KEY TAKEAWAY: Are your prospects and customers really searching for your product/brand online and if they are what are they searching for? Content marketing is still being hyped but in reality, most people go to bookmarked sites rather than conduct searches as Google would have us believe.
My client couldn’t understand it. They had just poured more money into search but yet the traffic to their website (natural soap and shower gels) was not receiving any more traffic. Sure the Google keywords tool showed that there were a lot of searches for their product but the long tail analysis clearly showed that they were missing a lot of traffic because not too many people are really going to conduct a search for “bath soap”.
How do people really use the Internet?
When you wake up and had your morning coffee there is a good chance you go online, check your email and social media feeds and go to some bookmarked sites. The belief that someone is going to bookmark a site for detergent is antiquated.
Today, the hype would have us believe that we all need more and more content even though people don’t have time to read all the content they WANT to read. Even when we you to our bookmarked sites do you really read entire articles that interest you? Our research has shown that people scan articles and that they just don’t have the time to read all your content.
So the question then becomes…”if they are coming to your site what do they want?”. Information? Coupons? Nutritional information? There isn’t anyone answer for all products and brands it depends on what you’re marketing and what your audience is looking for. This is the reason why you need to conduct qualitative research. You need to ask them BEFORE you develop your website “what do you want from our website”.
In the case of the high-end soap company, they were looking to build awareness of their products and brand. Rather than pour money into search we recommended an online awareness campaign using existing sites where their prospects go every day. It worked. Traffic to their website jumped over 120%. The top pages were “where to find our products” and a list of all the products they had with the ingredients.
If you don’t know why, or understand why, people are coming to your website why in the hell do you have a website?
Too many brands think they know what people want on their website but speculation like that is what hurts digital marketing. Users are in control and with a click of the mouse they can turn off your shameless selling. Until brands learn this they are going to continue to make Google more money and ask “
