High page rank, what’s the point?
High search rankings doesn’t automatically result in more sales.
Every client wants to have their web pages rank high for one or more key terms. It’s also the biggest thing our clients hear when being solicited to change search vendors, “We’ll get you the number one rank for xyz term.” What is the big deal about getting to number one on search engines?
Your first response to that question is probably, “I want the traffic that is generated from top listings,” and you would be right — to a point. I’m going to propose something that you may not have heard before top listed websites may get the traffic, but they aren’t necessarily getting customers.
That’s right, if you have high rankings it doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to make more money. In fact, the two aren’t even related! High rankings aren’t an indication of how well your website will produce sales, it just means that you’ve optimized the website well enough to be listed among the top competitors.
Think of it this way: If you have 1 million visits to your website from your top listings, but you don’t get any sales, did the high ranking really benefit your company?
In fact, millions of visitors don’t guarantee anything more than eyeballs on your page. But if you have a couple of thousand visitors each month from a variety of mediocre listings and most of them take an action toward doing business with you then you are much better off than your highest-ranking competitor.
How do you get that sale? It’s called optimizing for conversions. It’s the science of knowing how to design a website that will trigger responses in the brain (consciously & unconsciously). It’s knowing what makes a person take an action and what the roadblocks are to taking that action optimizing for conversions also includes identifying goals early on like an increase in time on the site, increase in lead forms, increase in sales, or how often the phone rings and more people come to your store. This is important because it helps web developers know where to put contact forms, email sign-up forms, call-to-action messages, and more.
It includes designing navigation that isn’t overwhelming to visitors and keeps the visitors clued in as to where they are on the website. To ensure that the website will perform as expected, the visitors will know what actions you want them to take, it is helpful to have a usability test with a focus group. This can help identify potential roadblocks and misunderstandings found by “fresh” eyes that don’t know your company.
When the site is fully optimized the number of sales will increase by a higher percentage rate than just waiting for someone to come along and drop change into a cup — the equivalent of a website that hasn’t been optimized for conversions.
Another point to consider, not every website can be on the front page of search engines. There are literally millions of websites that are competing for the same key terms at any given time. Why bother to have a website if it doesn’t come up on the front page? Because the more specific the phrase used in the search and the more determined the searcher the more likely it is that you’re website will be found on the third page, fourth page, and on.
For example, if a searcher wants to find a contractor in New York the initial search term may be “general contractor New York” and a large number of contractors in New York designated within their website will come up. The searcher glances at the first few listings and finds directory sites like Manta, review sites like “Angie’s List,” and the like. But these aren’t what the searcher was looking for – they wanted to find an actual remodeling contractor so they revise the search and looked for “remodeling contractor New York” and the search is more specific.
Now the website will have to have the terms “remodeling, contractor, New, York within the pages, and the search results are revised. But the searcher finds the number of results overwhelming so they take another try and get even more specific, “kitchen remodeling contractor Buffalo New York” – now they find what they were looking for.
Notice how long that search phrase is, six words.
Also, notice that by this time you know this is a serious searcher who is ready to hire someone.
Also note, that unless this phrase is used exactly, the way the search results display is different.
Now imagine how many possible phrases there are within your website that people can use to find your company. It’s not just one key term, it’s hundreds of phrases. And when you’ve optimized your website for conversions those hundreds of phrases are more likely to produce hundreds of customers.
Building your website with conversions and goals in mind is not only the preferred method to market with search engines, but it’s also the most cost-effective. When people know what action to take, and it’s easy to take that action you’ll spend less on search firms and paid ads. With the unique content in place, you’ll achieve a larger number of visits across many phrases online. It’s also among the most ethical ways to boost search terms.
So if you’re looking to take the next step and start converting your pre-existing website patrons into loyal customers let us help. We’re pretty good at story-telling, and that’s all you need, is your story told through unique content to potential customers.
This article was written by Teajai Kimsey, Digital Marketing Strategist, Ideas That Work (November 2011)
It may be reproduced and reprinted provided the author’s information including the web link is kept intact.
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