Search engine marketing is often seen as a dark art but Dan Fallon, head of the PPC, analytics and conversion optimisation agency Search Star, adopts a very simple philosophy to a complex business: “Clients are happy when the value of the extra sales & leads outstrips what they pay us.”
Over the last seven years, the Bath-based business has built a strong following of loyal clients. It’s the result of an honest, accountable approach to web marketing. I asked Dan to share some of his search marketing experience.
I’m guessing people come to Search Star and ask something like “Can you make our business No.1 on Google?”
Dan Fallon (DF): “Ha-ha, yes that’s often the case. There are agencies in this market that will exploit a customer’s desperation. They’ll over-promise results in the full knowledge of their inability to deliver and tie the clients into complex contracts that allow the agency to win even when it doesn’t deliver real value for its clients. We take a different approach when faced with the ‘No.1 on Google’ question.
“Our first step is to evaluate whether the customer needs to be on top of Google; and if they do, will it make any difference to their business? Sometimes the answer is ‘no’. Let me explain. Maybe their website is poor. There’s little point driving traffic to a website where the customer is going to arrive and do nothing. We are in the business of converting traffic into sales, after all.”
Hugh, as someone involved in website performance, what role do you play for Search Star?
Hugh Gage (HG): “As Dan has suggested, our work is about acquisition and conversion. Half the job is driving traffic to a site. But if it is not converting to sales then the work is not complete.
“Imagine filling a bath with water. You can turn the taps on full blast, but if the plug is out, then you’re wasting your time. My job is to make sure that the traffic converts to sales, and doesn’t disappear ‘down the plughole!’
“This is particularly important when you are talking about paid search. If money is being spent on getting traffic to a site, then it is crazy to watch it bounce right back off it. The site must do everything it can to convert incoming leads.”
Dan, if there is a real benefit for a customer’s site to rank high on Google, what’s the next step in your process?
DF: “Assuming the customer has a decent site and will benefit from a good ranking, we’d need to know which search phrases are important to their business. That is a big piece of work, but we have a system to solve it.
“Next, we ask ‘How are we going to do this? Is it a job for paid search (AdWords etc) organic search or a combination of the two’.”
People often see search, optimisation, analytics and so on as complicated. It can get put in the ‘too difficult’ box.
HG: “You’re right. One of the biggest problems web analysts face is the issue of communication. Often the Chief Executive you’re talking to won’t have much technical knowledge of SEO.
“But if you are trying to get budget for a web project, and you are talking in terms that are simply not being understood, then the chances of getting that across, and getting your budget, are slim. The chief exec just wants to know what needs to be done to improve sales and what investment is necessary.
“So, being able to articulate the insights from data — and then turn that into actionable business decisions — is crucial.”
How does a customer know that his web agency is delivering the goods?
DF: “Any business owner worth their salt will quickly work out that they are paying us X and they are selling Y. Clients are happy when the value of their sales is considerably more than what we are charging. It is that simple.
“Our mantra is to get the most profitable traffic to a site, and then make that traffic more profitable on the site. Here’s an example. A customer sees that he is getting a thousand visits and making a thousand pounds. He will come to us and say “how can I get the same volume of traffic and make two thousand pounds?” We come up with a solution involving better qualified traffic and website usability changes that delivers more sales.”
Can you give me an example of changes you’ve made to a site based on your analysis of analytics data?
HG: “Yes, and it’s one where we simply looked at what people were searching for within a site. Birmingham Airport has an search box on-site. We discovered that a lot of people were searching on ‘luggage’ and ‘checking in’. We realised we needed to make information about check-in and luggage allowance more prominent and easier to find. Changing that content made a big difference to the customer experience. Quite often, simple low-cost changes return disproportionate returns.”
Dan, can you share any recent successes you’ve had for clients?
DF: “We’ve been working with Imagine Ireland, a leading holiday cottage company, with 1,500 cottages across Ireland. As a result of our work, the online booking conversion rate is up 33% year on year, and it also is now trading up 40% year on year, which for an overseas holiday company in this economy is pretty good going.
“Nationally we work with everything from direct response focussed loan clients to high end brands such as Jimmy Choo. Closer to home we’ve got great clients like Withy King, solicitors specialising in clinical negligence. City Engineering in Bristol, Party Packs in Pilton, BrightMinds in Radstock & Big Tall Order, the online clothes store for big and tall men, based in Thornbury.
“I’m proudest of our work for long-term clients many of whom we watched become online leaders in their industry sectors. For instance Brunel Engraving in Clevedon started with us a high Street engravers just taking their first dip into the web. We’ve worked with them for six years, and they now have 50 people working out of a big industrial unit and 4 separate ecommerce websites. Brunel is now one of the largest online engraving businesses and we are proud to have played a significant part.”
This is an updated version of an article that first appeared as a Business Profile on Bristol247, Bristol’s independent news site.