Is your keyword strategy too literal?

I had lunch yesterday with my friend, Chris.  Chris works with a start-up called MashupArts, a cool site that allows you to create personalized ecards using your content from facebook, youtube, flickr, picasa, etc.  Chris’s responsibilities include site development and SEO (search engine optimization, or “the magical potion that helps search engines like Google find and list your site in search results” through such alchemy like keyword strategy.)

Using tools such as Keywordeye, Chris realized that his keyword strategy was on the wrong track.

Mashup Arts is a site for creating ecards.  So which word did Chris’s keyword strategy focus on?

“ecard”, of course.

But guess what.

Turns out that people search for phrases like “happy birthday”, “mother birthday”, “father birthday” waaaay more than they search for “ecards”.  In fact, the keyword search for “ecards” is about as common as the search for – wait for it – “monkey birthday”.

It was Chris’s “aha!” moment. As soon as he changed his keyword strategy focus from the literal product – ecards – to the reason people use ecards – birthdays – he noticed an immediate increase in site traffic.

On a weirdly similar note, take a look at the American Cancer Society’s approach.  Their mandate is to eliminate deaths from cancer.

When someone doesn’t  die from cancer, what do you celebrate?

You celebrate life.  And how do we celebrate life?

(are you with me?)

With birthdays.  The American Cancer Society’s new slogan? The official sponsor of birthdays.

You see, your keyword strategy doesn’t just have to be about your literal product. Think about the benefits of your product or service and build from there.

Tagged as: American Cancer Society, birthdays, Cancer, celebrate, Chris, Death, ecard, Facebook, keyword, keywordeye, Life, literal, magic, mashup arts, monkey birthday, potion, product, reason, SEO, service, sponsor, Strategy