
Now we still receive the same amount
of business from brokers but their
participation in our revenue decreased
from 75% to 34%. We will continue to
invest our marketing budget with WSI “
and plan to upgrade our SEO and add
SMO in our strategy.

55
56

Security Services
Challenges and Goals:
Overton was going through many significant
Overton changes for the past 12 months. They had
changed their business name and were busy
Security
expanding into other markets. They had
Search Engine Optimization put together a new website with the new
& Pay Per Click name using FrontPage. It was done very
www.overtonsecurity.com
quickly and they soon found out that it was
inadequate for the new brand they wanted
to build. They were looking for a brand
new professional website that they could
be proud of and compete with the larger
security companies in the market.
They originally contacted WSI to just build a
new website. But as we presented Internet
Marketing Systems, they were intrigued
by the concept of marketing using search
engines on the Internet
The Solution:
The Internet Marketing System Gold Package
was the ideal solution. WSI provided the
client with a brand new website using WSI
Business Edge, in addition to search engine
optimization services for 10 key phrases, a
pay-per-click campaign for $1000 per month
on Google and Yahoo! Their main goal with
the new website is not only to present a
more professional look but also highlight
their main lines of business. Their home
page clearly showcases their 3 main services.
Results:
Overton Security is now a strong believer
WSI Consultant: of Internet Marketing Systems. It has only
Jason Yi been about 6 months but their PPC/SEO
California, USA campaigns have already resulted in several
major deals with enough profit to cover
the entire 15-month campaign cost several
times. Their SEO campaign has put them at
the top of Google and Yahoo! for several
key phrases.
Testimonial:
“
WSI guided us through the entire
process of website design, development
and Internet marketing. We launched
our new site in March of 2008 and initi-
ated SEO and PPC to generate traffic to
the site. To date, the campaigns have
led to very positive outcomes. PPC is
generating plenty of clicks and we are
getting substantial leads. SEO has posi-
tioned us at the top of the first pages of
Yahoo! and Google.
We have already closed several major
accounts which have more than paid
for the website and the cost of Internet
marketing. WSI continues to meet with
us monthly, helping us makes careful
adjustments that ensure that we con-
tinue to get calls and inquiries.
The WSI team has been invaluable,
proving to us that Internet marketing
can work effectively for Overton Secu-
rity. It has become a very significant
“
part of our overall marketing strategy.
Frank DiMeco
Marketing Director, Overton Security
57
58
 Restaurant Chain
Challenges and Goals: indicated that the website was meeting
international standards.
The objective was to create a friendly
Subway website that is appealing to young
Results:
Sandwiches customers and can be easily maintained and
updated by the owner. Subway Sandwiches Right now the word of mouth is very positive
KSA KSA was looking for a friendly content about the website, which means that it has a
Conversion management system that could be fully good user appeal.
www.subway-ksa.com controlled by a non technical staff.

They also had two target audiences in mind:

» Subway customers from the public (mainly
school aged students and health conscious
middle aged customers)
» potential Subway franchisees.

First, WSI analyzed the client’s profile to

assess their business. Being a franchisee,
Subway Sandwiches operated like a typical
SMB, so the challenges and objectives
were no stranger to WSI. WSI determined
that awareness needed to be created and
a presentable Internet presence had to be
developed. They also needed a site that
required limited resources to market
and maintain.

The Solution:
WSI provided a WSI Business Edge solution as
this platform covers all Subway Sandwiches’
basic needs and has a friendly interface,
and is convenient and scalable. The website
is simple yet has all the content they need.
Testimonial:
Business Edge modules are versatile and
Great job! We made the right choice
customizable, so they met every aspect by working with WSI. Stand by for
and requirements without the need for referrals from us.
WSI Consultant: any special customization or complex
functionality. They received approval for the Fawaz Bahian
Mohammed El-Sawah
Saudi Arabia website from the franchisor, which clearly Support Services Manager, Subway KSA

59
60
 Used Auto Parts
Challenges and Goals:
Everdrive has an eCommerce site selling
nearly a million different SKUs of used auto

Everdrive parts. Essentially, they are an online sales

agent for auto junk yards across the country.
Pay Per Click Their issue was they were not meeting their
full online sales potential. They needed to
www.everdrive.com
increase sales while managing marketing
costs.

The Solution:
We evaluated their current PPC activity, made
changes to their campaigns, conducted
usability studies on the website, executed a
SEO campaign, evaluated metrics, etc. As for
Internet marketing, WSI provided consulting
services, PPC, SEO, Conversion Architecture
and analytics consulting.

Results:
When we started working with Everdrive
they were selling $70,000 per month online.
In the most recent three months, their sales
have averaged $1,037,000.

WSI published a weekly report of several

metrics including unit sales and dollar sales.
The sales data comes from the client.

Testimonial:
Partners like WSI have been instru-
mental in making Everdrive a success.
WSI and their team have worked
closely with us to achieve our online
WSI Consultant: sales goals.
Neal Lappe -
Virginia, USA

61
 Affordable Residential
Challenges and Goals:
Moving Services Pack and Ride provides affordable residential
moving services throughout the United
Pack and Ride States. They started this business in 2005
and WSI has worked with them from the
Pay Per Click start. They were a start up company needing
to grow, succeed and increase their online
www.PackandRide.com
quotes so their inside sales team could close
sales faster.

The Solution:
WSI built and continued to improve their
website. We also set up their PPC campaigns
and have been managing them strategically.
We conducted usability studies on the
website and executed a SEO campaign.
WSI provided consulting services, PPC, SEO,
Conversion Architecture, analytics consulting
and website development.

Results:
Testimonial:
Neal Lappe and his team built and continued

“
to improve the PackAndRide.com website
and also set up their PPC campaigns. The
client opened the business doing $0 in sales.
They now receive several thousand quotes
per month and generate several million
dollars in sales a year. WSI published monthly
reports of several metrics including online
quotes, unit sales and dollar sales. The sales
data comes from the client.
WSI Consultant:
Neal Lappe
Virginia, USA
We were a startup company looking for
a very extensive website. After diligently
shopping the market, we decided on
WSI. We did not mind spending extra
money because we knew we were
forming a partnership. Our decision
to go with WSI was one of the best
decisions we have made. We received a
professional and intricate website along
with invaluable ongoing marketing
services. The WSI people have
handled our account in a timely and
professional manner throughout the
process. We will continue to give WSI
additional business and look forward “
to continuing our mutually beneficial
partnership.

63
62
 Affordable Residential
Challenges and Goals:
Moving Services Pack and Ride provides affordable residential
moving services throughout the United
Pack and Ride States. They started this business in 2005
and WSI has worked with them from the
Pay Per Click start. They were a start up company needing
to grow, succeed and increase their online
www.PackandRide.com
quotes so their inside sales team could close
sales faster.

The Solution:
WSI built and continued to improve their
website. We also set up their PPC campaigns
and have been managing them strategically.
We conducted usability studies on the
website and executed a SEO campaign.
WSI provided consulting services, PPC, SEO,
Conversion Architecture, analytics consulting
and website development.

Results:
Testimonial:
The client opened the business doing $0 in

“
sales. They now get more than 5,000 quotes
per month and sell a little over $500,000 per
month. WSI publishes monthly reports of
several metrics including online quotes, unit
sales and dollar sales. The sales data comes
from the client.
WSI Consultant:
Neal Lappe
Virginia, USA
We were a startup company looking for
a very extensive website. After diligently
shopping the market, we decided on
WSI. We did not mind spending extra
money because we knew we were
forming a partnership. Our decision
to go with WSI was one of the best
decisions we have made. We received a
professional and intricate website along
with invaluable ongoing marketing
services. The WSI people have
handled our account in a timely and
professional manner throughout the
process. We will continue to give WSI
additional business and look forward “
to continuing our mutually beneficial
partnership.

63
64
 Print
Challenges and Goals:
2m2u is a Web trading arm of 2mprint Ltd.
2m2u specializing in sales of printed calendars and
photo books. 2m2u already have a system
Search Engine in place that they use for taking orders, and
Optimization worked with a Web developer to change
their home page according to their email
www.2m2u.co.uk
marketing and mail shots. The aim of 2m2u
was to increase brand awareness and to sell,
sell, sell. 2m2u generally only print for UK
customers, although long-term this could
change when they have a shipping system in
place for overseas customers.

The Solution:
WSI in conjunction with a partner in the
WSI network started work immediately and
exceeded the client’s expectations by turning
the project around overnight. They overcame
every obstacle in order to launch the site.

Results:
2m2u started then to use the efforts of WSI Testimonial:

“
to design more SEO-friendly Web pages.
The Web pages have all been built with key
words and meta tags in place and links have
been created too. They also combined this
with a pay-per-click campaign, achieving an
average of 14.86% click-through rate!
In a short span of time, the website has
become more visible on the search engines.
In fact, 90.44% of their visitors find them
WSI Consultant: through the search engines currently. This
Tracy Spence has led to a large increase in sales for 2m2u.
Northamptonshire, UK They are very happy with WSI’s services.
...WSI have been invaluable to my
business www.2m2u.co.uk during the
last few weeks. They have insured we
had our new website up and running on
time to match our marketing campaign
we were in the process of rolling out.
WSI have put their skills and efforts into
making the difficult situation a more
manageable one, something I am most
grateful for. I will be trying to secure
WSI more business whenever I can. I will
“
be recommending their services most
highly.

Warren Thorp Mark Hipperson

Norwich, UK 2M Print Ltd.

65
66
 Challenges and Goals:
Public Speaker
As a public speaker and impersonator, the
Mo Shapiro way to get work of this kind is normally
through an agent. The agency would
Search Engine normally take a rather heavy cut, meaning
Optimization
her profits were greatly reduced. Her aim
was to reduce these costs. Her website was
www.Inform-Global.com
hard to update, her online shop rarely sold
anything (maybe 1 or 2 books a year) and she
did not feel she got the support she wanted
from her London based web company. Spam
emails were also a big issue for her.
The Solution:
We created a Joomla based website which
included a virtue mart shop. This was far
easier to manage than her previous site.
It also enabled her to add a video to show
exactly what she does. It’s a great looking
site with good functionality. This is also
hosted with WSI and we monitor the spam.
We also created a screenshot by screen shot
PowerPoint Presentation user manual with
links from the intro page to the pages she
would use to ensure she can completely
manage her website.
We researched keywords, included an XML
sitemap which we uploaded to Google,
added her to Google Local; we made her
name the main focus, rather than other
words. We are also about to create a YouTube
page to help “show her off”.
WSI Consultant:
Tracy Spence
Northamptonshire, UK
Results:
The client has taken her first order on her
website for a very niche book. She has been
invited to present in two places outside of
the UK already. Shapiro receives positive
comments about the look and feel of her
website. The client can easily manage her
own website saving her money and reducing
her monthly hosting costs. There has been
a significant reduction in spam emails. The
client is now on the first page of Google for
her name with her website rankings.
Testimonial:
“ WSI is a company that truly represents
the can-do approach to websites. [My
Consultant] clearly knows her way
around the Internet and combines a
professional, knowledgeable approach
with an excellent understanding of the
complexities of the Internet to the web-
site novice. She has created a website
that we can easily navigate and change
whenever we want to. She made us
feel as though we were her only clients
and nothing was too much to ask. Her
approach is one that combines humour
with lots of creativity in the construction
of the clean, accessible website that we
wanted. It has been a pleasure to work
alongside WSI and we look forward to
a long-term and successful relationship
“
with her.
Mo Shapiro
67
68
 Challenges and Goals:
Health, Beauty & Wellness
Before WSI, Aesthetic Solutions had the
Aesthetic following challenges:
» Had a website but it was not found online
Solutions
Search Engine Optimization, » Were not able to easily update their website
mail Marketing and » Website didn’t reflect a professional image
Web Analytics
www.Aesthetic-Solutions.biz
The objective of this project was to
develop a website that focuses on how to
communicate Aesthetic Solutions’ offering
to their end customers. Their previous
website didn’t have a clear organization of
information. In the first page, it didn’t even
mention the purpose of their business.
We discussed that there is a lot room for
improvement and they liked the idea
of measuring the results to adjust plans
accordingly.
The Solution:
WSI provided a solution using the Online
Business Solution (OBS) platform with an
additional email marketing module. WSI also
used Google Analytics and the OBS Live Stats
to track visitors.
Internet marketing highlights:
» Search engine optimization: Develop new
and high quality content to include more
keywords
» Email marketing: The system includes an
email marketing tool so the client can send
newsletters to customers
» Web analytics: Regular reports are
presented, analyzed and based on them,
enhancements are made
WSI Consultant:
Victor Castellanos
Ontario, Canada
Results:
The site was launched on May 2, 2008. After
some SEO work, it took less than one week
for the site to appear on the first page of
Google Canada for several product related
keywords like:
» Medical spa equipment Toronto
» Medical spa equipment Canada
» Non surgical lifting Canada
» Lymphatic Drainage equipment Canada
» Breast firming equipment Canada
They have 4 products in inventory, plus
another 6 that can be sold by order. All of
them are highly specialized pieces of medical
equipment and the purpose of the site is to
generate qualified leads for the sales team.
Aesthetic Solutions is very happy that the
website is supporting the sales team by
providing the right information about the
products and they will be monitoring the site
as a lead generator tool.
Testimonial:
“
Before WSI, my website couldn’t be
found in Google. WSI redesigned the
way we present the information on the
site so visitors can understand our busi-
ness. What impressed me the most was
after just one week of launching our “
new WSI Marketing System, we ranked
in very good positions on Google.
Ange Kanavas
President CEO, Aesthetic Solutions
69
 This shows the amount of visits to the site in comparison
with the searches for the words. The clickthrough rate (CTR)
is over 3% meaning that for each 100 people that search
for a specific word more than 3 searches go to the Johnson
equipment website.

70
 Challenges and Goals: Results:
Equipment Manufacturer
Johnson Equipment Company started After the site was launched, WSI started
the PPC campaign. Three months after the
Johnson with a basic Web page and some salesmen
distributed within the country, but they first campaign was started, WSI launched
Equipment the second one. The client worked with WSI
needed a way to effectively promote
Pay Per Click their new operations in Mexico. The main throughout the project with ideas and value
objectives were to start with a basic website, added inputs. When WSI delivered the final
www.johnsonequipment.com.mx project, the client was excited with the end
a sales force and a promotional campaign
to be the motor of the promotional strategy results. WSI greatly surpassed their original
in Mexico. WSI’s goal was to help Johnson expectations. The project for the client
Equipment with an integrated strategy to produced excellent results within the first
help the company promote their products month, and now they are growing with a
within the Mexican market and to achieve a larger sales force.
good return on investment.
In the month of June 2009, the customer
received a total of 2,247 visits to their
The Solution: website (420 for campaign #1 and 1,827 for
WSI provided the client with a basic Web campaign #2) – in only one month!
solution to start the roll out of this strategy.
The solution was designed according to the
corporate image and their products, while
showing concordance with the products of
their home office plant in the United States.
WSI delivered a solution using the Small
Business Express. At the time, WSI’s goal
Testimonial:
was to start with two Internet marketing

“
campaigns for their two mail products,
We have maintained two PPC cam-
loading docks and industrial ventilators. For
paigns with WSI, and I feel very happy
this, we started two pay-per-click campaigns
when I ask a customer on the phone
with Google.
‘How did you find about us?’ and they
respond with ‘I Googled “levelers”
and found you’. We have been able to
participate and win important projects
through this. I strongly believe our
“
potential customers will use the Internet
more and more to find quality suppliers.

