Many businesses now consider Search Engines as an important lead source for business. The question is how to drive relevant traffic that is more likely to be converted into customers. These 6 quick notes may help you improve the quality of the traffic from Search Engines!
Note #1: Focus on Keywords that exactly target your buyers
Note #2: Learn from your competitors
Note #3: Choose a good domain
Note #4: Optimize your website for long-tail product names
Note #5: Optimize for Google Images
Note #6: Optimize for other Search Engines
Note #1: Focus on Keywords that exactly target your buyers
There are two common mistakes: (1) Optimizing for “interesting” keywords that nobody searches for (2) Optimizing for high-traffic keywords that are not suitable for your products or services.
Search Engine Optimization is more about Marketing than Technology. The key for successful SEO strategy is to target the right customers, to know when they need your products or services, and to know the keywords they type into Search Engines to find what they need.
Thus, doing proper Keyword Research before starting any SEO activity is the most important step. By focusing your effort on productive keywords, you save yourself a lot of time and money, because SEO is a very time-consuming and competitive process. You can use tools like http://www.keyworddiscovery.com to find recommended keywords, but you will need to trust your own instinct also.
Case study: Keyword “Leather slippers for women”: WomenSlipper.com ranks #1 in Google over 1,050,000 results.
The keyword contains targeted customer (women), product (slippers) type (leather) that has good chance to convert searchers into buyers.
Womenslipper.com enjoys FREE, organic #1 ranking for this quality keyword, that zappos.com, Nordstrom.com, landsend.com have to spend money on Pay-per-click to show up!
Of course you want to have more than one keyword to rank on top, but there is no reason to waste time on keywords that do not work. WomenSlipper.com has various keywords that rank on page 1 of Search Engines, but we cannot list them all here in this public article.
Note #2: Learn from your competitors
Your online competitors can be different from your competitors next door.
To know your competitors, simply enter the keywords in your Keyword Research to Google and/or Yahoo, and see who ranks on top. Do they offer exact products or services that you are selling?
Write them down. In order to sell your products/services, you’ll need to beat them in the Search Engine ranking. You should also look at Pay-per-click listings to find your competitors. They are also taking away your future customers at a cost. Learn as much as you can about your competitors and the keywords they are using, with tools like Alexa.com and Keycompete.com.
Also, be practical: There are lucrative keywords that all the biggest online retailers or service providers, with deep pockets and huge product databases, are pouring money and time to stay on top. It is not wise to compete directly with them. Type “women slippers” to Google and you’ll find Amazon, Target, Zappos, QVC, etc. Find a list of keywords that can help you reach your niche target.
Note #3: Choose a good domain
Buy a domain that contains your most important keywords.
Domain Keywords are among the most effective factors that can improve a website ranking in Search Engines. Searching for slippers online, you’ll always see most of top-ranked websites have domains that contains keywords, .e.g. womenslipper.com, slippers4you.com, slipperwarehouse.com etc.
There are exceptions to this rule. Zappos.com does not have a keyword-style domain, but still can be sold for 1 billion dollars to Amazon. However, unless you think you are as resourceful as Zappos, choosing good domains will make your life a lot easier (however it does not guarantee success – it just give you an edge). And, that is simple to do as well.
Case Study: http://www.womenslipper.com: “women” and “slipper” are main keywords for Women Slipper ecommerce portal.
By selecting this domain, http://www.womenslipper.com is able to appear at page #2 (rank 12) for the extremely competitive keyword “women slipper” which has strong competition e.g. zappos.com, shoebuy.com, amazon.com, uggaustralia.com, onlineshoes.com, footsmart.com, especially when this domain was just registered in 2009. Young domains are considered “less credible” in Search Engines and not as easy to be ranked on top.
Note #4: Do not forget optimizing your website for product names
If a searcher types in “white zest slippers” in Google, it is more likely that this searcher knows exactly what he/she is looking for, and thus has better chance to buy. These keywords may have a lower search volume, but it is good to optimize them because they have a good conversion rate.
Case Study: Keyword “Krunch Slippers”: Rank #1 in Google
Jose Marco Slippers: Rank #1 in Google
Zest Slippers: Rank #1 in Google
Tessa Slippers: Rank #2 in Google
Note #5: Optimize for Google Images
For shoppers that want to see the product before buying, optimizing for Google Images is an excellent way to convert them into your customers. If your product ranks on the first page of Google Image results, you get both your website listed and a fresh look for your product for viewers, which is even more effective than text ads.
Note #6: Optimize for other Search Engines
While Google continues to dominate Search Market with a 67% market share, Yahoo and Bing still attract nearly 30% search queries, and can drive a remarkable quantity of leads to your website. Do not forget these Search Engines, a lead is a lead is a lead. Thus, pay attention to all the Search Engines to enjoy all the traffic you deserve.
SEO for WomenSlipper.com is managed by Conative Business Inc.