Jaime Brugueras

In this edition of Interviews With Brilliant People, we are joined by Jaime Brugueras, founder and CEO of Mineful, a company that helps businesses retain potentially lost customers through analytical analysis and data without “actionable insight” reports. Jaime’s expertise and experience with data and analytical measurements has brought the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Allstate Insurance, and Starcom Worldwide to his door asking about his services.

Retaining customers, or convincing dissatisfied customers that your product or service deserves another chance, can be extremely hard. While we were brainstorming ideas to solve this problem, Jaime had already proven his Mineful system worked. That’s definitely the sign of a brilliant thinker.

Q: What is Mineful and where did the idea originate?

Jaime Brugueras: Mineful helps companies use data to retain customers, with no reports. It’s an analytical application that takes action when it identifies patterns of disloyalty and dissatisfaction. Mineful integrates with major CRM and e-commerce platforms, uses its algorithms to detect customers at risk, and then provides the communication tools needed to entice customers to buy back from you. If customer retention is important for your organization, Mineful is right for you.

As marketing analysts, we’ve realized there is a huge gap between analytics and actual benefits to a company. Part of the problem is that the output of business intelligence solutions is usually a chart or report. Just looking at charts simply won’t help your business. The idea partly came from our clients when we were consulting. They would ask for alerts when a metric hit a threshold or when a customer rated their product poorly. Clients just kept saying the word “Alert.”

Alerts are the future of how we will digest information, if it is not here already. When using your smartphone, you get alerted from different applications. Twitter alerts you when you get a mention, a game alerts you when it’s your turn, and banks alert you when your balance is below a certain level. You see, already, we want to digest information on a “need to know” basis because time is very valuable. Businesses can take this alert approach to monitor many parts of their business including: customer loyalty, marketing ROI, inventory levels, and employee satisfaction.

Q: How is Mineful different than the standard analytics program?

Jaime Brugueras: Dashboard reports are a thing of the past. Data on reports gets lost in the aggregate and no one has time to check these reports every day. Mineful uses PhD-level data mining algorithms to determine which customers are likely to leave or need your attention. There are no charts or reports; just a list of customers that are at risk and tools to do something about it.

Many business intelligence tools talk about “actionable insights.” We provide action based on insight. We give our users buttons to act on their data, not just a chart. Our tool is also very intuitive that anyone from a brick and mortar retail store to Target can find it useful.

In summary, Mineful is different in five ways:

• Takes action
• Individual engagement with the customer
• Alerts of important issues
• Math-powered: pre-built predictive algorithms that recognizes pattern of bad behavior
• Easy to use/easy to get setup
• Affordable for the small business (Utility-based pricing means the price is based on amount of data)

Q: Your website, newsletter and introductory video use the term “actionable insights” frequently, and often as more of a buzz word than useful feedback. Can you expand on this concept and discuss Mineful’s philosophy on “actionable insights?”

Jaime Brugueras: We make fun of this phrase because everyone in our industry uses it. We do not offer “actionable insights.” Mineful offers actions based on insight. We believe that charts and reports fall short of producing results. So if you’re ready to take your CRM, sales, and customer data to the next level, go to our website to learn more how Mineful can help you Act on the Unexpected^TM and achieve real results.

Q: Without divulging too much, what are some of the most common issues you’ve observed with business intelligence among e-commerce clients, and are there any growing business intelligence trends (good or bad) you’ve noticed?

Jaime Brugueras: There are five common issues I’ve observed with business intelligence for e-commerce clients:

- Data integration – While there has been constant effort in order to streamline various data platforms, the fact is that there is still too much data available in various formats and on different platforms that just do not talk to each other.

- Delivery needs – The delivery needs of different users vary depending on the level and function that the individual is handling. For example, while a sales manager at Arizona may need drilled down data pertaining to his region, the national sales manager would obviously need to see the larger picture that includes sales data from all regions.

- Complicated – Here again, while it is believed that business intelligence tools need to be used by the end user, most of the BI tools available today are relatively complex and require some level of programming knowledge to process.

