WebMaster Solutions

Web Site Marketing

What is "Long Tail Marketing"

by Kenneth Catto

Recently there is a huge stir around the phrase “long tail marketing.” It primarily deals with retailing online and makes some real interesting points you should consider. The concept is by Chris Anderson and you can get his book at Amazon.

But what does it all mean? It means get busy with keywords and content to get all the searches possible to your site. People do search differently so you must consider all keywords that relate to you.

An example is a hobby site. Imagine the "length of the tail" in how many keywords that could be. Everything from backyards to zebras. It's the length of the tail when all of those keywords are connected that can bring you more business. Think about a big tail on a huge animal, it covers a lot of ground and gets your attention when connected to an alligator!

So to coin a phrase, "get your tail moving" and leave no rocks unturned. Some search for refrigerators and for some it is an ice box or the fridge. Think about what people name things in other parts of the world that are the same thing in your world.

In keyword research it is easy to spot and grow niches. Low search counts at the top 3 search engines can mean business for you when there is no competition. Use Wordtracker to find out what these less used search engine searches can do for you. So what if there are only 6 searches a month for an item; if you happen to sell that item and no one else does, you want that business.

The long tail of search phrases will build traffic. You can not count on 80% of your traffic coming from 20% of your top used keywords based on readings at Google. Because competition for highly used words is so big, long tail marketing makes perfect sense.

If you are an Adsense publisher, imagine how many more relative ads you could display on all of those new low competition keyword pages. It is the total searches from all of those less used words that make using them worthwhile.

Create your content with a broader base of keywords to see the effect. Watch your site stats and be amazed at all of the new search terms you'll be found with. Many will tell you more content or more products would be easy to market.

With search engines today it is all about content and keywords, and Google flat out says so in their webmaster guidelines. Long tail marketing is real easy with search engines. All you have to do is know the words people use.

Recommended Reading