Feature Article: How to Find the Keywords that Sell Better Than A Used Car Salesman
By David C. Chase
I have spent years doing search engine
optimization; I have clients in some of the most
competitive markets on the web. I'm talking
hundreds of millions of directly competing
pages. The core of my success is the detail,
and care I put into my keyword research.
Here is my technique:
Ok, so you got a whole bunch of keywords now?
(If you've read my last article: How
to Conquer Your Competition by Creating a Killer
Keyword List then you would know the
significance of this step) So now what? What do
you do with your exhaustive list of thousands of
keywords? Filter your list to the keywords that
convert
the most sales:
I'm sure you've been told and have even beaten
over the head with this quote: "The longer the
keyword phrase the more targeted it usually is,
and the higher it will convert". Yet it baffles
me how many times people still overlook this.
If you want to spend a year targeting keywords
that get bazillions of searches go right ahead,
I'll spend a dedicated month getting a top
ranking for a longer more targeted phrase. I
tend to get the highest conversions from keyword
phrases 3-5 words long, but it all varies on the
site and market.
Please don't do what everybody else does and use
KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) as the
be-all-end-all solution to keyword research.
You'll simply be doing yourself an incredible
disservice as that data is not very accurate.
So what is the million dollar secret to finding
the keyword in your market that convert the most
sales? It's simple: run a massive Adwords
pay-per-click campaign.
Google Adwords is a very efficient and
inexpensive way to find the keywords that
convert the highest possible sales. Create an
Adwords account (as the other pay-per-click
options don't come close to the accuracy or
tracking Google offers).
Place all of the keywords you accumulated in
your market into a single AdGroup (there are
better ways of grouping your ads but its
irrelevant in the context of this article). Bid
high enough to have a top 8 listing for every
word (this will ensure many impressions).
Also, be sure to integrate the "conversion
tool", under the "Tools" tab in your Adwords
campaign. Simply paste the bar of code Google
gives you on the "thank you" page of the
targeted site. This will give you the
conversion numbers and ratios that make this
technique work. After a few good weeks of
impressions you should have a large enough
sample to know EXACTLY what keywords are
converting at the highest percentage.
Note: Don't be afraid to spend the ten or so
dollars on your pay per click campaign, the
information this technique reveals is worth
thousands alone.
Jot down the keywords that converted at the
highest percent, you can find out what to do
with this smaller list by reading my article: Are
You Making this Million Dollar Mistake When
Choosing Your Keywords? you now have an edge
on 99% of the competition in your market.
About the Author
David Chase is a professional SEO Consultant.
You can subscribe to his free mini email course
The
7 Simple, yet Wildly Successful Strategies for
SEO or visit his blog David
Chase SEO for other facts, myths, and secrets
you should know about SEO.
Professional Contract and Proposal Templates
If you run a business selling services to other
businesses, regardless of whether it's SEO, web
design, copywriting or even a home business, you
need to have a professional, impressive-looking
proposal. But sometimes you get so caught up in the
day-to-day process of actually running the
business that you don't spend enough time
fine-tuning your proposal template. Perhaps, heaven
forbid, you don't even have one!
Do you think your existing proposal does a good
job of selling your company? Do you find
yourself losing business to your competitors? Do
you wonder what was included in their proposal
that made their offer more appealing to your
potential client? Are you unsure whether your
business is projecting a professional image? Do
you want to win more bids, close more sales,
save time and ultimately make more money from
the jobs you take?
If so, Proposal
Kit
is fast going to become your favorite business tool.
Sample Proposal Pack Template Style
Proposal Kit is template software that
automates the chore of putting together a
complex business proposal and services contract.
Templates are particularly suited to online
businesses and include documents for the initial
sales pitch,
the planning stage, estimating, contracting,
project timelines, non-disclosure, legal issues
and invoicing.
For SEOs reading this, the latest version even
includes a Search Engine Optimization Services
Contract ready for fleshing out with your own
pricing and contact details! The templates come
in a range of styles and colors, ready-made to
match your company colors and logos. Better
still, the software is easy to use, allowing you
to add, remove and tweak individual documents
within your master proposal at the click of a
mouse.
Check
out Proposal Kit for yourself and if
you like what you see, be sure to take advantage
of our
discount offer below, exclusive to Search
Light subscribers.