- Lack of action – Most business intelligence tools are only good to deliver charts and reports without providing any level of predictive data or alerts with regards to trends or events that need to be looked into.

- Too expensive – Last but not the least, the business intelligence software tools that do have solutions to the issues mentioned above are extremely expensive. These solutions are extremely difficult for small and medium sized companies to purchase and use.

Q: Becoming a leader in any industry, especially Internet marketing and business solutions, requires the ability to recognize a problem or trend before it reaches its climax point. What have you learned about your own business intelligence and abilities as a leader through the success of Mineful?

Jaime Brugueras: Like you say, the ability is in “skating where the puck is going” not where it is. What I’ve learned most is that being a “me too” product with better service or more features simply won’t entice anyone to start using your product or change their current solution. The best thing we’ve done is talk to as many leads, clients, and people in our industry in order to figure out where the current solution falls short. Although we started with a good idea, it was this feedback that shaped and currently shaping the future of Mineful.

Q: Who should we interview next?

Jaime Brugueras: Brian Crummy, president FlowerPetal, Mark Lawrence, president SpotHero, and Jessica Kim, president of Babbaco would be great.

Murfie.com founder Matt Younkle poses with his revolutionary TurboTap at Wrigley Field in Chicago, where the fastest retrofitting beer tap in the world made its debut.

In this edition of Interviews With Brilliant People, we are joined by Matt Younkle, an accomplished inventor and businessman currently entrenched in Murfie.com, an online music store that functions more like a used CD store than iTunes or Amazon (He’ll explain later in the interview).

Matt Younkle has experienced a lot of success as an innovator in product development, which includes the first food grown solely in space, and the world’ fastest retrofittable beer tap (the TurboTap). Younkle’s work has garnered recognition from respected publications (Popular Science, TIME Magazine) and prestigious events (Chicago Innovation Awards). Simply put, when Matt Younkle speaks, smart people listen.

Q: How did the idea for Murfie come about?

Matt Younkle: The idea for Murfie came about when I was searching for something to do with my own collection of 300+ music CDs. Over the past decade, I moved around a bit, and my CDs always moved with me. While unboxing the CDs from my most recent move, back to Madison, Wisconsin, I realized that I didn’t even own a CD player anymore. I didn’t like any of the existing options for selling or trading the CDs in my collection. They all were either too tedious and time-consuming (like listing each CD  for sale on eBay) or they offered me a lot less than my collection was really worth. Murfie was created to fill the market need that I thought was missed by those existing options.

Q: For those that don’t already know, what is Murfie?

Matt Younkle: Murfie is a friendly alternative to online music stores like iTunes or Amazon for purchasing and downloading new music. Our approach is what makes us unique. Our selection of music is built by people who have shipped us their CD collections via free kits we provide, which are then listed on murfie.com as digital albums for sale or trade with other Murfie members. Any person who signs up on murfie.com is set up with an online personal shop to buy, sell, and trade their music. What’s particularly interesting about Murfie is that our users can download any albums in their collection in the digital format of their choice; this includes albums purchased, received in trade, or sent to Murfie as physical CDs.

Murfie aims to tip the scales back toward people in the music consumption model by creating a space in which users feel comfortable storing old music and acquiring new music. All transactions – buying, selling, trading – that take place on our site occur within a community of music lovers, with the user experience being supported by our team headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.

At the present, we’re testing out different messages that describe our concept, but so far people have really connected with us as an online music marketplace that empowers users to request digital delivery of CDs.

Q: There are a lot of free file sharing programs out there that have killed a lot of CD sales. How did/does this impact your business strategy?

Matt Younkle: Well, our business is positioned at the intersection of CDs and digital downloads. We believe that the most valuable part of the CD is the music that’s on it, not the plastic it’s made from. Most people are surprised to learn that last year, 2010,  was the first year in which the number of paid track downloads exceeded the number of tracks sold on physical CDs. In spite of the downturn in the popularity of the format, there were still over 200 million CDs sold last year in the U.S. Plus, over 15 billion music CDs have been sold in the U.S. since the inception of the format. So, Murfie’s pool of available content is enormous, and it’s actually still growing.

