Traffic, traffic, it's all about the traffic!!
Or is it?
As an SEO firm, we get calls from all over
the country almost every day from website owners looking for more traffic to
their websites. Many are under the impression that the more traffic the better,
no matter what kind of traffic it is.
Maybe that's how marketing works
for brick and mortar businesses. But for websites, that simply is not the case.
In fact, it's reversed!
Marketing for brick and mortar businesses
involves the business hunting for customers.
Marketing
for websites involves the customer hunting for the website.
So,
I can completely understand how difficult it must be for many businesses to try
to comprehend this switch. I mean, if they've been in business for a while, then
they're accustomed to being the Hunter. But now, with a website on the Internet,
they have to trade places and become the HUNTED!
You may be asking
yourself, "If I want to be HUNTED, wouldn't it be better to have 5000 visitors
to my site than 500 visitors?"
The answer to that is, not necessarily. It
depends on what those 5000 visitors are looking for. Here's an
example:
We'll use a website that sells hurricane shutters (after all,
it's that time of year!)
Let's say the website is in south Florida and
they sell hurricane
shutters for single family homes and condominiums.
If they market
their website for "hurricane shutters", they'll get plenty of traffic, but, it's
general traffic. When an Internet user types in "hurricane shutters", what are
they looking for?
Information on hurricane shutters?
Installing
hurricane shutters?
Replacing hurricane shutters?
Price of hurricane
shutters?
Hurricane shutters in Nassau Bahamas?
Hurricane shutters in New
Orleans, LA?
Get the idea? The phrase itself is too general. This phrase
attracts browsers from all angles, not necessarily targeted
buyers.
Using general keyword phrases to market your website is
the same as paying for a billboard advertisement and placing it in the wrong
geographic location. In other words, if this hurricane shutter company purchased
a billboard advertisement and placed it in Minneapolis, MN, well, that would be
the same as using a general keyword phrase. Yes, they would get traffic, but not
the right KIND of traffic.
So, as the HUNTED, they would be found by the
Internet Hunters but they would soon, thereafter, be tossed away.
The
beauty of Internet marketing is that we already KNOW what people are looking
for. Through keyword research, the website owner can identify what his
target market wants.
Here are some real time (as of September 4, 2008)
keyword phrases related to a south Florida hurricane shutter
website...
"miami hurricane shutters"
"south florida hurricane
shutters"
"cost of hurricane shutters"
"aluminum hurricane
shutters"
Using phrases specific to geography and products helps to
narrow down the targeted audience to your website. Also, using phrases that
answer a problem or question greatly increases the chances of attracting a
targeted, ready to buy, type of audience.
Clearly, if a hurricane shutter
company in Florida added 4 pages to their website, each one marketing one of the
keyword phrases above, their traffic would INCREASE, and it would be traffic
that is specific, targeted and more likely ready to BUY.
So, whether
you're selling name tags or diabetic supplies, it's all about knowing
what your targeted audience wants and then simply giving it to them.
Now,
that's what I call, well spent advertising dollars!