Drubby World Wide Web Search

Optimizing Online Catalog Copy for the Search Engines

It only makes sense. You have an e-commerce catalog site. You want lots of visitors to come to your site and buy. The best (and most cost-effective) way to do that is with great search engine placement. However, search engines are text machines, and most catalogs don't have a lot of text, so herein lies the problem.

The obvious answer is that you need more copy on each page. However, the pictures of your products are just as important as the copy, so they can't be removed to make more space. That doesn't leave a lot of room in the product description area, does it? Maybe not, but who said all the copy had to go in the description area? Who said you have to create a site the same way a paper catalog is created?

Sometimes we view our site's pages with a very narrow vision. This causes us to have an "it's always been done that way" mentality. While direct mail catalogs may be sorely limited on space and require short sections of copywriting, Web pages have infinite room for copy.

Your Home Page

Most often, online catalogs have a home page that is almost exclusively graphic. There may be short blips of copywriting here and there, but not much. Since your home page is the most important page to have optimized for the engines, you'll want to include a minimum of 200 words of SEO copywriting there. Don't panic... it doesn't have to all be in one place.

You can create a short section of keyword-rich body copy as an introduction to the site. Then, under a graphic of your new spring additions, include some SEO copy explaining why your visitors will just *have* to have these products. You can then add a sentence or two of copy under the graphics in your sidebar. Lastly, give the highlights of your customer-service program or money-back guarantee and an invitation to click further into the site to shop around, and you're all done.

Obviously, where the copy goes is dependent on your site's layout, but you get the idea. Spread the copywriting around. You don't have to put it all in one lump in the middle of the page.

Category Pages

What traditionally happens with online catalogs is that you click from the home page to a "category" page. That category page usually just has links on it to other individual product pages plus perhaps a picture or two. That's a shame because category pages are another perfect place for SEO copy.

Since keyphrases are often highly descriptive of products (i.e., crew neck sweaters, six-disc CD players, etc.), they work wonderfully on category pages. Because category pages are selective (they only show products within a certain category), they are exceptional arenas for SEO copywriting.

Let's say you have a catalog site that deals with interior design accessories for the home. One category might be Tiffany lamps. Because the phrase Tiffany lamps is also a wonderful keyphrase, its inclusion in the category page copy comes quite naturally. This means you can create SEO copywriting for the top or middle of the page (just a short paragraph or two) and also write blips of copy for each product description. For example:

===================================

The Tiffany Lamp - A Timeless Masterpiece

===================================

Tiffany lamps have long been considered icons of style. While certain characteristics are constant (that's what makes a Tiffany lamp a Tiffany lamp), there is also tremendous variety. From Tiffany lamps for your floor to those made to adorn your ceilings, you'll find one reflective of your own personal taste and style.

Next you could list all the individual products (floor Tiffany lamps, ceiling Tiffany lamps, desk Tiffany lamps, etc.) and give brief, keyword-rich descriptions of each one.

Product Descriptions

When you get to the product description level, you'll want to include enticing, keyword-rich copy with each listing. However, you'll also want to include more text on each product page.

Consider that most people shopping online don't have the benefit of being able to touch, feel, smell, taste, or see the actual products. Use the lack of human senses to develop more descriptive information for your visitors.

You might also want to include any technical information you have for your products on the same product description page. Contrary to Internet myth, people don't mind scrolling one bit *IF* there is information they want to see on other parts of the page.

By reconsidering your catalog-copywriting techniques when it comes to the Web, you can get your e-commerce catalog ranked highly in the search engines. It just takes a little open-mindedness and a willingness to break free from the ways of the past. When you do, more customers and higher sales levels are bound to follow.

Karon Thackston © 2004

About The Author

Copy not getting results? Let Karon provide search engine copywriting, catalog copywriting, or other types for you. Just visit http://www.marketingwords.com. You can also learn to write your own SEO copy that impresses the engines and your visitors at http://www.copywritingcourse.com.

MORE ARTICLES:

How To Get Your New Website Listed In Major Search Engines- Where To Look?
It is an essential to get your new website listed in major search engines because research into the way people use the Internet has shown that 85 percent of individuals use search engines to look for information, regardless of what the subject matter is. It makes senses as a starting off point. When a keyword, keywords, a keyword phrase or a whole sentence is typed into a search engine you want your website to be one of the results that appears on the screen.

New York City and its Top 8 Luxury Hotels selected for JustLuxe.com's City Guide
JustLuxe.com announces the addition of New York City to its online luxury travel City Guide.

Top Search Engine Ranks, Part 2- Mastering the Secret- Explained
In the first part of this series on ranking at the top of the search engines, we discussed diversifying your Internet marketing efforts. We introduced several methods including RSS feeds, Link Popularity, Article Marketing, Blogs, and physically altering your pages to make them more target-able for select keywords.

Get Better Search Engine Rankings through Internet Marketing Services
In today's online world, it is essential that your website be optimized both to attract new visitors and to convert more visitors into customers, for this you need to grow your business using all the internet marketing services available. The term internet marketing services means those services which are required in order to run the business successfully. Internet Marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to market any product or service on the net.

On Search Engine Marketing, Ranking and Optimization by SEO Firms
Website leads not converting in high enough numbers?

How to know which SEO software tool suits your search engine optimization needs?
Search engine optimization has become the most crucial element of ranking high in the major search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, Dogpile etc. There are several websites on the internet which boast about SEO techniques & tips and guarantee top placement in days. How do you believe and invest your hard earned money in a company who does not have a background in search engine optimization believing their claims?

Does the Length of a Domain Registration Affect Your Search Engine Rank?
Does the length of your website's domain name registration affect the search results at Google? This question has come up recently and a lot of website owners have been wondering about it, especially since it was mentioned in a patent awarded to Google in April. According to the patent, "Certain signals may be used to distinguish between illegitimate and legitimate domains.

Free Search Engine Traffic
If you would like to make money selling e-books, you must first create yourself an e-book. After your e-book has been created, you will then need to sell it. Many e-book authors, when selling their creations, use an e-book sales page. An e-book sales page is a page that outlines the e-book available for sale, as well as its price. Although an e-book sales page is a great way to advertise your e-book it won?t help you get sales alone. You also need traffic. If your e-book sale page isn?t seen, no one will know that you have an e-book available for sale.

Taking Advantage Of Search Engines To Promote Your Business
Since its introduction to the public, the Internet has become a very versatile medium used for almost anything People use it to sell things, to buy items, to publish works, among others

Search Engine Optimization SEO Made Easy
SEO is a never ending battle! So is SEO over-rated? I don't think it is. Some say that Google's automated PageRank™ system and Alexa's Traffic Rank system are losing ground.

Search Engine Optimization Tips For 2005 - Part One
Anybody who has their own website or is involved in business online understands the importance of SEO or search engine optimization. Higher rankings equal more traffic.

How to Submit To Search Engines For the Best Benefits
If you're interested in submitting a website to the online search engines and you know your content is good and relevant to your subject theme, verify you have built in the necessary keywords. Why?

Top 2 Ways To Get Higher Rankings in Major Search Engines
Top 10 search engine rankings. Everybody wants it but a few achieve it.

Creative Search Engine Optimization - A Case Study
Search engine optimization this and search engine optimization that. You read and hear about it all day, but what about your site? While there are plenty of articles providing useful information, this article shows you how a real world example met with success. The point of this article is to emphasize creativity when approaching tough optimization situations.