Q: You’ve experienced a lot of success in just a few months of existence. Has it been expected, and what are some of the biggest factors that have helped Murfie grow?

Matt Younkle: We’ve experienced terrific growth since our launch late last year, but we’re still a long way from reaching our potential. Based on user feedback and analytics, we deployed a major redesign of the site in early May that resulted in terrific improvements in customer acquisition and customer activity. The redesign was deliberate and expected. What was unexpected was a mention on a few trend-spotting blogs, like springwise.com, shortly after our redesign went live. The pace at Murfie has certainly quickened since then! Of course, the single biggest factor in our growth is the tremendous, smart team of people that we have dedicated to this business.

Q: As an inventor, you’ve also made a name for yourself with the TurboTap, a keg tapper that makes keg-to-cup pouring quicker and more efficient. What did you learn from building out that successful venture that helped you at Murfie?

Matt Younkle: Every new venture teaches many lessons, and bringing TurboTap to market was no exception. By far, the most important lesson I learned is that people are really what make or break a new business. Ideas are the easy part. It takes a solid team execute a plan, recognize what works, and change what doesn’t work. I also learned that R&D can stand for “Research and Drinking,” but that’s the topic for another interview…

Q: Building any business from the ground up requires dedication, a consistent vision, and leadership. What have you learned about yourself as an innovator and inventor throughout this process?

Matt Younkle: I’ve learned it’s impossible to completely let go of my inner geek. I absolutely love engineering challenges and software development. My tendency is to immediately look at every problem through a purely technical lens, but a lot of times, that’s not what’s best for the business – the most beautifully engineered product in the world won’t result in much if your business runs out of money before it has any customers. So while I never will be able to completely let go of my inner geek, attacking problems from multiple angles now means much more for me than an opportunity to use trigonometry.

Q: Do you have any recommendations for who we should interview next?

Matt Younkle: I would check into interviewing Nate Lustig, the Co-Founder of Entrustet. They’re another startup here in Madison that’s attacking a unique opportunity. Entrustet asks the question, “What happens to your digital assets after you die?” This is a topic that’s becoming increasingly relevant each day as more of what we do is moved to the cloud.

The Resource Hub was developed by Rocket Clicks as an academic resource for the Search Engine Marketing industry; In order to provide insight, white papers, and relevant SEM news to keep your business up-to-date on changes, methods, and strategies in search algorithms, so you can increase your web sites’ conversion rates. Whether it be for paid search with Google AdWords, organic search, changes in PPC rules, AdWords split testing, or the Ad Display Network. You can be assured you are getting alpha information developed by the brightest minds in SEO and PPC.

Link Publicity: The Smart Approach to Quality Backlinks and Link Building

Whereas traditional link building focuses on volume, Link Publicity focuses on quality. Link Publicity, Rocket Clicks’ premium link building service, combines the technical expertise to find high-quality backlinks, the long-term strategic vision to ensure site content worthy of quality backlinks, and the artful communication required of high-end link pursuits. Through these pursuits, we link together a site’s most meaningful keywords and associated content with relevant authorities that are trusted by your target audience and search engines alike. Trained by the world’s leading expert on responsible link building, Eric Ward, our team has turned the strategy and execution of Link Publicity into a data-driven art form.

Anyone can spam a weblog with links, but few can draw in the targeted niche sites and respected .orgs, .edus and .govs that both buoy your site the top of the SERPs and get your site in front of interested consumers. To build these types of links, you need to put in the time and effort; you need to make connections; and you need to think about your link building as a PR initiative rather than a stockpile of irrelevant links.

If you are looking for new ways to access your Google Analytics account or to view the data in different ways, than the Google App Gallery is for you.  Most apps in the gallery are free to download and use. These apps help marketers, IT technicians and business owners understand how their website is working and ways to better improve the results.

The Google Analytics Apps are categorized into 12 categories including business intelligence, campaign management, content management, data collection, e-commerce, email marketing, mobile solutions, phone call tracking, reporting tools, search optimization, site audit and widgets &  gadgets.

