News #9

Keyword Research and Analysis - The Art of Internet Marketing

Do you know what your target audience wants and how they are looking online? As an Internet Marketing Consultant I am often surprised that many website owners don't know who their market is, and how to target them with web copy and SEO.

Keywords are the words that web surfers enter in search engines to find websites about their search terms. If you want to get in front of your potential audience, it's important your website has good search engine rankings for your keywords that are related to the theme of your website.

Knowing what your target audience wants and how they are looking online is crucial to your online success. Optimizing your web pages for keywords that nobody uses in the search engines is useless. In addition, in order to get targeted visitors, the keywords must not be too broad or too general. Your copy and metatags should also support the keyword phrases your market uses and entice them with copy that meets their needs and compels them to action.

The First Step to Internet Marketing - The Right Keywords for Your Website

The first step in successful SEO copywriting is choosing the right keywords to make them very specific to your market. You can survey your target market for their keyword usage or use more thorough keyword research tools. When conducting the keyword research and analysis:

1) use keyword phrases containing two to four words
2) be specific - geographically, topically, or by product
3) only use the keywords that are important to your web business
4) avoid very competitive keywords or general keyword phrases

Use focused and targeted keyword phrases that are common enough so the web searcher will use them, but selective enough that they don't return millions of matches. Most web surfers use a two to four word phrase when they search online, so phrasing is very important. For example, if you are offering a service like dog training or Internet Marketing, you wouldn't target the key phrase "dog training" or "SEO", but something more specific like "Chicago dog trainer" or "Vancouver Search Engine Optimization". Very specific keywords generate highly qualified, targeted traffic that increases your sales opportunities.

The Wrong Keywords for Your Website

Single words cannot promote ranking or sell effectively, for example you wouldn't want to target "dog" as a dog trainer in Chicago. Avoid the most popular keyword phrases or general keyword phrases because you'll be competing with millions of other web pages for a search engine ranking.

It's unrealistic to think that a new web site could rank number one on a popular phrase like "Marketing". You are better to target "Internet marketing strategies" or even better, "Internet Marketing Strategies Vancouver". More established companies who have been on the Internet for several years will have the advantage of link popularity and a high Pagerank and therefore better rankings in the search results for these broader or general keyword phrases.

Search Engine Optimization - Feeding the Search Engine Machines

Another critical factor to help drive the targeted traffic to your site is optimizing the site using metatags. Metatags, often overlooked and misunderstood, are elements of HTML coding on a website. Search engines use these metatags to help them determine what the site is about and assist with indexing a website. Most metatags are included within the 'header' code of a website. The most important tags are the title tag, description tag and the keywords tag. Different search engines have different rules about how these tags are used and how many characters they should contain. Of importance to the process is if you know how the big three - Google, Yahoo and MSN - review the tags, then you'll be targeting 90% of potential web surfers.

To make good use of your metatags use your targeted keywords that you found during your keyword research and analysis in the site copy and the metatags.

By reviewing or crawling your website content and metatags, search engines will find out what your web site is about. As soon as search engines consider your web site relevant to the topic or search, the easier it is to get high rankings for your keywords and key phrases.

News #8

Targeted Traffic and How To Get It

If you have a website, you know that traffic is essential, especially if you have something to sell. Not just any old traffic, though - you need targeted traffic.

How is targeted traffic defined? It means website visitors who have a specific interest in the topic of the website. For example, someone who is planning to buy a wedding ring would be interested in jewelry websites.

How do I get targeted traffic? Here are some effective techniques:

Forums:

Whatever your topic, there's sure to be at least one forum about it. Subscribe to a couple of forums. Join in the discussions, answer questions, and ask pertinant questions yourself. Become known as an expert in the field. Then with each article reply you write, have a discreet link to your website in the signature file. What can be placed in your signature is often determined by the forum moderators. Do not spam the forum or you will be stopped from posting. You should be able to get a fair amount of traffic from a popular forum, and the people who click your link will already be familiar with your writing style.

Linking from/to other websites:

Look for websites which are similar to yours (but which do not compete directly). Ask the website owner for a reciprocal link. Be sure to pick link partners who match your customer profile. Try using a software program like Arelis to help you find link partners.

E-Zines:

Buy adverts in ezines that target your market. Perform a test to ensure that the return on your investment is enough to cover the cost of the adverts. You may save a considerable amount.

Newsletters:

Offer your visitors something of value, such as an eBook, in exchange for signing up for your newsletter. Write your newsletter so that it's tightly focused on your subject. You should publish your newsletter regularly, preferably once a week.

E-Books:

Write (or have written) a free informational eBook which you can give away to your clients and others. You can place links back to your website in the eBook.

Joint Ventures:

Online marketers are always looking for products to sell. They may have large mailing lists with eager to buy customers. Usually they will be willing to send an email to their list for a cut of the sale price. This works particularly well with informational products. It has several advantages. It can give a large boost to both your mailing list and sales in a short time.

Buy Expired Domain Traffic:

This may be the most expensive in terms of money, but also the cheapest in terms of time. You will usually get a traffic boost within a month. What is it that you're buying? You are buying traffic from a company which has invested in expired domain names.

They are domain names which are still registered on the search engines which get a certain amount of traffic. The previous domain name owners have not renewed the registration for whatever reason. The traffic from the expired domain name is redirected to your website. This is usually high quality traffic as only expired domains with relevant traffic is redirected to you. As always, you should undertake a test run to see if this traffic is suitable.

When you combine these techniques and apply them consistently over time you will find a rich source of targeted traffic coming to your website. This, combined with quality products will ensure the success of your online business.