When ever I hear the phrase “Get More” I think of T-Mobile and Catherine Zeta-Jones television advertisements. I also hear these words a lot from new potential clients looking for a fresh new website or help with SEO to “Get More website traffic“.
In the early days of the web I remember everyone boasting about their website “hits” and how much traffic they generated. At the time it sounded great and exciting until site owners started to realize that not all traffic will “Get More” sales leads or generate more orders.
From a marketing standpoint, the only traffic that really counts is if they are your target audience. It doesn’t matter what online media you are using: the social media channels (Twitter, FaceBook, etc.) a blog, or a website, you still need to focus your “Get More” energies on capturing your target audience. If your traffic is not turning into buyers or customer leads you need to re-think your online marketing strategies. This may entail a new web design, SEO and/or re-vamping online marketing strategies.
Bottom line is: Don’t measure purely by the quantity of traffic you receive, but the quality of the traffic and the results it produces for your business.
Thanks to Google, there is a really simple way to test the placement (or existence) of specific keyword phrases on your website. This is commonly referred to as Keyword Mapping. (There are other methods, but this is a free and simple way for store owners to quickly check if keyword phrases exist on their website.)
in Google’s Search box type the following:
“keyword phrase” +site:www.your-website-address.com
Note: Be sure to replace keyword phrase with your desired phrase and replace www.your-website-address.com with your domain name. Leave the double quote marks (“) around the keyword phrase to search your website for the exact phrase.
Below is a real example of how to Checking Keyword Mapping using Google:
Even though there are volumes of articles written on-line about the proper use of Title Tags I am amazed how many websites still have poorly formed (bad or ugly) Title Tags. It is even more amazing to see how many websites use the phrase “home page” in the title tag of their home page! For example: “store name + home page“.
Store owners need to pay attention to the keyword phrases used throughout their website and in the title tags. I often see in the website log statistics that stores do well for their own store name, but not for anything else. This is due to using their store name in the Title Tags and web pages but no other primary keyword phrases. Unfortunately, most consumers searching are not looking for you specifically, but instead are conducting an informational type search. Research studies have shown that 72% – 84% of all searches are informational in nature and less than 20% are transactional in nature. (See Bernard J. Jansen – Investigating customer click through behaviour with integrated sponsored and nonsponsored results.)
Rather than writing out how I do it for stores at Webstream Dynamics, there is a great article that explains creating great title tags here: SEO Title Tag Formulas. The only thing I would add to this is: for stores targeting local shoppers include a geo-targeted keyword (town, city, state, region) in your primary keyword phrase. Lastly, make sure the keywords used in your title tags are very relevant to the content found in your web pages.
Wow! While doing some more updating of a print article I am writing for a trade publication I noticed a change in Google’s sponsored links at the top of the page. Depending on the search term you use you may see actual product thumbnail images and along with text that link directly to products on the sponsor’s website. This is really recent news , since I performed these same searches 2 days ago and these product thumbnail images didn’t appear. I wonder if Google is planning to make this a permanent feature in the top sponsored links. See some example screen shots below:
Google Sponsored Links using Search Term: hardwood floors
Google Sponsored Links using Search Term: carpet
Google Sponsored Links using search term: appliances
Below is a short outline for Improving Website Visibility. This is by no means a complete list, but it should give businesses some idea of the many opportunities online to increase the visibility for their websites, both online and offline.
Online Advertising
Search Engine Rankings
Natural Search Listings
- Search Engine Optimization – optimizing all web pages for the search engines using the most relevant keyword phrases for each specific page.
- Incoming Links
- Supplier’s Websites
- Link on Area Chamber of Commerce
- Google Local Business Center
- Yahoo Local business Center
- Articles in Publications online
- Press Releases
- Other non-competing websites with relevant content
- Personal Blogs
- Online Reputable Directories (ie: dmoz)
- Facebook
Pay-Per-Click Listings
- Sponsored Listings on Search Engines
- Listing on Search Engine affiliate and partner websites
- PPC advertising on relevant portals and publication websites
Social Media
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Blogs
- Message Boards (if relevant)
Offline Advertising
- Newspaper
- Print Advertising with website address
- Submit Print Articles
- Bill Boards
- Radio
- TV
- Direct Mail
- Vehicle Signage
If you haven’t heard the news, Mohawk Flooring has recently launched a great new media campaign, called the SmartStrand Challenge, to build more awareness for their eco-friendly carpets made with SmartStrand. They are also embracing the social media channels to help get the word out. This is definitely worth watching and if you are looking for new carpet for your home, you need to check out Mohawk’s SmartStrand carpets at your local Mohawk flooring store.
Some of the social media channels I have found so far that Mohawk is using to engage online users are listed below:
Best wishes to Mohawk Flooring for a great innovative idea and to Ricko the Rhino and to Mohawk’s carpet too!
