If you manage a website or are somehow involved in online marketing, so there is no doubt you know what keywords are. But the mistake that many people make is to be obsessed with a few or even several keywords and then to believe that they need to focus on getting ranked for just those keywords. For example, a company in the bicycle business may focus on getting ranked for a highly competitive term like “bicycle”. They may believe that appearing in the top results of the search engines for “bicycle” is their best opportunity to bring traffic to their site and convert visits to sales. However, they may are very mistaken! First of all, they will need to make a tremendous effort to achieve high ranking for such a competitive term – over 45 million results in Google. Second, I am not so sure that most people who search for “bicycle” are ready to purchase. Such a generic search is just as likely to be about research.

More and more, potential visitors are using keyword phrases to search — to the point that the average search today is about 4 words! So start thinking in terms of phrases, not words.

Now there are 2 key things for the bicycle shop to consider if they are serious about their efforts to gain sales through organic search.

1. The bicycle shop should review market differentiators. For example, location may be a key factor. And if they are located in San Francisco, so they should be sure to target organic searches for “bicycle shops in San Francisco”. But there are many additional market differentiators that can bring targeted, relevant traffic. The brands of bicycles that they carry, the generic types, the additional services they offer (bike repair, bike tours, bike rental, etc.). A real, potential customer, will run a much more targeted search. He will use a keyword phrase, not just a keyword. So when someone is looking for a “Used Schwinn Mountain Bike”, that is more likely to be a customer close to the buying stage, then the guy looking for “bicycle”. If I had to choose who to bring to my online bike shop, I’d take the Used Schwinn guy every time.

2. The other important issue is for the bicycle shop to consider what the people want. In other words, it is not enough to bring a potential customer to your site. You need to deliver them with the user experience they are looking for. This can be tricky. Because lots of people are looking for lots of different things. The important things is to closely analyze what you can and want to offer, gain an understanding of how to offer it in a compelling way on your site and implement it. It may take testing and time. But the great thing about the Internet is that you can do just that without much risk. Sometimes, just adding a button in the right place can push sales up by a significant amount! So don’t just blindly follow what the designer comes up with for your site — you need to take responsibility and learn about your market and what they want. Then give it to them.