Ladbrokes Link-Building Proposal: Topic: Poker Market: Sweden

1. Ladbrokes Link-Building Proposal: Topic: Poker Market: Sweden April 24 2009

2. Overview Introduction Oban Multilingual International SEO Multilingual SEO Link building Keyword selection Unpaid links: Emails Forums Blogs Press releases Directories Link-bait Paid links Editorial pages Multivariate Testing

3. Oban Multilingual • Oban Multilingual • Multilingual SEO/SEM agency • Teams in 26 countries • Multinational client base • IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) • E Consultancy

4. What is International/Multilingual SEO? Keyphrases: Cultural variants International Search Engines Global Content Domain names/localisation Global Social Media Growth in penetration per country International SEO

5. International SEO Translated SEO versus Localised SEO Learning Business English: In Spain there are at least three different ways to search for business English course all of which would be included or at least considered in an SEO/SEM campaign. curso ingles empresa - approx 110 searches a month curso de ingles comercial - approx 110 searches a month curso ingles empresarial - approx 390 searches a month

6. Multilingual SEO Best Practice “Think Global! Act Local!” Local Hosting: In addition to the domain extension, search engines also consider the IP address location of your server to determine the geographical relevance of your site. Local Top-Level-Domains Do not translate! Local keyword research relevant to cultural environment of user Local link-building: build relationships with local sites relevant to your product/service. Consider local Search Engines Multilingual SEO copy: For optimum results, copy should be written from scratch in the target language.

7. Why Multilingual SEO? 70% of internet search queries are not made by native English speakers: 900 million people Multilingual SEO

8. Link building - Overview Introduction Oban Multilingual International SEO Multilingual SEO Link building Keyword selection Unpaid links: Emails Forums Blogs Press releases Directories Link-bait Paid links Editorial pages

9. Keyword selection Keyword selection - POKER *Key: - = not ranking within the first 50 search results

10. Swedish search engines Swedish search engines:

11. Local Link-Building Critical factor for multilingual SEO Anchor links to websites are highly important Relevancy is a key factor  ensure this is to research the local web environment related to a particular site in the language and culture of that site. Quality over quantity Multilingual SEO Best Practice

12. Unpaid links Link request emails: • Personal emails and phonecalls sent to webmasters of content related websites locally • Link pages, partners, recommend websites • Websites hosted in Sweden or in Swedish with Swedish TLD • Homepage PR- 3 and above • Benefitsof linkingstressed (e.g. benefits to the site’s users) • List of contacted websitesin monthlyupdates

13. Unpaid links Poker-related website: • Web analysis: • aclosely related – Poker news but not competitor • ahosted in Sweden • ain Swedish • arelatively High PR - 4 • a3 years old domain • aHigh quality links but time consuming process

14. Unpaid links Poker-related website: Länkar- Link pages • Benefits: • Becoming a part of poker hub/ network • Building good neighbourhood • SEO values (link equity/juice)

15. Unpaid links The best poker websites recommended: • Benefits: • Becoming a part of poker hub/ network • Building good neighbourhood • Building good reputation • SEO values (link juice)

16. Unpaid links Forum and blog posts Various strategies deployed: Email contact with webmasters and bloggers to place a link on relevant websites often $ Initiation of discussions or posting replies Links in posts

17. Unpaid links - Forums Example: Forum on playing poker: • Benefits: • Anchor text links in post = SEO value • Building reputation • Popularising name • Increasing traffic • Expert status in niche

18. Unpaid links - Forums Forum on playing cards: Discussion initiation - link in a thread

19. Unpaid links - Blogs Blog on playing poker: Email sent to the blogger asking for a paid link/ post

20. Unpaid links - Blogs Blog on playing poker: Related article sent to blogger asking for publishing

21. Unpaid links - Press releases Press releases Agreed number of articles per month submittedto press release centres with links within the text On request could create articles for an additional charge When selecting press portals we look out for: number of subscribers (reach) number of subscribed journalists number of page views and visits Page Rank, indexed pages (yes/no) anchor text possibilities cost/benefit-factors

22. Unpaid links - Press releases Press release centre:

23. Unpaid links- Press releases Press release- example • Benefits: • Building reputation • Brand promotion • News announcement • SEO values: link in

24. Unpaid links- Directories Directory submissions (only the most respected general directories) • Benefits: • Traffic increase • SEO value (anchor text) • Cheap source of links

25. Unpaid links- Directories Directory- niche directories on online gaming • Benefits: • Position building in niche • SEO value (anchor text) • Closely related: relevant category

26. Paid links Paid links Paid links offers presented every monthwith comments: how closely related is the website to your website Page Rank page rank of the page where the link would be  placed domain age cost-benefit Example of paid link offer:

27. Editorial pages Editorial Pages: success in obtaining editorial pages:an article page added to a website (see example on next slide) content for the editorial pages-provided by a client - ideal or we can createcontent for an additional fee Editorial page opportunities presented in monthly reports Upon client’s approval - full management of the placement and payment process

28. Editorial pages . Example of Japanese editorial page (client: hotel booking engine) Article topic related to website topic: travel Three deep links in an article text Article page linked from homepage or internal pages

29. Social media Possibility of link-baiting on Swedish social media and networking sites if a client provides us with interesting videos, photos, articles Facebook Twitter You tube My space Bebo Flickr LinkedIn Link-baiting Facebook LinkedIn Google Insight

30. Multivariate Testing Introduction • Increase conversion rates through testing • Once you have the visitors optimise their actions • Optimise the content/images/style • Use scientific tests • Set up alternatives to elements (Hypothesise) • Test these alternatives live • Track their response through conversions for each • Apply the best alternatives • Rinse and Repeat.

