You’ve researched your keywords. You’ve chosen keywords that relate to to your area of business. You’ve put in the hard yards in order to achieve good rankings. You’ve paid for PPC listings.
But you’re not selling.
People are visiting your site, but they aren’t converting. A common reason for this type of occurrence is that one important consideration is often overlooked in keyword selection – the sales cycle.
THE SALES CYCLE
Talk to any salesperson and they will tell you all about the sales cycle. They will describe how they step a customer from enquiry through to close. All salespeople love to get to the close.
Search marketers have a weapon that the offline salesperson often doesn’t have. The search marketer can approximate the stage the buyer is at in the sales cycle by looking at the type of keyword query the customer uses.
For example, pretend you’re looking to buy a fax machine. You might search on “fax machines” to get some ideas. Having got the broad picture, you then refine. You might search on “cheap fax machines”, or if you’ve decided on the type of machine you require: “plain paper fax machines”.
Having looked around a little more, you then decide on a brand “brother plain paper fax machines”. And then perhaps a model. “brother fax-685mc”. As you can see, you’re moving naturally through the sales cycle towards close, and you’re using multiple searches to do it. It’s the online equivalent of a question and answer session with a salesperson.
Finally, you’ve decided that you want a “brother fax-685mc”, but with a free delivery option. Who makes the sale in this case? The site that targeted “fax machines” or the site that targeted the rather obscure “brother fax-685mc free delivery”?
Customer targeting, within the sales cycle, can be very lucrative.
EFFORT/REWARD
Can you target customers at any stage of the sales cycle? Even the customer who is just starting to browse? Sure. However, from a search marketing perspective, you need to consider the cost involved in doing so. Creating a lot of copy, or trying to get top ten for a generic keyword term is time consuming and expensive. It can often be more cost effective to concentrate your keyword efforts on the final stages of the sales cycle.
Note: This strategy works well for business that can fulfill online. It works less well for services where the close is made in a face to face meeting, or via other offline means. Always keep in mind what you are selling, and to whom.
SALES VS MARKETING
Consider the distinction between sales and marketing. Sales looks at the customer as an individual, and meets their needs, step by step, through to close. Marketing, on the other hand, is looking at broad market segments.
Marketers generate a list of keywords, based on subject and traffic numbers, and then optimise or buy PPC listings in order to grab a share of that traffic. This works, especially if your goal is to generate traffic volume, however there are smarter ways to operate if your mission is to cut straight to the chase and close the deal. Keyword targeting at the tail end of the sales cycle can lead to higher conversion rates, often with less effort and expense. Compare the effort and expense of getting first page placement for “fax machines” with that of getting placement for “brother fax-685mc free delivery”. Never mind that there isn’t a great deal of search volume for very specific terms. Apply this strategy through your entire product range and it should soon pay dividends. Search engine placements should be easier to maintain, and more cost effective, than if you target more generic terms.
STATS
Statistics and tracking are your best weapons. Tag your visitors and watch what they do. Which visitors convert? What type of queries were they using? Look for patterns. If buyers were often looking for “free shipping” options, then you may have found a niche that your competitors are missing out on.
Know thy customer. And know where they are in the sales cycle.
Peter Da Vanzo is the founder of Search Engine Blog.com, a news resource for the search engine marketing industry. Peter runs a private consultancy, Gofish Media Ltd, which offers search engine marketing services to clients, and implements local search initiatives such as the popular Australian shopping directory, On-Shopping.com.au. 35-year-old Peter lives in Wellington, New Zealand, with his wife, dependent cat, and out-of-control garden.
