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@101babich When we isolate the visitors to a website that use site search, we often find a significantly higher conversion rate and average order value. Searchers are great customers.

This does not imply cause and effect.

However, after running tests that improve the visibility of search, we have found that we can increase the number of searchers, and that these new searchers are more likely to buy.

It doesn't work every time, but it is certainly worth a try.

The lesson? Follow Nick's advice here.

I find it very refreshing that "Conversion Rate Optimization" made a top ten list for a successful search startup. "Conversion Rate Optimization is Essential, not Optional." These principles are helpful for any business that depends on the Web for leads or sales.

If you didn't know, Google has redesigned their search results pages recently. The change is primarily to the portion of the page that contains "sponsored content", or ads.

The eye-tracking images provided by the folks at EyeQuant are telling.

The pages now drive more attention to the ads, taking attention away from the free results. Ironically, it also makes the ads more evident, with a bright icon beside each.

EyeQuant calls this "a Subtle Work of Genius". What do you think?

In the case of paid search, the biggest barrier cited by 41% of company respondents was a lack of internal resources, followed by poorly converting websites (30%). Agency respondents had a different view on the issue though, with 49% blaming lack of budget, and 44% poorly converting websites.

eb Services India is a professional SEO company that offers affordable web services like search engine optimization(SEO) service, link building, web peromotion, web designing and web development services, PPC services, content writing, and outsourcing seo services, in India, USA and UK.

Local search landing pages (ie. Contact page)

This is a fabulous way of looking at your Pay-per-click (PPC) ad spend. The concept of a "marketin clearning" price range draws into sharp focus the importance of lowering your acquisition costs to participate in more search traffic and remain profitable.

Of course, the best way to lower your acquisition cost is to increase the conversion rate and average order value of your website. 

YouTube is a challenging environment for Conversion Scientists, despite @purnavirji 's optimism. Video is an amazing way to communicate, so we must pay attention to the second biggest search engine on the planet. Purna's advice includes strategic as well as tactical advice, and I found it very helpful.

Marketers have it tough. Just look at all of the things we can optimize! Where do we start?!

Well, we can start with these 25 articles, including one from yours truly. Search Optimization Social Optimization Local Optimization Email Marketing (No Optimization?) Mobile Optimization Content Marketing Conversion Optimization Reputation Management

With Google now occupying the first click to our site, converting searchers to clickers is critical. For businesses with geographical presence, here is a very in-depth summary of how to optimize your image for Google Local Search.

 @crestodina I spoke at the Conversion Conference #convcon this week about flipping your message according to your Web visitor. This can be applied to subject lines, search ads, display ads and landing pages.

One of the most powerful "flips" is between the four kind of visitors outlined by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg in their book Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?.

Here is a creative twist on the four kinds of visitors you'll encounter on your website: video game characters.

Is the page, post or email you're working on right now targeting Frogger or Mario or Galaga or PacMan?

It should.

It is astounding that these rotating hero shots are so common on e-commerce sites. We have seen in the lab that they are a sure way to reduce site engagement and crater conversion rates. Don't believe it? Tim Ash would know and lists the reasons in this eye-opening article. Please read it.

There is more on hero sliders in my most recent Search Engine Land column.

 The interesting graphic shown in this post by Custora shows how e-commerce businesses are gaining customers and how that has changed since 2009.

It is no surprise to see cost-per-click (CPC) search advertising growing over that time. However, it is gratifying to see that email has grown the fastest, far outstripping banner advertising, Facebook and Twitter.

In my book I say that email is the biggest social network on the planet. It appears to be so for e-commerce companies as well.

@neilpatel collects some of the most interesting eye-tracking images available and provides seven insights that can help you design your pages and choose images. We have done our own eye-tracking study of business video and you can get the full report now. The report offers similar conclusions for the use of video in a landing page. It includes over 30 minutes of embedded video that you can watch yourself.

Neil's conclusions include:Be careful you you use [images of] peopleThat people love media (especially on search results pages)That men and women look at images differentlyThat simple images can be more effectiveThe power of the left side of the pageThe power of facesThat people love hand-written notes (my favorite)Enjoy the images he provides.

The echo chamber is alive and well in the Conversion Optimization world. @richpage has noticed how few of us are searching for CRO and "conversion rate optimization" on Google. What gives?

To quote Bryan Eisenberg, "Most websites don't have a traffic problem. Every site has a conversion problem."

If you're waiting to put conversion optimization to work on your site, the least you can do is help us spread the word. Click through for some very interesting statistics.

We've had the privilege of working with several colleges to optimize their websites. The lessons laid out in this article cannot be overstated. According to SpyFu.com, of 5,050 websites in the "University" and "College" industries who spend more than $5000 per month on search ads, only 275 have split testing software installed. However, 4,208 have some form of web analytics software installed.

The bottom line is that those universities who are involved in testing their sites are going to win more top students to graduate and undergraduate programs.

"Many private universities spend upward of $2,000 to recruit each student who enrolls." A little optimization will go a long way.

Quick Search Engine grader for web sites. Free.

Quality Backlinks are one of the MOST IMPORTANT factors to be considered to rank any website HIGH in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. We all know that Directory Submission, Article Submission, Social bookmaking or Blog posting is one of the most important ways to build incoming links to a website from a related page.

Thousands of directories are available on the Internet to connect you with a number of sites. Some Paid and some Free online directories are available for this purpose. Some directories take one time fee while some take reoccurring fee. When you make a submission to a paid or free directory, then your site is also accessible with these sites by the search engine. By directory submission, you can be confident of getting traffic on your site. In this way you can enhance the Google Page Rank for site as well as your SERP also grows up. Directory Submission helps in creating relevant and long lasting link building.

Retargeting Emails - Do E-commerce customers like or loathe them? March 10th, 2011Leave a commentGo to comments By Charles Nicolls, SeeWhy At SeeWhy, when we first launched our remarketing service in 2009, Randy Stross wrote a piece about email remarketing in The New York Times suggesting that while remarketing might be a great idea for ecommerce websites, it's not a great idea for consumers. He likened emails following up on abandoned shopping carts to a salesman chasing you down the street if you didn't buy from his store. There are major differences, of course. We've long argued that remarketing emails, when done well, not only drive conversions but also build brand trust. They can deliver great service and provide customers with the confidence to return to buy-either online, by phone or in store. If Randy was right and customers universally resented the intrusion, then these emails wouldn't work. In aiming to answer the question more substantively, I turned to data, and specifically email marketing benchmarks. The key metrics to look at to determine whether customers like or loathe remarketing emails are: the recovery rate the open rate the clickthrough rate the unsubscribe rate Frankly, the evidence is overwhelming: Remarketing, when done well, is appreciated by customers. Here's the evidence: (1) The recovery rate The recovery rate is the percentage of visitors that abandon shopping carts, and remarketed visitors thatthen return and purchase following remarketing. At SeeWhy, we measure recovery rates across all our customers, and currently the average is 20 percent. So, one in five shopping cart abandoners come back and buy, having being remarketed. In some cases, the recovery rate is as high as 50 percent. Moreover, when remarketed customers buy, they spend on average 55 percent more than customers who didn't abandon their shopping carts. (2) The open rate The average email open rate for remarketing emails is currently 46 percent, m