The focused approach to search engine marketing
The focused approach to search engine marketing
I know they need even more help when I ask them to describe their target market and they say: "everyone in the world".
I know it's going to be difficult to get quality traffic for this client's web site when their business has multiple products and services with very little relevance to each other.
Lack of focus is the most common mistake I see in business in general and from people trying to optimise their web pages. It's a natural mistake to want to rank on as many keyword phrases as possible.
The logic is that you want to get as many visitors as possible so that you can present your compelling offer to them and hopefully convert them into customers.
This is the "general store" or "shotgun" approach and in the 90s during the era of keyword-stuffing, hidden text and doorway pages this approach worked pretty well.
The trouble is that traffic does not equal sales and these days it's just too hard to optimise a web page for multiple competitive keyword phrases.
The most successful SEO campaigns I have done were focused on one keyword phrase per page to a well defined geographic area for a very focused business offering.
They were successful in ranking well for search terms that motivated buyers in the target service area were searching on.
Users of search engines have become far more sophisticated with their search terms. For example, say someone living in Sydney was interested in buying a new canvas awning for their house. Five to ten years ago they may have searched on a single word: "awning" or even "canvas awning".
These days they are more likely to search on a complex phrase like "Sydney canvas awning suppliers" or "canvas awnings Sydney" or even "Sydney awning installers".
They have learnt through trial and error that by adding search modifiers like "canvas" and "Sydney" the most relevant results will appear.
How do you search for information on the Internet? I bet you are using more refined search terms to save time and improve the quality of your results.
The golden rule to remember is that the longer the search phrase - the more motivated the buyer. And that's what most web site owners want, motivated buyers and shoppers rather than browsers and accidental visitors.
Through investing time in keyword research it is possible to identify search terms that do generate significant search volume and are easier to optimise for.
Google has some excellent free tools to help with that research. A search on "free keyword research tools" will also lead you to many others.
Once those phrases are identified and tested the best approach is to build a web page for each of those phrases.
Each web page should stand alone and have it's own unique navigation menu link, title tag, heading and sub-headings.
Search engine marketing is no different to any other human endevour, be it business, sport or the arts. Focus wins.
The focused approach to search engine marketing - To learn more about this author, visit John Hacking's Website.
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I know when an SEO client needs help when I ask them: "so what key phrases to do want to optimise your web pages for", and they answer: "hundreds of them, I have a list of suggestions from Google right here".
I know they need even more help when I ask them to describe their target market and they say: "everyone in the world".
I know it's going to be difficult to get quality traffic for this client's web site when their business has multiple products and services with very little relevance to each other.
Lack of focus is the most common mistake I see in business in general and from people trying to optimise their web pages. It's a natural mistake to want to rank on as many keyword phrases as possible.
The logic is that you want to get as many visitors as possible so that you can present your compelling offer to them and hopefully convert them into customers.
This is the "general store" or "shotgun" approach and in the 90s during the era of keyword-stuffing, hidden text and doorway pages this approach worked pretty well.
The trouble is that traffic does not equal sales and these days it's just too hard to optimise a web page for multiple competitive keyword phrases.
The most successful SEO campaigns I have done were focused on one keyword phrase per page to a well defined geographic area for a very focused business offering.
They were successful in ranking well for search terms that motivated buyers in the target service area were searching on.
Users of search engines have become far more sophisticated with their search terms. For example, say someone living in Sydney was interested in buying a new canvas awning for their house. Five to ten years ago they may have searched on a single word: "awning" or even "canvas awning".
These days they are more likely to search on a complex phrase like "Sydney canvas awning suppliers" or "canvas awnings Sydney" or even "Sydney awning installers".
They have learnt through trial and error that by adding search modifiers like "canvas" and "Sydney" the most relevant results will appear.
How do you search for information on the Internet? I bet you are using more refined search terms to save time and improve the quality of your results.
The golden rule to remember is that the longer the search phrase - the more motivated the buyer. And that's what most web site owners want, motivated buyers and shoppers rather than browsers and accidental visitors.
Through investing time in keyword research it is possible to identify search terms that do generate significant search volume and are easier to optimise for.
Google has some excellent free tools to help with that research. A search on "free keyword research tools" will also lead you to many others.
Once those phrases are identified and tested the best approach is to build a web page for each of those phrases.
Each web page should stand alone and have it's own unique navigation menu link, title tag, heading and sub-headings.
Search engine marketing is no different to any other human endevour, be it business, sport or the arts. Focus wins.
The focused approach to search engine marketing - To learn more about this author, visit John Hacking's Website.
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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