Sell More, Spend Less

Saltworks builds sales, reduces ad costs

Client: Saltworks
Web Site: www.saltworks.us

Challenge: In short, more bang for the buck. Saltworks is one of the Internet’s premiere sellers of retail and wholesale gourmet and bath salts. Sales were good, but owner Mark Zoske felt they could be better. His challenge: Greater marketing efficiency and ROI. Saltworks needed to increase sales while decreasing high pay-per-click advertising costs on Google, Overture and other pay-per-click services. He called Portent Interactive to help get his Internet marketing program on track.

Portent’s Strategy: Less PPC, More SEO

Portent used their proprietary keyword mining toolset to find the words and phrases most used by potential customers who searched for gourmet and bath salt products. They also began tracking the return on investment generated by each online advertisement. After a short review period, Portent recommended a scaled-back pay-per-click campaign that focused only on revenue-generating phrases.

Portent also recommended a natural search engine optimization campaign: Changes to site code and structure would help Saltworks move up in the search rankings. An improved content plan would build site content, too.

Finally, Portent performed a usability review. The results refined the Saltworks.us site, providing a better customer experience and higher conversion rates.

The Results: Higher Sales, Lower Costs

Search engine optimization has increased relevant search traffic by 50%. Saltworks has doubled the number of relevant first-place rankings on Google, MSN and Yahoo. Improvements include moving from #30 to #4 on Google for ‘bath salts’, moving from unranked to #1 for ‘bulk dead sea salt’ and moving from unranked to #2 for ‘sea salts’.

These new rankings improved the flow of interested, qualified customers to Saltworks.us. At the same time, site refinements doubled conversion rates.

Portent’s refined bidding strategy cut pay-per-click costs by 1/2, saving the company thousands of dollars per month. Saltworks total sales have increased by over 230%, with a 27% increase in total number of orders compared to 2004.

For more information contact:

Ian Lurie
Portent Interactive
206.575.3740
Contact Portent online