Before you think about driving traffic to your pages, is your site a destination or a pit stop along the way? Have you ever wondered why SEO really works as a premier advertising & marketing medium?
Because convenience coupled with availability puts consumers in the drivers’ seat of where and how they spend their time, money and attention.
SEO is About Location, Location, Location:
The key for creating a thriving online presence is to maintain a healthy flux of new visitors. For search engine traffic, this means ranking above the fold and simultaneously presenting irresistible click-triggers that toggle visitors to take action.
Hit the right note in your pitch in your title and snippet and your pages strum the appropriate emotional impulses to encourage conversion from prospects who would rather forgo the formalities of “the search process” and get right down to business.
Consumers want information and they want it now!
Put simply, consumers have evolved, they know what they want and they know how to extract it from the web. If your site neglects to pique their interest through a compelling value proposition, your content will only a pit stop along the way to their final destination.
The fact is, if the average person is savvy enough to find out which movie is playing, check the weather, perusing an online store and complete a purchase, then optimization is about what you optimize more than how. Choosing the wrong keywords or picking the wrong audience both produce minimal results.
Regardless if that consumer is skimming the news, reading a great blog or voting in a social media site for fun, one resolute thread of search psychology remains intact, the infamous “what’s in it for me?” mentality.
Don’t forget, persona and personality are equally as important to visitors in addition to what you’re selling. Which would you rather purchase, “Order our Award Winning SEO Services!” (the it’s all about us) or “Your Competition Will Never See it Coming, Take the Lead with SEO” (a click trigger written to address THEIR situation”. Mastering the pitch and ideal tone of your content and how it resonates with your core audience is both a science and an art form.
Put yourself in the circumstances of the searcher, what are they looking for? and why?, does your content address their needs or provide value? or is it all about you and not them?
To maximize reader engagement, increase your click through rates and on-site time, go back to basics, polish your offer, create continuity in your content (with a great call to action) and above all, say only what need be said to get your point across.
As a result, you content will attain higher conversion rates from search results, but think of optimization as a tool, you must still have an enticing offer that resounds through the theme.
In closing, here is a great resource to transform lackluster headlines into blockbuster copy, the end result, more face time and less posturing from consumers.
SEO is more than just optimization, it is a holistic process that involves components such as site architecture, internal links, external links, compelling copy and Savvy SEO Marketing.
Remember, getting traffic to your site is only half of the process, keeping that same traffic intrigued, satisfied or entertained what measures the bottom line at the end of the day. So, is your site a Pit stop or a sought after destination, you decide?
Jerry i could not agree more with you. You have clearly hit the bulls eye by making them realize instead of beating round the bush you got to recognize what the customers are looking for and they are no longer ready to be taken for a drive.