All owners of real estate on the internet are looking for the same holy grail of relevant traffic to their pages. There are many different ways of both optimising a site and of attracting traffic, most of these can be explored further by digging into the specialist SEO/SEM operators, for example there is a bit more info here. Should you require a bit more information about just what SEO is there is an explanatory Wikipedia article dedicated to SEO.
Despite all that it is important to understand your customer, the person that is going to get value from your landing page.
Why does this all make a difference? Well, depending on what stage of the journey the buyer is on they will be entering different terms into the search engine of their choice. They will be looking for different information on the pages of your site that they land on.
If you want to have credibility and to engage your visitors appropriately then they will need to see things that match the stage of the journey they are at.
Let us take a closer look at the three stages and what they mean for you as the owner of a web site.
Awareness
This is the earliest point in the journey. The buyer has become aware of a need they want to fulfil. It may be something they need to acquire, some skill or information that they are looking for. Whatever it is they now have an itch they need to scratch.
The keywords that they are likely to be entering will be related to research. If you are going to have pages on your site that draw them in at this stage that informational itch needs to be satisfied on them and the keywords used in any advertising needs to be appropriate for the stage.
Here the keywords may be around the comparison or how to do something. Which microwave is the best or how do I repair the seal around a shower door? Reviews of the top 5 products for example. SEO specialists will be able to zero in on these and the relevant phrases for every stage of the journey. The pages should address those needs and explain what is required.
This stage is sometimes split into two parts with a separate ‘Interest’ stage where the research happens and an initial one for the realisation of the problem. For our purposes we will keep them combined as most authorities do.
Consideration
At this stage alternatives are being actively considered. The searches may be moving to more complex and specific.
The keywords in buyer searches will contain a bit more of buyer intention signalling words. There may be queries such as ‘where can I buy’ or ‘trainers of’. Pages on your website that are targets of any ads you have for consideration phrases should clearly set out your value proposition and any differentiators with the competition.
Decision
This is the final stage. The searcher may be entering specific brand names so if this is you or you supply them focus in on those with your pages and ads, maintaining congruence at all times. It should be a seamless journey with no surprises to the user of the site. Words like ‘buy’ and phrases like ‘where to buy’ or ‘deliver quickly’ or ‘available now’ may form part of the searches.
