Which would you rather emphasize (1) reacting to the effects of the competition or (2) implementing SEO and SEM tactics based on causation that cater to the psychology of search? In this post we explore SEO, exploring causes behind keywords and building a bigger sales funnel.
Is Your Sales Funnel Informational, Navigational or Transactional?
Digging a layer deeper than the surface, it is safe to conclude that sales and conversions are about one thing – the size of the funnel that visitors use to find your website.
Considering the various ways a website can receive traffic:
- Search Engines (Organic Search or PPC)
- Advertisements (Adsense, CPA Networks, Text Links).
- Contextual Links via Editorial Feedback
- Press Releases and PR
- Email Marketing
- Social Media
And the type of consumer or the mood or flavor of the searchers or visitors intent:
- Conducting Researching (Qualitative)
- Interesting in Purchasing (Motivated)
- Tangential Discovery (Potential for Conversion via Found a Link from Surfing)
- Not interested
These variables determine which funnel or options ideally facilitate a conversion. Also, keep in mind that conversion can mean different things to different websites at different times.
Hence, getting a valid email address and name is one example of a conversion; since you know that through introducing them into an email drip campaign that the likelihood of matching that individual’s preference or intent (based on the keyword or landing page they used to subscribe) could be used as a benchmark to submit offers to them over time (based on correlation).
For others conversion may be subscribing to a popular RSS feed (which has its own hooks, offers and promotions) or for others, conversion means making a sale for a product or service. In either scenario the size of the funnel matters and what happens “after” visitors arrive should play into which funnel they traveled down to get there.
Organic search engine rankings boil down to (a) having qualitative relevant content (b) creating prominent landing pages that correspond to those keywords (c) consolidating internal links based on the optimized keywords and (d) having enough link popularity to give it a boost in the SERPs (search engine result pages).
If your website doesn’t rank high enough, traffic levels will be insignificant to engage your sales funnel. This means that the real power you have is the power of observation, innovation and execution. By monitoring trends, using keyword research and producing quality content on a topic, you can expedite the authority process for your website.
Website authority translates directly to trust from search engines as a qualifies source of information. That authority comes from adding layers of topical content and gaining traction for rankings through selective content.
The content you create should be based on structured principles of keyword research and you should thoroughly understand the required relevance thresholds needed in order to effectively “make a dent” in the SERPs.
This means understanding how many pages or related posts are required (for the root keyword and modifiers) to push it “over the top” of the tipping point issued by challengers all fighting for those keyword combinations and how many authoritative or deep links are required to each page before it is designated as an authority on the topic.
Keywords and modifiers
Search engines are all about functional queries and keywords and keywords modifiers returning the most relevant result. These modifiers [supporting prefixes, suffixes and synonyms] set the tone for which consumers reach your pages as destinations and allow you to create a broader array of appeal across multiple demographic and psycho-graphic profiles.
It is important to see past the result and consider the originating intent of the individual behind the search. By presenting preferred conversion paths based on the type of visitor – [ informational, navigational or transactional ] – courtesy of Andrei Broder’s masterful document a taxonomy of web search; you can improve upon the visitor experience by matching their expectations through carefully crafted choices that correspond to their impetus.
By investing your time in (1) keyword selection and (2) content / modifiers and accommodating site structure; reaching your ranking objectives is merely a matter of tact, volume and time.
If you are interested in finding hidden keyword opportunities, then you can use a keyword generation tool like Keyword Lizard – that allows you to input various keyword combinations. All you need is a spreadsheet to create the root phrases, modifiers and potential prefixes and suffixes that are popular in your niche and allow the various scripts to do the rest.
Once you created your mix-up / master list, you can use the Google Adwords Keyword Suggestion Tool or the keyword research tool of your choice to conduct research and find profitable hidden keyword opportunities for both SEO or SEM, depending on your budget, your needs and the competitors you are up against.