Figure 1: Google App Gallery

The TrakkBoard App

TrakkBoard is a free desktop application to help users compare and evaluate data from different Google Analytics accounts without actually logging into Google Analytics.  Yes, this means logging into different accounts is no longer a necessity.  You can scroll through various accounts and evaluate data from multiple sources on your desktop application.  This app was very easy to install and took under 5 minutes to get up and running.  TrakkBoard definitely can save me hours of pointless logging on and logging off of accounts.  But the best feature is the ability for me to compare and contrast accounts all in the same window.  Looking at different profiles for the same account in the same window saves time.  So if you have different segments set up inside of google Analytics, this app is a must have.

Figure 2. TrakkBoard Sample Page

Big Action Take Away

Technology is advancing very rapidly when it comes to tracking your online initiatives.  There are many tools including Google Analytics Apps which can make your life easier to evaluate your website and the traffic that is generated to your website.  Doing so will help make your business much more profitable knowing where the leaks in the websites are and fixing them.

Dan Zuzanski

Paid Search Analyst

On April 22^nd, Lisa Regall attended the 2010 Online Marketing ROI Tour put on by MarketingExperiments, MarketingSherpa, and InTouch. Here are a few key points discussed during the conference regarding Conversion Optimization for websites.

The theory of conversion optimization

Notes from Greg Burningham’s first presentation

In terms of conversion optimization, what works for one website might not work best for another website. Though there are guidelines for testing, they are just guidelines, not set in stone rules. You should test everything that might be limiting your conversions to find what works best for your specific company and target audience. Also, conversion testing is not an event, it’s a process. Even if you see strong results from your first test, you should continue to test to keep increasing your conversions.

Four main concepts to remember regarding conversion optimization are:

1. People don’t buy from websites; people buy from people.
2. Don’t optimize websites; optimize the thought sequences of the website.
3. To optimize thought sequences, you must enter into a conversation with visitors.
4. Guide the conversation so visitors convert with no unsupervised thinking.

When testing to improve your website’s conversions, focus on determining why the site isn’t converting and what you can do to better guide visitors to complete the conversion rather than just focusing on the color of a specific button or the font size of a heading. Make the content conversational and informative for visitors and then focus on guiding them to the conversion rather than letting them just “wander” around the website aimlessly.

When visitors land on your website, you have on average seven seconds to capture their interest so your page should answer the following questions for visitors:

1. Where am I?
2. What can I do here?
3. Why should I buy from this specific website?

Visitors should be able to clearly understand what your website is about and what the purpose of it is. If visitors are confused about what your site is about or how to navigate to what they are looking for, they will most likely leave and find a site that makes more sense to them. Distinguish what is unique about your website by stating your unique value proposition.

Identifying an effective value proposition

Notes from Greg Burningham’s second presentation

The value proposition is the primary reason why a potential customer should buy from your website, so identifying an effective value proposition for your company is one of the most important steps in marketing your website and converting traffic.

Your value proposition should set you apart and describe what makes you unique from competitors. There needs to be at least one aspect you exceed in over your competitors that would convince customers you are the best company to buy from.

Be as specific as possible in describing your company. Quantitative statements and results are much more effective than vague claims of your company’s quality that any other company could potentially make. Focus on the value you provide for customers and how you uniquely serve their needs.

Expressing your value proposition

Notes from Jimmy Ellis’s presentation

Once you have determined a value proposition for your company, you need to clearly express it in your online marketing and on your website to convey to visitors. Three key points to remember for expressing your value proposition are congruence, continuity, credibility.

Congruency is important because every aspect of your website page should either state the value proposition or support it in order to guide visitors to complete the conversion. Additionally, each step of the buying process should either state or support the value proposition as well. Visitors should see the same value proposition message from the ad that brought them to your site, whether it’s the PPC add or the title and Meta descriptions of the site’s organic listings, that they see on your website and your checkout process. This way you can ensure that the visitor’s journey through the conversion has a continuous flow.

