Why More Traffic Just Isn’t Good Enough Anymore - How to merge SEO with conversion to build business

by Tom Shivers

With more complex algorithms that factor in local, personal and universal search features, search rankings are not always consistent. Today’s results often depend on a user’s location, their search history and their behavior with the search results – sometimes you can see different search results for the same search terms, even on two different computers in the same location.

One question many businesses have when hunting for a search engine optimization (SEO) company is, “Will this company know us and our audience well enough to turn our web business into something profitable, worthy of our investment?” Unfortunately, it’s not easy to discern the answer before you are three months into an agreement.

Web Traffic vs. Engagement

Is the goal of SEO to get as much traffic as possible to a website? Many SEO companies will lead you to believe that more traffic is all there is to it. Granted, getting more traffic is a part of it, but more eyeballs on a web page do not necessarily mean achieving your business goals.

Look at your web analytics – specifically the keywords that brought in the majority of traffic – then evaluate the quality of this traffic over the past month or quarter. A high bounce rate and low average time on site for visits from a particular keyword can indicate one or all of these:

> Searcher cannot find anything relevant to her keyword and bounces.

> Searcher may find something relevant, but the page does not communicate directly with her intent… so she bounces.

> The keyword is not relevant for the site.

Let me suggest that the focus of SEO should be audience engagement, rather than traffic. According to Eric T. Peterson of Web Analytics Demystified, “Engagement is an estimate of the depth of visitor interaction against a clearly defined set of goals.” That’s pretty clear: Without specific goals, driving more traffic to your website sounds like a good option.

But if a visitor hits your site and bounces, your depth of visitor interaction is null. To truly engage a visitor requires relevance and targeted communication. So what is best for your business? I offer a different approach: using SEO to build audience engagement.

Steps to audience engagement via SEO:

1. Define the business goal/s
“Getting on the first page of Google” or “Getting more traffic” are usually not much more than the hopes of individuals who have not defined strategic business goals. Instead, a targeted goal might be, “To generate quality leads from the website that result in 20% of annual business.”

2. Prioritize keywords according to relevant intent, rather than potential traffic volume
It’s always interesting to see keyword research sorted to show the most popular to the least popular search terms. But could the real valuable search terms be those that are less popular, but rich with intent?

Most searchers can be divided into one of two camps: the researcher (who doesn’t yet know what he wants) and the purchaser (who has already done the research and knows exactly what she wants).

In some cases it makes sense to target both groups; you can sometimes see the intent with the search phrase. Now with your short list of researcher and purchaser search terms, can you confidently say that 90% of these searchers, if they clicked through to your site, would find something relevant, useful and of value? If you can’t, then your keyword is probably not rich with intent.

3. Prepare content that speaks directly to each motivation behind the searcher’s intent
Researchers want product/service info, comparisons, evaluation criteria and RFP info. Purchasers want the best corporate fit, customer service, implementation and procurement info.

Let’s consider a sales training business as an example. Their most desired keyword is sales training, but it’s easy to see that the search term sales training is general, not descriptive. A person using that phrase is really not in purchase mode at the moment. The researcher’s motivation (sometimes known as “tire kickers”) is probably to get free tips, to compare sales training services and specifics so she can learn something and perhaps make a decision later.

Now consider a more descriptive keyword for this business: sales training consultant. Can you see the motivation behind this search? SEO providers with a “get more traffic” mentality side-step this issue. But to achieve audience engagement, you need guidance in the motivations behind the keywords you select. This drives content development that fits your audience and your site, as well as avoiding awkward or confusing phrasing.

4. Define the unique value proposition (UVP)
Businesses that have invested in uncovering this piece of the puzzle are light-years ahead of their competition in all aspects of marketing. When it comes to SEO, the UVP has to be interpreted and applied to the searcher’s intent. It’s not necessary for an SEO consultant to understand the principles of semantics, but the right interpretation of the UVP can go a long way to achieving audience engagement.

5. Deliver on (and exceed) the UVP to create loyalty
Do what you say you will do. Deliver on the promises you make. Do what is right from your new customer’s perspective, and go beyond their expectations to forge a lasting relationship. These are common sense, good business practices that bring future rewards.


“But,” you ask, “what does that have to do with SEO?” Everything, if you want long-term customer loyalty rather than more, sort-of-qualified traffic. Loyalty is a measurable metric and often comes with SEO rewards like fabulous testimonials and links from customer sites.