31. Multivariate Testing No size fits all • Consider culture. What works for one culture may not work for another: • Germans prefer their own language, French are much more open to English phrases. • Far eastern cultures prefer a much higher page density and longer pages to western cultures. • In China red is considered lucky yet only used in very small amounts on websites. Plain white is the preferred background for content with sky blue for highlighted elements (e.g. headings). • Testing finds cultural differences • Testing can be applied to different user segments

32. Multivariate Testing Why test? • The Next Step – monetise visits • Scientific - backed up with real user data • Easy - no content code changes required • Powerful - even small conversion increases provide ROI • Trackable returns - compare performance of new with original • Use exisiting knowledge - Researchers’ culture, Oban’s proprietory knowledgebase Examples • Swedish multivariate team reviewed site • Performed an initial evaluation of the Poker pages and landing page.

33. Multivariate Testing - Examples Poker home page A strong preference for the English version of images was felt as the team could not identify with the male poker player. Headings and call to actions are particularly powerful. Headings should promote benefits of converting. “Overall this page darker with a more serious tone. This fits in well with the profile of a typical [Swedish, online] poker player.”

34. Multivariate Testing - Examples Poker home page (cont.) “Claimyour 10 000 kr” - was “Applyfor $1000” which suggested more work was required to signup Alternative Calls to actions: “Ladda ner”: Download now. Recommended by our Swedish Team “Download”: English is often used in Swedish sites, but risks alienating some. “See you at the poker tables” is punchier and more personal

35. Multivariate Testing - Examples As of March 2008, 26.4% of Swedish internet users use Firefox. This may be higher on gambling sites due to the profile of Swedish online poker players. The majority of users prefer lower contrast colours when reading text. White on black can be seen as overwhelming/tiring Positional priority is very important in conversion. Conversion should match position with left-to-right languages putting more important conversion actions on the left.

36. Multivariate Testing - Examples Landing page Research has shown that conversion can take up to 5 seconds even with a familiar currency Consider creating and testing alternative graphics/offers to produce a conversion uplift “This page is clean with well defined calls to action. Consider prioritising a few [calls to action] so the user is not overwhelmed with choice. “

37. Multivariate Testing - Case Study VisitJordan - Introduction • Focussing on promoting Jordanian Tourism • Initial test involved around 3000 visitors throughout the experiments • Targeted, localised PPC campaigns to drive high quality segmented traffic to specific landing pages • Identical designs to highlight differences in French and German search and travel cultural behaviour • Drastic differences in successful conversion triggers, some very surprising results. • Ongoing follow up tests to build on the our results

38. Multivariate Testing - Case Study VisitJordan - Results German site French site

39. Multivariate Testing - Case Study VisitJordan – Analysis of German site • Using the original content conversion rate was 6%, however localising gave a 100% conversion lift. • The top three performing combinations all used localised headings. • The highest performing combination used a localised heading and call to action. This gave double the conversion rate of the original page with simple translated content. • After localisation the colour of the call to action was the second most important factor. • The original page ranked 7th place (of 8) in terms of conversion rate.

40. Multivariate Testing - Case Study VisitJordan – Analysis of French site • The dimensions of the elements were the most important factor in producing a conversion lift. • The localised content of the call to action also affected the conversion rate positively. • Interestingly the translated version of the heading performed consistently better than the localised version. • The size of the elements encouraged conversion. Futher testing found an optimum value for each element. • The original page was ranked at 6th equal (of 8) place in terms of conversion rate.

41. Multivariate Testing - How? GlobalMaxer v3: Testing made easy Easy set up wizard with no technical background required Unique tool to manage multiple tests without changes to your site Dashboard with executive summary of running experiments Full reporting modules including combination and individual element reports

42. Multivariate Testing - How? GlobalMaxer v3 (cont.): Testing made easy Unique tool to manage multiple tests without changes to your site Point and click selection of sections to test. Visitors are only counted once even if they delete their cookies. Works alonside other tools (e.g. Analytics/Adwords)

43. Multivariate Testing - How? GlobalMaxer Advantages • Optimise dynamic pages, for example pages with live data. • Accurate. A visitor is only counted once even if they delete their cookies. • Visitors can be tracked across sites. • Easy setup. No HTML knowledge required. • Works alongside other tools (e.g. Analytics/Adwords) • Can optimise the results of other tools (e.g. Text to Image replacement)

44. Costs Link Building From £600 a day - £400 ½ day Multivariate Testing Consultancy : £900 a day GlobalMaxer: £500 a month (from)

45. Ladbrokes Link-Building Proposal: Topic: Poker Market: Sweden April 24 2009