All Internet Marketing Predicated on Keywords and Phrases

The first step in any Internet marketing program is to determine the keywords and phrases people use to find a business like yours. This is true whether you are pursuing Sponsored Search Listings, Search Engine Optimization, Online Press Releases or E-Mail Marketing Campaigns.

Old school marketers are handy at crafting new names or descriptions to add “savvy” to a product description or service. The downside is that the terms being used don’t match the intent of the end user, you are not likely to get the all important “click-thru” to your web site. Furthermore, if the terms differ greatly, you are not likely to have your web site or advertisement display at all!

Take for example a client we have been working with recently. One of their many services is IT Staffing. Keyword Analysis shows a bustling business for that term. However, marketing pros not concerned with Internet marketing efforts changed the name of this practice to “staff augmentation.” Unfortunately, in order to attract the “IT Staffing” market, we requested we change the name of the practice back to “IT Staffing.” This is always a difficult position to defend.

In essesnce, if you target the wrong phrases, all of your subsequent Internet Marketing efforts will be in vain.

A better example I once read asked viewers to picture two independent circles. In one circle are the practice and product descriptions of the company, and in the other circle are the terms and phrases used by the target audience to find that company. Unless those circles show significant overlap (i.e. terms used are the same), the benefits of an Internet marketing campaign will be few and far between.

This is especially true with Sponsored Search Listings and Search Engine Optimization efforts. If the terms don’t match – your ad or listing won’t appear. When the end user sees results on the search engine results page (SERP), they have their search query in mind, and they are looking for results that match that query. You have a pitiful 1.9 seconds to convince them that your listing answers their query.

The same is true with online press releases. The value of this marketing effort is not necessarily to have highlighted by journalists, but to provide the near term benefits of high search rankings and the long term benefits of a credible inbound link to the web site as many online wire services archive such documents for long periods of time.

While the temptation is to pay old-school marketing pros to “polish” your image, when it comes to Internet marketing it is more important to stick with what your target market already knows.