Any Search Engine Marketing (SEM) project begins with keyword research. There are numerous online keyword research tools available and some of them are even free. Search Engines also provide their own versions of keyword research tools. For example, Google provides a free keyword research tool that is available to anyone with a AdWords account. These tools can provide wealth of information such as search volume, seasonal search data and Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) for keywords or phrases that you may be researching. If you're not familiar with KEI, it is a parameter that is used to determine the competitiveness and feasibility of a keyword or a phrase. While most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts focus lot of energy on search volume and KEI, there is another factor that must be taken into account before making final decision on a keyword or phrase. I call this Keyword Life Cycle Index (KLCI).
I want to spend some time discussing KLCI in this article. To really understand the relevance of KLCI, you have to understand the business cycle of a product or service that you want to market. A typical consumer goes through a purchase decision cycle before a purchase decision is made. A simple decision cycle involves three distinct phases:
- Product awareness and Interest
- Researching product or service and potential alternatives
- Purchasing a product or service
When you start researching keywords or phrases for a client, take some time to truly understand their business model and how it all comes together with their products and services. This is the most critical component of a successful a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategy. You have to review each product and service and figure out the phase you would like to target. In my past experience, best return on investment (ROI) is achieved when you only target two phases at a time.
To clarify this further, let's add some keywords for the three phases we outlined above assuming our client is a online electronic retailer specializing in HDTVs.
1. Awareness or Interest Phase | Keywords - LCD TV, Flat panel TV, What is HDTV?
2. Research Phase | Keywords - LCD vs. Plasma, Best LCD TV, 1080p vs 720p
3. Purchasing Phase | Keywords - Best Deals on LCD, Buy SONY LCD TV
2. Research Phase | Keywords - LCD vs. Plasma, Best LCD TV, 1080p vs 720p
3. Purchasing Phase | Keywords - Best Deals on LCD, Buy SONY LCD TV
Obviously there are lot more keywords/phrases available for each phase but we will keep our discussion limited to these keywords/phrases.
As you can see, if you're running a PPC campaign for your client with keywords such as LCD TV, Flat panel TV, you may generate traffic but it is less likely to be quality targeted traffic. PPC is probably the worst marketing tool to address the first phase of a purchase cycle because you're unlikely to make a sale. People who are in phase 1 are still trying to understand the product or service so they not likely to make a purchase at this point.
Phase two is where most of the search queries are generated. Once people are aware of a product or service and have developed some interest, they are likely to turn to internet to research. These people are trying to validate their interest and made a decision about a particular product or service. Some people spend lot more time researching before making a decision while others who tend to be impulsive buyers spend less time and make quick decisions. So technically you can divide all visitors in phase two in to two separate categories. Focus your energy and efforts on impulsive buyers or people who make quick purchasing decisions while providing enough content for people who still need to do additional research. In summary, idea is to shorten the time span between phase two and phase three while not losing sight of phase three.
Phase three is usually easiest to work with. For these customers, you either have a product or service at a competitive price or you don't. These visitors tend to spend least amount of time on a web site so you want to make sure that your checkout process is simple and easy to understand. Do not ask for unnecessary information at the time of order processing. Remember, you're not trying to build an email subscription list at this point but rather hoping to sell quickly. As an SEO expert, pay close attention to web site user experience and functionality if you're working on phase three. Focus on traffic but do not lose sight of conversion since this is what generates revenue.
When most clients hire an SEO expert, most of them have no clue what is wrong with their web site or online business model so it is your job to develop a detailed plan. Once you have a plan, develop a list of keywords and phrases and refine this list into three separate lists one for each phase. Based on the client feedback and keyword lists, decide the two phases that you want to tackle first. This should make the job lot easier to manage and results that are easy to measure.
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