Exclusive Discount Offer from Proposal Kit
As a valued subscriber of The Search
Light, we
are pleased to provide you with an exclusive
discount coupon code for redemption towards the
proposal templates of your choice from
Proposal Kit.
The coupon code WEBRANK will give you a
10% discount
on your next purchase at Proposal Kit.
Make sure
you enter coupon code WEBRANK in the
refer/upgrade field to claim your discount. So
what are you waiting for? Go choose
your templates and start closing more sales
today!
Enter our Funny Photo Caption Competition
Got a funny caption for the photo above? Submit
the funniest and win a self study course of your
choice from Search Engine College. Here are some
examples:
"Ah, here's that quote I was looking for:
'Guys with good looks don't date girls who read
books'"
"It says here that one in 3 search engines are
unhappy with the size of their database".
"Geez... self-circumcision looks much more
difficult than I thought Sheila!"
Winners announced next month. For your chance to
win, submit
your own caption entry by midnight GMT on
September 29.
Congratulations to Phil Rummings of The Tao
of Drumming who submitted August's
winning caption. Phil has won a free SEO
101 self study course at Search Engine
College.
Not Sure Why You Received This Newsletter?
You will ONLY receive this newsletter if:
1) You have subscribed directly via our email
sign-up form.
2) You have downloaded our free
SEO lesson.
3) You have submitted an online enquiry via Live
Help or our online
contact form.
4) You have submitted a free
ranking report request.
5) A friend or colleague has forwarded it to you.
For 2), 3) and 4) we make it clear on the page
that you are automatically subscribed to The
Search Light, but you may have either overlooked
this or simply forgotten.
If you don't wish to receive any more of our
newsletters, simply press the "SafeUnsubscribe"
link at the bottom of this page and you will be
permanently removed.
Have a great day!
|
| |
Dear Reader,
What a tough month! First we lose
Pluto as a planet and now we lose Danny
Sullivan from Search
Engine Watch and Search
Engine Strategies Conferences. I'm not sure
which news event is having the biggest impact
right now.
You read right, the founder of the search
industry, Danny Sullivan, has announced
he is leaving SEW and SES when his contract
expires at the end of the year due to
irreconcilable differences between himself and
Incisive Media (owners of Jupiter Media and the
SEW and SES brands) regarding his contract renewal.
Seems Incisive Media have been holding out a
holographic carrot to Danny for some time now
and he's tired of chasing it. The news has got
the entire
search underworld gossiping about what
Danny's going to do next and how this might
impact the future of the industry. That's what I
call influence! Here's to you, Mr Sullivan...
As for this month's newsletter, I've often said
that keyword research is the most critical step
in determining the success or failure of a SEO
or SEM campaign.
This issue's feature article by David Chase
looks at a unique and inexpensive way to conduct
SEO keyword research that avoids the hit and
miss of traditional methods. By creating a
large-scale Google AdWords pay-per-click
campaign and watching the impressions and
conversions produced by each keyword, David
claims you can pinpoint exactly which keywords
are going to convert on your web site and which
will be a waste of time.
Enjoy this issue and remember to visit the daily
Search Engine Advice Column to check out
my answers to frequently asked search engine
questions or submit one of your own.
Till next time - wishing you clicks and
conversions...
|
| |
| |
| |
| FAQ1: How do I get the right type of Google ads to come up on my site? | | |
 Dear Kalena...
How do I get the right types of Google ads to
come up on my site? I am getting a lot of
weather ads on my home page that have nothing to
do with the content on my site.
Thanks,
Bruce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Bruce
You need to optimize the content of your pages
so they contain more keywords and phrases
related to the type of ads you want triggered.
For example, if you had a page about blue suede
shoes but had more text on the page talking
about athlete's foot, then ads about the latter
topic would be triggered.
Your home page has an article talking about
warmer temperatures and then you have links to
Colorado weather, so the AdWords bot has assumed
your page is mostly about weather and ads have
been triggered accordingly. Try to theme your
articles so they are about topics you want to
see reflected in your ads. Also, try to use
keywords within your articles, especially in the
first paragraph that is usually featured on your
home page.
Kalena | | |
| FAQ2: Why have my SEO efforts pushed my Google rankings down? | | |
 Dear Kalena...
First of all, I wish to express my gratitude to
you for taking time to answer all the various
SEO questions raised. I have picked up a lot of
quick tips through your blog, you're really a
darling, thank you.
