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If you are using or have been making use of the internet for business purposes long enough, you would know that one of the most important marketing strategies to employ is Search Engine Optimization. It is all that everyone's been talking about. Try going online and hit Google with a 'search engine optimization'. What you will see is more than 205,000,000 results in 0.13 seconds.
The results for search engine optimization far outnumber the number of results for something like 'online relationship marketing' which rakes in 9,350,000 results in 0.11 seconds. SEO wins by a shocking 195,650,000 difference in the results.
So, it is obvious that more people are focusing their marketing strategies around Search Engine Optimization as opposed to Online Relationship Marketing. However, sadly, it is online relationships that really propel your business forward.
I have to admit that I have failed too even though I successfully helped my previous business, a jewelry-selling website, to rank within top 10 in Google, Yahoo and MSN. In less than 3 months after launching the website, it ranked within the top 5 with the likes of Tiffany & Co above my website's link. The website ranked really well for popular search words. The website takes the first spot for keyword 'online jewellery store' and 'online jewelry store' on search engines. The website also takes top spot for keywords 'online jewellery store Malaysia' and 'online jewelry store Malaysia' as well as for many other popular keywords.
However, let this be a lesson for me and for everyone else. Despite raking in top spot in search engines, I made not a single cent from the websites.
And here is why.
Copywriting. That is the answer. This is the single most important part for any online marketing strategy. If you do not have good copywriting skills, you will find it a struggle to generate sales despite bringing your website to the first page of search results for your preferred keywords.
I clearly remember the strategy I used to help my website rank so well – it was content-driven marketing strategy and that was good. I kept it updated by publishing articles related to jewelry, at least two articles per month and it worked because content is KING online. Search engines began to push the website up to top 10 within 3 months after launch date.
The mistake was not fully utilizing the articles to generate sale. There should have been more call-to-action words used. Instead of putting more thought into creating articles that helped make sale, I did not put much thought into the articles. The idea was to get to the first page of as many search engines as possible, being completely sure that if I could get there, it guaranteed sales.
I was dead wrong.
Being on the first page of Google or any other top search engines guarantees you nothing unless you have convincing call-to-action words on your website.
On hind sight, there were other mistakes made too with the business. I failed to capture details of those who visited my website so that I could build long-term relationships with them. The reality is that people do not usually make ANY purchase from a website on their first visits. They only make the first sale once they have more confidence in you and there is a relationship (of sorts) between the business and the purchaser. They don't know you, they don't know your website...how is that possible for them to trust you?
This attitude is clearly true for most Malaysians. Malaysians are skeptical people when it comes to online purchasing where they have to reveal their credit card information. The reason can only be pinned down to rampant fraudulent activities.
Malaysian online consumers need more information from you so that they can trust you. Once you have established the trust, then they are ready to buy from you. In which case, that is why we have to capture their email addresses in order to build long-lasting relationships with them. Give them something valuable for free or earn their trust by building credibility and position yourself as an expert in their minds.
I shall illustrate this with two diagrams.
As can be seen in the diagram, there is little point in ranking within the top 10 of search engines when all the traffic that you get goes away pointlessly and never return. That is the direct result of poor copy writing skills and a landing page that was not properly designed. The most you can hope with such a landing page is 0% - 0.5% sale.
That was what happened to my jewelry website – 0% sale from all the traffic that it brought in.
Diagram 2 shows the result from an excellent landing page that came with jaw-dropping copy. What such website does is that even if someone landed on that page purely by accident, they will find it interesting enough to divulge their email addresses with you.
And that is them telling you that, yes; they want to build a long-term relationship with you. To you and me, that spells business.
Now, let's touch about the final problem - keywords problems. Every knows (by now) that ranking well in search engines is only part of the strategy, selecting the right keyword plays a crucial role as well. For example, let's just imagine that I have a website with the domain name www.KentRestaurant.com. If someone was to perform a web search with the words 'kent restaurant', because of the match between the perfect match between the domain name and the keywords used, my website's link is guaranteed a top 10 ranking on the search page.
The problem is this – how many people will make such a search query? 1 pathetic search per month? 10? 100? The question is, is there a point to rank highly for keywords that are not popular?
However, it is quite a different story if my website was to come out within the top 10 listing for combination keywords like 'Kuala Lumpur Chinese restaurant'. Before you build your website, do a little bit of research. Find popular keywords and incorporate it into your marketing plan.
So, the next time someone boasts of top 10 ranking on Google, ask them if they did any of the above. If they did not, then you have every right in the world to tell them 'So what?'
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