Snow Piles and Search Engines

by Sarah on December 29, 2015

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Snow Piles and Search Engines:  4 Tips for Using SEO and Search Marketing Successfully to Beat the Recession

 

As snow piles up, my driveway is starting to shrink.  It’s becoming almost impossible to see around the snow banks at the end.   

 

And forget the mailbox.  Not only am I worried the postman will bypass it, but I’m not sure the snow plower will!  I’d hate to see this family-crafted work of art – spattered with 5- and 8-year-old painted renditions of suns and flowers get smushed by the ruthless road crew.  So shovels in hands, we’ve been doing a lot of digging (good alternative to the gym).

 

That feeling of being hemmed in isn’t just coming from my slip of a driveway, economic reports are making us all feel like it’s hard to see an opening, let alone make it out in one piece.  

 

So, I’m going to spend the next few newsletters covering a couple recession-marketing copywriting strategies that didn’t get enough attention in my free report, “17 Health Copywriting Strategies for a Tough Economy”  – SEO copywriting and white papers.

 

SEO – An Invaluable Marketing Tool That Doesn’t Cost Much

 

Now Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be made to sound quite complicated – and it can be.  There are numerous layers to this fine art.

 

But I like to see it in a more basic way.  And, with respect to copywriting, it really is.  Meet your readers where they are and talk to them in their language.

 

Sure we’re going for search engines, but search engines are really tuned to respond to what readers want – and do.  And good search engine optimization is not about writing for an algorithm.  It’s about using your skills of understanding how your prospects think and how they express their thoughts so you can make sure they find you.

 

Another way to look at it is this:  Poor SEO is like telling someone in Russian that the bathroom is to the right when they’re asking you where it is in Japanese.  They’re looking for the bathroom – just like your prospects are looking for you and your product.  But you need to make sure you can tell them in language that they recognize, “The bathroom’s right here!”  or “What you’re looking for is right here!”

 

Tip #1:  Really get to know your prospects, not just their search terms

 

In addition to tools like Wordtracker.com and Google ad words, I make good use of forums, reviews, testimonials and blogs to develop key phrases and words.  These are a good starting point.  They help me think of key word phrases to start researching that I might overlook if I didn’t get to know my prospects.  And they are end points.  They help me to see how key word phrases fit into larger thoughts and discussion of my prospects. Essential for good conversion.

 

Tip # 2:  No matter how much traffic you get, you need good copy to convert them

 

This is critical to making SEO segue well into the second part of making your website work for you no matter what the economy is doing – conversion.  The most important factor is good copy.  No matter how much traffic you’re getting, if the pages aren’t written to convince your prospect to buy, they won’t sell.

 

Tip #3:  Make your traffic feel like they’ve found the right spot

 

Match the terms you use to drive the traffic to your website in a ppc ad, article link, etc. to the terms on the landing page they arrive at.  It should feel like a seemless transition for the folks who follow your signs to your lovely website.  There should be no doubt in your prospect’s mind that they came to the right place for what they’re looking for.

 

Tip #4:  Think strategically about what kind of traffic your key words/phrases are bringing – researching or buying?

 

Think about what kind of traffic you’re targeting with your search terms.  For example, simply by adding an “s” to your key words, you tend to get more research traffic than buying traffic.  Also the more specific the search phrase (the more words) usually means the traffic is closer to the buying point than the research point.  For example, “joint health” is more research,  “joint health diet book” is probably someone ready to buy such a book.

 

Search marketing is a great tactic for this economy – low-cost to implement and you’re really getting people when they’re looking for you.  Not pounding down their doors with your pitch.

 

If you’re looking for help on your search engine marketing projects – from key word research to SEO rewriting to SEO writing from scratch – consider using my services.

 

Stay tuned for more ideas on bringing those search engines into the marketing team.

 

For more ideas on how to market during a recession, check out my free report “17 Health Copywriting Tactics for a Tough Economy”.  Get this recession marketing report right here.

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