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Internet Marketing Course -
Search Engine Optimization
Keying in on Your Target Market
By Mark Munroe
I come to SEO from a product management and product development
background. In a way, SEO is almost the exact opposite of product
management. When building a product, you are trying to build a solution
to someone's problem. On the Internet, when someone is doing a search,
they are looking for a solution to a problem they already have.
SEO is simply a matchmaking process; match the sites with the solutions
to the people with the problems.
I have therefore started taking a problem/solution approach to keyword
research. This helps alleviate 'keyword block' (that phase where
you bang your head against the wall trying to come up with keyword
ideas). I start with the following 2 rather standard approaches:
1. Make sure the site can be found when surfers are looking specifically
for the site in question. This is, of course, the most targeted
traffic you can get and you better not lose it.
2. Make sure the site is found when searchers are looking for
the site's products and services. If the site sells treadmills,
then you certainly want to be found when people search for treadmills
(ideally by finding a 2-3 word phrase).
"Keyword block" is when you have trouble going beyond those first
two steps. In fact many sites stop optimizing at this point and
are quite satisfied if they get some rankings for their specific
products.
While of course you want to be found when people are looking for
your products, it would be a severe mistake to stop at this point.
Your target market includes surfers who are not looking for your
products and services and might not even know they exist. By expanding
your keyword research to target those surfers, you greatly increase
your opportunity for traffic. It is also great PR as it expands
awareness among your target market.
My methodology to expand my keyword research is quite simple. This
is where I pull in my problem/solution orientation from my product
management days.
3. First I identify the problems that the product solves.
I then use Wordtracker to determine how people search the Internet
to get information related to the problems.
With this line of thought, you can expand your market considerably
beyond where you were in step 2. Sticking with the treadmill example,
you ask yourself, what problems does a treadmill solve?
* How to lose weight?
* How to improve cholesterol level?
* How to exercise in inclement weather?
* Many more....
The next step is to dig into Wordtracker to find the best keyword
phrases people use when researching those problems. As an added
bonus, these terms typically have less competition than the product-/service-specific
phrases.
The great thing about this type of research is it gives you ideas
about how to expand your site with relevant content that can attract
many more customer prospects. But I am not done; I expand my problem/solution
criteria into 2 more directions:
4. Are there problems that the products or services cause?
Often there are. Think of all the problems a computer causes (if
you didn't have a computer, you wouldn't have to worry about computer
viruses). In the case of a treadmill, running can cause knee pain
and other injuries. People are surely searching for solutions to
the injuries associated with running. It makes sense and is certainly
relevant to your site to publish an article on how to prevent knee
pain. There is one more direction we can expand to with our keyword
research.
5. Are there ancillary problems associated with your product
that your product does not solve but is thematically related to
your site? In this case, there are. For instance, runners who
are planning to run a marathon are concerned with how to train.
This is a problem to the runner and the product doesn't solve it.
However, it is very closely related to the product. Therefore the
site can provide information on how to train for the marathon (assuming
keyword research identifies a good term). Once again, you are on
your way to building a high-content, high-value site for your customer.
You will find that you can take this approach to almost any product.
For radically new products that solve problems people are not necessarily
aware they have, it may be a bit difficult. It is still possible
to succeed with this strategy by focusing on the indirect and related
problems. Simply make sure the content is relevant to your site,
your products and your target market.
Remember, nearly every time someone searches on the Internet,
it is to solve a problem. Sometimes the problem is solved with
a product purchase, but other times information is needed to solve
it. When that problem and information are related to your product,
find the keywords, create the content and optimize your site.
Mark Munroe
Internet Marketing Course - Return to Home Page
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