As I have started experimenting with SEO just a
few months back, I have been trying to optimize
www.psoriasisandskinclinic.com for quite some
time now. It is a website promoting and selling
natural remedies to treat Skin Problems (eg.
Psoriasis) and it's a very competitive market. I
started off by improving the usability of the
site and its exposure. I have also included it
in several PPC sites and trying to increase its
reciprocal links.
However, recently I realized that instead of
going up the generic rankings in Google, it
actually fell and till now I can't find any
listings in the first 5 pages of Google search
result at all if I type in several important
search keywords.
Please Kalena, give me some advice as to what am
I doing wrong or what can I do to improve the
situation. Much appreciated. Thank you.
Best Regards
Joseph
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Joseph
Thanks for the blog back-slap, I appreciate it!
Regarding your site, you don't mention how new
it is to the Internet. Judging by your very low
Google Toolbar PageRank score and lack of listed
backward links, I am assuming the site is under
9 months old. If I'm right, the site is
undoubtedly still experiencing Google's
aging delay for new sites and there's
nothing to worry about. It's very common to see
your site appear in the Google SERPs and then
disappear for months.
Yahoo is showing at least 15
incoming links pointing to your site, so
your link efforts appear to be working. You
simply need to wait for Google to catch up.
Kalena | | |
| FAQ3: Why does my site rank well on other engines but not on Google? | | |
 Dear Kalena...
I have a website http://www.sawestcoasttourism.com/
I am not able to get this site to rank any where
decent on Google.
My primary search term is South African West
Coast under that term I am ranked No.1 on MSN
No. 10 on Yahoo ands No.13 on Dogpile On Google
I am no where to be found.
I have followed every guideline provided by
Google and as many SEO Forums as I can read but
nothing works. I have not transgressed any of
the Google No-No's as far as I know .
I am desperate as my whole business depends on
this site more and more.
Kalena - please help!
Lucas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dear Lucas
I've reviewed your site and here's what I've found:
1) Your site has a Google Toolbar PageRank of 2
out of 10, which either means your site has not
been online long enough to build up link
popularity, or it may have been given a manual
penalty of some kind (doubtful).
2) Your site has 9 backward links showing in
Google (other sites pointing to it), but this is
misleading as Google doesn't generally show all
backlinks pointing to sites, especially on sites
with a PageRank of 3 or below.
3) Your Title Attribute and META Description tag
are not well optimized for peak search engine
performance. They could benefit from a complete
overhaul by a professional SEO company or you
could overhaul them yourself by following basic
SEO principles. If you want to learn these
principles quickly, I highly recommend taking up
our SEO
Starter Course at Search Engine College.
You could also look at the HTML code of some of
your competitor's sites and follow their lead in
terms of Title and META tags.
4) Your HTML code is filled with unsupported and
non-existent META tags such as < name="robots"
content="revisit after 2 days">. These tags are not
supported by search engines and are simply
taking up valuable indexing space in your HTML
code that would be better utilized by body text.
5) The text on your home page is not optimized
for target keywords and phrases that your
potential visitors will be searching for.
6) If your site has been live for 9 months or
less, it is highly likely it is still
experiencing Google's
aging delay for new sites.
Kalena | | |
| FAQ4: Should I buy expired domains with good PageRank? | | |
Dear Kalena...
I'm hoping you can educate me about buying
expired domains. I am aware about Google's
expired domain filter and pageranks dropping on
new contents.
My curiosity is about buying domains with good
pagerank without backward/related links. Is it
worth it?
Thank you in advance.
Mural
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hi Mural
My opinion is that buying expired domains for
the purpose of exploiting their PageRank or any
other reason unrelated to the domain name
itself, is a bad idea. You should buy a domain
because:
1) you like the domain name
2) the name relates logically to your
business/service
3) your customers could relate to the domain
name
4) your customers could easily remember the
domain address
5) the domain extension (e.g. .com.au) directly
represents your regional target market
Also remember that a domain that has a high
Google PageRank but doesn't have a lot of
backward links most likely achieved the high
PageRank from the content itself and/or the
amount of traffic it was getting. As you would
be adding completely new content, the PageRank
would be completely recalculated and you would
most likely be caught up in the aging delay anyway.
Kalena | | |
|
