Liberty went ahead and invested in an iPad this week, partly to improve the team productivity when out of the office and partly to show off. After using it for a few days it looks like it's only really good for trying to impress technophobic clients.

Right now, for search engine marketers it's a very disappointing tool, and here's why...

1. No decent SEO apps - Only one or two exist right now and they are nothing compared to what we are used to on the iPhone. Simple things like source code analysis and ranking tracking aren't available yet.

2. No AdWords access - Safari keeps crashing when you try to do anything within the pay per click system, meaning all that account management work we had planned to squeeze in between meetings and when travelling isn't going to be happening.

3. No browser SEO plug-ins - Without Firefox we can't enjoy all of the tools that make our job easier. Everything, from checking links to viewing code, has to be done the long way.

4. No keyword tool access - As with point 2, Safari falls over when trying to use the Google keyword tool, so keyword research is one more thing that either has to be done in the office or on a laptop/net book

5. No flash - Flash may be the enemy of most search engine marketers, but it's nice to be able to view videos that are not on YouTube. Right now we can't see a lot of SEO training videos that we subscribe to, such as the SEOmoz whiteboard Fridays. And we like our whiteboard Fridays.

A lot of these should be ironed out and improved over the coming months, but if you work in Internet marketing and are planning on using an iPad for business, then we advise you to save your cash for the time being.

P.S. Don't get us started on the lack of tethering to an iPhone.

One of the most common questions we are asked by our clients is “What kind of clicks can I expect when I am in position 1?” Another is “How many more clicks will I get at the top of the page, compared to the bottom?” Valid questions when choosing to employ an SEO firm and ones we’ve struggled to answer, until now.

We’ve spent some time this month and put our heads together to conduct a little research that we hope goes someway to answering these questions. As you surely know, page 1 on Google is the much revered promised land of Search Engine Optimisation, but did you know that by battling your way to the first position, your site could enjoy three times the traffic that a competitor in 3rd place receives?

We compared Click Through Rates for a dozen of our retained SEO clients by looking at their Google Adwords data, their Google Analytics data and our ranking tracking software. We compared traffic levels against where they were in the search results month on month for each keyword and the results averaged out as:

As you can see, there are drastic differences between the click through rates you can expect if your site shows at top of the Google rankings on page 1, or if you are somewhere in mid-table or towards the bottom of the page. Our research shows that if your organisation finds itself as rank 1, you can expect just over 51% of all people searching on that term to visit your website. This then falls quite dramatically...

Position 1 = 51.4%
Position 2 = 27.4%
Position 3 = 16.8%
Position 4 = 12.7%
Position 5 = 10.8%
Position 6 = 8.3%
Position 7 = 6.6%
Position 8 = 6.2%
Position 9 = 5.3%
Position 10 = 4.8%

Interestingly, the difference between the listings ‘below the fold’ (i.e. the lower half of the page that you often have to scroll down to) is quite small. Perhaps people click the first listing impulsively but when they get down to the second half of the page, take the time to read through the lower listings?

If you are carrying out SEO work or want to appear at the top of the search engines then hopefully this gives you an idea of what to expect. Compare these figures with the search volumes found on the Google keyword suggestion tool and you will have an idea of the visitor levels your site will receive.

Please bear in mind that whilst we ran this for a dozen sites, that’s still quite a small number and if we had the time or resources then we would have done more. Also, the figures varied quite widely depending on the market and the type of keywords involved.

Your CTR will obviously depend on how compelling your listing is in the search results, so spend time to ensure keywords are included within your page titles, meta descriptions and the URL (if possible), as these are the three things that users see in the search results. Also try and include words that will enhance CTR, such as “free trial”, “low cost”, “high quality” or whatever works for your target market.

A SURPRISING trend has come to light as the internet continues to develop. Retailers that succeed online are rarely the same as the successful giants found on the high street. Conversely, in our city and town centres we visit familiar shops with long established brands whose digital presence are often significantly newer, smaller and – crucially – a lot more profitable.

Well over a decade ago when online shopping began in earnest, the vast majority of businesses at the forefront of their offline markets concentrated on where they were doing well, and perhaps failed to see the possibilities for the future. These days, when shopping for clothes on the high street, Top Shop and Marks & Spencer remain omnipresent, with an established footing in almost every city. But online, it’s ASOS.com and Net-A-Porter that shoppers prefer.