At the end of the day, businesses want SEO consultants who tailor their Internet marketing directly to the bottom line by bringing valuable traffic from multiple sources, optimized conversion rates and returning customers – rather than simply getting more traffic to the site.


Tom Shivers is a SEO consultant and president of Capture Commerce, Inc., which he founded in 2000 to help business owners leverage the Internet for growth and profit.

10 SEO Tips for Weight Loss Sites

by www.moreniche.com

I have put together a list of my top 10 SEO tips for weight loss sites. If you are promoting UniqueHoodia and Proactol then you should make sure you are doing all of the points below. Some are more generic SEO tips that work on any type of site, others are more specific to weight loss sites.

1) Make all of your Meta Titles and Descriptions Unique

This is a pretty basic thing which most of you probably already do. However it's importance for any type of site cannot be underestimated. You should never repeat a meta title and description on more than one page so ensure they are all unique.

2) Target the latest craze products e.g. Acai Berry

Every now and again a new craze product arrives that draws massive attention. They are not usually hard to spot as you will suddenly see you inbox swell with spam emails about the product. Spam is actually a good thing for us because it creates a massive interest - hoodia would not be as well known as it is now if it wasn't for spammers!

So, make sure when something like Acai Berry comes along that you make pages/posts about it on your site and optimize it for the SERPS. Even if you do not directly promote the product, just pages with information about it and then a reason why they should consider your number 1 product will help you get traffic and conversions.

3) Target Highly Searched Competitors

In the weight loss industry there are some products that get a high number of searches, an example of this in weight loss is 'Pure Hoodia'. Like tip number 2, make sure you have optimized pages around that keyword even if you are not promoting the product itself.

4) Post on Weight Loss Forums

Weight loss is one of the niches where getting away with posting on forums is quite easy. You can register as someone who is just starting out with a weight loss plan and start asking questions about different products.

You need to find the forums that are not too strict on people posting URLs. Once you have made several posts and built up a good reputation, sneak your URL in to your signature.....then carry on making good posts on a regular basis.

5) Do Something Controversial

This goes for any niche but again is a little easier in the weight loss niche. Think of a hot topic and develop a controversial argument or opinion about it. Then post away on your site. To get the ball rolling you can post a link to this 'disgusting' post you have just found on a few forums and then watch the viral effect take a hold.

Just be careful not to be too offensive, you dont want to give you site a bad name! A good time to do something like this is April Fools day....ok you have missed it this year but one for the future, create an unbelievable story and then post about it on forms. People love trying to catch each other out with April Fools.

6) Create a Funny or Informative Video

Preferably you should create your own unique video, however if you dont have the skillset or equipment you can edit an existing video using Windows Movie Maker (free) or similar software.

Find an angle that people will find funny or very useful as these will get passed on. Then post on video sites like YouTube and ensure you include a link to your site. Then do some SEO on the video by building some links. Sites like YouTube have very high authority which makes it easier to get them listed high in Google.

7) Latch on to the Latest Celebrity Diets

Seen a story about a celebrity who has lost or put on weight? Make sure you create a post or page about that celebrity story. When these things appear in the media people go in to Google and search for things like 'Jennifer Lopez Diet'. If you get listed high for terms like this then you will see a nice boost in traffic.

8) Target Negative Search Terms

A lot of people will avoid targeting search terms which go against what they are promoting. For example 'Weight Loss Dangers' gets a few hundred searches a month but has much lower competition than 'Weight Loss'. Because they are lower competition you should find it easier to get ranked and your post can still be positive so you re-assure the surfer. Target enough of these well and increase your traffic successfully.

9) Offer Articles to Top Authority Sites

There are many top authority sites for weight loss, why not offer to write them an exclusive and unique article in exchange for a link back to your site from the article?

10) Submit Press Releases

Press Releases are a great way to increase the quality of inbound links you have coming to your site. One of the best PR portals is PRWeb which you can submit a release to from $80. Obviously this isn't free but submitting once a month or every 2 months will help you to build up a good base of inbound links.

You can utilize the latest feature you have added, or even the latest story in the news and give your take on it in the press release.

Follow these tips and you should be able to give your site a good SEO boost and start generating more traffic and more sales!