The topic I’m going to talk about has been covered before in this blog, because I’m going to talk about keywords, but I’m not going to teach you any tricks or techniques to do it. I’m not even going to talk about tools to help you in this task.
There are a lot of articles that talk about keywords and SEO; I have written several of them and in this blog you can find some more.
So I am not going to tell you how to generate a list of keywords, what tools to use, or how to know if you can position them or not. I’m going to talk about how to use them to create an effective sales funnel.
In other words, this article is about how you can find and use keywords that have a high conversion potential for your website.
If you know me a little bit, I’m sure you already know the importance I always give to keyword analysis (“keyword research” in English). And I don’t do it just because it’s a tremendously addictive process; I do it because, if you offer any kind of product or service, it’s indispensable.
Yes, I know, there are people who have positioned their website without even knowing what keywords are. Maybe even you are one of them. But, believe me, it would have been much easier for you to position it with a good keyword study.
And, of course, it would be much easier for you to monetize it, if you had chosen keywords with a good conversion capability.
When I say things like “a good study” or “good keywords” I’m not just talking about looking for popular keywords (with many searches) or easy to position.
Yes, I know, keywords with high search volume, when you manage to rank for them, can bring you a lot of visitors.
And if you are, or want to be an “influencer” or “saturate a niche”, you can do very well ranking for very popular keywords… writing hundreds of articles around them.
But in many cases what you need, either in general for your website or for a specific page, are qualified visitors, who come predisposed (or half convinced) to perform an action.
If you sell, or want to sell something, this is the strategy that can be the most profitable for you.
In this article I will explain why some keywords are more convenient than others to monetize your website, and how to apply this knowledge in your keyword analysis.
You don’t need traffic, you need qualified visitors
What is the main goal of SEO? To get visitors, right? Mec! No.
The main goal is to get qualified visitors. That is, visitors who are interested in what you offer, whether it’s content, products, services…
A qualified visitor is an opportunity, the chance to continue a conversation, which started the moment he searched for the Keyword that brought him to your website.
So, if you offer something on your website, your goal should be to find (and use) the keywords, related to your contents (or products and services) that can attract qualified visitors.
And you will do it, of course, to be useful to your visitors, to gain their trust and loyalty… and also because the qualified visitor is the most profitable.
Because positioning any Keyword, even the easiest one, is a job. If you’ve ever done any SEO, you already know that. So why not concentrate your efforts on positioning the most profitable keywords for your website?
And you know I don’t just mean “the ones with the most searches”. Nor “the ones that have the most searches and are easy to rank for”, or the “long tail keywords”.
I mean the keywords that are most likely to convert for your specific case, for your website. The keywords that help your potential customers to get information, solve doubts and make decisions.
Help others and they will help you
Everyone has a need, everyone needs something at some point.
When you search on Google, you are asking questions, you are trying to satisfy a need, even if sometimes it is not too obvious.
Do you want to find out the latest news about the iPhone 7?
Do you need to distract yourself for a while by reading the latest gossip about the hottest singer?
Do you need to buy some running shoes to start running?
In all of the above examples you express a need, even if in some of them it is not to purchase a specific service or product.
Needs are quite particular; we don’t all need the same thing, or at the same time. And, of course, not all of them move us towards a purchase or an exchange, so not all of them can be effectively monetized online.
But you can find, in almost every niche, a need that users are looking to satisfy, and that can be monetized.
And if you want to reap sustainable success, your main mission should be to help the user solve those needs… in exchange for something, that you also need.
Think of it as a transition; you help your user in exchange for something, which can be a subscription, purchase, request for a quote, etc.
I know I’m getting heavy with this, but just in case: the key to mastering a niche is to identify their specific needs, and solve those that are related to your mission, product or service.
How to find profitable keywords, “suitable” for a sales funnel, that help the user?
The simplest answer would be to find keywords that demonstrate intent. But let’s be a little more specific.
