The Truth About Why People Search! by Chet Childers

The Truth About Why People Search! by Chet Childers

Why do people search on search engines? Lets confess this seems like a basic question, right? People search because they are looking for something. Complicating that question are these questions. For what are they looking? Why are they searching? What compels them to act?

Plus, how does all of this relate to Internet and pay-per-click marketing?

Lets reason that searches can be broken down into two classifications: factual and emotional. Factual or informational searches occur as people look for general facts and information about a particular subject matter. Findings from this type of search may or may not cause the person searching to respond or act.

Heres a fact or truth for you. Human needs and feelings drive emotional searches. When a person's emotions are activated, an individual is more likely to respond to gathered information by taking action. So, where does this awareness lead us and how can we relate it to Internet and pay-per-click marketing?

People search for three reasons:

1. To gather facts or information -- an informational search.
2. To satisfy a need or desire -- an emotional search.
3. To solve a problem -- an emotional search.

Did you catch those three reasons? You may not realize it, but these three reasons will be the keys to effective pay-per-click ad copy and ad click-through and conversion success.

Lets now review a typical search process. Suppose youre contemplating buying a personal digital assistant (PDA). First, you search the Internet for product selections. After locating suitable options, you search for product reviews to determine the most appropriate choice. After narrowing your choice to one or two PDAs, you search for product sources, prices and availability. As you continue searching, you gradually become emotionally involved as the fine points draw you further into the process. Otherwise, you wouldnt have continued searching for more details.

At some point, the motive for your search changed from informational to emotional. Why did you look for a PDA to begin with? Oh, you are stressed. Your daily life is chaotic! You have a time management and organizational problem and you perceive a personal digital assistant may solve it. Emotional elements were under the surface of your search all along!

Very simply, two things can happen in a search engine search. The search initiates as a fact-finding task and at some point the factual search transcends to an emotional level. Or, the search commences to fulfill an emotional desire or to solve a problem causing emotional discomfort. The more emotionally involved a person becomes, the more likely he or she is to respond or act by converting the search into the acquisition of a product or service.

As a smart Internet or pay-per-click marketer, you should apply this insight to reach your target audience. Consequently, you capture your target market by satisfying emotional needs or solving emotional problems. You begin by utilizing targeted keywords and targeted ad text. Consider what the following words or word pairs denote: learn, tip, help, solution, idea, how to, how would, discover. They express an ability to identify and solve a problem.

Lets now take a moment to summarize the first secret or fact of Internet and pay-per-click marketing:

You must understand that people who "search and convert" are emotionally driven to satisfy a need or solve a problem and you must target your keywords and ad text with emotional content to motivate action.

Lets confess this lesson may seem as basic as Marketing 101. However, many savvy business owners miss what may not be as obvious as one would think. Take a look at some ads on Overture or Google AdWords. Youll be surprised to learn how many misinformed advertisers are wasting money!

About the Author
Chet Childers is a successful Internet marketer utilizing both pay-per-click marketing and search engine optimization to increase website profitability. His clients websites offer window treatments, furniture, medical uniforms, swimming pool tiles, capital equipment, computer software and many more products. Click http://www.ThePayPerClickMarketer.com and enroll in our e-course, "Discover Tips and Secrets for Pay-Per-Click Marketing Success."

There Should Be More to your SEO Consultant Than Rankings by David Leonhardt, SEO Consultant

There Should Be More to your SEO Consultant Than Rankings by David Leonhardt, SEO Consultant

There Should Be More to your SEO Consultant Than Rankings
By David Leonhardt, SEO Consultant

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions in SEO is that ranking at Google and Yahoo is all that counts in search engine optimization. Potential clients come to me with a single goal: "Get me a top-ten ranking at Google." Some will also mention MSN, and a few will rhyme off a list of search engines and want to rank well at the top 200 of them.

It is time to separate fact from fiction.

Yes, your SEO consultant can get you a top-ten placement at Google. But...

1.If the placement is for "dirty brown shoes", it probably won't help your shoe store one bit, even if I get you the first place ranking. Few people are actually searching for that term.

2.Being number ten might not help much either, depending on the term. People searching for "Essential Nectar liquid vitamins", will probably click on the first result they see, or at least on one of the "above-the-fold" results that do not require scrolling. On the other hand, someone searching for "liquid vitamins" might check through two pages of results to familiarize herself with the options available.

3.If your title tag reads like a cheap list of search terms, it will not be enticing. For instance, if it reads: "vitamins, liquid vitamins, multivitamins, multi-vitamins", you might skip over it in favor of the next result that reads "Liquid vitamins from the Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store".

4.If your description tag is a mess, people will more likely skip over your listing, even if it does rank number one, in favor of one that sounds like what they are looking for. Google and others use the description tag usually when the term searched for is found in it, so make sure to include your key search terms in a description tag that actually reads well.

I recently responded to a forum question, which went something like this: My site ranks number one for this term at this engine. The term is searched this many times per day, and the engine has this percentage marketshare. Can I expect this many visitors?

That's not an SEO challenge; that's a math problem: searches x marketshare = visitors

I responded with a few factors that override mathematics in the SEO game, including the site's title tag and description tag, as well as whether the term lends itself to scrolling. I also pointed out that it depends on the title tags and description tags of the competition, too.

Another factor that makes predicting traffic difficult is the abandonment factorhow many people click on none of the results because they get interrupted or confused, or abandon the search for a new one because they find themselves off-topic or searching too broadly.

It also depends on how many sponsored links there are and how they are marked. Often at Yahoo and Lycos, for example, there are so many ads that the average searcher might never scroll a screen or two to see the organic (natural) results.

And, of course, it also depends on the color of the walls in the room the searcher is clicking from, the weather outside and how well they slept last night. But there is little you can do about that.

What you can do is to work with your SEO consultant to choose the most effective search terms for your business and make sure he develops a title tag and description tag that sell to both humans and the search engines. Then make sure he is monitoring not just the rankings for your key search terms, but also the description used by each of the search engines.

A good ranking at Google and Yahoo is just one measure of your SEO consultant's success. A more complete evaluation is that he is your partner in building long-term, targeted traffic

About the Author
David Leonhardt is a Ottawa-region freelance SEO consultant and a successful website marketing consultant. Pick up a copy of his SEO online e-book.