The Benefit of Long Tails
If you were selling your product through conventional channels, it would have a name, it would be placed on the correct supermarket or store shelf and it would be packaged in colours that were appealing and you would know your target market.
On your website (which is your online supermarket or store) it's great that all of the above are still true - BUT - there are some absolute differences to consider. The world of Search Marketing can be complex and unlike shoppers who walk up and down aisles to choose the products they want, your website will only reach prominence on search engine results pages if you know what people are looking for and your pages are tuned to those search terms.
Look at our services and see where we can fit in to your plans as often you will need some guidance in getting the benefits you want to achieve.
One of the most effective methods of directing new and relevant traffic to the correct page on your website is through the use of Long Tails.
Is it a glove or a digit protector!
You would not call your product something totally different to what it actually was. With an effective Online Strategy, you don't need to rely on luck and guesswork - instead, you can start shaping your Online commercial destiny.
Would you call a pair of gloves ten fingered digit protectors for example? Or would you just call them gloves! Then again are they men's or ladies gloves, what colours are they and are they dress, fashion or practical accessories?
Think about the people who are looking for your products and what they might be searching for because when these terms are searched for, the search engines will try to present the most relevant results (in their eyes) and if your page is not seen as relevant then your resulting traffic will be low.
When searching for 'gloves' on Google, there are over 100,000,000 pages competing for that term. The word is very unspecific and difficult to compete with.
What if you were able to be more specific? How much additional traffic could your website generate through more effective naming conventions?
A more simple analogy is to think about this scenario: What response do you think you would get if you walk into a library and ask for a paperback book at the counter? You have been very unspecific even though you think you know what you want.
What selection would the librarian suggest to you? If on the other hand you are more specific, or exact (even better), you will be pointed directly to the exact area the book will be located.
This is what your URL tail should be doing for you but if all you have on the address bar is www.myshop.co.uk/products then there is nothing there that points to what range or specific product you actually want to be promoting.
So, if this was one of your products, would you rather have the address on your website show -
www.myshop.co.uk/47/1?extra=sch&n=branded&pid=449-330&exclude=00WA00%7c00W00&returnurl=%2fshop%2fgattbrandtype%2dsports%2dgattgender%2dmen%2dgattproductaffiliation%2dsportswear%2dcat%2dtops%2d0%3fnxti%3d0%26nxtv%3d000%26isort%3dbst&bct=%26quot%3bShop%20By%20Product%26quot%3b%26nbsp%3b%26gt%3b%26nbsp%3bSports%26nbsp%3b%26gt%3b%26nbsp%3bMen%26nbsp%3b%26gt%3b%26nbsp%3bSportswear%26nbsp%3b%26gt%3b%26nbsp%3bgloves.aspx
Or for example
www.myshop.co.uk/ladies-gloves/white-leather-gloves
And, wouldn't it be nice to be able to change to suit the season:
www.myshop.co.uk/mothers-day-gifts/ladies-white-leather-gloves
Another key feature is that of being able to use tail aliases for offline marketing: for example, on your packaging or adverts, you could just advertise www.myshop.co.uk/gloves rather than have anything else on the address confusing anyone.
Arguably, all will take you to the same page but the address bar is one of the most relevant areas on a page for search engines and when the URL does what it says on the tin, that is the simplest way of driving more relevant and diverse traffic to your site. Internet marketing can now be made more effective and versatile allowing you to change to suit the season, product or your market.
On average, £4 billion is spent online in the UK every month and if your tail is letting you down, you simply are not getting the levels of traffic you could be and it is a fact that more relevant traffic equals more chances to convert into sales. If your tail is specific and relevant to the content, you can start to experience more new and return visitors giving you a much greater return on investment.
The cost of acquiring a new customer can be very high - whereas you could gain many new customers very inexpensively if this method was followed more effectively.