It is clear that all keywords, regardless of their search volume, have the ability to attract visitors to your pages, but is it clear that each of them brings a different kind of visitor?
In every niche there are always some keywords that can get you more qualified (i.e. “profitable”) visitors than others.
What are these keywords?
Those in which the user tells us that he wants, is interested or needs something. In other words, those that show intentionality.
And they also indicate whether the user is near or far from the moment of purchase.
For example, keywords very close to purchase could contain terms such as:
“buy”
“offer”
“analysis”
etc.
While keywords containing these other terms would still be quite far away:
“what is it”
“what is it for”
“tutorial”
etc.
Although I suck at creating graphs, let’s see if this helps a little to visualize the concept of how the conscious (or unconscious) use of certain keywords brings us closer to the purchase.
And how to “find” these keywords?
First of all, you must know how to recognize them. For each niche they may be slightly different, but all of them usually indicate the intention on the part of the user to satisfy a need.
Remember that your goal is to satisfy user needs? (Yes, I know, I’m a pain in the ass about things that matter).
To get started, simply follow your favorite keyword analysis process, trying to collect as many keywords related to your niche, product, or website as possible.
Having as large a list as possible will help you better visualize the niche and its possibilities, and that is fundamental to understanding what the users’ needs are.
Do not focus only on the volume of searches, because if you do so you run the risk of overlooking keywords with high profitability, that even if they have few searches, they could easily generate sales.
(I told you at the beginning that I am not going to go into keyword analysis in this article; if you don’t know where to start, you can do it here).
I will simply remind you of some important points:
Define your main keywords well: they must correspond faithfully to how the user identifies your product or service, not how you think they search for it.
Ask your users, using all the methods at your disposal, the terms they search for to find the products or services they need.
Ask them how they get information, how they make decisions and what kind of information they look for to make those decisions.
Research your competition and find out how they attract their customers.
Note that I’m not telling you to go straight to Google’s keyword planner and start entering keywords; I’m talking about brainstorming and research.
I personally find mind maps very helpful, but you can use any method you are comfortable with.
Once you are clear about the generic keywords of your niche, and you have expanded your list to more specific keywords (“mountain running shoes”, for example), it is time to organize them.
There are different methods for classifying needs and also, of course, their keyword equivalence:
One of the best known is search intent, which classifies keywords into three major groups: navigational, commercial and transactional.
But I prefer to use the concept of the buying cycle, or sales funnel. Why? Because (for me at least) I find it more useful when creating content appropriate to each buying cycle.
The sales funnel and keywords
The “sales funnel” helps you visualize the “journey” a user takes from first contact with your niche to purchase.
Naturally, not all users go through the complete cycle on your website. Some may enter directly at one of the intermediate steps, and even (with a lot of luck) at the end.
But even if they don’t get to experience the full cycle on your website, they all usually start at the beginning of the sales funnel, without having a clear idea of what they want to buy and without much intention to buy. And they evolve towards the purchase as they go through the different phases.
The reason for visualizing the phases as a sales funnel is because this form faithfully represents what happens throughout the process. As you progress through the funnel, the keywords become more defined, fewer users search for them, and many of them get “lost” on the way to purchase.
Not clear enough?
No problem, to help you understand this concept I am going to give you an example that will help you visualize it better.
Which Keyword do you think would be most likely to attract a visitor who buys sneakers?
“running shoes”
“running shoes on sale”
Of course the second option, the one that mentions “offer”, because the user “says” that he is interested in a specific kind of running shoes and that he is looking for an offer.
Is that clear? Ok. And between these two?
“running shoes on sale”
“buy Air Nike Zoom Vomero 10.”
Again the second one, because he “says” that he is interested in buying, and mentions a specific model of running shoe: he knows his specific need and wants to satisfy it.
In other words, the user in this example is already at the end of the sales funnel.
The purchase intent sales funnel represents the steps that a prospect usually goes through (although not always all of them) from the moment he discovers a need until he fulfills it.
