Identify your website audience
Most businesses build a website with the goal of describing their company. A better approach is to build your website with the goal of serving the needs of your intended audience. Prospects, existing customers, employees and investors are among the different user groups that visit your website.
The content you provide and the way you present this content will determine the next action of each group. This is critical if the goal of your website is to help generate sales, service customers or communicate with employees or investors.
The best way to understand the needs of your audience is to understand how and for what they are searching. This understanding can be uncovered by investigating both internal and external sources of information.
Internally, your sales, customer service, investor relations and human relations departments are good sources of information. Typically there are but a handful of questions that each department routinely answers. Your sales staff, for example, is probably often asked about product specifications, service capabilities, pricing, availability and product feature and benefits.
Externally, user surveys, site keyword data and search engine keyword data provide insight as to the needs and search patterns of potential customers. Surveys allow you to identify the information needs of various users. Keyword data is comes from two sources:
- Keyword data available via your website tracking software: This information will tell you the precise terms visitors used to find your website. Frequently, by studying this information, you will be able to ascertain what is important to your visitors and then organize your site to better supply this information.
- Search engine keyword research tools: This information provides insight as to how all users interested in your products or services search. The difference is that the vast majority of these users will never make it to your website. That is, of course, unless you take measures to build and optimize (for the search engines) content to address these search phrases.
The below table includes data from a keyword research tool called Wordtracker. This data provides insight into the way users might search for internet marketing or search engine optimization information or services. Several observations can be made using this information.
- Studying the verbs, adverbs and adjectives within the search terms of those gathering information, it is clear that many searchers are trying to solve a specific problem.
- Poor search engine ranking, or
- Low search engine traffic.
- Many people search by describing a desired outcome to an existing negative situation.
- Words like improved, higher, increased, better and more are indicators as to the result potential customers are looking for.
- These people are still in the information gathering stage and are likely not ready to make a buy decision.
- Many people search for a specific service.
- These users understand their problem well enough to articulate a solution.
- These users are closer to making a buy decision than those gathering information.
- Price does not appear to be a dominate concern
- Internet marketing and/or search engine optimization is not viewed as a commodity.
- Geographic proximity of a internet marketing or search engine optimization company is important to a small group of searchers.
Keyword Phrase |
24 Hr Search Frequency |
Competing Web Pages |
User is Gathering Information |
|
|
improved search engine rank |
238 |
21700 |
improve search engine ranks |
150 |
11100 |
better search engine ranks |
167 |
14800 |
improved search engine placement |
255 |
37200 |
higher search engine rank |
155 |
15200 |
improved search engine ranking |
210 |
28500 |
improve search engine placement |
244 |
38500 |
higher search engine ranks |
152 |
16600 |
increased search engine traffic |
167 |
20600 |
higher search engine placement |
177 |
28800 |
improve search engine rank |
152 |
21600 |
search engine rank |
561 |
335000 |
more search engine traffic |
146 |
25400 |
User is Looking for Assistance |
|
|
search engine optimization firm |
608 |
261000 |
search engine positioning services |
412 |
146000 |
search engine placement service |
208 |
43000 |
search engine marketing firm |
583 |
418000 |
User is a Price Shopper |
|
|
affordable search engine optimization |
109 |
263000 |
User is Searching Regionally |
|
|
affordable search engine optimization wisconsin |
54 |
432 |
wisconsin affordable search engine optimization |
50 |
1850 |
User is Looking for Training |
|
|
search engine optimization training |
325 |
49200 |
internet marketing seminars |
27 |
45700 |
At Site-Seeker Inc. we help our customers address these issues and develop websites that converts visitors into customers. Please
contact us and get started today.
