Tag: what people want

Crazy Things People Search For

Hippopotamus Polka?
Hippopotamus Polka?

People search for the craziest things online. Looking at your website statistics to see the searches people use to find your website can be an eye-opener. I discover thousands of bizarre and unexpected searches which lead people to my websites, and some of them quite useful. This can be quite entertaining, and also very beneficial for understanding people and the ways they search.

I constantly hear from people begging to be at the top of search engine results for specific terms. I often find that the things they want to rank for are about as well researched and thought out as balancing a three ton hippopotamus on a popsicle stick above your grandmother’s fine China collection. There are two problems with this: 1.) Somebody is going to get hurt. 2.) It does not work well, mathematically.

Most website owners do not have a clue about how to select the search terms to target, or even what people are already using to find their website. Even fewer know how to target useful search terms, or anything at all about the enormous value of lateral keywords which can often account for far more website traffic than the terms they desire. This is to your advantage, because now you do have a clue. You can thank me with your comments.

Reviewing the actual terms people type into a search engine to find things is truly astonishing. It is also an important way to better understand people and what they want. If you do not use tools like Google Analytics or Clicky statistics, you should.

The topic of how people search the Internet came up in conversation with a client yesterday. He pointed out a competing website which was ranking higher in search engines than his website. Of course, it was for his “hippopotamus-balancing” keyword selection which he thought must be important, because everybody else was targeting it. He got a quick schooling when I pointed out how few people were actually searching for that keyword phrase, and that according to available measurements (Compete.com, Alexa.com, Quantcast.com, Open Site Explorer and others) his website receives over 1,000 times more visitors and incoming links, and is ranked well for thousands of search terms. He kind of shut up after I showed him that, and I had my mind’s-eye vision of doing a victory dance. Then I pointed out his high conversion rate and had to take a step backward to preserve my personal space before he could slap on a big man-hug or kiss me square on the lips for all the money he is making.

Strange Ways People Search the Internet

It is easy to assume what people are searching for. It is also a huge point of failure for the majority of businesses trying to promote their product or service. I find too many people who make assumptions of the keyword phrases people will use to find them. It is important to be aware that each and every one of us use search engines differently. I find whole industries every day which blow me away with their total failure to understand and reach their market.

In an effort to make this point, I offer you these little bits of reality:

Here is a blog article I wrote a while back about cigars. I do not sell cigars, (although perhaps I should). I wrote one article about a cigar company falling short in their marketing, and then I later followed up with an article which showed the top 200 cigar-related search terms which brought people to my website from that single blog post. See “Cigar Prices Rising With Bad SEO and Social Media Marketing“.

More proof of this matter of an industry which did not grasp search engine optimization was found in the Smart Slate interactive whiteboard slate. See “Smart Slate, Smart Airliner, and Other Interactive Slates“. Because of the absurdity of this industry, I have earnestly looked into the option of entering the market just to mop the floor with the blood of fallen competitors.

Then, there is the automotive industry. I want to scream at this whole industry for the way they suck up billions in government bailouts, yet they keep trying to do business the way their grandfather sold cars. I wrote about their infamous ways of marketing and just how badly they are missing the mark. See “Topeka Kansas Car Dealer Social Media Marketing Case Study”

These examples are just a few of many thousands of markets being terribly overlooked by good marketing efforts including SEO that works. If you do not know what people are looking for, you will have a really hard time delivering what they want. It should seem obvious that when some knucklehead SEO (search engine optimizer) like me can come into an industry and take over thousands of first-page spots for search phrases and pull in the eyes of their potential customers, somebody is really missing the boat.

I suggest examining the search phrases people are already using to find your website, and reading this article on how to “Improve SEO Return on Investment (ROI) With Simple Math“.

If you don’t pay attention to what people are searching for, in reality rather than just myth, you may as well just play with a hippopotamus on a stick. Just don’t blame me if you break grandma’s China.

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What Do People Want and Where Do You Fit In?

Calvin Klein Knows What People Want
Calvin Klein Knows What People Want
Knowing what people want is an important part of effective marketing. Knowing where you fit into the customer’s plan is critical to success. It is not a simple one-answer question and it requires a close look at what people want, why they want it, and how you can help them get more of those things they want. Knowing where you are in this big picture is often difficult, because you are on the inside and trying to find a view from the outside. I want to offer you some help.

Note that this is not a matter of fitting your product or service into what you think people want, but what they actually want.

