How a search became a sale
Every page was built to rank, to convince, and to start a conversation.
- 01
The search
Unique product content and on-page SEO, so the right page ranked for the right search.
- 02
The ad
Google AdWords traffic sent to landing pages built around one product.
- 03
The page
Full specs, clear bullet points and downloadable PDFs that answered a buyer’s questions.
- 04
The conversation
Live chat and a US phone line turned interest into a qualified lead for sales.
One day, 14 October 2011
5 of 8
of the company’s leads that day came from my live chat. The other three came in by phone.
From the daily lead report to the team
“Leads were back up to 8 today, 3 phone leads and 5 leads from Syed’s Live Chat efforts … good job Syed!”
The next day, management asked for a colleague to work alongside me, with a new goal of more than 10 leads a day.
01
The challenge
A large catalogue of expensive, technical products, sold through around 160 mostly static websites.
Content that had to rank
Search rewarded unique, useful content. Copying the manufacturer’s text wasn’t enough to get a product page found.
Static sites, updated by hand
Most stores were static. Every new product had to be added by hand to the home page, listings and product pages before it could go live.
Big-ticket B2B buyers
Printers, shredders and video-conferencing systems are considered purchases. Buyers wanted answers before they would talk to sales.
02
What I did
I started on the content and grew into running the team behind it.
Wrote pages built to rank and sell
Product descriptions, bullet points, meta descriptions, alt text and spec sheets for brands including Toshiba, Panasonic, Hitachi and 3M, with on-page and technical SEO built in from the start.
Led the team
Promoted to team lead within about four months, then managed the business team of seven to eight people. Along the way I took on the front-end work and the live deployments myself.
Launched a product with paid search
For a Panasonic video-conferencing launch, I built dedicated landing pages, sent Google AdWords traffic to them, and worked US business hours on live chat and a US phone line.
Moved a large stock with a dedicated site
When the company took on a large stock of Toshiba multifunction printers, we built a dedicated website and landing pages, and ran a B2B email campaign alongside search to reach bulk buyers.
Kept every lead moving
Pushed for every chat lead to be logged in the CRM, and ran A/B tests to improve the pages that brought them in.
03
The outcome
A search, content and conversation system the business planned around.
- Promoted from content writer to team lead in about four months, and later to managing the business team.
- Five to six leads a day on the Panasonic launch, against a target of three.
- On 14 October 2011, five of the company’s eight leads came from my live chat.
- The Toshiba printer stock sold to bulk buyers within about two weeks of the dedicated site going live.
- Named Employee of the Month in May 2011.
04
What I learned
Clary taught me something I still use on every account: a click isn’t a lead, and a lead isn’t a sale. What happens between them is where most businesses lose money.
Before Google Ads was called Google Ads, I learned to build the whole path: content that ranks, a page that answers the buyer, and a person ready on the other end.
How this shapes my work today
- Write pages that answer the buyer’s real questions.
- Give every serious campaign its own landing page.
- Put a person on the other end of the click.
- Judge marketing by conversations, not clicks.