Also, credibility is a major factor for any website as it’s important to limit the anxiety and sales friction for visitors, especially at the point in which they need to make their decision to buy or submit their contact information. It’s beneficial to include secure site and secure checkout seals right at the purchase section and keep the purchase as risk free as possible for visitors. Testimonials and detailed information about your company, such as how many years you have been in business, can be reassuring for customers as well so you can more easily guide them to a conversion.

Lisa Regall

Organic Search Analyst

Webmaster Tools previously only provided an average position of a site based on its top Google search terms. The new interface introduces impression and click through rate data for the top 100 search queries that lead visitors to a site. This data isn’t just limited to the domain as a whole.  Those who use the tool can also look at this information for individual pages on their site.

Google personalized search: how can Webmaster Tools help?

Some have expressed confusion over the ranking data presented in the new Webmaster Tools. Users will likely notice that many pages are reported as holding multiple positions in Google for certain keywords. While this may seem like inaccurate reporting, that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. Late last year, Google introduced personalized searches for ever computer that uses its engine. This means that, based on your search history, your results will differ from those of the person sitting next to you.

There has been some uncertainty as to how personalized search will affect SEO strategies. If your site is showing up first in Google for a few users and 50th for others, how is it possible to keep track of that data and monitor the effectiveness of your SEO work? The new features in Webmaster Tools seem to be Google’s way of showing website owners and online marketing companies that personalized search will not be the end of SEO.

That’s not so say it will alleviate all concerns, as there is no way for those working in this field to ensure a first place ranking for everyone who uses Google search. Still, allowing website owners to monitor impression and click through statistics for personalized search results is a step in helping them understand how to comprehend the impact of this relatively new concept.

Nick Schurk

Organic Search Analyst

There are many browsers that people use to surf the web including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and many others. Your website can appear differently to visitors depending on their browser. Are you sure your website is displaying properly to your visitors and does it really matter?

Website design and coding affects how your website is displayed in different browsers. Images and text will load and appear differently on different browsers.  For example, in Internet Explorer an image and text will load properly, but in Firefox, these same images may be covering the text making it unreadable. And to make things worse, your website’s navigation might not load on Safari. The solution to these issues is to find out what browsers visitors are using to access your site and to format the code of your website to fit these browsers.

Find out which browsers visitors are using by looking at the Browsers Report.

Figure 1: Browsers Report showing browsers used to access the website.

Big Action Take Away

By knowing what browsers visitors are using when viewing your website, you will be able to make updates to your website that will load properly for the majority of your visitors. When designing a new website, this data will help the developers make sure the new websites display properly for these browsers.

Figure 2: Close-up of which browsers visitors used to access the website.

How Do I Get This Report?

1. Once logged into the Google Analytics account, clicks on the Visitors tab on the left.

2. From the Visitors menu, click the Browser Capabilities link.

3. A drop menu will appear from which you click on the Browsers link

4. Now you are looking at Browsers Report (Figure 1 and 2) that is shown above.

Dan Zuzanski

Paid Search Analyst

Viral videos done right

Notes from the presentation by Denise McKee – About Face Media

When it comes to viral videos, there are only a few ways to do it right, and plenty of ways to get it wrong. Denise McKee, COO of About Face Media, says that the first place to start is following the three commandments of viral video:

1. Define your objectives – know exactly what you want to do before you start to do it; otherwise, you will fail miserably at getting your message out.

2. Know your target audience – decide on who should see the video and target spaces where they will see it. Don’t just throw your video out there to the wolves and hope your audience can find it. Also, your content needs to be relevant to your community.

3. Don’t let the idea kill the rest – you need more than something that is entertaining. The video should always be part of a larger planned campaign around one central branding idea.

Finally, viral video campaigns do not simply end when you release the video. You need to feed your audience constantly with new, fresh and engaging material. Plan for your next three steps and have your endpoint in mind from the start. If you cannot plan it out, go for something “evergreen” that will stand the test of time.

