5 Simple Ways
To attract new visitors by shifting Your Web topic focus.
By John Alexander
Most SEO professionals learn about
the value of writing "keyword rich" content that
usefully relates to their product or service that they're offering online. If you sell insurance of some type you
probably have thought of keyword phrases related to
"insurance quotes." If you sell health products you
have probably thought about attracting the more health conscious
crowd to your Web site with vitamin or supplement related keyword phrases.
But here is a question....
How many of
us really learn to explore the "search interests" of
entirely new
audiences for our Web site?
Okay, now think about "topic
interests" which compliment your specific product or
service, you may have a few ideas that come to mind but
eventually you may feel the challenge. A certain feeling of
limitation. Maybe you think that there are no other
possibilities but let's talk about
it for a bit.
For many folks here is what the main challenge is.
It is in seeing beyond the
product or service we are trying to offer and expanding our
scope of research beyond our own objectives for our Web site. If
I sell insurance, what else is there beside "insurance
quotes?"
The challenge for most of us is that we can't "shift our
focus" to something that does not seem to immediately serve our interest. If
it does not make sense and tie in directly with the sales
objectives for our Web site, why even bother exploring
it, right?
Think about
this. Many of us only
tend to focus on the audience that we are "in the habit of
serving" from recent and past experiences.
The truth is that we
often may not give all future potential prospects our full
availability (or visibility) because of the very narrow focus
that our recent experience tends to limit us to. Now think about
this for just a minute or two.
Do you just have one specific audience? There may be some who
feel they have a product that only services one audience. In
fact I know some who may be convinced of it. But with a little
brainstorming and research, you can explore and find entirely
new audiences that need your product or services. There are
new audiences out there right now that are searching for your solution, but
the only trouble is, you are not making it
very easy for them to find you because the focus of
your Web content may be far too narrow.
I'll bet that after
reading this article you'll begin to explore new horizons. At
least I hope you find it helpful. I'm going to share with you
5 simple tips to help you shift your focus and find multiple
new audiences for your products or services online.
1. Shift
your focus by stopping the hunt for "keywords" and start thinking about
"behaviors."
Realize that
people are using the Internet to perform research on topics
that are "important to them" and "based on the
conditions and circumstances in their lives." Stop thinking so mechanically
about "what keywords people are putting into that search box in
Google" and begin to understand that it is the conditions in
the searchers life that are
dictating how the searcher is using the Internet. It is
fascinating research!
For Insurance Web sites - Perhaps all you've been thinking of is
trying to optimize for a phrase like "insurance
quotes."
Instead, you consider exploring other terms like VIN
(Vehicle Identification Numbers) and ask yourself how this
might fit into your Web. Ask yourself "Is it not likely, that people
searching for a VIN number, probably own a vehicle?" Then why
not create a helpful database to identify where those VIN
numbers are located on various vehicles. (This is just meant
to be a simple example, there are many other behaviors you can
learn from.) But serve the needs of the searcher first and in the meantime, if they want an insurance quote,
they can request it with the right type of compelling ad copy
contained in the site. Trust me it works. Focus on satisfying
the searchers needs before your own objective. That can be
hard to do if you don't perform excellent research and stop
relying on guess work.
For Travel
Web sites - Perhaps you've continually focused on keyword
phrases involving "travel" or "cheap
airfares." You think to yourself that this is all there
is. Expand you scope of research and begin to explore other
topics and alternatives that can bring you a whole new world
of travelers (who are not necessarily looking for the cheapest
flights.) What else might they be looking for? Think behavior.
One of the things travelers might like to search for are
"Things to do in Toronto" or Things to do in Alaska
or wherever their destination is. They might be looking for
directions or maps or even reviews on entertainment. By
creating alternatively focused content that is researched and
well written, you will attract people to your travel center
that you would otherwise completely miss.
For
Solutions based Web sites that are selling a product or
service. If you selling an SEO tool that is made for the
Webmaster community, that's great. But what about the other
businesses that could benefit from your tool? You won't
attract them with a bunch of SEO related jargon. Let's say you
are trying to attract people to your health product? Okay, so
it's a new vitamin supplement that helps provide some kind of
solution (let's say it helps fight off symptoms of
depression.) Is your only buying audience the "heath
food" conscious crowd? Not at all. You might want to
explore the search habits of those who are going through some
trauma in their life. Mortgage foreclosure, relationship
breakups or even those who have recently been downsized from
their job. Don't you think these people might have the use for
a health product that helps fight depression?