WSI Consultant: Marco Dávila

Alberto Ferreiro Sales Manager / Mexico Northeast Region
Nuevo Leon, Mexico Johnson Equipment Company

71
72
 Exhibition Displays
Challenges and Goals: Results:
When WSI initially met Skyline Whitespace, The new www.skylinewhitespace.com
Skyline they wanted some advice on how to market website reflects the sleek and professional
image of Skyline Whitespace and conveys
Whitespace their business online and get ahead of
their competitors who were at the top of their exceptional exhibition services and
Website Design and Search the search engine results at the time. WSI portfolio of past projects in an organized and
Engine Optimization identified that the best way to do that was to attractive manner. Their reaction has been
www.skylinewhitespace.com
create a new website that was more search very positive with internal staff and other
engine friendly and to make sure that it was Skyline subsidiaries showing enthusiasm and
optimized correctly for the search terms the interest in the new UK site. They are already
client wanted to compete for. seeing improved traffic, conversion rates
and search engine results and are receiving
Skyline Whitespace wanted a “showcase site” increased management information from
that would not only look good and display WSI’s Web analytics service.
the many variations of display products that
they create, but also one that would reach
the top of the search results and enable
them to increase the online visibility of the
business. They also wanted to be able to
update the site themselves which they had
not previously been able to do.

The Solution:
WSI chose to provide a WSI Business Edge
solution due to its modular platform, which
enabled WSI to add the appropriate modules
to achieve the functionality required, and
also to achieve a very high-end looking
solution. For Skyline Whitespace in their
exhibition display industry, image is
extremely important and they were therefore
very particular about the design and
implementation of their solution. They were
overall very satisfied with WSI’s creativity. In
order to help with the marketing of the site,
WSI also incorporated some content pages
WSI Consultant: and these pages are already bringing traffic
David Duncan to the site.
Surrey, UK

73
 after

before

74
 Finance
Challenges and Goals: Results:
Prior to WSI, the bank was not able to easily Heartland Bank is very excited to be using
Heartland update the content on their website. They their new site platform and being able to
update content whenever (and wherever)
Bank felt this was hindering their ability to offer
current information about the bank and they want. Since the site is newly launched
Website Design their site was both becoming stale and (within the last month), WSI is still tracking
not keeping up with current branding and activity on the site and seeing positive trends
www.heartlandbank.com
marketing efforts. They also had no idea and customer comments.
what the activity on their site was, who was
visiting, how they were being found and
had come to the decision that their website
was a “necessary evil” in the course of doing
business.

The primary objective was to build a solution

that enabled their marketing department to
keep the site current with fresh and helpful
information for their customers and visitors.
They also wanted to get a better handle on
what visitors were doing on their site, and
recognize trends in site activity.

The Solution:
WSI redesigned a new site for Heartland
Bank using the integrated Internet marketing
platform, WSI eFusion for ease of use and
ongoing management. The bank’s new site
embraces their own “main focus” on the
home page to help visitors dig deeper into
the site.

The client opted for a very cutting edge,

graphical interface with four call-to-action
items in a Flash-based navigation feature. The
site also incorporates a financial calculator
package to further engage visitors with
WSI Consultant: interactivity. Heartland Bank is also planning
Eric Cook on incorporating online account opening
Michigan, USA services to open deposit accounts online.

75
76

Real Estate
Joya del
Pacifico
Search Engine Optimization
and Paid Search Marketing
http://www.joyadelpacifico.com/
Challenges and Goals:
Joya del Pacifico was looking for investors to
invest in their different real estate projects,
such as condominiums and marina projects.
In addition, the client wanted to increase
their club memberships by using more
effective marketing techniques.
The objectives of the project in order of
importance were:
» Sell land
» Increase memberships of the club
» Sell beach houses
» Sell apartments
» Sell shareholder club memberships
» Increase the events of the club
» Have an Internet online booking system for
the club
promotions and discounts to drive more foot
traffic to the client’s business.
Results:
As a result of WSI’s PPC campaign, Joya del
Pacifico’s website went from receiving 4
visits daily to 40-50 targeted website visits
daily. In combination with WSI’s SEO efforts,
the new site receives about 75-90 visits per
day in total. Joya del Pacifico is very happy
with the new website, but most importantly,
they are thrilled that WSI generates about
20-25 prospects for them on a monthly basis,
strictly from the Web.

The Solution:
WSI chose to develop this solution using WSI
Business Edge because the platform can be
customized in almost every way, and WSI
was able to tailor the look and feel of the
platform for this project.

After the website was launched, WSI

conducted a PPC campaign for Joya del
Pacifico to increase website traffic. We also
launched 12 ads directly leading to the
different projects Joya del Pacifico was
working on.

In addition to these search marketing

WSI Consultant:
Edgar Sandoval
La Libertad, El Salvador
strategies, WSI launched an email marketing
campaign for Joya del Pacifico that we
manage for lead generation purposes every
month. We also conduct other campaigns
weekly to the club members with special

77
78
 Community Center
Challenges and Goals:
Before WSI, Special Needs Family Center
Special Needs had an inaccessible website with very poor
design, bad structure, etc. It was a home-
Family Center
made website, so they needed to have a
Web Design and professional online presence created for
Email Marketing them from scratch.
www.snfgroup.com

The Solution:
WSI’s Internet marketing plan included an
advanced content management system,
high-end creative design, interactive games,
donation system, mailing list management
system, email marketing template,
volunteers’ application module, and event
gallery and registration solution. For this
project, WSI chose the Voloper OBS (Online
Business Solution) as the base platform
for this client. Also the in house work has
been done to complete the final delivery
of design, marketing, etc. We ended up
having a nice and easy to use website for this
organization. They love it, their volunteers Testimonial:
loved it, and the special needs kids are using

it with no issues. It was not very complex;
however it is very functional and usable.
Results:
The results have been great. The site has
been awarded a Princess Haya Award for
the Outstanding Special Education Website
in April 2009. The client was very happy
with the results and they appreciated our
assistance to make the site a success online.
WSI Consultant:
Husam Jandal
Dubai, UAE
“
Words cannot express the joy I felt when
the announcement was made that SNF
had won the Best Website award. I am
so thankful that SNF has such a great
band of dedicated Volunteers like WSI,
who have given so much of your time
and talent to make this award pos-
sible. Thank you and your team for all
the effort that you put in to create the
SNF website and I wish you success in “
all your endeavors, big or small, in the
future.
Safia Bari
SNF Director

79
 Testimonial:

“
Working with WSI has been an incredible
experience. With their thorough
understanding of effective Internet
marketing systems, they were able to
help our firm increase our return on
“
investment drastically. I am so impressed
with the hard work, dedication and
results-driven nature of WSI

Lisa Tierney
Margolis & Company P.C.

80

Finance
Challenges and Goals:
Margolis & Co. P.C. wanted to build an
Marcum Group online marketing campaign specifically
geared towards attorneys and business
(Margolis & Co. P.C.)
owners who were looking for timely, cost
Pay Per Click effective business valuation services. The
ongoing campaign began in March of 2007
www.marg.com
and was geared towards measuring return
on investment rather than building brand
awareness for the firm’s business valuation
practice.
The Solution:
» Set up AdWords campaigns with major
search engines Google, Yahoo!, Ask, and
AOL whereby several search phrases such as
“business valuation expert, Philadelphia” in
various combinations appear at the top right
column of the first results page.
» Create a website landing page for the
campaign so that visitors who enter the site
through the campaign landing page can be
tracked for page visits, time spent on the site,
and what files were downloaded.
» Create a unique phone line that rings
directly into the Marketing Director’s office
and use caller ID to identify all callers from
the pay-per-click campaign. When this line
rings, the Marketing Director becomes the
business developer and handles these calls
herself.
campaign on March 1, 2007 to March 31,
2008 include:
» 1,058 visitors coming into the firm’s website
from the campaign’s landing page.
» 2,189 page views of the landing page.
Behind the home page, the campaign
landing page was the second most viewed
page on the firm’s overall website during
those 13 months.
» 152 phone calls to the unique phone
number on the landing page that went
directly into the Marketing Director’s office.
» Revenue generated from signed
engagements: $ 26,741, a return on
investment of 611%.
» Average cost to secure an engagement:
$ 179
» 18 prospects currently in the pipeline for
estimated additional fees of $ 50,000.
» The two downloadable curriculum vitas of
the business valuation team that are linked
to the landing page, CV-GLUSMAN.pdf and
CV-BARBAGALLO.pdf, were downloaded
a combined 650 times. Glusman was the
3rd most popular download from the
firm’s overall website for those 13 months
and Barbagallo was the 6th most popular
download from the overall website.
» The landing page was viewed an average of
4 minutes and 32 seconds a visit.
» Other work opportunities have been
identified as a result of the initial
communication with prospects and at least
one attorney has returned to Margolis & Co.
with repeat business.

Results:
WSI Consultant: The campaign has been so successful
Nancy Vinkler that the firm is continuing it indefinitely.
Pennsylvania, USA Measurements from the start of the

81
82
 their customers using the integrated email
Food
Challenges and Goals: marketing system.
Tasty Bite manufactures and sells ready-to-
Tasty Bite eat Asian food, mainly Indian and Thai. They
sell it in main supermarket chains. When
Web Design and
Results:
WSI met the client the first time, they were
Email Marketing With their new website, the client was
not ready to invest in a Web solution yet.
However, WSI continued to keep in touch able to get more leads and practice better
www.tastybite.com.au
with them, and two years later, when they communication with existing clients. WSI
were ready for a solution, they turned to provided the client with a professional Web
WSI. The main challenge the client had solution, which they are very happy with. WSI
was defining a system to leverage the and the client are currently in discussions
large amount of clients who purchase their regarding ongoing enhancements to the
products on a regular basis. Their clients buy website and starting an Internet marketing
their products but remain anonymous, so strategy in the near future.
they did not have any communication with
them after the purchases.

The Solution:
WSI delivered a solution using the robust
Internet marketing platform, WSI eFusion.
This clean and easy-to-navigate website has
a good design with detailed information
about the client’s products. It also features
their promotions and the ability to subscribe
to their mailing list to receive recipes and Testimonial:

“
discounts.
The website is a great success. We were
able to communicate directly with our
Aside from the website development, WSI
clients and prospects and promote our
also provides the client with occasional
products effectively. WSI eFusion is a
advice on Internet marketing best practices.
great and user-friendly system. We are
After the site was launched, Tasty Bite
happy to recommend WSI’s products
started a contest to win a trip for two to
and services to new prospects or clients.
India. Purchasers had to send them the
barcode of the products they bought to
enter the competition. The website provided
The website has been wonderful for our
business and I want to thank you again
“
for your persistence and patience.
information and support for this program.
WSI Consultant: This contest was used to build a mailing list Vasant Manoharan
Yaron Berkowitz through the website allowing the client to National Business Manager,
Victoria, Australia maintain extensive communication with Preferred Brands Australia

83
84
 Auto Dealer
Challenges and Goals:
White Plains Chrysler Jeep Dodge is an
White Plains established car dealership in downtown
White Plains, New York. The New York
Chrysler Jeep
metro area is highly competitive and
Dodge newspaper advertising continues to lose its
Search Engine
effectiveness. The ultimate goal is to drive
Optimization
www.whiteplainschrysler.com prospective customers into the showroom.
The Solution:
We decided we needed to increase the
website in the search results rankings,
increase and measure traffic. We recognized
that a custom solution was required to
achieve this. We rolled out an SEO program
to include extra key words and pages
with the support of WSI Search Results.
In addition to SEO, we provided a concise
executive report which included insights as
well as some basic data.
WSI Consultant:
Rob Shapiro
New York, USA
Results:
Visits in June 2008 increased to 3327 from
838 in August 2009.
» Unique visits in June 2008 were 2348
compared to 609 in August 2009
» Total page views in June 2008 10,652
compared to 3145 in August 2009
» Nine targeted key words that were not on
page one in August 2009 are now on page 1.
In May 2009, when Chrysler closed about
25% of its dealerships, White Plains Chrysler
Jeep Dodge remained open for business.
In June 2009, when the client purchased a
Hyundai dealership, WSI was hired to do the
SEO as well as PPC.
WSI measured the results using analytics
and ranker reports provided by WSI Search
Results.
85
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Conversion Architecture:
 
 
 
 
 
 

Impprrove Yoou
 
 
 
ur Online Performaan
nc e
 
While Reducing Your Spend 

WSSI White Pa
aper

Preepared by:: Doug Sch
hust  
Connversion A
Architecturre Expert, W
WSI 
 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
Introduction
Research has shown a major difference in conversion and return on investment between companies 
that test their online communications and those who don’t. 

So why doesn’t every online business have a regular testing program? 

The fact is that many businesses and marketers are confused about where to begin, and how. Some that 
do test don’t do it often enough, or are not sure how to interpret the results. 

With so many potential areas to test, including home page, landing pages, pay‐per‐click ads, emails and 
now the influence of social media, marketers need to know: 

• Which tests provide the biggest potential return on investment 

• How to structure tests for consistency and accuracy 

• How to continue improving test results and duplicate success 

First of all you need a solid benchmarking framework for basic online testing that enables you to realize 
significant gains in conversion and revenue. 

We hope this overview helps your business and if you have not yet implemented a formal program as 
well as those looking for higher conversions, we recommend a WSI Benchmarking Program to guide and 
improve your efforts. Please contact a WSI Marketing Consultant today! 

There is only one key thought process you need to act on to increase your online conversion rate and 
that is simply Test, Test and Test. 
 
Within that testing there are 4 key areas you need to understand to increase your online conversion and 
reduce your overall cost per lead. 
 
‐ Ask The Right Questions 
‐ Measure The Right Items 
‐ Perform The Right Tests 
‐ Analyze & Make Adjustments Based On Results 
 
These tests will give you a better understanding of: your customer profiles, their online behavior 
patterns and what drives them to take action. 
 
 
 
 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
It All Begins With Testing To Establish Benchmarks: 
 

At WSI, we apply the concept of “benchmarking” to our testing process. 

What do we mean by benchmarking? A testing process that is useful, practical, and delivers predicable 
results that you can carry forward into a successful marketing program. 

The benchmark results of our online testing process are directly related to five key elements. 

This formula was created by MarketingExperiments and is the basis for online conversion today. 

Wherein:  
u = Utility  
q = Research Question  
t = Treatment 
m = Metric System 
v = Validity Factor 
i = Interpretation 

In other words, ask the right question, measure the right thing, perform the right test, and learn from 
the results. 

We recommend that businesses interested in establishing a strong online presence use the WSI 
Benchmarking Program and incorporate these elements into your online strategies. 

There are 3 main areas that need to be tested, home page, landing page, email and the impact of social 
media. Using these testing techniques you can see what influences a client or potential client when they 
connect with you online. 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
THE BENCHMARKING PROGRAM 

1. Start with the right question.  
In a recent Web clinic on this subject, more than 60% of the audience said that the very first 
step in successful online testing—asking “the right research question”—is their biggest 
challenge. 

All single factor A/B split tests begin with “which?” 

Marketers may start with the interrogative “what?” or “why?” when they are brainstorming on 
an informal basis, but their research question must progress to “which?” in order for it to be 
specific enough to be used in a formal test. 

For example, “What is the best headline?” becomes “Which headline will convert best?” and 
“What is the best price?” becomes “Which of three price points is best for this product?” 

2. Develop the Treatment(s).  
A variable is the general element you intend to test. Headline, price, and copy are all example of 
variables, and there are dozens more. Again, one key to successful A/B testing is knowing which 
one you want to single out. 

A value is the specific option (content, size/amount, color, position) of the variable you are 
going to test. 

The test Control—“A”—will be your current page, ad, or email. 

The test Treatment or Treatments—“B” or “C”— are the pages, ads, or emails containing the 
new values of your variable. 

Values become Treatments. When a new Treatment performs better (better than the Control, 
better than another Treatment if there is more than one), it becomes the new Control in 
subsequent testing. 

3. Determine the right metrics.  
Your main objective will be to determine the metrics that will best answer your primary 
research question (the “which?”), though secondary metrics may also provide insight. 

First, establish what you are trying to accomplish.  

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 Conversion Architecture: 
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Are you trying to attract more subscribers? 

Capture more qualified leads?  

Obtain a higher conversion rate? 

Produce a better ROI on a pay–per–click (PPC) campaign? 

After establishing what you want to achieve, choose the element you wish to test in order to 
select the appropriate metric. 