Create a community now

Notes from the presentation by Amber Naslund

As social media becomes increasingly popular as a business tool, many businesses are attempting to build a communitywithout really knowing what it means. Amber Naslund, Director of Community for Radian 6, has a few things to keep in mind when approaching this monumental task. First, community cannot survive on its own; it needs the backing of dedicated employees and the company as a whole. Community will represent the fabric of your company’s intent – it can no longer be treated as a buzz word.

The key to cultivating and maintaining a community is content. Put the company’s thought leadership on display and let your engagements represent the intent of your business. Go beyond tweeting and posting on a Facebook page. While community is an important element of the new business model, it may be difficult to measure. Traditional metrics will not work, so simply measure the results. If you do it right, you’ll know it’s working.

How to stand out online? Dominate the conversation

Notes from the presentation by Sarah Evans

Updating your social networking sites frequently with relevant content is, of course, important to building your brand online. But never forget to continue the conversation. According to Ms. Evans, 1 in every 3 Americans is a conversationalist online – meaning, 1 out of 3 people update their social profiles at least once a week.

Don’t be afraid to hijack a conversation. If you’re an expert on a topic or just have your own insights to share, don’t be afraid to do it! Social Media works because, well, it’s social. Without ongoing dialogues and engaged users, there is no real purpose to having an online presence.

In the same way, also present numerous opportunities for others to share their feedback as well. Listening and observing is just as powerful.

Social media has changed the game. Really

Notes from the presentation by Mo Moorman

You’ve heard numerous times that Social Media is the way of the future. But how can you turn it into a great branding tool for your company? Easy – look at the big brands. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Burger King dominate social networking sites and viral videos. And when something works, they aren’t afraid to keep it around.

In order to be successful with Social Media, you need to remember that transparency is truly “the name of the game”. Having a social presence means you are opening yourself and your company up to feedback, which can be both positive and negative. But that feedback comes directly for your consumers. And what you learn from that feedback can be priceless.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with Social Media – so just remember:

1. Keep Content Present

2. Always be Relevant

3. Update Frequently

Matthew Ruud

Copywriter

Keyword Research

One of the most important steps in increasing organic website traffic is choosing the right keywords to focus on. Selecting the right keywords can make or break a website. If you’re targeting keywords that receive very small search volumes, you won’t receive very much traffic at all to your website, but if you’re targeting keywords that carry very high search volumes, you have the potential to receive much more website traffic and ultimately more sales.

Keyword research can be a long process and it is more of an art than a science, but there are several free tools available online to help you with your research to find the best keywords to target for your website.

1. Google AdWords Keyword Tool

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is good for more than just AdWords PPC research, it can be used to find keywords to target for SEO as well. The tool reports the average search volume trends over the year and for each month, rather than the number of searches per day like some other keyword tools. When searching for keywords to target focus on the highest search volume keywords based on exact match,  as each keyword would be most likely to rank for its exact match, but check the volumes based on broad match and phrase match as well to get a more complete idea of the keyword’s usage in search engines.

2. SEOBook.com Keyword Suggestion Tool

Aaron Wall’s keyword suggestion tool on SEOBook.com is also a good tool to use. It’s free but you have an account with the website to log in to use the tool. The keyword research tool shows the estimated monthly search volume for a keyword in Google, Yahoo, and MSN as well as other data metrics for the keyword.

3. Trellian Keyword Discovery Tool

The Trellian Keyword Discovery Tool shows the top suggested search terms to target based on a specific keyword. Trellian doesn’t state where they get the data from, whether it’s Google or Yahoo or MSN, but it’s a good guideline to use at when looking for keywords to target. This is a good tool to use to find long tail keywords to target as well.

4. Wordtracker Keyword Suggestion Tool

Wordtracker is similar to Trellian in that it doesn’t tell you where the data is being gathered from, but it is a good tool to use to determine which keywords are more popular than others and to find longer tail keywords as well. Wordtracker has a paid version and a free version you can use. The free version shows the top 100 keywords suggested from a specific search term, while the paid version shows much more.

5. Google Suggest

As you type in a search query in the search box of Google, Google Suggest offers search suggestions similar to what you are typing. Google bases its suggestions off of what it thinks you are looking for. Also, as Google is suggesting the keyword to people, they are more likely to click on that keyword and it will carry a higher search volume as a result, so Google Suggest keywords become more popular and are generally good keywords to target.

