July 2004
Optimizing Online Newsletters: Keys to Success
Five essential steps for promoting to prospects and raising search engine rankings.
By Greg Jarboe
Based on data from the Oxbridge Directory of Newsletters, the number of online newsletters nearly doubled last year. Even magazine publishers are adding online newsletters to promote their consumer titles to prospects, raise their search engine rankings, and collect opt-in email addresses, as well as deliver news and communicate with subscribers.
You too can achieve these marketing objectives by "optimizing" your online newsletters. Whether you do this yourself or outsource this task, I recommend that you follow these five steps to begin optimizing your content today:
"Google is the most popular search engine in the United States, with a 35 percent share of searches, and Yahoo is the second most popular, with a 28 percent share." 1. Develop a Segmentation Strategy
Some or all of the articles in your online newsletter should target prospects as well as customers. If you optimize these articles and archive them on your site, prospects can find them when they conduct searches for relevant terms, a discovery that may prompt them to visit your site and opt-in to receive your online newsletters.
How many of your prospects are using search engines? According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 128 million American adults go online and 88 percent use search engines to find information, while 78 percent research a product or service before buying it.
2. Conduct Keyword Research
Next, think about the terms that prospects would use, and use Overture's search term suggestion tool or Google's keyword suggestion tool to see if you are right. Both tools are free.
Most people use search terms that are two to three words long. However, don't be afraid to use four- to seven-word phrases, because a significant percentage of people use longer terms and there are generally fewer competing Web pages in this category.
Also, use different search terms for each article in your online newsletter. Search engines will only include one or two of the most relevant pages from a website for any search term.
3. Focus on the Major Search Engines
Some unethical firms will promise to submit your website to "thousands of search engines." However, you should focus on only two: Google and Yahoo.
According to comScore Media Metrix, Google is the most popular search engine in the United States, with a 35 percent share of searches, and Yahoo is the second most popular, with a 28 percent share. In addition, Google powers the search results on AOL, which has a 16 percent share of searches, while Yahoo powers the search results on MSN, which has a 15 percent share. This means that Google and Yahoo power almost 95 percent of Web searches in the United States.
4. Optimize Your Content
The best way to ensure your online newsletter articles will be included in search results on the top two search sites is to follow their guidelines:
Several of these guidelines are technical, but others cover design, content, and quality issues that you or someone in your organization should understand. Whatever you do, don't use unethical tactics that Google and Yahoo categorize as search engine spam. Such practices may lead to your site being removed entirely from either the Google or the Yahoo index.
5. Measure Your Results
Finally, in the words of former President Ronald Reagan, "Trust, but verify" your results. Check to be sure that Google and Yahoo index your articles. Once your articles are indexed, monitor your search engine rankings on a monthly basis.
It's also worth using a Web analytics programs such as WebTrends, ClickTracks, or Urchin to see the actual terms people use to reach the optimized articles from your online newsletters. The latest versions of these products also enable you to measure the number of people who convert into subscribers or customers.
About the author:
Greg Jarboe is president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine marketing firm that provides search engine optimization, search engine advertising, and search engine promotion services. Contact him at greg.jarboe@seo-pr.com.
