One of the fundamental truths of the internet is that people tend to be their most authentic selves online. The questions that are embarrassing are fair game on Google, the medical ailments that they don't want to mistakenly book an appointment for are searched for and the questions that they are afraid to not know the answers to at work are answered. I propose that you answer those questions for your consumer, — and when you do that well, you will see a major boom in your online traffic.
The world of search engine optimization has a few schools of thought. We are amidst a massive shift in the marketing world and you have the opportunity to be on the ground floor. The age disruption is ending, and the powerful benefit of being found is slowly coming to be realized by the half of the marketing world that focused on the wrong side of the equation for too long.
Long tail keywords are the search terms that garner a small amount of traffic, but when you compound several hundred of those on one website that equates to a lot of traffic. These keywords are typically connotative of a qualified buyer. I know that I haven't convinced you, so here is an example:
Keyword: Used Cars Niagara
What we know: Someone is looking for anyone that sells used cars in Niagara
Long tail keyword: Used four door Honda Civic Niagara
What we know: Someone is looking for a used vehicle, that vehicle is a Honda Civic, it has to have four doors, they are probably someone with children or someone who needs extra accessibility to their vehicle, they are either a loyal Honda owner or they have researched and decided that a Honda Civic meets their priorities in a vehicle
So when you consider the two options above, it is obvious which user we are more interested in attracting to the site. We want people to do their research, and we want that research to happen on our sites. That is a truth. We do focus on both keywords in the traditional sense, but we focus more on long tail keywords to attract traffic that will convert and become a lead for the business.
When you get specific you are beating your competition to the punch. Most companies with a website are dramatically under-educated on how to monetize what I believe is their most powerful tool. By targeting your website to only the people that can benefit from what you do, you are focusing your efforts on the people that matter. They will find you first.
You can then use your Honesty Economy (more on that here) commitment to educate that consumer with unbiased information, build trust and convert them into a customer. It sounds a lot like what you do in person, and it is. The difference is that you are incapable of visiting the potential consumer base for your business personally in the time that your website can impact them. It is a smarter way of approaching your sales cycle.
Our advice to our clients when they are putting together a list of potential content for us, their consultants, is to consider the frequently asked questions. Your top ten are your first blog posts. So get started and if you aren't sure that your website is going to help assist in the conversion of visitors to leads, connect with us for a website audit for all the details you need.