Page 12 - Oil & Energy - March 2013

12 • OIL&ENERGY
Marketing
Identify Your Best
Prospects and Zero In
Behavioral targeting and remarketing
raise advertising efficiency
By Richard Rutigliano, PriMedia, Inc.
AS MORE COMPANIES EMBRACE THE
Internet, and the search engines that direct
traffic rewrite the rules of search, it becomes
harder for any fuel retailer or home comfort
provider to secure first-page search results
and stand out from the crowd.
At the same time, however, new
technologies are emerging that enable
companies to connect with Internet users
in a more personal way and improve lead
conversion. By mastering the new rules of
search and intelligently targeting customers
with online advertising, savvy companies
can maximize return from their search
engine marketing (SEM) investments.
A MOVING TARGET
Google and other search engines are
engaged in a continuous quest to improve
search results and stay one step ahead of
website operators who game their website
code to get to the top of the search results
pile. A site that consistently drew first-page
rankings a year ago might find itself tum-
bling down the pile due to revisions in the
search algorithms.
Site owners have control over many
internal site factors that affect search perfor-
mance. To succeed in search, a site should
contain relevant content that prominently
features the most widely used search terms
for what they’re selling. The terms should
be repeated with the proper frequency and
appear in all the right places and combina-
tions in both the text and the website code.
By using the right words and phrases
properly, the site signals the search engines
accurately about the company’s activi-
ties, so the search engines know when to
include the site in search results. Proper
use of keywords and key phrases does not
guarantee first-page search rankings, but it
is an essential building block.
A site also bolsters search performance
when it attracts more traffic than similar
sites and has better connections to external
sites. Companies can improve their linking
while attracting more traffic by taking
advantage of local business directories run
by Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yelp, Merchant
Circle and others.
It is essential to
claim your company’s
listings in online direc-
tories, provide your loca-
tion and a complete description
of what the company does,
and include a link to the company
website.
VITAL LINKS
Every fuel retailer and comfort provider
should also consider joining the Better
Business Bureau and Angie’s List, and placing
logos with links on their company websites.
Not only do they drive traffic and improve
search performance, they give the consumer
a measure of confidence about the company.
Another important SEM tool for
attracting traffic and raising the company’s
profile is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising,
such as Google AdWords ™. With PPC,
a company places text advertisements with
links to the company website on pages of
relevant search results. The company gets
its name and message in front of prospects
while they are searching for the very prod-
ucts and services that the company sells.
Beyond those essential strategies, there
are other important steps a company can
take to attract more traffic and improve
search performance. One of the
most beneficial is to provide
useful, informational content
relating to your products and
services. Oilheat and propane
companies should post articles
and web pages that provide
helpful information, such
as a comparison of heating
oil to other fuels and a primer on
energy efficiency at home. When properly
optimized for search, informative content
does triple duty: It attracts traffic in its own
right, it improves search performance, and
it reflects well on the company.
When a company supplements its
information resources with fresh content
via a blog or YouTube channel and uses
social media to promote each new post,
search performance
improves because the Google
search algorithm favors sites that are regu-
larly updated. A steady flow of fresh website
content improves your chances for a first-
page ranking in search results.
CONVERT YOUR LEADS
Optimizing your site’s search performance
is essential for increasing your traffic flow,
Continued …