Website Entrance (part 2 of 2)

By Chris Genge
Posted Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Product Introduction Pages

As was discussed in a part 1, making a website visitor and search engine friendly is crucial in it's ability to attract and retain new customers. We found that people don’t like to keep drilling down into a site to find what they want… yet that is precisely what most sites require them to do. One answer to this is to use Product Introduction/ Information Pages (PIPs). They are an ideal way to present information that is easily understood by both prospective customers and search engines. PIPs help to personalize and enhance the user-friendly experience by giving the search engines and people exactly what they came looking for.

PIPs allow businesses to present visitors with information specifically associated with a product or service that the visitor or search engine is looking for. They reduce the number of 'clicks' required to get to the information. The pages are designed to very QUICKLY let the customer or search engine know, that you have what they want. This means they are more apt to explore the rest or your site and to do business with you. The search engines will bring more targeted visitors to your site, which should help to improve your conversion rates.

How People Search

To utilize Product Introduction Pages effectively, it helps to understand how people conduct searches. Here's a synopsis:
·Decide on and enter the search keywords into a search engine
·Wait for and review the results, looking for something that meets their needs
·Select a link that they think will fulfill that need, and quickly take in the whole page
·Skim read the information presented, looking for words relevant to what the search
·The closer the text matches the keywords, the more assured people become that they've found what they are looking for
·Once they find a close match is when they start to pay attention to what’s on the page

This is why PIPs are so effective. People see the information they are looking for and continue to explore. Research shows that people spend 8-15 seconds skimming the PIPs before deciding what their next action is. If they like what they see and read, 70% to 90% of them will click through to the main website. This is a much HIGHER click through rate than with home pages!

Most home pages present very little relevant information that the customer wants. So when the customer is taken to the home page, they have NOT found what they are looking for. This is why home pages are often very poor at attaining/ sustaining the visitors' attention. They've already done a search and now you are forcing them to search through your website. They don't want to do that. They want SUBSTANCE! If they don't find it, they get frustrated and LEAVE.

Product Introduction Pages even work well for companies with strict writing policies, and in some cases, for legal requirements that necessitate adherence to certain rules. They are ideal for larger corporations because PIPs allow them to present their products and services in a structured yet easy-to-follow way. The customer is not bombarded with unnecessary information about products/ services that they don't want or need, and they aren't forced to dig through the hundreds of webpages that some larger websites contain. People don't have the time or patience to be exploring every aspect of your website. And that's the beauty of PIPs, they only contain information that is relevant to what the customer or search engine is looking for.

The Ideal Option

Giving customers quick and easy access to the information they seek is of paramount importance when you are trying to win them over with your website. If you make them search too much, or if they can't find what they are looking for, or if your website doesn't show up in the Top-20 returned results -then you've lost them.

This is where Product Introduction Pages combined with an effective Search Engine Marketing strategy really pay big dividends. Together, they make your website both people and search engine friendly. Let's face it, if your website is not receiving enough visitors based on relevant 'keyword' searches then your business is losing out 100% on the opportunity to reach out to new, prospective customers. It doesn't matter how great your website is or how wonderful your products and services are… if they can't find you -you don't exist. Use PIPs to give people and search engines what they want and reap the benefits of increased website exposure, increased traffic, and better conversion rates.

Summary

So there you have it. Where a customer and/or search engine enters your site, and what you present to them is extremely important to the success of your online venture. The easier you make it for both of them to find what they want… the greater the value your site holds for them, and the more likely they are to purchase your products and services. Use Product Introduction Pages, improve site navigation, use ‘multimedia’ applications appropriately, consider search engine marketing, and most importantly, present relevant content that is easy to read and understand.

About The Author:
Chris Genge is the President of 1st on the List Promotion Inc, one of the first and most respected search engine marketing firms in Canada. He writes on current and emerging search engine marketing theories. Chris has been involved in the SEO industry since its very early days, and has since 1997, focused on researching and implementing the most effective search engine optimization techniques. For more information visit (http://www.1stonthelist.ca/)