There are essentially four elements you can measure: 

• The amount of activity on your site 

• The source of that activity 

• The nature of that activity 

• The results of that activity 

Use organizing questions to help you choose the appropriate metric; for example: 

Question Metric

Who visited my page?   Number of unique visitors (UV) 

Where did they come from?  Referring URL, organic search, PPC ad & social media influence 

What did they do/view?   Page views per visitor; clicks 

What did they buy / sign up for
Number of orders, average amount, total revenue 
or did they call? 

4. Check validity, starting with sample size sufficiency.  
For confidence in your findings, test results must be statistically meaningful. In other words, 
there has to have been enough difference in results to make the meaningful right choice. 

Typically, researchers will tolerate no more than a 5% chance that the test results are due to 
random variation. This is referred to as “5% significance level” or “95% confidence level.” For 
example, you would want to be at least 95% confident that the results of your test will detect a 
difference in clickthrough rate of 0.5% or more. 

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Key point: as sample size (n) increases, Margin of Error (E) declines.  

Check for four additional, major validity threats. 

There are a number of threats to the validity of testing, but these four threats are common in 
online testing: 

• History effects 

• Instrumentation effects 

• Selection effects 

• Sampling distortion effects 

Ensure that your test results have not been skewed or invalidated by these threats. 

History effects. The effect on a test variable by an extraneous variable associated with the 
passage of time. Industry events, news events, and holidays are all examples of history effects 
that could skew your test results. 

Instrumentation effects. The effect on a test variable by an extraneous variable associated with 
a change in the measuring instrument. Having a server go down in the middle of your test is one 
example of an instrumentation effect. 

When reviewing your test protocol to exclude this threat, ask: Did anything happen to the 
technical environment, measurement tools, or instrumentation that could have significantly 
influenced the results? 

Selection effects. The effect on a test variable by an extraneous variable associated with 
different types of subjects not being evenly distributed between experimental treatments. 

Mixing traffic sources can skew results. A great landing page created for one specific channel—
for example, a PPC ad with great copy related to a specific organic search term—can do poorly 
when presented to visitors coming from a different PPC ad for a completely different product or 
service. 

Sampling distortion effects. The effect on the test outcome caused by failing to collect a 
sufficient number of observations. 

Depending on the amount of traffic your landing page normally gets, the number of email 
addresses you have to send your new email to, or the clicks you normally get on your existing 
PPC ad, it may take days, weeks or even months to reach the number of observations necessary 
to achieve testing validity. 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
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5. Correctly interpret the results.  
If results are valid, determine the impact and decide what your next test should be. Remember, 
the “winning” Treatment becomes the Control for your next test. 

If results are invalid or inconclusive, consider re‐running the test, but keep in mind that even 
invalid or inconclusive tests can provide value when properly analyzed. Learn from your results: 

• Expertise is cumulative knowledge. Keep careful records of tests and results. When results are 
surprising, look for hidden sources of error or insight.  

• Lack of difference is meaningful. That changing the variable(s) in the way that you did had little 
effect on performance is valuable knowledge. This may be the single most valuable insight you 
gain from an inconclusive test.  

• Try stratification. Try filtering the results, looking for patterns (days of the week, hours of the 
day, etc.). You may find a clear statistical “winner.”  

• Note alternative or secondary conclusions. Look for patterns of performance, even those that 
identify things that you definitely DON’T want to do.  

Breaking Down Your Campaigns and Marketing Channels 
Helps to Determine the Following: 
Who your clients are, what their needs and wants are and what drives them to take action. These are 
the key to any online marketing program. The diagram below illustrates a standard conversion funnel. 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
Testing allows you to identify your clients or potential client’s profiles which ultimately leads to higher 
conversions.  Understanding each potential audience allows you to communicate the right message at 
the right time. 

Understanding how your audience makes their decision is very important. The graphic below illustrates 
a standard buying process in a B2B environment buying process. 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
Test Protocol for A/B Split Testing for Landing Pages: 
1. Develop Your Capabilities and Select the Right Tools  
A/B split testing tools vary from simple CGI scripts to sophisticated software applications. You 
will find a list of services in the Resources section at the end of this report. 

Even without sophisticated A/B testing capability, sequential testing offers you an opportunity 
to learn many insights about your pages. For more on sequential testing, see the Concluding 
Comments, below. 

2. Identify Your Established Control Page  
Your control page will be the page against which you test all subsequent optimization efforts. If 
you are just getting started with A/B testing, your control page will be your current landing page 
before any optimization. When a new page performs better than the existing control page, it 
then becomes your control page in subsequent testing. 

3. Establish Your Testing Goals and Parameters  
What are you trying to accomplish with A/B split testing? Are you after more subscribers, a 
higher conversion rate, or a greater return on investment on your PPC campaigns? Your goals 
will determine your testing parameters, which will determine the potential success of your 
testing efforts. 

4. Determine Your Sufficient Test Interval  
This time period should allow you enough time to gather sufficient data to gauge real insight 
about your A/B tests. Identify the number of unique visitors and/or conversions needed to 
establish good data and then determine how long it will take you to generate this traffic. This 
number will vary from business to business, but should give you enough data to confidently 
declare a "winner." 

5. Create 1‐3 Radical Redesigns  
KEY POINT: These pages are not subtle optimizations changing only one or two elements on the 
page, but are wholly different pages representing a radically different approach. 

6. Evaluate These Redesigns in A/B Split Tests  
Test these alternate landing pages against the control page. Ideally, each page will be tested 
against every other page, but if that is impractical, test two pages at a time and keep the best as 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
your control for subsequent testing. We like to use heat maps to help track the impact of all the 
key elements and its potential impact. 

7. Based on Results, Determine Your True Control Page  
The radical redesign method will be more likely to generate a quantum leap in improved 
conversion rate than optimizing a mediocre page with little potential. Once you have identified 
the best general approach, you are now ready to optimize individual elements on the page. 

8. Optimize with Traditional Variable‐Specific A/B Testing Variables 
to Test:  
• Headline 
• Call to Action 
• Page Copy 
• Graphics 
• Color 
• Configuration of Page Elements 
• Etc. 

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 Conversion Architecture: 
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Concluding Comments: 
There are a few important points to remember about A/B split testing: 

1. Even if you can't set up a true A/B split test (where two versions of a page are being displayed 
one after another to alternate visitors to your site), it is very easy to create a sequential A/B split 
test.  

KEY POINT: A sequential test is when you show one version of a page for a certain period, like 
two days or a week, and then show another version for the following two days or a week. The 
results may be a little less reliable, but can still yield valuable information and trends. 

2. Testing gives you the opportunity to maximize conversion rates, solve problems, and challenge 
assumptions. And keep in mind that you have opportunities beyond testing small changes to a 
page.  

You can also challenge an existing page by designing and writing a radically different version, 
where almost everything is different. In fact, it is through these dramatically changed 
approaches that you are most likely to achieve breakthrough improvements. 

3. Testing provides companies with an invaluable means to demonstrate to company heads and 
management the hard figures behind any suggested changes or improvements.  

4. Use of consistent testing will increase the knowledge base of your web group or company 
significantly. You will learn more, and soon be able to determine a set of optimized practices 
that work best for your particular business.  

The absence of rigorous testing leaves you in the dark, depending on guesswork alone when 
creating your pages. 

 
Conclusion: 
Most businesses today do not take advantage of how important it is to test regularly. The key for any 
business wanting to achieve online success is knowing how to communicate to your target audience and 
knowing that all parties do not act on the same principles. This also allows your to figure out your online 
ad spend in an effective manner. The average online conversion today is 2%, which means that 98% of 
your ad budget is not being used effectively. 

The key is really to keep the testing simple and uncomplicated and once you have established your 
benchmarks then you can start to divert from your Control Page. This can be a simple process and or a 
more complicated one but the key is simply testing, testing and more testing of the right things and you 
will increase your online conversion.  

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 Conversion Architecture: 
Improve Your Online Performance While Reducing Your Marketing Spend 
 
 
About the Author 
 
Doug Schust’s background consists of both online and traditional marketing. His main 
focus is online marketing and helping clients focus not on traffic but the results from 
that traffic. Most recently Doug has spoken at several Google events on conversion 
and continues to share his knowledge and experience with other consultants and 
clients. 
 
Resources: 
• MarketingExperiments 

• MarketingSherpa 

• Omniture 

• Google 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 12 of 12 
 
 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool
That Turns Marketing Dollars
Into Highest ROI

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Francisco Hernandez

Email Marketing Expert, WSI
 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

Introduction
Email marketing’s popularity is attributable to its low cost, high ROI (Return-On-Investment) and focus
on customer retention. While the economic crisis will force retailers to cut back on many important
marketing and technology initiatives, email programs will survive relatively unscathed.

Odds are your marketing budget has felt the negative impact of growing concerns over the worldwide
economy. Small businesses and large corporations alike have been forced to erase entire sections of
their 2009 marketing “wish list” in response to a bleak economic forecast that has many marketers
evaluating the cost-effectiveness and ROI of previously ironclad marketing vehicles.

Amid the turmoil, Email marketing has remained a staple due to its cost-effectiveness and flexibility. At a
fraction of a penny per message, the value of an email campaign compared to an expensive direct mail
communication is substantial. However, getting the most from your email marketing campaigns during
tough economic times may require a different approach than what you’ve done before.

It is not surprising to see how advertisers continue adding to the budget for marketing activities that are
generating the greatest ROI, like searches and email marketing.

According to eMarketer, at the beginning of this year, 14% of the online marketing budget is destined
for email marketing. What is more surprising, is that advertisers are giving more importance to their
email marketing campaigns than on investing in social networks, even though it is a rising trend. In the
current economy, on which marketing budgets plummet, email marketing can be as important as a
wood plank to someone stranded at sea.

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

While marketing budgets will undoubtedly be trimmed in 2009 due to the recession, email’s share of
budgets is likely to rise. Email owes its resilience to its low cost, highly measurable results and focus on
customer retention.

No wonder business leaders were most likely to say email was a marketing tactic earmarked for
increased spending in 2009, according to a December 2008 StrongMail survey. The survey generated
responses across all industries, with strong representation in retail, financial services, technology and
media/entertainment.

CRM = Customer Really Manage

A few years back, great importance was given to the acquisition of the latest technologies to predict,
model and manage the relations between brands, companies and consumers. Unfortunately, for many
years, advertisers were lost in the midst of technological development and they were not giving
importance to what the consumer deserved. Today, with the growing reach of the Internet, broadband
connectivity, search engines, social networks, and increased demand for Smart Phones, we have arrived
at an era on which the consumer is truly the manager.

Taking into account that technology has to facilitate things, but it is not everything, advertisers have to
give the consumers the value they demand. For this reason, when we speak of email marketing, it is very
important to speak of RELEVANCE of the messages and the level of personalization in the conversations
that are initiated through email.

The actual situation of the use and abuse of email marketing has led the consumers to fight more and
more against SPAM and has driven them to different avenues of communication like social networks,
text messaging and other methods that allow the consumer to regain control over their personal

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

communications and relations with retailers. If retailers want to avoid being blacklisted or ignored, they
must improve the relevancy of their email programs. The solution lies in using segmentation and
personalization techniques to target emails. Of course, retailers also need to be vigilant about testing
their tactics to determine which are most effective.

Focus on Customers’ Needs or Lose Them Forever

Marketers must use measurement tools in order to provide personalized messaging. In a 2008 Merkle
Study, half of email recipients said good email influenced their decision to make a purchase, and 38
percent said they tend to spend more money with a company that sends emails they read regularly.
Thirty-two percent said they stopped doing business with a company because of poor email marketing
practices.

Looking forward, some of the most exciting possibilities for email marketing are appearing in social
networks. The social inbox, for instance, promises to provide an integrated view of a user’s email and
other communication channels. Furthermore, new applications will make it easier for people to virally
share emails with friends in their social networks.

Email Marketing’s Effectiveness

Email marketing’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent on it, according to the DMA’s report
“The Power of Direct Marketing,” which analyzed direct marketing activity across major industries.

However, compared to other media, the ROI of email marketing has been in a faster decline than other
advertising avenues. This decline could be attributed to the maturation of this method. But also to how
companies are investing more on emails that are not focused on generating revenue, like order
confirmations, or the failure that companies have experienced by using “rented” databases.

Despite these issues, advertisers and retailers do not want to reduce their media budget for email
marketing, because they recognize the ROI is going to be affected by the relevance of the messages sent
and the segmentation done on the databases, and also the low cost compared to other online marketing
strategies.

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

Typically in any recession, there is tremendous pressure on marketers to do more with less. According to
MarketingSherpa, 24 percent of B2B and 34 percent of B2C marketers reported budget cuts this year.
Not surprising given its remarkably high return on investment, email marketing increases during tough
economic times.

Also, in email’s favor is its measurability. Marketers can quickly and effectively measure who is
responding to messages, which promotions work best and so much more.

Five Email Strategies for 2009

1. Clean and Nurture Your Email List
Be sure to perform a thorough cleaning of your email lists. This does not mean blindly deleting a bunch
of names, but rather using segmentation strategies to treat historically inactive recipients differently
than people who are actively opening and clicking on your email messages. Here are some suggestions
for cleaning house:

• Take a close look at your lists and list segments. Are there some list segments you are never
using? If so, clean them out.

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

• Today’s email success is about quality, not quantity. Review lists of people who have not
responded to messages in the past few months and contact them in a different way than the
rest of your list. If they still do not respond, consider removing them.
• Review any new list segments you may want to make. Are there any ways to segment and
strengthen messages to various groups? If so, segment them now and start communicating
more effectively to those groups.

2. Enhance Your Segmentation

Email marketing data offers incredible segmentation power and the ability to take advantage of small
audience segments that might otherwise be financially or technically difficult to reach. If you haven’t
started segmenting your list and sending more targeted messages based on recipient data or behaviors,
start in 2009. Most of the research in the email industry indicates that segmentation yields significant
gains in email conversions. Some typical strategies for segmentation include:

• Geography - This is an easy, fairly obvious segment. For example, your customer in Florida is
likely not interested in a snowmobile. And your customer in Minnesota probably isn’t
interested in a jet ski—not in the winter, anyway. Geography can also be an indicator of
buying patterns and other influences on the purchase cycle. Take the technology industry,
for example. In high-tech pockets like Silicon Valley, Boston and Austin, early adopters are
far more common.
• Demographics - This is another easy one, and can make a lot of sense. For example, we
know men and women can interpret information quite differently. Younger vs. older
audiences take in information in different ways as well.
• Job title and function - Are you emailing potential users with none–or all–of the buying
power? An owner or CFO may want to know about ROI, while a middle manager may just
want to make his or her job easier. An engineer or programmer may want to find better
ways to work, and so on...
• Purchasing frequency - Less frequent purchasers may require a time-sensitive offer to
encourage them to act. Another approach would be to reward frequent buyers with
exclusive privileges via email.
• Monetary spending - Adjust resources so you’re dedicating your efforts toward customers
who spend the most money with your company.

If you have been segmenting your email audiences, don’t stop. Try to find new ways to segment and
look at segmentation based on historical email activity, perhaps treating people who are frequent
“clickers” or “openers” differently.

3. Review and Refine Your Opt-in Campaigns

Now is a good time to perform a checkup on your opt-in processes. Review everything from the data
fields you’re collecting to the confirmation emails you are sending afterwards. Small changes can mean
big gains in new audiences, as well as setting the proper expectations for subscribers.

• Can you increase opt-ins by reducing unneeded data collection?

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

• Are you prominently directing web visitors to sign up for email? Can you place this on more
pages, or in more visible locations?
• Do you clearly define significant benefits for subscribers signing up for your email? Does the
email you send confirming the opt-in restate the benefits?
• Can you set expectations and ask subscribers to “add this address to your safe list” in the
opt-in process?

The language you use, the support graphics, and the staging techniques you employ can make a huge
difference between being ignored and creating an evolving, dynamic relationship that can enhance
database precision, enrich dialogue, and help you showcase a larger scope of services.

If you’re not using strict opt-in policies, 2009 is the year to start. As consumers continue to tire of
unwanted email, you’ll continue to see declining response rates if you are not using an opt-in-only
process.

