Dan Soschin

Does Page Load Time Matter?
Does the speed at which your web pages load really matter, especially in this day and age where broadband is becoming ubiquitous?

YES!

It still matters, and perhaps more than ever as devices uncouple from broadband networks and switch over to mobile networks where loading clunky pages with heavy plug-ins and images can cause exceptionally high bounce rates.

And, page load time heavily influences both PAID and ORGANIC search rates. If you are wondering what the impact is on your sites performance, check out this ClickZ.com article written by Bryan Eisenberg. Bryan states that by adding a second to your page’s load time you could be risking 7% of your traffic.

Worse yet is that some sites take more than just a few seconds to load… they take north of 10 seconds. Image what shaving a few seconds off could do to your user experience and bounce rate?

But where to get started? Landing page optimization is a heavy science and you can spend a lot of time optimizing various parts including:
1. javaScript
2. plug-ins
3. CSS
4. HTML
5. Flash
6. Image compression
7. Content
All of these factors can be optimized to reduce your pages load time. So, stop wasting time and start optimizing. The easiest place to start is with your images. From there, I would recommend understanding the value you are getting from the social plug-ins. How many people visit your page and how many are “liking” or “+1″ing your page? Is that number of people worth adding an extra half a second to load all those plug-ins? I bet you it isn’t!
Update to Google’s Site Indexing Functionality
Rob Young at Search Engine Watch reports on a new feature that Google released that speeds up your ability to have Google index your site. This is especially important in two key scenarios:
1. If you have time sensitive content you needed indexed.
2. If you need to clear the cached version of your site.
Screen Grab from Google's Webmaster Central Blog Showing the new Indexing Feature

Read Rob’s article here:

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2099291/Google-Adds-Fetch-as-Googlebot-URL-Submission-Tool

Check out the Google blog entry discussing the new feature here:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/08/submit-urls-to-google-with-fetch-as.html

This tool is part of Google Webmaster Tools (GWT). If you are not using the free GWT (including the landing page optimization features), you’re missing out on several opportunities to improve your sites performance.
Facebook Ads: Landing Page or Facebook Page – Which is Better?

Facebook is drawing in new advertisers each data from the paid search world. However, the principles that apply to advertising in paid search (and even display) do not necessarily apply to Facebook. There are many differences including the size and type of images that work well, the type of copy that produces results, targeting, and perhaps most importantly, the type of ad.

In this post I will briefly highlight two types of ads new advertisers will immediately be forced to chose from: ads that go to your off-site landing page and ads that encourage people to “like” your Facebook page, delivering them to your Facebook page.

Facebook Advertising: Ads with Like Buttons & Ads Without

MarketingProfs just published an articlediscussing a large comScore Facebook study that definitely proves that the 2nd type of ads (the ones with the like button) will, in most all cases, outperform ads that take users off of Facebook.

Here’s why:

When someone “likes” your advertisement, that activity shows up in their newsfeed. The comScore study shows that Facebook users spend a large amount of time reading news feeds, so your friends will see the like activity related to the activities you perform. This is profound because the average Facebook user has between 100 and 200 friends. So, for every “like” you get, you get (FOR FREE!) as many as an additional 100-200 brand impressions (and potential free likes if those users then chose to engage with your brand from the feed).

However, if you are driving users to your Facebook page, there are some things you need to keep in mind:

1. You should have a custom welcome tab that explains who you are, provides a call to action, and contains other relevant information. This will be your first chance to convert a like into a customer.

2. You need a strong, vibrant and engaged community. This starts with good community managers who engage the fans with meaningful content, polls, discussions, and offers (if relevant).

3. A social media policy that covers the management and moderation of your community to address negative issues, customer service, and so on.
5 Considerations for Making Social Media Strategic – Webcast

I will be a panelist on an upcoming webcast entitled, “Doing to Delivering – 5 Considerations for Making Social Media Strategic”. It will take place on Wednesday, August 24th at 1pm ET. I hope you can join us!

The webcast is being hosted by Systems Alliance and I will be co-presenting with Chase Bowers (Internet Communications Specialist, University of Alabama) and Melissa Richards (Director of Marketing and Publications, Virginia Tech)

You can register for this webcast here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/691685025

If you’d like to submit a question to the panel ahead of time, simply leave a comment on this post and I’ll try my best to have the panel address it.
Mobile App versus Mobile Web?

Should you invest in building out a mobile application for a smartphone, or instead, take your website into the mobile generation and just “mobilize” your website?

Well, as I wrote recently on this topic, I still believe mobile apps will eventually give way to feature-rich mobile websites.

One of the main drives I mentioned were corporate budgets.

However, the technology that will make this a reality is HTML5. Here’s a great article which explains what HTML5 can deliver that its predecessors could not, and therefore gave way to the rise of mobile apps:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/07/28/html5-adoption-rise-allowing-richer-mobile-sites
Google Analytics – Custom Reports You Can Actually Use

If you are just getting started with Google Analytics and you’re wondering what types of custom reports you can create, look no further than this great article by Greg Habermann at SearchEngineWatch.com.

I’ve long recommended one of the best ways to get your feet wet with GA is to look at what types of reports others are running and why there are of a particular significance. You can then translate those reports to your business and objectives.
All of the sudden, I love Bing

I used to be really old school when it came to search. You see, I was one of those guys running paid search campaigns back in 2000 when bids were 1c and paid search was a wild frontier town for marketers. We really had two big options, Yahoo and MSN. Google really didn’t come on to the seen for a couple more years. So, since I “grew up” (professionally speaking) with Yahoo, that’s what I got comfortable using. As Google proliferated my life, I may have been a bit slow to convert at first, but eventually became a true believer. And I love Google. But I also still love MyYahoo! And now, I think I love Bing! How can this be?

Bing has really been making a splash lately… first with its edge-to-edge stunning backgrounds which, I admit, don’t help you find search results. But Bing (and Microsoft) continue to innovate via Windows 7 and IE9. Here’s a great blog post by Thom Craver at Search Engine Watch on the latest innovations being piloted at Bing. Pay close attention to the details, such as the scrolling navigation (yes, you can take it with you!) and the accordion search results. I just love these new features.

All these innovations are quite impressive and I think the future of search is quite exciting.
The “_____” Moment of Truth

Ever since I attended a Google conference at their NYC offices this past spring where I heard a P&G executive talk about the “zero moment of truth”, I keep coming across versions of “the moment of truth”.

David Berkowitz does a great job breaking this concept down on the MediaPost blog in one of the better (and more concise) posts I’ve come across.

His analysis of the “infinite” moment of truth is profound. A customer willing to evangelize your product or service is the holy grail in marketing. You literally cannot buy that type of advertising.

If you run a marketing program, you should start out by thinking about how you can convert more customers into advocates. That should be your goal. If you achieve that goal, revenue will follow.
Top Landing Page Optimization Resources
Here are some of the absolutely best articles I have come across of the years with regards to building and optimizing great landing pages and the calls to action (CTAs) that great pages need.

In no particular order:
And, if the above pages weren’t enough to get you going, the resource below is one of the most comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of create the VERY BEST FORMs for all types of situations:
Conversion Optimization: An In-depth Guide to Forms
Is your organization “analytics-forward”?

ClickZ writes a great article entitled, “5 Traints of the Analytically Empowered Organization“.

If you ever wanted to do a “50,000 foot” assessment of where you stand, this is a good place to start and quickly identify key areas that might require additional attention in the next several months.