Content Marketing- Capturing the Long Tail Market
By Steve Lazuka
So, what is the long tail? Well, in the world of Internet marketing, the long tail refers to the market for goods and services that are in highly targeted, specific niches. Unlike the high demand markets at the head of the demand curve, long tail markets are less in demand but more likely to produce greater revenue over time.
So, what does the long tail have to do with content marketing? Everything! Let’’s take a look at how the long tail theory affects online marketing strategies.
Content Marketing- Making the Long Tail Theory Work For You
By now, the importance of using content to market products and services on the web is pretty well understood. SEO content- that is, content which is search engine-friendly- is one of the best ways to drive traffic to a website.
SEO content marketing requires the effective use of keywords. Not all keywords, however, are created equal when it comes to the search engines. Some are highly competitive, which is to say that your chances of ranking for them are almost nil. Why? Because a keyword like ”travel” is vague and tied to millions of sites around the world.
But what if you type in ”Caribbean cruises”? How about ”couples Caribbean cruises to Aruba”? Long tail keywords are multi-word queries that consumers use to search for sites. They are highly targeted and thus more likely to bring the searcher to the right place. You can capitalize on the savvy of long tail searchers by including long tail keywords in your content.
Content Marketing That Targets your Customers
In other words, instead of bumbling around on the Internet, looking for vacation options by typing in ”travel” or ”cruises”, your customers are finding your travel agency that offers Aruba cruises right away. It’’s a small niche, yes. But, it is a targeted small niche. By the time the customer types in this long tail query, he knows exactly what he wants.
This means a higher likelihood that his search will convert to a purchase. It also means that the search engines will find you more easily, as well. Long tail content marketing has less competition for visitors precisely because it is so specific. Another piece of good news about long tail marketing is that there are many variations on each multi-word query. Each variation can have its own page of content.
The more pages of content, the more visible you are to the search engines. A site with a lot of pages of targeted content looks like an authority on the subject and starts to rank higher. The snowball effect starts to take effect, with back links developing from other sites that find you interesting, sales increase and, well, you get the picture.
Think of it this way- long tail content marketing brings fewer visitors but more sales per visit. So, mix in some highly targeted content that includes long tail keywords and monitor how well it drives serious buyers to your site. You may be pleasantly surprised!
About The Author
Steve Lazuka is a well-known expert in the field of natural seo content development. Mr Lazuka founded Interact Media, a content marketing service that leverages the power of high quality content to improve search engine visibility for its clients. To learn more about this and other seo topics, visit Steve’’s blog at http://www.interactmedia.com/blog.html