4. Design for “Images Off” and Preview Panes

In 2009, you’ll find your audiences are increasingly looking at your messages without images turned on
(it may not be their choice, but rather the default of their email client or a corporate IT policy). Make
sure your messages are still readable and compelling without images. This may mean designing
messages using fewer images, or including a short list of articles at the top of your newsletter. This
technique works well for people who are viewing your message through a preview pane as well. Making
sure enough content is placed at the top of the message to give recipients something to act on will be
important to success rates.

Without designing your messages with “images off” in mind, your campaigns may end up looking like
this to recipients:

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 11

 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

5. Integrate Social Media into Your Email Program

Like email, social media has quickly become one of the most widely used communication mediums on
the web, so it only makes sense that integrating the two can serve to increase the overall effectiveness
of your online marketing.

The power of social media lies in the ability of its users to quickly and easily share information with their
contacts, which might then turn around and share with their own contacts. If the information being
shared is, for example, a piece of content from one of your emails, this type of “word-of-mouth”
marketing can extend the reach of your message by a tremendous margin.

Here are a few ways to integrate social media into your email program:

• Incorporate a social media bookmarking tool into your emails, allowing subscribers to share
your newsletter to their contacts on various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, etc.)
• Develop and maintain a company profile on various social media networks, and prompt
social media contacts to consider subscribing to your email newsletter(s)
• Promote your social media presence on your emails in order to build a larger social media
following
• Start a company blog and use your emails and social media profiles as traffic generators

Social Email Marketing: The Next Big Thing

While the World Wide Web continues to generate exciting new forms of human interaction, including
such Web 2.0 offshoots as social networking and video-sharing sites, wikis and blogs, what is just as
exciting are the new engagement-marketing opportunities that result from the joining of both old and
new Internet-based communication technologies. Email and social networks represent such a nexus.

Clearly, social networks have changed the relationship between companies and their customers. Sites
like Facebook and MySpace allow people to share their thoughts and quickly connect with hundreds of
friends and friends-of-friends. An estimated 19 percent of online users log onto social networking sites
at least monthly or more often, while 41 percent of youth ages 12 to 21 visit social sites daily.

Individuals linked to one another on a social networking site are affiliated for a reason. They’re like each
other in some important ways. Social email marketing, therefore, enables you to reach prospects that
share some affinity with your best customers. The ability to reach out to others with attributes similar to
your best customers is invaluable.

Will Email Just “Twitter” Away?

There’s mounting evidence that social networks are pulling certain audience segments away from the
email inbox, and the numbers indicate it’s not just the Millennials, or Generation Y. JupiterResearch
reports that 22 percent of email users say they use social networking sites instead of email. And in

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 8 of 11

 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

England, Hitwise estimates that social network sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo receive more
Internet traffic than email sites Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail.

Is This The Death of Email? Hardly!

Though change is inevitable, most industry analysts and experts agree that email marketing won’t be
going away anytime soon. A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project survey found that 92 percent
of adult Internet users send or read email — far more than regularly visit any social network.

Email is simply too valuable a marketing channel to disappear or even diminish. Email marketers have
long been the stewards of customer engagement. And Forrester Research projects that email marketing
will grow to more than $4 billion by 2012.

But new technologies that combine the rich reporting capabilities of email with the viral, consumer-
oriented nature of social networking have arrived to make reaching out to customers and their friends
through social networks easier, allowing progressive marketers to enjoy the benefits of both.

In fact, a few companies are making it easier than ever to enable both email recipients and landing page
visitors to post their favorite messages on social network sites. Such new technologies allow marketers
to combine the power of email with the reach of social networking sites to engage with customers,
friends of customers and friends-of-friends of customers.

New Technology Bridges the Email/Social Network Gap

Recently, Silverpop developed an industry-first technology that bridges
the gap between email marketing and social networking. Using links
within emails, recipients are able to quickly post messages to their
profile page on Facebook or MySpace. When these social emails are
posted on social sites, everyone connected to the original recipient can
see the message, make a comment or post it on their own profile page.

Dynamic content and personalization remains intact in the posted

email. So when Golfsmith sends an email about a putter sale at its
stores in Dallas, area recipients can post the message on their profile
page to let Texan friends in on the good deal. And the golfer in Akron
will be able to post a message on her profile page giving the details of
the sale there.

Share-to-Social feature gives email marketing a tremendously powerful

viral effect. Plus, the ability to pull reports on who posted emails to social network sites resulting in
additional opens and clicks provides marketers with the detailed data necessary to prove the campaign’s
value.

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

Give Some Steroids to Your Email Campaigns

Combining the targeting and reporting capabilities of email with the reach of social networks enables
companies to build marketing programs that change their relationships with customers in very real and
dramatic ways. To help ensure effective outreach, take a customer-centric approach to your messaging.
Begin by listening to your customers and monitoring the way they currently interact with your
messaging. Start with those recipients most connected to your brand as indicated by their behavior.
Those who open your messages most and click on links frequently are already in line to serve as brand
ambassadors. Give them a good reason to share your promotional emails with their friends, and make it
easy for them to connect by including links within the email and landing pages to their social site.

Utilizing brand enthusiasts to post your emails onto their social sites signifies their endorsement—they
posted them for others to see. But better yet, social emails can even result in the poster adding an
influential comment or two, such as, “This is a cool watch, and it’s on sale. Did I mention my birthday is
coming up soon?”

Such postings add strong word-of-mouth marketing that helps sell products. Studies by Bazaarvoice
found that customer accolades can make Web site visitors who browse for highest-rated products 49
percent more likely to make a purchase. And sharing opinions is at the very essence of social
networking, where consumers are frequently influenced by the thoughts of peers.

Conclusion
Email marketing continues to prove itself to be a low cost retention and conversion tool that yields high
response from consumers. However, using segmentation and personalization techniques to target
emails is essential to prevent campaign failures. Remember, relevancy is king. By diligently studying the
extensive reports that can be gathered from an email marketing campaign, a feature many other types
of media lack, you will be able to apply the 5 email strategies and provide information about your
products/services to the people that are truly interested in it. Lastly, keep up with the times! Social
media is becoming huge and these two strategies (email marketing + social media) promise to skyrocket
the ROI of your campaigns.

References

• eMarketer
• Silverpop – “Beyond opens and clicks” – “Engagement Marketing”
• Forester Research
• GotMarketing
• Listrak
• Wunderman

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 Email Marketing:
Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars Into Highest ROI

About the Author

Francisco Hernandez’ focus is not only to provide just a website, but a complete Internet
marketing strategy that includes creative work like promotions, display advertising,
email marketing, social media campaigns and consulting. Francisco is also an
international speaker and in 2008 created a road show of Internet Marketing Summits
with Google through 8 countries in Latin America. Francisco can be reached at
education@wsicorporate.com.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 11 of 11

Landing Page Design
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Chuck Bankoff

Research Analyst & Conversion Expert, WSI
 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Introduction
It’s Not About Technology; It’s About Psychology…
“Advertising is the art of getting people to buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have”.
That statement predates the Internet by a number of decades, yet it is as true today as it was back then.
A bit cynical? Perhaps, but let us not forget that in the Internet world people rarely stumble across a
website without actively searching for something. If you have what they are looking for, your job is to
help them find it.

The problem is most websites are so ill conceived and poorly constructed that they are little more than
monuments to their owners.

Let’s make something transparently clear; people do not read on the Internet… they scan! They see
headlines, images and bullet points. Depending on the personality type of your visitor, you have
between 2 and 8 seconds to convince them to stay on your website and delve deeper into it. They click
in… take a quick peak… and click out. Those are the conditions in which business is conducted on the
Internet.

Why Are Effective Landing Pages Essential?

A Landing Page is where visitors land after clicking on an email link, a search engine result, a banner ad,
or manually typing in a specific advertised address. Actually making use of that tidbit of knowledge is a
little more complex.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of throwing money into driving traffic and living with your conversion rate.
Want more customers? Just buy more traffic. Not exactly efficient…or cost effective.

The scenario below illustrates that a mere 2% increase in conversion results in 240 additional customers
WITHOUT increasing traffic. Depending on the lifetime value of those new customers, that might be a
game changer for this particular business.

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

6 Steps to Effective Landing Page Design:

Step 1: Define Success
In order to accomplish your goals, you have to know what they are. Is this an eCommerce website
focused on transactions? Is the purpose to generate leads, or is it about branding or relationship
building or increasing your database through membership registration? A good marketer will often start
at the bottom of the sales funnel and work their way up to the point where the visitor first enters the
funnel.

Step 2: Define Your Customer

It’s NOT about YOU! Many businesses feel compelled to tell their story to what they perceive as a
captive audience. There is no captive audience on the Internet. Check your ego at the door; it’s just too
easy for a visitor to leave and find what they really want.

A tried and true technique for defining you customer is to actually create a persona… complete with
name and age and marital status, etc. You may even have multiple profiles; just make sure that you
prioritize them. Remember…if you try to appeal to too many different customer types, you will wind up
appealing to no one. Once you know WHO you are selling to, you can craft your message so that it
appeals to THEM.

Step 3: Selecting Domains

Most businesses consider their home page their landing page. That may be perfectly acceptable in some
instances, but it is not always the best choice. Your landing page may be part of a micro-site or single
page with its own domain name. You might consider one or more “vanity names” targeting a specific
product or service. That is particularly effective when the domain will be visible such as on printed
material or other instances where the domain will be visible such as on sponsored link advertising (pay-
per-click).

Step 4: Wireframing
Essentially a “sketch” of the page layout. Start by listing all of the elements that go on the page and lay
them out on a piece of paper taking up approximately the amount of space they will warrant. You
should do this “before” you write the copy because the space available will dictate the amount to copy
you have to work with. Make sure that you place the most important elements above the “fold” (the
spot on the page where most visitors will have to scroll down to see more).

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Step 5: Copywriting
People don’t actually read on the Internet...they scan. They see headlines, bullet points and graphics.
Headlines should refer back to what the visitor was looking at before they landed on your page. Only
about 20% of your visitors will actually read the body copy... still, it has to be good (less is more).

Don’t forget the call to action! You might test matching up the call to action with the headline since that
is almost certainly the one element on the page that you can be sure they will read.

Step 6: Testing & Tweaking

This is not a spare time activity. It is something that should be scheduled at regular intervals. Examine
your metrics, make incremental changes and reexamine the effect. Don’t make too many changes at
once or you won’t know what you did to effect the changes. Your testing and adjustments should match
your original goals (Transactions, Lead Generation, Branding/Education, Relationship Building,
Registrations, Viral Marketing, etc.)

Key Considerations

There is a difference between a “web designer” and a “web marketer”. A web designer can make a web
page pretty. A web marketer can make a web page pretty compelling. Although a list of tips is no
substitution for a web-savvy marketing professional, there are certain industry best practices that every
business can use as a guideline or “check sheet” to avoid some campaign killing mistakes.

Scrolling, Paging & the Fold

Scrolling is the point on a web page where a visitor would have to scroll down to see the rest of the
page. If the visitor isn’t intrigued at first glance, you will never even get to show them what is below the
fold.

Do NOT make text-copy columns too wide or fonts too small just to keep content above the
fold.
10-12 point or larger fonts / no more than 50-60 characters (including spaces) across.
Women ages 34-45 are more likely to scroll, read more info and click onto additional pages than
men.
Above-the-fold info must contain enough convincing data to will over the short attention span
visitors.

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Navigation Bars
It is very tempting to make sure that no information about your company is left out; however the truth
is that most people just don’t care at this point. Keep in mind what your goal is… if it is to get visitors’
contact information, you will have plenty of opportunities to educate them as you build the relationship.

You will have plenty of opportunity to tell your customers how wonderful you are.
Would you tell an attractive stranger your life history when you are just trying to get them to
agree to a first date?
The objective is to not encourage the visitor to wander “off-point”

Landing Pages with Links to Other Pages

Use discretion when providing links to other pages or websites from your landing page. You may be
tempting the visitor to wander off-point. In some cases it may be permissible or even desirable to offer
the visitor an opportunity to lean more as long as each link returns the visitor back to the sales funnel.

Eliminate any clicks to irrelevant pages or advertisers

Minimize font size of links to privacy and legal information
Make the ENTIRE area around a link clickable
Make the first 3 words of a link descriptive
Make your hero shot clickable and open in a separate window of information so the visitor does
not lose the main landing page (hero shot is a single picture that tells the story).

Color Choices
Believe it or not, color choices have remarkably little influence on the effectiveness of a landing page.
However poor color choice that impacts reading comprehension does have a negative effect. Keep in
mind that a higher percentage of the population than you probably realize is color blind and may have
trouble with the contrast of certain color combinations.

Copy: Black (or dark) text on a white (or light) background

Headlines: Large enough to be readable in most colors, so largely irrelevant.
Hotlinks: Blue until clicked and then turns purplish. Designer colors are OK…but test first….
Branding Colors: OK if branding is more important than copy.

Typeface Fonts
It is hard enough to get a visitor to actually read your copy, so don’t make it any more difficult than
necessary. Generally small font sizes “look” better because they mentally form a block which is a
convenient design element. However, effective trumps pretty every time.

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Make copy as easy to read as possible. Many visitors will bail just because the page “looks like
work”
Use 10 point or larger font. Consider a larger size if you are targeting children, adults or if you
have very long copy
Captions, form field names, legal and some tech-specs can be smaller
Smaller text promotes slower reading and a drop-off in comprehension
Text should never run more than 52-60 characters across the screen. People can’t comfortably
read long or wide columns.
Keep columns at a fixed width (no liquid designs)
Use “web-safe fonts” to control the appearance of the page.
(http://www.efuse.com/Design/web_fonts_basics.html#WebSafeFonts)
With the possible exception of one-line headlines, all text should be flush left and NOT centered.
Headlines should be significantly larger and possibly bolder. Sub-headlines should be close to
body copy size and bold

Note: Harder to read because the human eye wants to return to the same point after each line.

Note: The block of text may look good because smaller print makes a nice “design element” however
small size and poor contrast make it hard to read.

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Note: The human eye is trained to move from left to right only so far. Any farther and it requires a
conscious effort to continue to get to the end of the line.

Note: We grow up reading dark print on a light background (school books, newspapers, etc.). The
contrast is better with dark over light.

Note: Bold print is not necessarily more readable. In fact it can obscure the different characteristics of
each letter that helps us quickly differentiate various words. Bold should be reserved for emphasis.

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Note: Group your paragraphs into short easily digestible “blocks”. Not only is it easier for a person to
comprehend, it appears to be “less work” to read at a sub-conscience level.

Note: Which do you think is easier for you mind to organize and retain, the block or the bullets?

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 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

How many elements should be on a page?

The correct answer is…. As many as necessary… no more no less….

These are just some items that MAY go on a landing page. It is not meant to be a checklist of items that
should be on every landing page.

Trust Icons
Data and case studies prove conclusively that trust icons do make a difference in conversions. Multiple
icons may help even more. Make sure you place the icons above the fold and at critical decision points
such as form submissions or transaction points in a
shopping cart.

Consider using the space around your logo to identify it with a

trust image and slogan like the Kelley Blue Book logo to the
right. Notice that Kelley Blue Book awarded themselves their
own trust icon, however it gives the appearance of an award or
certification.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 9 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Video on Landing Pages

Video can be a powerful tool or an unwanted nusance depending on how it is used. NEVER start playing
the video automatically when the visitor arrives on the landing page!!!

No one likes a commercial forced on them. The visitor just may not be prepared. In fact visitors might be
in the work place and might bail as soon as unexpected sounds start blaring from their computer. They
may want to scan the page before investing in the video, or simply adjust their speaker volume. The
quickest way to shut down an unwanted video is to close the web page. That is the last thing you want.

There are many reasons to use video; to educate, to demonstrate, to entertain and become viral… One
of the more successful commercial applications of video on a
website is the “As Seen on TV” scenario.

The purpose is not to sell, but to brand and reassure

the visitor that they are in the right place
Use a shorter version (30-seconds or less) than the
original TV version
Typically works best on the top left side of the page
or in a featured area

Video Testimonials are very powerful. There is evidence to support

that amature video of a real person is more credible than professional
video of a model. Not all video should intentionally be poor quality, but
in the case of testimonials, or product demonstrations, it does give it a
sense of realism.

