Background
Terramano is a family owned business that manufactures and sells authentic handmade terracotta and saltillo tile. To increase sales through the internet, Terramano wanted to focus on improving organic search results and Google AdWords campaigns.

Key Challenges

• Content – Terramano’s site was built with a template site editor and looked nice, but it only contained basic information on the company and was not written to what the customer wants or needs. There were no clear product descriptions, few keywords, and the navigation did not clearly indicate the information to be found on each page.
• Tracking – The site editor allowed for only minimal tracking that showed the number of visits per day. We were unable to see statistics regarding entrance and exit pages, geographic location, sources of traffic, and the time visitors spent on site. If we were going to evaluate the quality of traffic, we would need to put detailed tracking in place to measure the performance of the site.
• Keyword Differentiation – Terramano was unsure which keywords people used most when searching for their products out of the many variations, i.e. mexican tile, terracotta, saltillo, clay tile, etc.

Strategy

• Keyword Development – Extensive keyword research determined which search terms Terramano should focus on. For example, “terracotta tile” and “mexican tile” are searched far more often than “saltillo tile”.
• Content Development and Website Restructure – We restructured the site and navigation to be more user-friendly and intuitive, developing content for the Home and Products pages that better explains the different types of tile and available colors, sizes and finishes. Also included in site changes were new photographs with descriptive file names and image tags containing keywords and information about geographic areas served, since Terramano’s products are sold throughout the US and Mexico.
• Tracking Installation – Moving the site out of the content management system allowed for more sophisticated tracking. We took this opportunity to clean up the code and install Google Analytics, which provides detailed information on site visits, including traffic from Google AdWords.
• Link Strategy – We developed a link strategy for Terramano that included recommendations for industry trade groups and organizations they may want to join.
• AdWords Campaign Restructure – Keyword lists in Terramano’s account were expanded based on research and the campaigns were reorganized. One set of ads now targets users looking for tile floors in general, and another set targets users searching specifically for terracotta or clay tile. Conversion tracking also measures which keywords and ads result in contact form submissions.

Results
Since February, Terramano has climbed in organic rankings for all of their keywords, and is on the first page for many. They are now getting visits from serious prospective clients and receive several form submissions every week. Organic search traffic for August compared to March increased by 70.1%, and has been steadily climbing month by month.

For pay per click search engine traffic, the number of site visits has increased by 150% due to more effective ad wording, which improved the average click through rate from 0.55% to 10%. The quality of these leads has improved as well, demonstrated by a 12% decrease in the average bounce rate. Terramano continues to climb in rankings and looks forward to selling their unique products to a more targeted audience.    

Search Engine Rankings*

* Search engine rankings change often. These results are from August 25, 2010 and show rankings for searches within the San Antonio area.