Submitted by chuck on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 11:08
on your website is to look closely at your “stats” report (hopefully, you are using Google Analytics) and see what words or phrases to find your website. You might be surprised once you determine what combination of keywords best captures the reason(s) for coming to your site.
From my research there at least three user types. These are: Information Seekers, Shoppers and Buyers. Let’s discuss each:
Information Seekers: Information Seekers can be identified through the use of one and two word high level generic keywords. Terms such as "Savannah” for someone considering a trip, or "Golf" for someone obviously interested in Golf. These keywords all have potential to gather a wide variety of results and sub-sets of the primary keyword.
Information Seekers are just that! They are looking for information such as up-to-date news, how-to-do tutorials, research papers and sports plus a great many more options. Information seekers rarely convert into an instant Buyer. The trick is to develop the quality of site content that provides the information the visitor expects and if they are impressed it is possible that the Information seeker will become a Buyer in the future.
Pitching the sell to Information Seekers is not the recommended strategy except for those businesses, organizations that are fully engaged in providing “content”. As an example, Convention Visitors Bureaus should adopt an “Information Seeker” strategy. Once they have determined the broad keywords used by visitors than they can create pages that the viewer can go to for the information they are seeking. It does hurt to have a “call-to-action” tab that goes to a specific travel designation or local business.
Shoppers: Shoppers are identified through their use of less ambiguous search phrases using more targeted keywords which provide better search results. A Shopper investigating “Savannah” might expand this to something like, "Best Place to stay in Savannah" or our Golfer might start his search with "Savannah Golf Club Reviews" or Affordable Golfing Resorts in Savannah"
Shoppers have identified how to fulfill a need or desire. In some ways Shoppers and Information Seekers share similarities. Both are seeking information however, the buyer is seeking information which will assist them in deciding future purchasing options. The Shopper has taken the first step in the sales cycle.
Pitching to the Shopper is best done by providing the product and services information required to make an informed purchasing decision. In addition to meeting the information needs the web site owner must now provide the prompts and calls to action to evolve the Shopper into the Buyer (call-to-action tab or contact form or order form (if ecommerce enabled).
Buyers: Buyers are identified by specific search terms providing information on a specific product type, brand or model. From our previous example our Traveler may use a term such as "Restaurants located in Historic Savannah” or “Savannah Seafood Restaurants located in the historic area". Our Golfer would probably search for “Savannah Public Golf Courses located near the Savannah Airport”.
The Buyer has completed the research and now wants to purchase. The decision of what product or service to purchase has been made, now they want to buy. The gap between Buyer and Seller converge. It is now time to make your web site visitors life simple. The proper landing page with the right information and positive calls to action all assist to improving the conversion rates of those Internet users who are in the mood to buy.
Keyword Research and Selection
Identifying the keywords used for each user type is at the foundation of leveraging what you know about your visitor’s behavior. Keep in mind the targeted audience and what they are trying to achieve while developing your keyword lists and selection of the final keywords for PPC Ads or Organic Optimization. If applicable, consider profiling (add a few questions to your contact form) your website visitors to better understand what type of user they represent and develop a keyword(s) strategy that takes advantage of what you know about each type of user.
Finally, understanding your web site visitor’s intent enables you to bridge the gap between buyer and seller. Providing the right information to the right user at the right time will have a positive impact, not only on conversion rates but will also have a flow on effect to benefit your overall web presence. A web site / web page which meets a user’s expectations is much more likely to be shared by visitors using Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.