Creating an SEO Content Strategy to Drive Acquisition

Posted By JP Sherman on Jun 03

Now that I've described how a search engine optimization focused content strategy can target the phases of awareness and consideration, it's time to close the deal. At the acquisition phase, the user knows you exist, they understand the value you provide to them and there's one last phase to create content for. At this point, it's important to say that the acquisition phase is probably the most nebulous aspect of the chain. A user can find a particular value point and make an instant decision for or against. If I'm looking to continue my education, and find out that a university that I'm considering doesn't have any evening classes, that could be an immediate deal-breaker and I've immediately lost them.

Creating content to drive acquisition follows a few basic tactics:

  1. The Value Add - "Buy this now and receive..."
  2. The Social Push - "See what other people have said about..."
  3. The ROI Statement - "Buying this product makes long term sense..."
  4. The Vanity Appeal - "You will become a better, sexier, smarter, more successful..."
  5. The Convenience Factor - "This product will save time or reduce work..."
  6. The Happiness Approach - "This will make you happier..."
  7. The Guilt Trip - "It costs only $0.25 a day, you lose more than than that in your sofa..."
  8. The Holistic Appeal - "Sure, it costs a little bit more, but it will save trees and puppies..."

The content that appeals to acquisition is a very small subset of the search volume. Simply put, when implementing an SEO strategy on your site, use the 50%/ 30%/ 20% content rule. Spend 50% of your SEO focused content on getting people to the site. Spend 30% of your SEO content strategy to educate and convince people of the value and lastly, spend 20% of your time creating an acquisition based content plan to get people to make the final jump using an acquisition strategy that fits your brand and goals.

This aspect of the acquisition content strategy is more effective when it's preceded by value and followed by checkout. This allows the marketer to create a bit of urgency, contextualization and perspective to the user to reassure and motivate them into a purchase. 

Everything I Just Said Was Wrong

OK, not really, but the content strategy for acquisition I just described supports both the awareness and consideration phases. It creates a depth of information and a breadth of the site for the user to further research. There are some highly valuable, acquisition ready keywords that a good SEO content strategy can target. These are the "buy now" keywords.

These types of keywords show that the user is ready to buy, and is looking for it now. The trick to generating a content strategy based on the immediate acquisition keyword is a bit trickier. Most users don't want to search for a "buy now" keyword, then go to a site that has "BUY NOW" blazoned across the page. A more appropriate response is to have a section of the site that addresses topics like "Should I buy [keyword] now or later?", "After I buy [keyword], how do I take care of the [keyword]". 

This additional content that's focused, concise and appropriate to the expectation of the user can be critical for e-commerce. If you're looking at a product or service with a longer buy cycle, the principle remains, but only if its determined that there's enough keyword demand for the immediate purchasers. 

Comments

Commenting is not available in this channel entry.