Jessica Bowman: Selling To The C Suite.
By keeping SEO top of mind for everyone in the company
Getting C-Suite buy-in is easy. Numbers, Demeanor. The numbers speak for themselves. C-Suite will love the ROI and buy-in.
The problem: Everyone under the C-Suite. Middle management complains and the complaints get escalated, people get agitated.
Your search requests add to project man hours, are inconsistent with other goals, go against existing programming standards, weren’t technically feasible, added to the project time line and cost—typical objections.
Don’t assume that once you get executive buy-in, your battle is done. You’ve only just begun.
Your plan of action: consistently and constantly reiterate the search marketing message to all employees.
Develop a 24 month PR Campaign. Create an SEO “Dog and Pony” show. Why SEO Makes sense and gets high priority. Give it to anyone and everyone. Get details of your plan in the company magazine. Offer SEO Brown Bags. Train everyone in SEO. Have regular search marketing update meetings for all levels.
Allison Fabella:
Program: 4 sections (Product Manager, Developer, Designer & Content Producer).
Product Manager (Your first and last defense). They approve each phase of project so they must be made aware of the benefits of SEO and the consequences of ignoring it.
Scenario: Product Manager forgets to invite you to the kickoff meeting. Solutions: Remind you that their project will yield better results if SEO is baked-in during the planning phase. Show example of a successful project in which SEO was considered right from the kick-off and backup with data.
Developer (Make it or break it). They create the backbone of your SEO…can directly impact traffic positively or negatively.
Scenario: The developer builds all page links in Javascript. Solutions: Don’t tell them to tear it all down and start over. Explain how the page could lose traffic and suggest that a supplemental HTML links can prevent that from happening. Show an example of a solution…helps illustrate what you mean, proves it can be done.
Designer (Your content begins here). Mutual opportunities: Design create opportunities for SEO and vice versa.
Scenario: Designer mocks up a page made up entirely of images…no text. Tell them how fabulous the page looks. Express concern that people might not see their page due to search engine limitations for images.
The Content Producer (The bridge between engines and users).
Scenario: Content producer writes a story about Britney Spears with the title “Ouch”.
Solutions…Google “Ouch” and ask the producer if this is where they want their story to appear in the SERPS. Then, Google a more appropriate title.
Achieving SEO Harmony: Establish your credibility (Make a quickie change and show results). Critical if you’re new to the organization. Document successes: Theirs, not yours. Emphasize how SEO benefits them not you. Be Omnipresent: Locate your SEO at intersection of Development, Design & Content if possible. Weekly update meetings w/ the four “sections”.
Goals & Accountability: Attach success to their productivity.
Checklists: Each “section” gets tailored checklist + 101. Build SEO into life cycle checklists.
Training: turn everyone in your organization an SEO especially the 4 “sections” Compromise: Well, what can be done?
Dan Perry (In-house SEO, PPC and Campaigns)
Company-wide SEO Training. Where to start? Senior executives – get in the meeting. Stay above 30K feet. Stress Accountability. Importance of Training everyone. Importance to long term business goals.
Show the competition. Strengths / weaknesses. Pain points. Opportunities.
Why train everyone? Marketing / PR. Influence brand perception by optimizing the display of brand messaging. IT – small changes can have large ramifications. BizDev – Need to be knowledgeable to recognize fantasy from reality.
Initiatives: Department / New Hire Training. Build it into the process. Seek out SEO superstars. SEO “Office Hours”, SEO email address, SEO wiki.
Takeaways: Have a plan. Show the math / competition. Brace yourself – real work is about to begin. Stress accountability.
Big Company SEO & PPC Management (Ana Schultz)
In-House PPC Management
Pros: Better Internal Communication, Product/offer knowledge
Cons: Staffing / Account Management Team / Talent Pool, Technology.
SEO Challenge: SEO budged justification, quantifying results for each initiative, implementation process, too many page owners, information architecture.
Jill Sampey: Inhouse: The Agency Perspective.
To use an agency or not to use an agency:
Goals: Duration, complexity.
Learning Curve: General skill, unique to biz.
Bandwidth: Time, Talent
Stakeholders: Influence, Integration
The agency advantage: Training and overhead, tools and expertise, objective and authoritative voice, catalyst for change, and new set of eyes.
Potential issues: Removed from the core business. Can be expensive if the objectives aren’t clear. Requires management. Finding the right agency.
Making it work: Own your ROI, Own your analytics, own the relationship.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.