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Conversions & Keywords Research
Successful Search Engine Marketing
Part 2
Originally Published: October 2004
Continued From:
<<< Search Engine Marketing Introduction
3. Determining a successful conversion
If you were to ask most web site owners what they want from their web site they'd say "to make money". That generally rings true even if they don't sell anything on or through the web site. Understanding what the true purpose of your web site is the first step to determining what to deem a successful conversion. After all, conversions will determine the success or failure of your website as a business tool.
If your web site is just brochure-ware, or used primarily as a promotion tool, a successful conversion may simply be traffic. Conversion may be measured as getting a user to browse through your web site, then filling out a contact form, placing a phone call or downloading a PDF.
If you sell something through your web site then a successful conversion will more than likely be defined as a completed transaction, or "selling something." Remember, your web site may even have multiple types of conversions.
It is impossible to determine the true success or failure of your search engine marketing efforts without first knowing what success is, as defined by setting standards of conversion for your site. Once you know what a success is, you can begin to track that success. Tracking is covered more thoroughly in Tip 5.
4. Researching, Choosing and Implementing Keywords
Researching, choosing, and implementing keywords can be one of the most daunting aspects of Search Engine Marketing. It is also one of the most important.
Researching Keywords
Now that you have a better understanding of your customer, your online business, and what constitutes a successful conversion, you can begin to develop the best keywords to meet your goals.
Fortunately, there are many well written tutorials and tools to help you succeed in researching, and choosing the right keywords. The August edition of Market Position has an excellent article on
Choosing the Best Keywords.
This article provides you with the following keyword techniques:
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Put yourself in the shoes of your target audience.
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Target Niches.
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Brainstorm for keywords in your category.
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Choose only relevant keywords.
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Understand that keywords can have multiple meanings
WordTracker is an excellent tool to conduct keyword research. It provides you with the ability to determine exactly what words are being used in search engines to find the products and services that you may offer. If you haven't tried WordTracker yet simply
visit for your free trial.
Editor's Note:
Word Tracker is also available as a standalone service:
Click here for your FREE top 500 keyword report
Choosing Keywords
Once you've compiled a thorough list of keywords using WordTracker you must decide the ways in which you are going to use those keywords.
Unfortunately most web sites do not have enough content, or aren't large enough to support all of the good, quality keywords you have found using these tools. Therefore, you should narrow your list. How?
You need to consider the following for each keyword on your list:
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Does this keyword support my online goals?
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Do I have the content to support this keyword? If yes, then is my page optimized for it?
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Do I have to create content to support this keyword? If yes, then is it worth the creation effort or should I buy it through PPC?
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Is it a seasonal word? If yes, then should I buy it through PPC or Optimize for it?
Pay Per Click keywords should be words that are seasonal, marginally related to your web site, or cannot be ranked for in a reasonable amount of time. PPC words will cost you more over a long period of time, so great caution needs to be exercised when participating in PPC programs. For an excellent PPC tutorial, see the WebPosition Gold 3 Page Critic.
Once you have created your final keyword list and have determined how those words are to be used through either PPC or SEO, then you can begin implementation.
5. Tracking your rankings, website traffic and conversions
Now that you've completed the process of creating and launching your Search Engine Marketing program, you need to be able to determine if your efforts are succeeding. Of course, more online sales are an easy way to determine if your efforts are succeeding; however, there are many more metrics to analyze in order to get the most out of your efforts and money.
It is imperative that you be able to assess how your web site is ranking for the words you've targeted. You need to know, for sure, if those words are successful and are converting. You also need to know whether your SEO or PPC efforts are bringing you the most traffic and conversions.
Fortunately, WebPosition Gold 3 and WebTrends Analytics work together to provide you all the reports and answers. You can check your rankings across search engines and keywords, compare rankings to your actual traffic from those search engines and track conversions from your SEO and PPC efforts.
Continued From:
<<< Search Engine Marketing Introduction
This article is copyrighted and has been reprinted with permission from FirstPlace Software.
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