Response Devices
Unless you are cultivating a branding-only web presence, you are probably trying to elicit a particular
response from your visitors (remember your goals). It’s important to consider that different personality
types prefer to communicate using different media. Some people prefer to pick up the phone for the
comfort of a human voice; others prefer the anonymity of email.

Phone Numbers:
Bigger is better….don’t be shy
Some consumers just prefer to call

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 10 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Some consumers just want to be reassured there is a real person available (even if they never
intend to call)
Put a phone number on EVERY page, not just the landing page or contact page

Buttons
Next to headlines, button copy, color and shape as the most important element on the page. Don’t be
afraid to test; red vs. gray… round vs. rectangular. Wording is important as well. You may get different
results from “Buy Now” vs. “Try it Now”.

Different buttons work for different audiences

But don’t get too cute with the labels….say what you mean!

Registration Forms
As a rule, the less you ask for, the more likely you are to
have people fill out the form. Go on the premise that you
will have future opportunity to get the rest of the
information as you build a relationship with the visitor.

Be patient. Ask for only what you need… you will have more
chances to get the rest. Roughly 40% of visitors may answer
a few extra questions on the “Thank You” page for example.

On certain occasions however, you may actually want to use

a longer form as a screening or “qualifying” tool. You might
want to trade volume for quality if there is a cost associated
with following up.

Copy Tips
Use half the copy that you would use in printed material
Headline should exactly match the headline that got them there
Stay on point…. headline match body copy

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 11 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Nothing more than needed…nothing less than needed

Don’t waste valuable real-estate with “Welcome…”
“You” and “Your” trumps “We” and “Our”
People read only the first few words of bullets and paragraphs
People read the tops and bottoms of lists…not the middle
Keep your first few paragraphs short and inviting
Alternate long and short paragraphs
Paragraphs shouldn't be longer that 4 or 5 lines long
Numerals have more impact than written numbers

Long Copy vs. Short Copy

Face it, the USA Today newspaper is written at a 6th grade reading level for a reason. Attention spans
and motivation to invest time reading is contingent on the demographic of the visitor, and the nature of
the product or service. Long copy works well for….

Expensive products and services

Money related products and services
Health related products and services
Older consumers
Reading related products
Technical products

Common Mistakes and Campaign Killers:

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 12 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

In-House vs. Outsource

In September of 2007 MarketingSherpa conducted two surveys in an effort to learn what challenges in-
house marketers have designing a landing page program, and what challenges agencies have managing
a landing page campaign for their clients. Notice the common frustrations in each case:

Frustrations of In-House Marketers round analysis of Landing Pages

The biggest obstacle to in-house landing page optimization is by far is the lack of resources. In mid-sized
companies the marketing department is typically overloaded. In smaller companies without a marketing
department, the owner of the staff, even if they had the right credentials is (or should be) too busy
minding the core business.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 13 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Frustrations of Agencies in Providing Better analytics to Clients

Resources: It is tempting to try and do it yourself or assign it to existing staff. Take into consideration
the true cost of doing it in-house. Are you diverting staff members from other necessary duties? Are you
paying them to learn on the job when an agency or consultant may have already cultivated that know-
how? You may indeed have the talent under your own roof; just consider carefully the true costs.

Aptitude: Most individuals are either left brained or right brained. That is to say technically or creatively
inclined. Since a landing page campaign is a combination of creative and analytical, a technical oriented
team or individual is not likely to come up with the compelling creative, and the creative team may not
be able to interpret the data. That applies to agencies as well as you and your staff.

Experience: Agencies may have strengths in either creative or analytics; however they may not have the
full array of skill sets necessary to do it any better than you can do in-house. If your current levels of web
traffic are insufficient, make sure you work with a consultant that can deliver everything that you need,
either in full or in part with your in-house team.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 14 of 15

 Landing Page Design:
Common Mistakes & Tested Techniques

Summary

The limited scope of this white paper covers only some industry best practices. Virtually every element
on a web page has some effect…positive or negative on the actions that a visitor takes. Ultimately only
testing will determine what works and what doesn’t.

Whether you are working with an agency, a consultancy, in-house staff, or doing it yourself, this paper
was designed to help you avoid costly mistakes and wasted effort. Use the information in this paper to
help you implement, or manage others to implement best practices. There are however other
considerations:

• Traffic: If you are not driving enough traffic to your website, no amount of landing page best
practices will help. There is still a common misconception that if you build a website your
customers will automatically find it. Before you can gauge how your visitors react to your
landing page, you need to have visitors.

• Testing: It’s easy to say that you will test the results, but do you have the mechanisms in place
to capture the data? Do you know how to interpret the data?

• Implementation: Who will implement these best practices? Should you hire professional help
or task you in-house staff? If that is a budgetary decision, what is the true cost of re-taking your
staff?

About the Author

Chuck Bankoff is a WSI Certified Research Analyst, and has certified other WSI
Consultants around the world in Landing Page Design and Conversion Architecture
strategies. Chuck is currently serving his third term on the Internet Consultant
Advisory Council for WSI and is a sought after speaker at Internet marketing
conferences in both the United States and Europe.

If you have any questions, please email education@wsicorporate.com. .

Special thanks to team at MarketingSherpa for providing much of the research data used in this paper.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 15 of 15

    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Don’t Leave Your 
 
 
 
 
Money on the Table 
 
 

Your Guide  tto  P
Paid Search
 
   

WSI White Paper 

Prepared by: Ron Adelman 
Search Marketing Expert, WSI 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Introduction 
 
When was the last time that you looked online for a product or service?  What stood out to you and did 
you visit the website to make a purchase?  If you did, then your habits are in line with 85% of the world 
who use the internet to make a purchase.  Online shopping has increased by over 40% in the last two 
years according to Nielson’s Global Online Survey.  That’s over 875 million consumers! Think of all of 
those opportunities for new business.   If you aren’t taking advantage of them, then you should be and 
you’re leaving money on the table…. 
 
Paid Search or Pay‐Per‐Click (PPC) advertising is an effective and powerful marketing tool that allows 
your company to create online brand exposure to your target markets.   Additionally, PPC gives you 
ultimate control over your marketing dollars while allowing you to capture the attention of the booming 
number of online consumers who are ready to spend money on your products and services.  You just 
need to be there.  It’s like having an ad in your local newspaper and only paying for the prospects that 
read it!  How can it get any better than this in advertising? 
 
Online Advertising Spend – Trends Increasing 
 
Remember the 875 million people that was just mentioned? The figure below will show you the latest 
trends in online advertising spend and how it has increased since 2001. You’ll notice that the amount of 
money spent directly on paid search correlates with the growing number of online consumers, which 
will continue to skyrocket.  Now, compare that figure to what you are currently spending on print 
advertising. The difference is astounding, isn’t it?   
 

 
 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 2 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
The driving force behind shifting advertising spend is attributable to the growth in search volume and 
the tracking and refinement that only paid search marketing allows.  To the very keyword or ad we can 
track the effectiveness of our campaign and improve targeting and spend.  No other advertising 
mediums are as accountable for performance as online sources. 
 

 
 
For companies seeking more website traffic, paid search marketing offers an opportunity for immediate 
results. You can instantly get to the top of the Google, Yahoo!, or MSN, and access precisely targeted 
traffic that is likely to transition to real customers for your business.   
 
Paid Search Marketing or PPC Marketing 
Paid search marketing, also called pay‐per‐click (PPC) marketing, is a method of advertising when a user 
searches for one of your keywords, through paid online ads that link to a landing page of your choosing.  
 
Usually labeled as “Sponsored Links” or “Sponsor Results,” these ads appear just above or to the right of 
the natural listings, known as organic search results.  

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 3 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
 

 
 
Paid search ads can be purchased through any of the major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, 
and MSN. These engines receive the great majority of search volume, with Google’s share being 
considerably larger than the other two.  
 
This paper will focus mostly on Google because of its market share, as well as the control and tracking 
ability of tools in AdWords, Analytics, and Webmaster Central. 

 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 4 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Goal of Your Campaign 
Before you begin your campaign you first need to identify, “What is it that I want to accomplish with 
buying clicks?” 
 
Typical goals of a paid search campaign: 
 
• Sell products or services 
• Get leads direct email or calls 
• Increase website membership or RSS / e‐newsletter subscriptions 
• Establish a brand 
 
Once you’ve clearly identified your goals, make sure your website and its conversion architecture funnel 
your visitors to these goals. By far the most common mistake first time advertisers make is not being 
honest with themselves about the landing page and website.  Review your competitors’ sites—which 
would you buy from and why?  Make it simple for your users to accomplish your goals, give them plenty 
of incentive, remove their fears and “roadblocks,” and answer their questions. 
  
Know Your Audience 
 
Knowing your audience allows you to specifically target your keywords, ad text, landing page and 
conversion funnel to speak directly to that audience.  The more customized your message can be, the 
more “roadblocks” you can remove. Gaining more targeted clicks will maximize your marketing dollars 
for your core demographic. 
 
Targeting:  
 
Limit the visibility of your ad based on the theoretical audience and their likely online behavior. 
 
Geo Targeting:   
 
Many businesses only serve customers in a certain geographic areas. Select only the areas you are 
willing to sell.  Alternatively, if your budget is limited, market only to areas where you have the best 
conversion, highest margins, or prefer to work. This can be narrowed to a 10 mile radius or custom 
inclusion area.  In other words you can target an area, like delivering pizzas only in the area you want to 
and having the ads only show up in that area! 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 5 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 

 
 
Search Network or Content Network:   
 
Do you want to advertise on Google only or 3rd party websites with content “matching” your keywords? 
The content network can result in cheaper clicks but with less targeted traffic, as we are letting Google 
determine relevance of 3rd party content to our search terms.  Determining when and how much to bid 
on the content network will be something you’ll want to track and Google also provides the analytics for 
this tracking. 
 
Day‐parting:   
 
When your audience tends to use the Internet during certain hours or days of the week, deactivating 
your ad during off‐peak times can reduce your irrelevant traffic. This is particularly helpful for business 
to business companies that get targeted inquiries during the work week, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The inverse 
can be true for those gaining most of their business evenings and weekends. 
 

 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 6 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Keywords: 
 
Getting ass targeted as possible with h your keyword selection ccan make thee difference between a 
miserablee failure and aa very producctive campaiggn.  Restrict yoour potential audience as much as posssible 
without eexcluding the majority. 
 
•  Find thee bargain phrase variations that receivee a high searcch volume butt don’t have n numerous  
     compeetitors biddingg on them.  
 
•  Filter ou
ut what are known as negaative keyword ds, or search terms that co ome close to phrases you’re  
     biddingg on, but indicate a completely differen
nt concept or type of busin ness.   This takes some tho
ought,  
     but anaalytics again h
helps you herre.  
 
•  Example:  If you are bidding on “d nd all of your products aree made of woo
desks” or “offfice desks” an od,  
     you shoould add “me etal” as a negative keyworrd to filter outt searches forr metal deskss. 
 

 
 
Matchh  Type:  
 
You can choose Exact, Phrase, or Brroad Matchin ng to choose h how closely a typed phrasee has to matcch 
your keywwords in order for your ad to be displayyed.  
 
Example:  Broad Matching on the w word “desk,” yyou would geet impressions for “metal o office desk,” aas 
well as “w
wood desk” orr “desk for hoome office.” B
But lower landing page relevance and ccompetition from 
Exact Mattches for “meetal office dessk” would drivve your bid prices up. Pluss, if the landin
ng page doesn n’t 
m, many people will leave tthe page wheen they don’t find what theey want right 
match thee search term
away. This is why exhaaustive multi‐word keyworrd phrase listss can help low wer prices and d bounce ratees. 
You can ddetermine badd matches in Google’s Search Query Reeport or with advanced weebsite analyticcs. 
 

Copyyright © 2009 b
by Research and Management. A
All rights reserveed.  Page 7 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Ad Text: 
 
Write compelling ad text that lets a search user know, “This is exactly what I was looking for.” Specific 
descriptions also help decrease irrelevant traffic, which prevents you from wasting money on clicks that 
don’t translate into sales or leads. Google allows you to rotate ad text for your ad group effectively 
providing you A/B testing to determine which ad text is getting more clicks and more importantly more 
leads. Selectively pulling messages that aren’t working will move your campaigns to the next 
performance level and help drive positive changes to your sales and marketing messages.  Adding phone 
numbers, pricing, competitive advantages all seek out the right potential lead to click. 
 
Landing Page:  
 
By keyword you can land your traffic on your site’s most relevant information or highest conversion 
area. It is also possible to test unique landing pages which are customized for specific search terms and 
only visible to PPC customers, enhancing your ability to track results. For instance, displaying a unique 
phone number (call tracking), on a PPC landing page can help identify which incoming calls originated 
with paid ads.  We can even record the calls off your specific landing page for our clients to follow up on.   
Google also provides A/B or multi‐variate landing page testing to help you improve your landing pages 
ensuring their conversion potential. 
 
Google Website Optimizer Experiment 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 8 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Budget: How much are you willing to spend to acquire a new 
customer?   
 
Budgeting for campaigns and keyword bids requires a thorough understanding of paid search; otherwise 
returns will suffer and advertisers begin to doubt the value of this medium. Although you can change 
your budget at any time if you find it’s not working for you, you can use this simple calculation to help 
you find a good starting place for your daily budget.  
 
• Decide what you are willing to spend for a goal being met. Think about what your usual cost per 
lead is in other forms of advertising like direct mail, networking, radio, print, or billboard. 
• Estimate how many completed goals or sales you expect or want to get in one month as a result 
of your PPC campaign.  
• Multiply your expected individual cost by anticipated number of sales. 
• Divide that total by 30 days to get your daily budget. 
 
Your budget can also be divided proportionally so certain keyword phrases get a higher daily spend, and 
less important or experimental phrases will have a more limited spend. Frequency of ad delivery can be 
adjusted as well, either spending your budget as quickly as the search volume allows or spacing out your 
ad impressions to make sure there is at least some visibility for your site over the full course of the day. 
 
Keyword Bidding:   
 
When setting up your campaigns, Google, Yahoo, and MSN will provide estimates on what you need to 
bid to achieve a certain position for each keyword phrase. You can apply one amount to an entire ad 
group or change bids by individual keyword. Your bid amount determines your placement on the page, 
and ads are ranked top to bottom in order of bid amounts.  
 
Higher placement will get you more clicks, but there can be a downside. Increased cost per click may be 
detrimental to your return on investment (ROI), and the bounce rates for the top three ads tends to be 
higher as they receive more casual search traffic we call the “Happy Clicker”.   By using an analytics 
program to closely monitor your sales or lead values, and dividing that by your keyword cost per click, 
you can keep an eye on each phrase’s ROI and determine if higher placement is worth it. 
 
Conversion and Analytics Tools: 
 
Just like a traditional marketing campaign, PPC marketing needs to be tracked and have its success rate 
evaluated. Each element of the campaign is studied and tested to determine the impact on the rate of 
conversion from ad views to ad clicks to final goals met. Areas of success can be expanded and the 
pieces that aren’t productive can be tweaked or eliminated altogether. This ongoing process of 
campaign refinement uses web analytics, tools that give you information about user activity and help 
make search marketing decisions.  
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 9 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 

 
 
The most popular analytics tool in search marketing is Google Analytics, which is completely free and 
usually more than adequate for managing online business. The program directly integrates with Google 
AdWords, and tracking information for Yahoo, MSN, and other properties can easily be input as well. If 
you opt in and allow your information to be included, you can access industry comparison data. As the 
number of companies using AdWords has increased, their metrics have gotten very accurate and 
incredibly useful. 
 
By using analytics tools to improve your campaigns, PPC marketing will become more profitable over 
time. As you adjust the structure of your ad groups and budgets, edit your ad text, and add very specific 
longer keyword phrases, you will see consistently increasing ROI for every dollar you spend. 
 
