Search Marketing Lessons From Yosemite Falls

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Last week I took a few days off work to unplug and hike through Yosemite National Park. I'm not an experienced hiker or camper, but I went with someone who can survive in the wilderness for weeks on natural resources.

Search Marketing Daily readers who have been to Yosemite know that reservations for hotels and campsites typically are booked one year in advance. So the last-minute decision to go required us to check campsite and hotel availability each night in hopes that someone would cancel and we would get lucky.

Patience and persistence got us a hotel, as well as a campsite on the canyon floor. The adventure would require us to sleep one night in the open bed of his pickup truck under towering pine trees, full moon and stars, following a seven-mile hike on the Mist Trail.

The hike took us close to several waterfalls requiring the correct tools such as waterproof hiking boots and thin waterproof jacket or hooded poncho. Winter storms had unloaded higher-than-average snow levels and cooler temperatures kept the white stuff around later in the season.

The snowfall in the Sierras last winter measured the highest in years. High water levels from the melting snow running down falls captivates many park visitors -- some unprepared for the I-just-took-a-shower or stood-in-the pouring-rain experience after climbing to the top of Vernal, Nevada and Yosemite falls. Bug repellent and hat, as well as extra T-shirts and socks to replace the soaked ones, also become must-haves.

Similar to relying on the correct resources when camping and hiking, marketers need specific tools to reduce page load times or monitor backlinks for search engine optimization, for example.

TagMan released Monday what Co-founder Chris Brinkworth calls the "next-gen tagging solution, TagMan V3." The Smart Tag Loading feature pushes TagMan further ahead when it comes to managing tags, page speed and reliability of data capture.

About 81% of respondents in a survey conducted by TagMan are "concerned" or "very concerned" about page-load times, while 60% said they took some steps to improve site speed but believe they could do more. Seventy-one percent are aware that optimization of third-party marketing pixels and tags can slow page-load times, while 35% have reduced or removed tags to improve site performance.

Let's not forget about tracking clicks and conversions. These tools to analyze and identify keywords or measure performance in paid-search campaigns are available from a variety of companies such as Adobe, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Acquiso, Covario, ClickEquations, Kenshoo, Marin Software, and others.

When it comes to consistently serving up top-ranking pages, it becomes important to have a broad array of tools from a variety of sources to track attribution or build links. At Econsultancy, Kelvin Newman has published a list of eight link-building tools and techniques ranging from Qwerly to Backlinks.in to Mechanical Turk.

Don't be embarrassed or reluctant to tap experts for help. Someone could have a different approach or information that produces better results. Improvise when needed, but I have learned that the correct tools for any situation --from hiking to online marketing -- can make the difference.

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