Case Study @ Ubertronix: Writing for SEO
At the outset of every project, we provide our clients with a Marketing Roadmap. Part of this marketing guide is a keyword analysis. As shown in the post linked to above, we use those puppies to create headlines in an editorial calendar. Those headlines become blog posts, and those blog posts become the optimized-for-search content of the client’s website.
It starts with finding the right keywords.
Now, simply identifying strong keywords isn’t enough. This might already be obvious to you. Merely popping up in search results is only handy if your content is relevant to the search query. The ratio between the folks that see you in search results and the folks that click through to the web-page can be measured in impressions vs. clicks.
Not all keywords are created equal, either. I like to compare them using two metrics: search volume (how many folks are searching for this phrase?) and competition (how many relevant results pop up when the phrase is searched?) Naturally, when looking for good keywords to use, you’re looking for that sweet combination of high volume and low competition. Sometimes you might have to settle for medium volume or competition, but sometimes you don’t. Sometimes folks just can’t find the answers they’re looking for, and the question they’re asking has everything to do with you.
In my own marketing non-jargon, that’s what I like to call a sweet situation.
In the case of Ubertronix, we found ourselves in just that.
Big-picture-wise, Ubertronix is more about smart gadgets in general than one particular variety. If they sense a need in the market that can be filled with a little inventiveness, then they’ll create something to fill that need. For practical purposes, most of their current line of products revolves around a line of camera triggers. My job is to help them sell those bad boys, so catering to the shutter-nut market is a big part of that.
In light of their purpose (to provide smart gadgets to smart people) and their practical need (sell more product), we ran a few sets of keyword analysis (using three free tools, Google Keyword Research Tool, Google Traffic Estimator and a healthy sanity check by yours truly).
The first analysis followed the phrase “smart gadget” down the rabbit hole, and turned up results that we rely on for the long game, the purpose of Ubertronix.
The second analysis went right for the jugular- cameras, camera accessories, high-speed photography, dslr’s, etc… We found a lot of volume for phrases like these, and a lot of competition as well. Then that sweet situation turned up. Many google-goers were asking a particular, and pretty critical question: When shopping for a camera, should I buy a Canon or a Nikon?
Now, that’s a question, not a keyword. The keyword that represents this question, however, had extremely low competition given the high search volume. Not surprising, really, since it takes an expert to answer that question. I’m no camera expert, but my copywriter knew a thing or two about cameras, not to mention the founder of Ubertronix himself. We decided we’d answer that question, and we’d to it with authority.
We also sprinkled in some other keywords for good measure, heck, (promotional consideration sponsored by Small Biz Triage), why not? But you’ll notice another thing about that blog post, it isn’t a slave to SEO. It reads as if a well informed human being wrote it. All those keywords are about as useful as a hill of beans (maybe less useful) if you don’t have good content that’s worth a read or, better yet a share.
End result: Over one month (31 days), that one post was responsible for 76% of the search generated clicks site-wide. Safe to say, some new eyeballs saw the Ubertronix logo over that time. And we know some of those people eagerly snapped up some of the products too.
Full disclosure: Traffic for that post has since fell off a bit. We still get clicks, but not as many. Competition for keywords changes all the time thanks to marketers ruining everything. Search volume changes over time too, though maybe in a more organic fashion. Good thing we update our editorial calendars monthly.
This month we’re trying out a photo contest. So far so good. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