WSI Case Study: Management of AdWords Using Analytics 
 
We were hired by a nationwide business broadband provider targeting small to medium businesses as 
well as enterprise level clients in Nov. 2006. They had been managing their own paid search marketing 
internally and were seeing diminishing returns and made a decision to outsource. Our plan to increase 
overall efficiency centered on gaining lower cost qualified traffic with increased conversion rates. These 
key aspects paid big dividends for the client.  Featured below are some of the key metrics we use to 
measure our success. 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 10 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 

 
 
Agency Management 
 
Someone will inevitably bring up the question, “Why don’t we just manage this ourselves?”—and you 
can.  The next question should be, “Do we have someone that we can devote full time to learning not 
only the basic functionality of the various engines, but have daily vigilance of bids, ads, landing page 
effectiveness, visitor behavior, and conversion tracking?”   
 
Many companies have tried to use one of the paid search models with internal staff and have 
determined, “it doesn’t work for us”.  More than likely the task was given to a technical person 
(someone comfortable editing the website) or a traditional marketing person.  However, offline 
marketing is not the same as online marketing and trying to get your IT person to market when they are 
already overburdened with technical tasks will only cost you more money.  Maybe this has been your 
experience! 
 
“Campaigns that were profitable years ago are no longer profitable,” is another common complaint we 
hear from companies.  Because paid search is no longer new and competition is fierce for profitable 
niches, adaptive management is the only way to maintain ROI.  Actively tracking your cost per 
conversion will let you determine trending in your industry, landing page effectiveness, and bid 
strategies that work best for your industry.   
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 11 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
Top Five Reasons Companies Must Consider Paid Advertising 
in a Slow Economy 
 
1. Targeted marketing. You don’t have time to waste pitching to consumers who may have no need 
for the products or services you provide. 
 
2. Instant traffic.  Acquiring inbound links and domain credibility to move up in the organic results 
can take awhile. Paid search offers a quick ticket to immediate visibility, and can be especially helpful for 
new and small businesses facing competition with national chains and long‐established brands.  Local 
Ads Sell! 
 
3. Marketing during the purchase phase.  Impulse shopping is out. Buyers are thoroughly 
researching and performing price comparisons on even small purchases. With PPC marketing and 
custom landing pages, you can include specific messaging and resources that give consumers the 
information they need. 
 
4. Measured budgets. Only spend what you can afford.  As sales and your profits increase, you can 
adjust your PPC budget accordingly. 
 
5. Higher conversion rates.  The number of sales and leads you’ll get per dollar spent in PPC 
marketing exceeds the averages for traditional media like direct mail or telemarketing, TV and radio.  
Newspaper, Trade Shows, and Magazines are hard to measure. 
 
Work With WSI to Maximize Your Paid Search ROI
 
Developing and maintaining a paid search campaign requires constant attention and analysis. Selecting a 
long list of keyword phrases and letting the costs accumulate may increase sales, but at a much higher 
cost than is necessary. By investing in PPC management services and targeting your advertising spend, 
your budget can stay the same while your sales increase and awareness of your brand builds a solid 
foundation for your company’s future. In tough economic times, the highly‐qualified, relevant traffic you 
need can be brought to your front door.  
 
Let WSI apply our wealth of paid search management experience to your advertising campaigns. We’ve 
spent years learning and mastering the PPC back‐end systems of Google, Yahoo!, and MSN—detailed 
and complicated tools that are updated and changed regularly. Focus your attention on your business 
and let us bring you new customers. We even have proprietary software that gets smarter with each 
click honing in on the leads that covert!  Very compelling reasons to use a WSI Consultant... 
 
 
 
 

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 12 of 13 
 
 Don’t Leave Your Money on the Table 
Your Guide to Paid Search 
 
About the Author 
 
Ron Adelman is a Search Marketing Specialist at WSI who really knows the ins and outs of 
the Internet industry. He has spoken at several dozen events, including global Internet 
marketing conventions, training workshops and events organized by the American 
Marketing Association and the Direct Marketing Association. If you have any questions, 
please email education@wsicorporate.com.  
 
Glossary of Pay‐Per‐Click Terms 
 
To fully grasp the concept of PPC marketing, you need to know a few important terms. By learning the 
lingo, you can properly communicate your business needs, give specific input on how the campaign is 
set up, and understand the value that paid advertising brings to your company. 
 
Keyword Phrase:  The string of text a user enters into a search engine. 
 
PPC (pay‐per‐click): An advertising model in which sponsors acquire online ad space, but are only 
charged by the host when a search user clicks on the ad. 
 
Impressions:  The number of times your ad has been produced in search results. 
 
Clicks:  The number of times a search engine user has clicked on your ad and been taken to a landing 
page on your website. 
 
CPC (cost per click):  The actual amount you are charged for each click.  
 
Average CPC:  The average of your CPC over a set period of time. CPC is usually represented as an 
average number, since the individual click costs will vary depending on changes in your maximum bid 
and competitor campaign changes. 
 
CTR (click‐through rate):  The percentage of impressions that generated  ad clicks. 
 
Landing page:  The web page delivered to search users who click a particular ad. 
 
Conversion:  A specific behavior that the search user completes that matches a goal set by the sponsor. 
A goal could be an e‐commerce sale, contact form submission, newsletter subscription, or specific series 
of page views. 
 
Conversion rate:  The percentage of ad clicks that resulted in completed goals. 
Quality score:  A ranking given to your ads by Google that take into consideration your CTR, landing page 
relevance, and domain trust that is used in determining CPC and level of placement in the results.  

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved.  Page 13 of 13 
 
 Make Sure Your Company is
Visible on Google with

Search Engine Optimization

Your Guide to Lead Generation in Tough Economic Times

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Francois Muscat

Search Engine Optimization Expert, WSI
 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

Introduction
How many times have you typed keywords that are related to your products or services into Google and
saw your competitors’ names instead of yours?

Many business owners have heard of the successes that others have had using the Internet as a lead
generation marketing tool. But some of us are not sure how to approach Internet marketing as an
integral part of our business. We continually hear about social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
We know that companies promote themselves on sites like Twitter and on television and radio, but how
do we know that this will work for us.

This whitepaper examines how a company should approach Search Engine Marketing and Social Media
Marketing as part of their marketing strategy.

Market Drivers

The Yellow Pages Vs Search Engines

This graph from webpro news (Australia) shows that search engines have finally passed the Yellow Pages
with regards to finding products and services.

Search engines can be more effective than Yellow Pages because:

• Your Yellow Pages ad can appear next to your competitor

• With an optimized website you can differentiate yourself from competitors
• It is difficult to determine what business came from your Yellow Pages ads
• Using analytics you are able to track how visitors interact with your website
• With Content Marketing your website will become an asset to your business

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 7

 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) generally covers two areas: Paid Search Advertising and Organic Search
Optimization.

Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is the most popular or well known method of advertising your products and
services on the Internet. Even though PPC is one of the best forms of advertising, like all advertising,
your exposure stops when your budget runs out.

With organic search, once you achieve a page one Google ranking you will begin to receive up to 75%
more visitors to your website than with traditional Google PPC. So how does one go about achieving
these often elusive rankings? Once you know the secret to obtaining search engine visibility, you will be
motivated to participate in the process of developing your online brand.

Search Engine Visibility

Search engine visibility means getting your company’s name and brand to appear on search engine
results pages for many keywords that are related to your product or service. So how does one go about
achieving this? Why do people use search engines today?

Analysing the Enviro and MarketingSherpa B2B Report 2009 identified that only 10% of people go to a
search engine like Google, type in a keyword and then click through to a Web page and buy a product,
all on the same day.

The rest of us go to the Internet to get information and do research on the product or service we are
interested in.

What Information Do We Look For?

The study revealed that people who use search engines are looking for the following information in
order of importance:

• Easily found prices

• Download info
• Product info
• Product comparisons
• Your company’s approach to business
• Technical papers
• Knowledge base
• General information about your product
• White papers
• Case studies

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 7

 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

• Multimedia like video on your product

• Information about your company
• Webinars
• Podcasts

From this list it is easy to see what the “secret” is.

It is “CONTENT”. I am sure you’ve all heard of the phrase “content is king”. Well since the inception of
the Internet, content is what we have all been looking for. It has stood the test of time, while many of us
try to keep up with Google’s ever changing algorithms.

Once we find out that content is all we need to achieve search engine visibility, we see many business
owners get excited about participating in their website marketing with great results.

The best way to get a return on your website investment is to create an asset out of your website. This
is achieved by adding content to your website on a regular basis. This strategy is called “Content
Marketing”. By adding content pages you increase your chances of ranking for “long tail” keyword
phrases. These are phrases of 3 or more words that often result in highly focused and targeted search
results.

Compete Effectively Against Bigger Brands with SEO

One of the greatest advantages the Internet has over the Yellow Pages is that the Yellow Pages puts
your business right next to your competitors, whereas the Internet gives you infinite scope to
differentiate yourself from competitors. In addition to this, the various analytical tools available to
website owners allows for you to identify areas where you can make an improvement to your website.

I Have Good Content But I Still Don’t Rank on Google’s First

Page, Why?

This is a question that is asked many times. The way Google prioritizes its search rankings is done in two
ways:

1. On-page optimization – at the very basic level, it is where the good content comes in with
the related keywords being used in headings, sub headings, bullets and internal link text.
2. Off-page optimization – These are external links that point to your website from other
websites. These links are seen as recommendations and build credibility for your website.
Google ranks your web page based on the number of valuable related links. You could view
this as a voting system; the one with the most related votes will do well.

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 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

So Where Do We Get Valuable Links From?

Other websites will link to your website if you have good content that they wish to refer to. In this case
your website will acquire links without much intervention from you.

Many webmasters soon realized that external links would get their website ranked well and that is when
they started to use techniques that are seen or termed as “Black Hat SEO”. A term used when one
engages in activities that try to manipulate the search engine rankings.

The objective with link building is to get links back to your website using your “product keyword” or
variable thereof in the link text. This is seen as a valuable link and not easily manipulated.

Links can be created by the following link building strategies:

• Blog posts that promote, discuss or compare products

• Article marketing – where one writes product related articles and submits to “Article
websites” where webmasters can use your article on their websites. The rule is that they
cannot change your content and must leave the authors signature where links are pointed
back to your website.
• Reciprocal links from other industry related websites. Where webmasters agree to swap
links with one other using requested “valuable” link text.

Where Does Social Media Marketing Fit In?

Social Media could mean many things to us especially if one is not familiar with the term.
Social media could be looked at in the following categories:

• Social media advertising – using paid text or banner ads on sites like Facebook. These ads
allow you to target your market based on their demographics
• Social media book marking – Sites like “Digg” and “Stumbleupon” provide users with the
ability to tag websites that they like or recommend. Social Book marking supports your
search engine linking strategy
• Social media optimization – upload your videos to Youtube and optimize them using
product related keywords and you stand the chance of getting on Google’s first page for
your related keywords. By posting optimized content on websites like “Craigslist” & “Yahoo
Answers” one can get ranked for related keywords in a short space of time.
• Social media networking – many business owners attend regular networking meetings
where the objective is to meet other business owners with the objective of doing business
with each other. Social media websites like “LinkedIn” provide professionals with a way to
establish relationships online where one can build credibility and introduce their products
and services in an educational manner.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 7

 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

Why is Social Media Marketing Important?

Up until now we’ve heard that “content is king”. This is even more important as one can now place your
content on many social media sites as well.

Content Marketing now moves to video, slideshows, blogs and networking sites like LinkedIn and
Facebook. So many more places for people to find your company and brand.

But with the popularity of Social media networking sites, like forums, Facebook and LinkedIn, we find
out that not only is content king, but “conversation is king”. People like to ask others for
recommendations and experiences with products and services. What people say about your product,
service or company can mean all the difference to closing a lead or losing the business.

Generating Leads Online

Lead generation for most businesses is possible on the Internet. You will be surprised what good
relevant content can do for website visibility and lead generation. You will be seen as a resource website
and this builds credibility which in turn creates confidence for the visitor to engage with your company.

The Solution
The solution is to think creatively about the types of content you should upload to your website. One of
the best ways to come up with content ideas is to do some research and identify other keywords that
would help you with writing relevant content.

This is where Search Engine Optimization comes into its own. It is used to increase your website’s search
engine rankings so users can find your products or services easily.

With the addition of Social Media Optimization you can dramatically increase the number of search
engine rankings you list in, which in turn will drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Generic Solution
By taking full advantage of Search Engine and Social Media Optimization you are able to reinforce your
website or brand presence on popular search engines without paying extra for it. Here are some steps
you can take to optimize your website organically:

• Content Marketing. A resource website should have articles related to the product or
service that you are offering. Websites that contain 100 pages of content or more are likely
to achieve higher rankings in search engines and increase your website’s ability to be found
for long-tail keyword searches.
• Create Incoming Links. Link building and link popularity is important for all websites. Link
popularity refers to the amount of text links that lead to your website from other sites and is

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 6 of 7

 Search Engine Optimization:
Make Sure Your Company is Visible on Google

the single most important factor that a search engine algorithm considers when ranking a
web page. Effective link building is achieved by blogging on a regular basis, submitting your
websites to online classifieds/directories and by taking advantage of the many social media
platforms that are available – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

Combine SEO with SMO. Brand your name with social media marketing. Websites like Facebook,
YouTube, MySpace and Twitter can be leveraged effectively to grow your business. By spreading your
content over social media channels your website will gain many more search engine positions.

Work With WSI to Make Sure You Appear on Google

Developing a search engine optimization game plan is the key to the success of your website. It takes
careful keyword research which is an activity that can take many hours followed by carefully sorting
them into specific product or service silos to ensure creating relevant content that will attract targeted
“long tail” searches.

Let WSI help you by creating the optimal website content blueprint to ensure a successful “lead
generating” website. With our proprietary WSI Power Search software, we can quickly identify and
obtain creative content ideas that will develop your website into a resource website that will establish
your credibility as an expert in your industry. Let WSI become your Internet marketing lead generation
partner.

About the Author

Francois Muscat is a recognized Internet and Search Marketing Expert who has
worked in this industry for the past 6 years. He is a sought after speaker at
Internet marketing conferences and has presented at numerous International
seminars. He recently won best presenter at WSI’s international convention in
Stansted, England.

If you have any questions, please email education@wsicorprate.com.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 7

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE:
Gaining and Maintaining a
Competitive Advantage with
SOCIAL MEDIA

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Heather Angus-Lee

Social Media Strategist, WSI
 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

Introduction
You keep hearing about social media and how it's spreading like wildfire. But as a business
person with a crazy schedule - saddled with the added stress of rocky economic times and a
shrinking marketing budget - you need to know: Is there any real business value to social media,
or is it mostly buzz? And if there's value, how on earth will I have time to learn it and use it
effectively?

Trend-chasing and random leaps into social media will not enhance your bottom line. What will
is strategic social media participation - the alignment of social media activities with your
business objectives and target demographics. If conducted methodically, the benefits of social
media include improvements in search results, customer service, brand awareness, PR/media
relations, recruitment, reputation management, and other measurable outcomes.

Today, you ignore social media at your peril. To quote eMarketer in a Feb. 2009 report,
"Consumers are getting a lot more information about products and services from social
networks than marketers think—and very little of it comes from the marketers." Indeed this
truth extends beyond networks to all forms of social media. Consider this MarketTools research
in late 2008 on the US market:

• 68% of adults visit blogs, social networks and online communities

• 47% said those sites had a direct impact on their purchasing decision
• 42% say the frequency of their visits to such sites has risen in the last six months
• 34% say they use social media sites to conduct product research
• 26% changed their minds about a product or service after reading information in social
media

These same consumers have come to expect companies to be participating in social media.
According to the 2008 Cone/Omnicom Group "Business in Social Media" Study, among
Americans who use social media:

• 85% believe a company should interact with consumers via social media
• 56% feel they are better served by companies when they can interact with them in social
media
• 43% believe that companies should use social networks to solve their problems
• 41% believe that companies should solicit feedback on their products and services via
social media
• 37% believe that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with
their brands.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

These sentiments and online behaviors are shared by people around the world. Americans
actually fall behind citizens in Canada, Brazil, the UK, Mexico and Spain when it comes to the
percentage of Internet users who frequent social networks (eMarketer.com; original source:
comScore World Metrix, Nov. '08).

