by Jens du Plessis
I have a problem with search engine optimization. Or rather the way
that most people try to apply it. Everyone is trying to get that elusive
Top 10 ranking for some or other major keyword or key phrase and let
us be realistic.
How many top 10 ranking are there on Google for a specific keyword
or phrase? - Ten!
How many web pages can get Top 10 rankings on Google for a
specific keyword or phrase? - Ten!
Even the search engine optimization specialists sit with this problem -
of all the SEO specialists on the Net only 10 can be ranked in the Top
10 on Google! Makes you think, doesn't it?
And that's not all! What if you rank #1 on Google but no-one looks for
the keyword you rank on? You still will not get any traffic.
So what are you to do?
One of the biggest search engine traffic generators to you web site is
to have good content rich web pages. And this is one area where so
many web sites fail.
I'm going to explain this with an example.
Let's say you are selling swimming pools.
According to Overture there were 263,297 searches for swimming
pool(s) in June. Wow, that looks great! However, according to Google
there are 2,6 MILLION web pages when you search for swimming
pool and nearly 1 Million when you search for swimming pools -
tough competition.
So, if you focus on that one key phrase you will have your work cut out
for you to get to the top - not impossible, but difficult.
So what are you to do?
A mistake many business web sites make is to focus so much on the
business that they forget about providing information, which is why
most people come to the Internet.
Let's look at this whole issue logically. Why do people browse the Net?
To look for information. If they came to buy stuff we would all make
oodles of boodle, wouldn't we? People doing searches look for
information about a topic, they click on the pages that are listed on the
search engines to see if they can get that information, if they can't they
click away, never to return.
If they find information, they stay and look around and they just might
buy what you have to offer, or come back later to buy.
So let's get back to the swimming pools.
According to Overture these are some of the swimming pool related
searches:
19281 swimming pool accessory
19243 swimming pool toy
12355 swimming pool design
9431 swimming pool heater
9209 swimming pool filter
8376 swimming pool cover
7764 swimming pool pump
7563 swimming pool maintenance
5486 swimming pool slide
5310 swimming pool chemical
4865 swimming pool care
3677 swimming pool repair
2803 swimming pool deck
2581 swimming pool kit
2533 swimming pool construction
1157 swimming pool solar heater
1156 swimming pool plan
1122 swimming pool landscaping
1120 swimming pool cleaning
1099 building a swimming pool
1079 swimming pool safety
1045 swimming pool waterfall
843 do it yourself swimming pool
690 swimming pool algae
661 swimming pool financing
Let's start at the bottom.
661 people were looking for information about swimming pool
financing. A good article on your web site about how to finance your
swimming pool can attract a fair number of them, once it is listed on
the search engines, visitors which you otherwise would not have had.
7,563 people were looking for information on swimming pool
maintenance. A series of articles on pool maintenance will surely
attract a good proportion of those people.
12,355 people looked for information on swimming pool design. A
series of articles on the various aspects of swimming pool design will
definitely get some of those people to your web site.
Content pages get picked up by the search engines, and the good
thing is:
you can target content pages very specifically to single keywords or
phrases, to be found on the search engines when people do specific
searches. Again, if the information they offer are what people are
looking for, they will stay on your site longer, but more importantly,
these are NEW visitors who wouldn't have visited your web site
otherwise.
But that's not all!
Tell me, why should a visitor come back to your web site? What do you
have to offer the visitor who doesn't want to buy your product today? Is
there anything to keep him/her or to bring them back?
Decent content pages, that offer good information, will bring visitors
back to your web site, especially if you can convince them that it is
worth their while to sign up for your newsletter.
And still it's not the end!
Just to expand on an aspect I touched on in the previous points, content
pages make your web site sticky. Sticky is the term used to describe
the fact that people stay on your web site, browse your site, and look
around. The longer you can get people to visit your web site the better
your chances of eventually doing business with them. By giving people
good content, you give them reason to browse your web site.
So to summarise:
Content pages
-attracts new visitors
.encourages return visits
.encourages people to sign up for your mailing list/newsletter
.make your web site sticky
So let's make our web sites sticky traffic generators. Look at your
products and services; find aspects of these to build your content with.
Heh, obviously your content pages must bear some relation to your
products and services - Write about something that will interest your
target market.
Have fun with this one!
Cheers
Jens
==================================================
Jens du Plessis is the author of Get Listed, Get Ranked, Get Noticed
and the founder of the Internet Marketing Business School.
Discover the Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet!
http://www.webmarketingsa.com
Subscribe to his newsletter, Net Novice Sagas, where he shares the
lessons he learnt marketing an African Craft web site since 1997.
http://www.webmarketingsa.com/archives/
Menu 16 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