So why is it that Play.com and Amazon sit comfortably at the top of the ecommerce pile, enjoying huge market share, while Zavvi, which was formerly Virgin, went out of business in very quick time, and HMV’s foray into the online world in no way reflects its dominance of the high street?

The online and offline markets differ greatly. Many of these large, established, offline giants stumbled into the world of online retail assuming the transition would be simple. This has been far from the case. Offline businesses often have to push their message onto consumers and convince them of their need for such products, and convince them to visit stores in order to prove they are the best-placed supplier. The internet features a ready-made market and, so long as your business is at the top of the search engines for popular search terms, you can capture the individuals already interested in your offering.

In reality, it is often a lot less expensive and less risky to attract business via the web than it is in the physical world. Yet many firms really struggle to capture an online audience which is anywhere near as profitable as what they are used to. This is usually down to the adaptability and attitude of the management.

Not only are different skills needed to succeed in ecommerce, but a different attitude is key. Many offline businesses simply do not set themselves up to win online. Trying to transfer traditional customer service approaches and pricing onto the web just doesn’t work. While a consumer might be willing to pay more to browse around a department store and receive one-on-one service, more often than not, on the internet, they want lowest cost and quickest delivery. So long as your website looks reputable and you appear in the search engine results, or are well positioned within the social media networks, you will start carving up a share of the market.

The other factor holding these bricks and mortar organisations back is their ability to change direction quickly. Decision makers within the large retailers are often slower to adapt to new consumer trends, which simply doesn’t work in the digital world. This isn’t completely their fault as an online store can open a new department in a matter of days or even hours, but how long would it take for Marks & Spencer to open up a section of brand new products in just one of its stores? Whereas a 50% off sale can be orchestrated within hours and start impacting profits almost immediately online, a high street retailer has to plan such events well in advance and can’t produce the point of sale items and advertising campaigns in such a short timescale.

There is hope for the traditional retailers and a way they can fight back – by combining their offline brand power with the new online marketing strategies.

The advantage that offline retailers have over new internet start-ups is existing marketing budgets and recognisable brands. Where they fail is to put these two together in the same way as an online marketer would. If they were to fight their internet competitors on their own turf – the search engines – and price themselves more competitively they would be able to use their brand recognition to not only attract a far greater share of traffic, but also convert a lot more of it too. If this were to happen, then it wouldn’t take long for the lists of most popular internet retailers to start filling up with brands that we’ve recognised for decades.

Article originally published on WalesHome.org: http://waleshome.org/2010/06/why-do-high-street-giants-stumble-online/

Howells Solicitors is one of the five largest law firms in Wales, specialising in residential and commercial property conveyancing as well as various legal services for businesses and individuals. The firm approached Liberty at the end of 2009 to discuss how we could help them become a market leader online.

The problem

Howells was not appearing on the first page of the search engines for any of its keywords and was receiving very little website traffic. The number of enquiries being generated by the site was only a couple a month and this needed to improve dramatically.

The solution

We offered an intensive online marketing strategy which included:

- Pay Per Click adverts on Google AdWords
- SEO copywriting, where we re-wrote sections of their site to better incorporate keywords
- Inbound links were built to their site from other legal resources
- Google Local listings were set up for their five offices

The result

Within a few days their site started climbing the search engines and within a month traffic had more than doubled. The website can now be found on the front page of Google for hundreds of local keywords, including “solicitors Cardiff” and “Solicitors South Wales” but also many national terms, such as “commercial lease solicitor” and “lease solicitors”.

These results, along with a controlled Pay Per Click spend have meant that now, six months on, traffic is still rising each month and there are numerous online enquiries each day.

Testimonial

“From working closely with the team at Liberty Marketing, we have found that Search Engine Optimisation is a brilliant tool for increasing our enquiries and a lot more cost effective than previous print campaigns that we have undertaken. We specialise in several legal areas of law and have found that Liberty can deliver enquiries to us through our website in all areas. We also have the ability to target specific areas that we would like to concentrate on with minimum fuss. The website is now a brilliant tool to use to gain business.”

Tristan Lewis, Business Development Manager, Howells Solicitors