Defining Social Media

The term "social media" is most commonly used to describe web- and mobile-based tools for
sharing and discussing information; communal activities that integrate technology,
telecommunications and social interaction; as well as consumer-generated content (text, video,
audio, photos, networks). There's really only one rule in social media: The consumer rules.
Individuals decide what content is worth sharing, discussing, rating, downloading, joining. They
base those decisions largely on what their peers are doing online, and on the opinions of "web
influencers" - thought leaders with lots of people following their blog, podcast, forum, video
channel, network, etc.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

One way to wrap your head around the fundamental concept of social media is to think of
traditional mainstream media turned upside-down. With the traditional "top-down" delivery of
content (TV, radio, papers, magazines), the media companies and advertisers are telling you
what to consume, when and how to do it (at a fixed time and location).

Conversely, social media delivers content from the "ground up," which is why it's often referred
to as a "grassroots" media. Social media is all about on-demand content – sometimes even in
real-time, and always downloadable to be watched, listened to when and where one feels like.
The way in which music, literature, movies and other content are produced and distributed has
also been turned upside-down. With social media, any Joe/Josephine can instantly become an
author with his/her blog, a movie producer with a YouTube channel, a radio host or DJ with a
podcast show.

ROI of Social Media Across the Company

Resources are limited during a difficult economy, and the workload often falls on the shoulders
of fewer employees, with the expectation of timely delivery and quality results just as high as
before the downsizing. Not to panic!

Your thinking may not be broad enough when you're considering the role of social media to
augment functions within your organization. While marketing is an obvious fit, don't overlook
the value that social media brings to other business processes:

Human Resources: Social media boosts a company's brand online, therefore attracting more
job candidates, and if social media use by employees is encouraged (such as corporate blogging,
running company Facebook group), and staff is happier and tend to stay longer.

Bottom Line: Reduced employee turnover; lower hiring and training costs; lower costs for job
advertising.

Customer Service: Social media means open lines of communication between consumer and
company, so customer problems and needs can be addressed in a real-time, transparent
environment. The result is accountability and trust by consumers.

Bottom Line: Less customer churn, lower customer acquisition costs; higher customer
conversion rates.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

PR/Media Relations: Social media is used more and more by mainstream journalists, as well
as citizen journalists/bloggers, for spreading the news and views of a company with easy
dissemination of photos, videos, and links.

Bottom Line: Higher profile means more business leads, more sales per customer.
Corporate Communications/Shareholder Relations: Social media allows a company to keep
close tabs on what the public at large, as well as investors, competitors, and consumer groups
are saying about it.

Bottom Line: Enhanced share value; online reputation management; crisis

aversion/management.

In every one of these scenarios, increased revenue is the end-point of a strategic social media
program's development and careful implementation.

New Business Signed in First Two Months

Companies that have invested in social media programs are getting new business as a result.
For example, Jerry Steele, outreach director for TheraVitae Co. Ltd., was thrilled with the new
business his firm received as a result of social media programs WSI put in place to raise brand
awareness of VesCell, their adult stem cell therapy product. Their blog, Facebook group,
MySpace page, YouTube channel, Flickr account, Twitter stream, Delicious account, and
Squidoo page started in September 2008; the number of new patients signed by the company
increased by 34% in November and by 95% in December over the same months in 2007.

"The (WSI) team trained our staff on blogging principles, influencer outreach strategies, and
online reputation management," Jerry says. "The deep knowledge of search and social media,
coupled with tremendous project management, got us great results in a small window of time."

Top 8 Steps for Social Media Success

No matter where you live or what kind of industry you're in, a common refrain among business
owners and executives is: "I don't have hours a day to blog, to update my Facebook, to Twitter,
etc. I have a business to run!" You'll be relieved to know that social media does not have to take
up a lot of your time, perhaps as little as 1-2 hours/week, if you have a well-defined plan with
these considerations in mind.

1. Research First. Who/how/why your prospects and customers are using social media. Which
of your competitors are using social media? What are their best practices? Who are the 'web

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

influencers' (bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, forum moderators, etc.) in your market who can
affect how your brand is received?

2. Plan, Plan, Plan. Create a detailed social media strategy, based on information arising from
the online market research; then align your social media initiatives with your specific business
objectives and target demographics.

3. Blog. No Exceptions. Blogs? Those personal online diaries written by weirdos about their
cats and superheroes? (No, not those ones.) The practice of corporate blogging gives you the
double-whammy benefit of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and all the above-stated business
benefits (customer service, HR, etc.). SEO plays into blogging because every time a blog post
gets published, Google favors it as a new page of content on your site, moving you up the
ranking to the cherished page-1 position in the search results. No surprise, then, that blogging is
viewed as the most important lead generation channel by those companies that have tried it,
according to HubSpot study released in Jan. '09. Compared to other social media, 75% of
respondents say it is "useful" or better. Other social media ranked positively included
StumbleUpon (55%), YouTube (52%), Facebook (48%), Delicious (47%) and Digg (47%). MySpace
was thought as being the least useful (22%).

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

4. Get Your Hands Dirty. There is no greater way to benefit from social media than to get
adequate education, ideally to include hands-on training/demonstration of how to use the
social media sites (create user profiles, uploading digital assets, getting followers/fans/friends,
etc.).

5. Think of Social Media as Vertical Search Engines. Maybe you've never thought of
crowded online beehives like Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr as search engines. True, they're a
lot more fun/sexy than Google's pragmatic functionality - but these social media act like vertical
search engines for finding people, videos, photos, documents, links, etc. For example, Joe is
thinking of buying an acoustic guitar, so he trolls through those sites and lands on the photo of
a guitar you've uploaded in Flickr (a giant photo-sharing site). He likes what he sees and clicks
on the link in your Flickr profile that takes him to your corporate site. Whether e-commerce or
lead generation, you've now got a potential customer in Joe!

6. Great Ideas Drive Great "Viral" Campaigns. Like in any aspect of marketing, having a
great, timely, demographic-aligned idea can be the bud of a truly memorable social media
campaign that spreads. Online contests, content crowd sourcing, the building of a targeted
community whose members are your market and many other ideas that work in the social
media sphere.

7. Don't Stop at Content Creation. Just as with traditional PR, digital outreach is a key aspect
of an effective social media campaign. Digital PR is all about excellent relationship management
- understanding the needs and wants of key 'web influencers' in your market, and the best
approaches to use with them.

8. Measure and Repeat. It is critical to benchmark the progress of your social media program
at the start, at various milestones during a campaign, and then in an ongoing manner to keep
an eye on the effect on your site's traffic, your position in the page rankings, the engagement
levels at your various social media locations, and most importantly - the increase in business
leads and sales!

The combination of all these best practices is known as Social Media Optimization (SMO) -
which shares in common with SEO, the end-game of getting found easily by people searching
for information, entertainment, enlightenment, pretty pictures, videos, etc. online.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 12

 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

The Methodology Behind Social Media Optimization

Given that Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a relatively new area in Internet marketing, you
need to feel assured that you're getting the best advice and service. Not every Internet
consultant knows the intricacies of SMO, or has a proven methodology in place to ensure clear
communication of scope and progress throughout the project.

WSI Consultants use a proprietary, tested methodology for Social Media Optimization, whose
project life-cycle provides deliverables in a phased delivery approach, resulting in measurable
results and repeatable processes that maximize your investment.

Online Market Research & Blogging Training/Training

Digital
Recommendations on Other Social Media
Asset
Optim-
ization

Metrics Reporting Social Media Programs,

Other Custom Work

What to Look for in the Services of a Social Media Consultant

WSI Consultants feature the following attributes in their social media service packages:

• Scalability: not every social media project is the same. Look for different sized packages
options.
• Affordability: A range of price points to suit every marketing budget.
• Customization: A la carte menus and custom-order jobs to suit special cases.
• Pre-sales support: Conference calls and online meetings with social media experts to
support the end client.
• Personal service: Direct contact with social media strategists, writers, researchers,
analysts throughout the project.
• Follow-up: Continuation of service beyond the contract in the form of ongoing social
media metrics and updates.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 8 of 12

 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

Summary
As discussed in this white paper, social media is affecting fundamental changes in consumer
behavior - specifically, how people research and buy products/services. How are YOU
responding?

In a day and age when consumers demand an unsurpassed level of service and accessibility -
and in an economy where you need every competitive edge - social media is a must-have
marketing strategy that won't take up all your time and drain your resources. Few, if any, other
marketing initiatives can help the way social media does when you get marching orders to build
the brand, engage customers and prospects, save money, stretch resources, and boost ROI.

To meet these needs, WSI offers Social Media Optimization services - a natural add-on to the
WSI portfolio of SEO, SEM and web development services. WSI leads the global Internet
industry offering best of breed Internet marketing solutions to suit the needs of multiple
industries. Through the adoption of international best practices, use of world class
technologies and strategic industry partnerships, WSI delivers online business success to its
customers worldwide.

Every Social Media Optimization project delivered by WSI includes the methodology and best
practices outlined in this white paper to ensure optimum business benefits for every client.
Go forth and enjoy the benefits of doing 'social' business; to your success!

About the Author

Heather Angus-Lee is the lead social media strategist for WSI. She has worked extensively in
social media optimization, developing a broad client base that includes an international
biotechnology healthcare provider, a national real estate company, an international machinery
manufacturer, a continental workplace safety advocacy organization, regional retailers, and
other B2B and B2C companies. Prior to her transformation into a web innovator, Heather was
an award-winning business writer for more than 15 years - working as the editor of national
magazines and as the business editor of a metropolitan daily newspaper. Heather can be
reached at education@wsicorporate.com.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

Glossary of Social Media Terms

AJAX: An acronym (Asynchronous Java Script and XML) representing a way to create real-time
Web applications.

Anonoblog: A blog site authored by a person or persons who don't publish their name.

Archives: Most often an index page, often organizing posts or entries by either category or date

Atom: A popular feed format used for syndicating content.

Avatar: A graphical image or likeness that replaces a photo of the author of the content on a
blog.

Blogosphere: Term referring to the entire body of work online encompassed by the millions of
blogs.

Blog Roll: The list that a blogger puts on his/her own blog indicating which other blogs he/she is
reading regularly, and linking out to those blogs.

Dashboard: The administration area on your blog software that allows you to post, check
traffic, upload files, manage comments, etc.

Delicious: A social bookmarking site and a property of Yahoo! Allows users to quickly store
organize (by tags) and share favorite web pages. You can also subscribe to RSS feeds of other
users and share a page specifically with another user

Digg: Digg is a website for people to discover, share and recommend content from anywhere on
the web. (People’s vote means they ‘dugg’ something.)

Domain Name: The identifying name of an Internet site. The domain name of my site is
"www.wsicorporate.com"

Drupal: popular, open-source (free) software for creating websites and blogs.

Ecto: A stand-alone publishing application, allowing users to compose posts offline.

Edublog: A blog site focused on education, be it teacher, administrator, consultant or student.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

EFF: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the leading civil liberties group defending your
rights in the digital world

Entry: An individual post or article published on a blog. Each of these entries, while appearing in
an index, is also web pages unto themselves.

Event Blog: A blog specifically launched as a companion to an event

Feed: The RSS or Atom feeds used by news aggregators (aka feed readers).

FeedBlitz: An RSS service that makes it easy for those addicted to email.

FeedBurner: Feed Burner is a ‘must-have’ Google company/tool allowing web sites, blogs and
podcasts to "burn" content into a simple way for readers to subscribe, including email.

Feed Reader: Aka RSS feed reader, news reader. An aggregator of content, subscribed to by the
user, so that specific content or search results arrives in their "reader". Among the popular (and
free) tools are Great News, Feed Demon and Google Reader.

Flog: A fake blog, such as one that a company puts up and either pays the blogger(s) to write
positive stuff, or the company posts under a fake persona, posing as “happy customers” of said
company.

Google Analytics: Free and popular way to measure traffic within a site (page views, unique
visitors, time on page, bounce rate, referring sites and more.) Web developer grabs a piece of
tracking to add to the back end of the site to activate the analytics then web-based sign in to
monitor the results.

Joomla: A popular, open-source (free) software for creating websites and blogs.

MicroBlogging: A form of blogging allowing users to compose brief text updates and publish
them. These messages can be submitted and received by a variety of means and devices,
including text messaging, instant messaging, email, mobile device, MP3 or the web. Twitter
anyone?

Moblogs: A blog published directly to the web from a phone or other mobile device.

Post: An individual article, or entry, published on a blog. Each post, while appearing in an index,
is also a web page unto itself.

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 Time is of the Essence:
Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media

RSS: short for Really Simple Syndication. This allows you to subscribe to content on blogs and
other social media and have it delivered to you through a feed. Aka News Feed.

SMO: Social Media Optimization – a collection of best practices to make sure your digital assets
(photos, videos, e-docs, links) are found online by submitting them to social sharing sites.

pambot: Automated software robots that post spam on a blog.

Social Media: The tool set (including blogs) that everyone can use to publish content to the
web. This can include audio, video, photos, text, files, just about anything. These days, everyone
is a content producer and distributor!

Splog: Nickname for Spam Blogs, or blogs not providing their own or real content. Sploggers use
automated tools to create fake blogs full of links or scraped content from other sites in order to
boost search engine results.

Threads: On an email list or web forum/message board, these strands of conversation are
defined by messages on that same subject. On blogs, threads are less clearly defined, but
emerge through comments and trackbacks.

Twitter: A social media platform, born circa 2006, that combines instant-messaging technology
with the concept of "microblogging". The second fastest-growing social media tool in 2008.

Web 2.0: a term to describe blogs, wikis, social networking sites and other Internet-based
services that emphasize collaboration and sharing, rather than less interactive publishing (Web
1.0).

Video Blogging: Speaking to the camera - in studio or out on the street or other settings - as the
chosen form of blogging, and posting those videos, usually homemade, to digital sharing sites
like YouTube. Aka "vlogging" or "vlogs."

Widget: A custom-built web application that has a function, usually involving a data feed that
shows updated content in the widget. The widget can be shared for free across social media
platforms like blogs, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Wiki: A web page - or set of pages - that can be edited collaboratively. The best known example
is wikipedia, an encyclopedia created by thousands of contributors across the world.

WordPress: A popular, open-source software for creating websites and blogs.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 12 of 12

 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing
Dollars During The Recession

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Feras Alhlou

Web Analytics Expert, WSI
 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession

Introduction
We have heard it many times, an old management and marketing saying: “You Can’t Improve What You
Don’t Measure”. It is still so true today, and more than ever in a recession. Although Web analytics is full
of numbers and measurements, this whitepaper highlights the business and marketing aspects in
analytics and focuses on two very important aspects for your business:

• Increasing Revenue
• Reducing Costs

Why Web Analytics

In the graph below, Figure 1 (using the “Google Insights for Search” online tool), it is clear that our
collective interest in analytics has been on the increase since late 2005, November 14, 2005 to be exact.
What is the significance of this date? It is when Google launched its enterprise-level analytics tool
branded as “Google Analytics”. Google also made the tool available to all for free (please note that
“free” doesn’t equate to “cheap”).

(Figure 1)

Google Analytics and other analytics packages, when properly configured and implemented, help
answer the following questions:

• Which marketing campaigns generate leads and customers?

• Which keywords drive more visitors?
• Which pages do my customers find engaging?

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 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession

Problem
Especially in a recession, marketing managers and business owners are looking for ways to optimize the
return on their investment, in simple terms, to get more bang for their marketing dollars. But where
would they start this optimization effort?

• Does my radio ad really work?

• Is my half-page yellow page ad worth the thousands of dollars I am paying?
• Is my website unattractive to my visitors?
• Is my search marketing campaign driving the wrong traffic?
• Are my email campaigns going to spam and my emails are un-opened?

