Wahm Forum - Your "Work-at-Home Moms" Support Group

Audrey · Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:52 am Choosing Keywords For Your Website

Choosing Keywords For Your Website

I want to share a story. Last week I became aware that I was out of return address labels. Instead of waiting until Sundays paper came and grabbing the insert offering this item, I decided to look online and find return address labels.

I went to Google and did a search for "return address labels". I clicked on the very first site listed. When I got there, I had no idea from their front page what they were selling. I scanned the page, did not see return address labels and so returned to Google. In order for this site to have been number one on Google, they had to have used “return address labels” somewhere in their site, but their front page did not have these 3 words listed there. Back on Google, I clicked on the link to the right, figuring someone paid money to be listed there. What I was looking for was the cheap 500 to a roll return address labels. When I got to this new site, the site someone paid to have listed under “return address labels” they had 6 pictures on the front page, all very fancy labels and quite pricy for what I was seeking. I did a quick scan of the page and did not see where I should click to find just inexpensive rolls of labels. Once again, I left the site.

So, it was back to Google, where I finally clicked on a page half way down the page, listed about 50 on Google and right there on the front page, I saw exactly what I wanted. I placed the order.

While it's wonderful to have your page on top, to be number one, if you don't have what the customer wants, they will click off. One thousand hits with no sales defeats the purpose of driving traffic to your website. Traffic does not equal sales. That site with the 6 photos would have done better to select a niche market and optimize for those keywords versus a generic “return address labels”

Choosing your keywords is important. Make choices that truly reflect what you are offering. Remember you can select different keywords for every page on your site. Choose the words that best suit the one page you are working on.

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Audrey Okaneko has been working at home since 1983. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.recipe-barn.com

wahmannounce · Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:07 am

Audrey,

This is a good article. I think we've all experienced this frustration with searching on the net. And you're right...it doesn't encourage sales at all.

We can use this knowledge in determining how we market online. It's important to target the right audience. 1000 non-targeted visitors will not generate sales like 100 targeted visitors will.

Yes, we all want more traffic to our sites, so I'm not discouraging to work on that, but merely to focus more on working for "targeted" visitors.

Carlak · Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:22 am

I just want to add that it is the targeted visitors we want not the traffic. The traffic does not buy what we sell but the targeted potiential customer.

Thanks for sharing.

Joyfully,

Breezy · Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:52 pm

Oh I agree, it is so annoying to click into a site that appears to have nothing to do with your search term.

yes, we seem to get lost in the numbers game sometimes.
quality vs quantity in truth quality will win out.

Even for working a team, sure you can have a huge team, but it should be the function of the team that matters. That goes for sports and marketing.

B.

Carlak · Mon Feb 26, 2007 4:01 pm

there is a new search engine called cha cha you have a personal guide that searches for you. this allows you to get what you are looking for.

I have not used it yet.

Has anyone here tried it yet?

Joyfully,

~Carla

Breezy · Mon Feb 26, 2007 6:12 pm

Oh, Carla

Now that you mention it, I think I have heard of that. Never used it, nor have I heard from anyone who has.

Good question...

B.

Carlak · Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:57 pm

I heard that it is great because you are getting what you are looking for.

Still i have not tried it. there is also a toolbar that you can upload on to your site so that your site visitors can search from your site. I am not sure i like the idea of sending people away when they are visiting my site.

Joyfully,

Audrey · Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:26 am

Thanks for all of the comments. I actually wrote that article about a year ago. I was so frustrated that night. We had just moved and I needed new labels with our new address. I wanted those cheapie 500 labels for 9.99 type of thing and I kept coming up blank. That frustration turned into the above article.