Staying Relevant to Your Customers on the Internet

“AdWord’s real-time targeting and reporting provide advertisers with the most nimble and efficient way to reach customers during these tight times,” according to Google. Typical website optimization is achieved through keyword focusing, metadata, and site architecture. Though there are other SEO tactics out there, such as Web 2.0 brand management.

Being relevant to your customers is always important no matter how good or bad the times are. As more and more people get into online advertising (and Google is by far the most dominant player), the bids have gone up and, at times, ROIs have trended downwards. So advertisers have to be smarter to get the maximum bang for their bucks.

SEO Tactics:

Google AdWords

1. Focus your ads on low prices and savings.

In tough economic times the consumers focus on prices, deals and savings. So, if you have saving events or promotions going on, by all means, talk about them in your ad text.

2. Use value-related keywords.

Deal-conscious customers are looking for discounts and bargains. Adding discount-related words like coupon, discount or saving can boost your ads’ performance.

3. Make sure your ad groups are targeted and relevant to your customers.

Incorporating the ad group’s keywords in the ad text and headlines tend to make the ads perform better. Look for such opportunities in your campaigns.

4. Don’t waste money on irrelevant clicks.

Wrong keywords not only attract people not interested in your products, they also drain your ad budget. Using negative keywords can help filter out unrelated traffic.

5. Make it easy for customers to buy.

Choose your landing pages wisely. Send visitors directly to the product or the promotion page.

6. Focus your money on your high-performers.

Work on what is working. Tools like Google Conversion Tracking help you better understand which ads or keywords are actually producing the desired results for you.

At the end of the day, online advertising is a dynamic field. Things are constantly in flux. As an advertiser, you have to be mindful of these changes, whether they be competitive pressures, consumer preferences or other internal or external factors. And make changes where required.

WEB 2.0 and Backlinks

SEOs know how important white hat links are to the relevancy and popularity of your site. Social networking, blogging, joining Ning.com groups, etc., create those link backs while interacting with your customer at the same time. It’s where marketing meets customer service. (Note: Twitter includes a nofollow command, so you don’t actually get the link value. However, I think traffic to your site is always a good thing.)

MONITORING AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

A Web 2.0 brand manager also monitors sites like Twitter and Facebook for mentions of his company, intervening if a customer has a question or complaint, as expounded upon in this blog post. It’s faster than calling a 1-800 number and treading through a sea of automation or trying to find the answer online. And it’s meeting your customers where they are-not where you think they should be.

Investing time in Web 2.0, and using SEO tactics in general, is becoming more and more essential. You can continue to ignore Web 2.0, but an increasingly Web-literate customer base means they might start to ignore you.