The above questions are clear signs that a business is not measuring and not employing available
analytics techniques, or the business owners are unclear what to do in tough economic times. Without
proper analysis and making decisions based on best guesses, marketing managers might stop a
campaign that is working very effectively. This action would lead to missed opportunities in leads / sales
and make a bad situation worse.

Solution & Success Stories

Analytics and measurements help you remove the guesswork from your marketing decision making
process.

Case Study #1

Figure 2 below shows how traffic segmentation (arranging website traffic according to the sources of
traffic) will lead to significant visibility into your campaign performance.

Note that every bar represents the cost-per-transaction from the respective traffic source.

(Figure 2)

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 6

 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession

Observations
• In August, the most expensive traffic source was the “Google Content”, costing over $250 /
transaction.
• After a few months of optimization (improving targeting and some website enhancements), the
cost-per-transaction from the Google Content, improved by 5 fold. Additional improvements to
other traffic sources also were introduced during the same period, resulting in a significant
reduction in cost of transaction over time.

Case Study #2
Analytics doesn’t only apply to websites; it should be an integrated part of running a business.
Businesses often track website metrics but don’t invest the time and energy to track offline activities.
For a lead generation business, understanding where leads are coming from is imperative; tracking the
quality of the leads is just as important.

Figure 3 below shows how a typical business might be tracking leads from their website.

Total Web Inquiries

350

300

250

200

150 Total Inquiries

100

50

0
July August
(Figure 3)

A much more effective analytics system would cover all mechanisms to capture a lead, including phone
data. For this business, trained staff members who interact with customers, played a key role in
identifying lead quality.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 4 of 6

 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation
Monitoring and Management
A Wakeup Call

WSI White Paper

Prepared by: Gary Levine

Brand Reputation Expert, WSI
 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

Introduction
Marketers could keep a positive spin on consumer and client perceptions when their brand visibility was
managed through a combination of media advertising and news coverage. Only extreme, newsworthy
activities got any other visibility beyond small numbers of people, and big brand companies had good
crisis control departments geared to deal with the exceptions.

The introduction of social networking sites and consumer-generated content to the Web has
dramatically altered that landscape. The means for customers, champions and critics to disseminate
information about their experiences and opinions are now accessible to anyone with an Internet
connection and a browser-enabled PC.

Despite this crucial trend, many businesses are still behind the curve. Some recent research 1 surveying
703 executives found that:

• Nearly 70% of executives regard their company’s reputation as vulnerable, but they are
universal in their belief that non-traditional outlets like blogs are the least important in building
corporate reputation;
• Virtually all executives surveyed regard the Web as important in measuring corporate
reputation, but almost none of them believe the Internet is crucial when making important
business decisions;
• Despite previous surveys that indicate the reputation of the CEO is closely linked to the
reputation of the company they work for, very few executives seem to believe that, and fewer
than 40% have even Googled their own name;
• Most surveyed executives say they utilize the Web more for competitive intelligence than
understanding their company’s reputation positioning; and,
• Despite overwhelming shifts in consumer media behavior trends, global executives put much
more stock in brand perceptions that appear in mainstream media channels than what’s said
about them in online communities.

The good news is that savvy companies who are open to communicate with their customers can
leverage the online trends to generate new business and deepen existing relationships in ways that are
more effective and less expensive than old fashioned mass broadcast or print media campaigns.

As Tara Hunt says in her book The Whuffie Factor 2, marketers need to “turn the megaphone around”
and listen more and talk less.

Companies who shy away from the trend and are uncomfortable adjusting their relationships
accordingly are in for rude awakenings. And this is true across the spectrum from very large to small,
local businesses.

1
Source: Weber Shadwick, Reputations Online http://www.online-reputations.com/findings.html

2
The Whuffie Factor, Tara Hunt, 2009, Crown Business, New York

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

But with a little executive attention, companies big and small can stay on the right side of the situation
and get advantage – particularly if they do it before or better than their competitors.

The Perils of Inaction

Users put great trust in their social networks. One-half of

respondents to a survey by Beresford Research 3, said
they considered information seen on their social
networks when making a decision—and the proportion
was higher among users ages 18 to 24, at 65%.

For those executives and business owners whose heads

are not in the game, the risks are significant.

The venerable Pepsi brand took a serious hit this year

when they created an iPhone app to promote their Amp
energy drink product. The app provides tips for the
product’s target audience, young men to “score” with
women.

The bad-taste item generated a fire-storm of activity on

various social media sites with comments flying around
the blog site Mashable.com and conversations on Twitter.

Pepsi withdrew the app and apologized to all who were

offended, but the situation points out how vulnerable a brand can be.

In another recent example, two Domino’s Pizza employees created

what they thought was an amusing video of some “un-hygienic”
activities back in the kitchen. They posted the video on YouTube and
had nearly a million viewings before they knew what hit them.

They were able to get the video shut down for “copyright
infringement” and officials of Domino’s pursued both legal and online
responses. They set up a Twitter account to field comments on the
matter, and have since been morphing that traffic into their
@dominos account where they are aggressively running contests and providing other information to
undo the damage and rebuild their online reputation.

3
A full copy of the report is available at www.beresfordresearch.com

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

There is a definite silver lining to this apparent cloud of consumers being able to readily broadcast their
opinions online. CNNMoney.com posted an article 4 about Jim Hobart, co-founder of an online retailer
called AlpacaDirect.com.

Hobart found that even critical feedback can turn into increased sales when he decided to replace the
hand-picked customer testimonials on his website with a service that allows consumers to publicly post
ratings and comments. He received some 3-star (out of 5) ratings and unflattering comments, and yet
he notes that sales increased 23% on items that had reviews. He was able to address concerns and
respond to the reviews showing a credible concern for customer service and quality products.

What to Do

There are plenty of things you can do to get a handle on your brand’s reputation and turn the
phenomenon to your advantage.

Take an Attitude Check

The first step in the process is to update your mindset as a marketer and embrace the opportunities to
make customers into marketers. This is not a trivial task, but is fundamental to capitalizing on the
opportunities. If you fear what customers may say, and are not prepared to respond to the critical and
embrace the opportunity, you may be in for a bumpy ride.

Most consumers and clients are realists. While everyone seeks and prefers the perfect product and
service, we recognize that “things happen.” When you genuinely care about those customers or clients,
online dialogue can become your asset.

Research and Monitor

Listening to your audience, customers and potential customers is critical in this world of Social Chatter.
The burning question for companies is: as an organization are you listening? If you have customers, most
likely they're talking about you to their friends, colleagues, and to anyone else who will listen and is in
their social sphere of influence.
Once you are ready to embrace the reality of public dialogue, it is time to find out what people may
already be saying about you. There are many tools available to accomplish this, but unless you have a
lot of time or are going to delegate this to someone who can concentrate on it, narrow your monitoring
to a few key resources.

4
Even bad reviews boost sales, September 28, 2009,
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/28/smallbusiness/retail_democracy.fsb/index.htm

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

Some of the easiest tools for monitoring your brand online are the search engines you are already
familiar with. Google Alerts 5 or Yahoo! Alerts 6 are free, can be set up in minutes and will send you a
daily update via email letting you know of any materials
they find using keywords related to your brand or other key
issues.

Another tool at HowSociable.com provides a quick scan of

32 different online sites, rates your brand’s visibility on each
(by number of mentions) and links to those mentions so you
can see the conversations and join or react where
appropriate.

One of the most talked about Web phenomena in recent

years is Twitter. While the very concept of a steady stream of small messages can intimidate busy
business owners, it can be an invaluable source for finding out what people are saying about your brand,
or your competitors.

Go to the advanced search panel at Search.Twitter.com/Advanced to see some powerful search options
including not only the keywords, but also the geographical areas in which you are particularly interested.
You can subscribe to your searches so future updates go to your RSS reader when someone is talking
about you.

WE WILL ADD LOGOs of these apps, if you approve.

Here are some of the top tools for listening to and monitoring the online conversation about your brand:

Free Apps

1. Google Alerts
Google Alerts is the steady rock in the sometimes white-water world of monitoring. You can easily target
keywords that are important to your brand and receive streaming or batched reports—choose your own
adventure.

5
Google Alerts can be found at http://www.google.com/alerts
6
Yahoo! Alerts can be found at: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/alerts/

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

2. Technorati
Billing itself as "the leading blog search engine," Technorati has been helping bloggers and those with
their fingers on the blog pulse stay informed for years. It’s a simple, free tool available for you to
measure what is being talked about in the blogosphere.

3. Lexicon
Are people talking about you on Facebook? If yes, then the Lexicon tool can help as it searches Facebook
walls for keywords and provides a snapshot of the chatter volume around those terms.

4. Monitter
Everyone is talking about Twitter, but what are people talking about on Twitter? Beyond the integrated
search of Twitter apps like Twhirl and TweetDeck, Monitter provides real-time monitoring of the
Twittersphere.

5. Tweetburner
In the world of Twitter, URL shortening is the magic wand for effectively connecting with the public.
Tweetburner also lets you track the clicks on those magically shortened links, giving you some hard
numbers.

***

Listening, analyzing and responding is key to successfully solving the brand monitoring equation and one
step you don’t want to miss is how you use that information to interact with your audience.

Build up Your Online Brand Visibility

For many small and mid-sized businesses, you may

find that you have very little online recognition so far.
The time has come to promote your own brand by
making your website visible and beginning to
communicate regular updates through a blog
mechanism.

At a minimum, the top result for a search for your

brand name on major search engines should be your
business website. If it isn’t, you need to revisit your
website to make sure that it was constructed in a
search engine-friendly manner. Your brand name

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

should be prominently used in text on the Home and other “About” pages, and the HTML Title and
Meta-Description tags.

Manage and protect that position as it may be vital to keep your content ranked above any other
comments or news that may come out about your brand.

Make sure you have set up your business in the Google 7 and Yahoo! 8 local listing services. These
profiles are increasingly visible in search results, especially for businesses that do local services and are
searched with regional, city or other local qualifying terms.

If you don’t already have a blog, you really should consider creating one. “Blogs” (the term is a
contraction of “Web Log”) is a mechanism made popular initially by individuals for their opinions and
diaries. In the last few years, it has become a preferred method for communicating all types of business
information to audiences who are interested in your field or products or services. This topic is covered
in more depth in an excellent whitepaper within this series. Click here for the whitepaper “Time is of the
Essence: Gaining and Maintaining a Competitive Advantage with Social Media” by Heather Anges-Lee,
Social Media Strategist, WSI.

Another important way to build your brand visibility is by using the social media sites themselves. The
full subject of social media has also been covered in more depth in another WSI whitepaper entitled
“Understanding the ‘Buzz’ Around Social Media: Finding the Right Social Media Mix” by Baltej Gill, Social
Media Strategist, WSI. Click here to download it:
http://getwsipowered.com/socialmedia.

But at a minimum, if you are a professional services

business, build a company page in LinkedIn. If your
business is more consumer-oriented, a Facebook Fan
Page can be a valuable way of bringing awareness to
more people. The example shown here for a heating,
plumbing and air conditioning company was built
around a character they’ve used in local advertising and
gives a literal “face” to their online presence.

If you’ve got commercials, presentations or other visual and audio materials, create a YouTube channel
where you can post these materials. YouTube is now the second-most searched website after Google,
surpassing Yahoo! in the number of searches per month. Your positive presence there can do a lot to
improve your perceived reputation.

7
List your business on Google Local at http://www.Google.com/LocalBusinessCenter
8
List your business on Yahoo! Local at http://www.local.yahoo.com

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

Engage
The most critical factor in this online brand management game is to engage in conversation. The simple
fact is that marketing in the Internet world is not a one-way activity.

Some ways to engage with your markets and customers:

Make sure you post to your fan pages or company profiles from time to time. Make sure you, or
someone you assign, responds to the conversations you are now monitoring.

Expand your blog by opening it up for comments. Invite people you know to read and link to it; monitor
the comments and make sure you respond with thoughtful answers.

Consider engaging in active feedback with your market. As mentioned earlier, more and more
consumers are looking for hard data from other buyers to determine the credibility and quality of goods
and services they find online.

Add a 3rd party, online review capability on your

website and solicit feedback from customers.
Review publishing site Customer Lobby 9 has a
service that provides a means to ratings and
feedback and post it in a very credible way. They also
provide an enhanced service for under
$100/month that includes making 3 phone-based client
interviews to solicit in depth insights to your
client’s perceptions.

Conclusion
This is a lot for many business owners and executives to absorb. The important message is that
consumers have unprecedented voice and visibility today, enabled by the Internet and social media
sites. If you have not brought your company around to this reality, it is time to start.

We suggest you use the following checklist to get some traction and begin to protect your brand online:

9
Customer Lobby can be found at http://www.CustomerLobby.com

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

1. Ask 5 customers what they would say about

your business, products or services. Find out
how you will respond if it isn’t all positive. Comment Response

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

2. Make sure your company website comes up What position did my site come up?
first when you search for it by name in Google.

If not, who do I talk to about getting that fixed?

3. Set up a daily Google Alert for your company

name, and some relevant industry terms.
Done: ______________ (date)

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

4. Make a list of 10 things you repeatedly explain Blog Titles:

to customers; then assign them to someone to
write each one into a blog post. Start your blog
and start posting them! 1. ________________________________

2. ________________________________

3. ________________________________

4. ________________________________

5. ________________________________

6. ________________________________

7. ________________________________

8. ________________________________

9. ________________________________

10. ________________________________

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

5. Pick a social media site to get engaged in.

Start a conversation by linking a status to your
blog posts; tout your successes and ask friends Facebook
to become fans.

LinkedIn

Twitter

MySpace

YouTube

Other

6. Make sure you have a way for customers who

have feedback on your products or services to
get their input to you in a constructive way that Customer
you can monitor and respond to. Survey
Form

Social Fan
or Company
Page

Other

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 Leveraging Social Chatter:
Online Brand Reputation Monitoring and Management

About the Author

Gary Levine has been an Internet Consultant with WSI since January 2004, and he is
currently on the Advisory Council, representing North East USA. He runs his WSI
business from McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. and specializes in
providing proven Internet marketing and social media consulting services to businesses
of all sizes. If you have any questions, please email education@wsicorporate.com.

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 12 of 12

 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession

Figure 4 demonstrates how inquiries as well as lead quality are tracked and segmented.

(Figure 4)

Observations:

• Identifying the source of all the “junk” inquires resulted in significant savings on lead generation.
You might ask how. Easy! In case study #1, we discussed “campaign segmentation”, so apply the
same concept here:

o Say campaign X is bringing the “junk” traffic

o Campaign X costs you $2,500 / month
o By stopping campaign X, you begin saving $2,500 / month immediately
o Alternatively, redeploy the same amount of dollars into a more effective channel,
leading to an improved overall returns

• Trending data (July and August in the above example), will help identify seasonal and other
business cycle attributes.

What To Do Next and Where Do I Start?

You are not on your own! Helpful resources are in abundance. If you are a business owner, you can take
the following steps:

• Ask for numbers, data and reports on efforts you are spending money on.
• Educate your staff about the importance of tracking and measurement (highlight cost savings,
increase in revenue, etc.)

Copyright © 2009 by Research and Management. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 6

 Web Analytics:
Optimize Your Marketing Dollars During the Recession

• Online marketing is much more measurable than traditional marketing. Familiarize yourself with
online marketing terms (keywords, SEO, PPC, conversion rates, etc.)
• Stay connected with developments in your industry and monitor what your competition is
doing.
• Seek the help of a qualified Internet Marketing Consultant to increase your ROI!

References & Helpful Resources

Books:

• “Web Analytics–An Hour a Day”, Avinash Kaushik

• “Advanced Web Metrics – Google Analytics”, Brian Clifton

Blogs:

• http://www.kaushik.net/avinash
• http://analytics.blogspot.com
• http://www.e-nor.com/blog

About the Author

Feras has an extensive background in the areas of business consulting, interactive
marketing and Web analytics. Feras has traveled the globe educating businesses and
Consultants on the subjects of search engine marketing, online marketing and analytics.
Under his leadership, his company has achieved certification as a Qualified Google
AdWords Advertising Company as well as a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant
(GAAC). Feras can be reached at education@wsicorporate.com.

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