If you are a
Real Estate agent who is convinced that the only valuable
search terms that are available are MLS Listings or other
industry related jargon, listed to this short interview on "Keyword
Forensics" which includes many tips for Real Estate
Agents.
There are
nearly always more than one audience for your product or
service or information. Sometimes multiple audiences that
could benefit from what you have to offer. Want to read more
about expanding your research capabilities based on user
search behavior? Read this article by Robin Nobles called: An
Ingenious Way to Use Wordtracker that is easier too.
2. Shift
your focus by exploring
complimentary products and services through affiliate
marketing.
If you are
already attracting a specific type of visitor to your Web
site to purchase your product or service, then the competition
may not always be your enemy. Watch for products and services
that are complimentary to what you offer through a generous
affiliate program.
Did you know you can be earning additional
income streams by simple adding useful content and links to
your Web site? You promote complimentary products in exchange
for an affiliate commission.
Check out the Kolimbo
Network. Its free and it connects you with literally
hundreds of merchants who are willing to send you a check for
promoting their products and services.
3. Shift
your focus by learning to explore
hot topics of interest through Wordtracker.com
Did you know
that you can use Wordtracker as your window on the world of
search behavior? I'll keep this short.
It's much more than keyword research. Its about exploring the
hidden evidence that 99% of most Webmasters miss. Be sure to
read up on our various free Wordtracker
articles here. Listen to a few Wordtracker
Magic audio tips here.
4. Shift
your focus in creating a brand new Blog on a specific topic.
Blogs are
nearly like living breathing entities with bloggers discussing
every topic under the sun. Have you thought about starting
your own blog and getting some discussion going. Choose a
topic based on an interest you have and on a topic that has
some purpose. Ideally you want to Blog about a topic that you
have some experience in and are knowledgeable about. Choose a
topic that you feel you have some original views about. But
then shift the focus to make it interesting and different than
what your competitors are doing. Read the article Blogs
with a purpose.
5. Learn how
to explore peoples interests and then try shifting the focus
of your message to an opposite approach.
One of the
easiest ways to do this is to always consider taking a reverse
approach or a look at an old topic through a new angle or
view. People are interested in a wide array of topics but
don't just explore the obvious ones. Always see if a reverse
spin might make a better story or deliver a truth that people
have not considered before.
What are
topics of interest? It might be fashion, crafts, sports,
classic movies, biographies around someone's life. It might be
something around reading interests or writing interests or
perhaps the study of electronics or something like singing,
movie direction or piloting an aircraft. Whatever your topic
of interest, try to apply a reverse approach to see if it
makes better reading or will attract that new audience.
If you are
writing content on the top tips for successful Bass fishing,
what would happen if instead, you identified and wrote about
the 10 most common mistakes made by new Bass fisherman. If you
are writing content on any subject always consider looking at
the possibilities of writing from either an opposite or a
different point of view to deliver your message.
In summary:
Learning to
shift your focus from the natural approach to provide content
with a slightly different focus will also attract a slightly
different audience. Maybe an entirely new audience or several
new audiences that will ultimately translate into new business
for you.
But it will
never happen unless you provide content that reaches beyond
your own selling objectives or your Web site's initial reason
for existing. You have to be willing to explore data and
consider taking an entirely new creative shift from time to
time which usually means accurately understanding what your marketplace
is doing. Not by guessing but through genuine research of
accurate data. Of course none of us ever say that we are
guessing, but that is exactly what you are doing when you let
your focus remain limited to the one audience that we are
" in the habit of
serving" from our past experience instead of exploring
the wealth of data and research intelligence that is available
to us today.
Be
encouraged and remember that IF your Web site is a great
success.....keep doing what you are doing.
But if you are not experiencing success, it may be time
to try a whole new approach.
If you want to experience top
visibility on the major search engines, higher conversion
ratios with fresh multiple new audiences, we teach the
full scope of SEO skills at our hands-on SEO
Mastery Workshop and Mentoring program.
Future
dates and locations are here.
Recent
student success stories and comments are here.
About John Alexander
John Alexander is Co-director of Training at Search
Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his
partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first
comprehensive online search engine marketing courses. John is author of an
e-book called Wordtracker
Magic and has
taught SEO skills to people from 87 different countries world
wide.
John's articles can be read in publications like REALTOR
Magazine, Search
Engine Guide, WEBpro
News and many others.
