Journal Campaign Search Engine Rankings

In May 2005, we were contacted by the frustrated owner of Nomad Journals. After trying various marketing companies, he had yet to turn a profit and was losing money hand over foot on PPC campaigns. We suggested a four step plan. First, refine the PPC campaign. Second, perform keyword research and revise the meta tages on the site. Third, we would pursue an article campaign to increase traffic and the link popularity of the site. Finally, we would also improve the link popularity count through a link exchange program. 

In July, we received top rankings as seen below, but an odd thing happened. The site was designed to focus on the sale of climbing journals. Unfortunately, climbers simply didn't buy at an acceptable rate. It is important to remember that sometimes high rankings don't equate to high revenues.

This fact was supported by pay per click campaign results. Plenty of clicks, but poor conversion rates. The same PPC campaign, however, revealed that the travel journal sold on the site converts at a rate of 1 in 20. Taking this information, it was decided to modify the site to focus on the other journal subjects on the site. You can see the results. Yahoo and MSN rankings are now solid and Google is just beginning to show the results. The PPC campaign is slowly being turned off as well. Sales have tripled.  

Please note Google is updating very sporadically. One day the rankings exist, the next they are gone and the next they are back. This phase in process should solidify, but keep this in mind if the ranking does not appear when you click through.

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