Humans Are Highly Evolved and Sophisticated Creatures

We humans are highly evolved. We think differently than most animals. We think differently enough that we have sometimes even become arrogant about it. We think we can fight what is in our nature, and that we are totally in control. We even came up with a word to make instinct seem more evolved, and we called it “emotion”. Emotion is what drives us to many of the choices we make, whether we like it or not. Emotions bring us closer to our friends, emotions cause us to argue with our friends, and emotions help us to find the right mate. Wait, but couldn’t the same things be said of instinct? Instincts drive us to be with others like us, instincts cause us to compete and fight within our packs, instincts are what make this mate or that mate right for us, and instincts are what drive us to buy things. Seriously, emotions are synonymous with instincts, and I make this point because we cannot fight our instincts. If I tell you that you cannot fight your emotions, I may reach some of you, but when I put it in terms of the lion with the biggest mane, it is because I want you guys to hear me, too.

Let us just consider, for a moment, that we are each hunters and gatherers. Like it or not, that’s where I am going with this. If I am a better hunter and gatherer, I will be rewarded. OK lions, that means I will have the best den, the best mate, and the best and most delicious gazelle. If you do not believe me on this, take a look at statistics on divorce. When a lion has a broken ankle, (not providing well) the mate (male or female … because ladies, you really are the ones who rock my blog) is far more likely to kick you out of the den or at very least to the other side of the den until you can show them the gazelle. I hope we are clear on this, because I want to tell you a little more about instincts and why some things sell so much better than others.

We have all heard that “sex sells”, but have you really looked deeper into why sex sells?

Why Does Sex Sell? Because People Instinctively Want Sex!

There are very basic non-sexy reasons that sex sells, and the sooner you realize it, the better. Aside from finding something to eat, there is not a single more instinct-driven action in our world than to pass along our genetics and keep our species alive. Without sex, nobody would be here and reading my blog. Yes, like it or not, your mother and father had sex … probably a lot.

People beat around the bush about the topic, and it is taboo for some people which makes it even more desirable. We avoid talking to grandmother about it, but let’s face it: sex sells. It sells news, it sells products, and it sells hope … in numbers that nothing else can compete with … not even close! There is no need for you to be shy when I tell you that sex sells, because grandmother is not watching. Even if grandmother was watching, she could probably tell you a good thing or two about sex. I know, it seems impossible, right?

In case you have any doubts on this topic, let us consider how you feel about the words mastectomy, castration, hormone disorder, or erectile dysfunction. I don’t mean just clinically, but how they affect people. These are some of the most frightening things that can happen to a human being. Castration is often considered one of the most cruel and unusual punishments possible, and in case you have not noticed, plastic surgery (namely fake boobs) is a pretty profitable field. On top of that, “erectile dysfunction” could easily be the overriding view of our life and time if we were dug up by anthropologists in a couple thousand years.

When a company embraces a market directive of not only the fact that sex sells, but how they can position themselves such that others are instinctively driven to their product, they win! They have the biggest profit margins and they have the biggest market, and all because they give us what we want. Just look at Calvin Klein as an example of this. Have you ever purchased one of their products or had sex with somebody who did? They offer jeans to make butts look better, scents to make people smell sexier, but really, above all, they market to instincts. They are not conning you, but rather simply understand what people want and they know how to deliver it.

So you may ask “what of other markets”. Instinct holds answers there, too. If you are a successful plumber, instincts tell us that backed up sewage is not healthy and that we should call you. If you are a successful restaurant, instincts tell us that your food will make us more satisfied than the others. If you are a successful car dealer, instincts tell us that you have a better way for us to go out to hunt and gather. As crazy as it may seem to you, even the seemingly least desirable or ridiculous things you may ever purchase are there because somebody had a better way to appeal to your instincts (emotions).

How Can I Harness Instincts?

Since you read this far, you are probably wondering just how you can harness instincts to explain how very valuable and useful your products or services are. The good news is that it is not as ugly or difficult as you have probably imagined. It takes a careful look at what you do and how it really fits into things that people want and need. Knowing where you are in this big picture is usually pretty hard, because you are on the inside and seeking a view from the outside.

My tip is to realize where and what you are. Be aware of yourself and why you do the things you do. It is a huge step to understanding where you fit in the pack and how you can help the rest of the pack survive stronger than without you. When the pack is stronger because of what you do, you become a success.

From my standpoint, I realized a long time ago that I do things because I am a lion with huge claws and teeth, and I know why I do things. There are instinctual reasons that I ride a motorcycle that is ten feet long and why I purchase amazing items. In my case, I want sex … just like nearly everybody else.

How this works into the pack and makes my pack stronger is that I help them to do the same. I help people to earn more money, which helps them to have more of the things that they want. I help people to find where they fit into the pack. I hope that I have helped you. If you need more help and want to grow your pack, just ask me.