6. Microsoft Online Commercial Intention

Microsoft adCenter Labs offers a tool to detect the online commercial intention of a keyword. It measures the probability that a person will buy when typing in the search term and measures it with a rating of 0.00 to 0.99. This is beneficial to know so you can target high converting keywords in addition to high search volume keywords.

7. Google Insights for Search

After you determine which keywords you’d like to target, it’s a good idea to run them through Google Insights for Search to see how the traffic trends of them compare to each other. Google Insights for Search shows the average traffic for the keywords over the past several years and shows trends on when searches for the keyword are most popular so you can target it based on seasonality. It also shows which areas of the world people are searching for the term the most as well as rising searches from within the keyword topic to give you an idea of which keywords are becoming more popular searches.

Lisa Regall

Organic Search Analyst

Rocket Clicks Staff

Sources:

Google AdWords Keyword Research Tool – https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Google Insights for Search – http://www.google.com/insights/search/

Trellian Keyword Discovery Tool – http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

Wordtracker Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

SEOBook.com Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook

Microsoft Online Commercial Intention – http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/

How ESPN succeeded with microsites

ESPN saw quick success in launching their city specific microsites. The project has targeted four specific cities: Dallas, Boston, New York and Chicago. These sites were promoted with great fanfare on ESPN’s networks, as well as their homepage. The results are pretty striking. Within 3 months of launching its Chicago specific microsite, it became Chicago’s top sports site in 3 months. How did they accomplish so much so quickly?

ESPN can leverage tons of content, partnerships, technology, multimedia, and stats from its national organization into their local micro-sites. So they picked locations with a very high concentration of professional sports teams, a large population, and an above average overall interest in professional sports. Rather than forcing internet users sift through the main ESPN domain looking for the Chicago-based information, they created a microsite that will take Chicago sports fans directly to information about the city’s teams. A reality of this objective is that ESPN does not have a wealth of content for every United States metropolitan area, nor is the level of interest as strong everywhere, so it likely won’t work as well for smaller professional sports markets.

How you can use microsites in your internet marketing

When looking at pay-per-click marketing, your quality score is a high determinant of what your overall cost-per-click will be. One way to improve your quality score is to have a better, more relevant landing page for your ads. Developing a microsite to serve as a landing page in your PPC campaigns will increase its relevance, improving your quality score and lowering your average cost-per-click.

When looking at search engine optimization, developing a microsite with more specific information can help your organic rankings for that specific topic. This specific microsite will contain more tightly themed keywords that will improve your search engine rankings. The keywords should be present throughout your entire microsite. For starters, you’ll want to buy a domain name that is specific to your offering within that microsite. With a more specific domain name, internet users will trust that the website they are going to will contain the exact information they are looking for. Also, important keywords should be placed on each tab of the microsite to navigate to specific pages, and within the content on those pages as well.

An example of this is ESPN creating a microsite for the upcoming 2010 World Cup. ESPN’s home page may not rank high organically for a search query looking for information on the World Cup. ESPN then created a specific microsite for the 2010 world cup which will show up much higher organically for any search query containing World Cup themed keywords.

Microsites cost little to set up

One important thing to mention about microsites is that they are relatively inexpensive to create. In terms of actual cost, you simply need to buy and host the domain. Depending on your hosting plan, you may be able to host additional domains at no extra cost. This means that you could get your microsite up and running for as little as $4.99. All that would be left is filling it with content.

Remember, microsites don’t have to be huge – hence the name. Make your content as relevant as possible and make it stand out. As few as five pages may be enough to make your microsite attractive. Above all, do not forget to link back to the parent site, because you want to be able to drive traffic to your main site as well. Don’t worry about siphoning off customers – they’ll still be going to one of your pages. Plan out a campaign well in advance, because when it is well orchestrated, you can construct a series of interrelated sites that will increase both traffic and conversions.

Nick Haertel

Paid Search Analyst