E-commerce 2015Brandon Smithwick

What is Digital Marketing?WebsiteSearch Engine

OptimizationSocial Media

MarketingEmail MarketingOnline Reputation

ManagementPay Per Click ads

(PPC)

SEO BasicsSEO is the process of

gaining traffic from “free”, “organic”, “editorial” or “natural” search results on search engines

3 Components – SERP (Search Engine Results Page)Paid Ads3-PackOrganic

SEO Basics - Google Knowledge Graph

SEO Basics – Titles/Meta Description

SEO BreakdownWhat matters:

Words on the PagePage TitlesLinksWords in LinksReputationNo duplicate

contentDon’t buy links

ExamplesHotel WebsitesHyperlinking TextRelevant Partner

SitesSpammy Sites

SEO – Relevant Local Partnerships3 Benefits

ReferralsBrandingSEO Value

Hyperlink key phrases as applicable and link to various pages of the website that are relevant

Link full page URL, not shortened versionMake sure the page you are listed on is relevant

to your businessExample: A hotel should be listed on a page with

other hotel listings. Not a car dealership website.

SEO Moving ForwardDo not focus on where

you show up in searchSkewed resultsChanges dailyNo searching yourself

Personalized resultsSign in/outGoogle goal –

quickest/relevantEvery user, computer,

tablet and phone can get a different result

SEO focuses on page topics now, not so much keywords anymore“hotel in downtown

Detroit” is the same as “hotels in downtown Detroit”

We must diversify our online marketing effortsWebsitesSocial MediaPartnerships

Reputation ManagementTripAdvisor Reviews

Sign up to receive email notifications https://www.tripadvisor.c

om/Owners

2014 TripAdvisor Study – Review Responses 21% increase in booking

inquiries 24% increase in bookings

compared to those who did not respond to reviews

Google ReviewsAffects map-3-pack

placementShows in

Knowledge GraphBusiness reputationIntegration into

Google Maps on smart phones

Reputation ManagementReputation can kill a

business regardless of marketing efforts

Gaining more reviews will help push out the bad ones

Guests will react better when they see a response from the business. It shows we care.

You will not please everyone. Let the good ones sing praises to drown out the noise.

Social MediaFacebook

BrandingReputationReferralsCustomer RelationsReputation/Reviews

Facebook “Pages” app for Android and AppleFree to downloadAllows you to manage on

the go Requires personal FB to

be linked to hotel page

Google+Gives more authority

to hotel websiteSends a great amount

of web trafficAssists with map-pack

placementReputation/ReviewsPosts can be indexed

and generate additional links

Why I handle this area

Social MediaFacebook Welcome

NotePersonalizedIncreases page

“likes”When posting be

relational, no salesShare your story, it

starts at the hotel level

Be visual

Mobilegeddon – Y2K for Mobile50% of organic

searches and 44% of paid searches are generated from mobile devices

Mobile has surpassed desktop searches

Higher rankings for mobile sites – 4/21/2015

Questions???