Brilliant though Google and other search engines are at bringing some level of sense and order to the billions of web pages out there, they all still rely almost completely on our ability to look for something in the right way. Keywords are really that - KEY!

Luckily as the amount of content online grows so does the average level of skill of people using search engines. Two years ago the average number of keywords entered into Google’s search field was not much more than 1.5, today it is more like 3.0. We are being more specific when we search which is a good thing - finding a million or more results is hardly a badge of honour now is it?

In spite of this there remains the ‘Did you mean?‘ problem or the ‘Did we mean?‘ problem as I would describe it.

As an agency advising our clients on SEO or search engine optimisation one of the toughest tasks is convincing businesses to think like customers and ensure the way they write about themselves online does likewise. By all means ‘build it’ but they won’t be coming unless the way you talk matches the way they search!

Take Last Exit and PaperVision for example. We are a Papervision3D agency and would like to be found as such when potential clients search for this kind of service online. Because PaperVision is a new technology however the challenge is to make sure we talk about it in the right ways. The correct description for this Flash plug-in is PaperVision3D but a quick check within Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool reveals a whole host of ways people are looking for it - papervision 3d, paper vision 3d or even pay per vision 3d are all commonly used. 

This wouldn’t be a problem but as I say above search engines rely on keywords in a very exact way. Try it yourself - a query of ‘paper vision 3d agency‘ will deliver very different results to one of ‘papervision3d agency‘ regardless of the fact both may be intended to find an agency supplying PaperVision3D.

Granted this all sounds very anal indeed but the truth is that Google and the other search engines are very anal indeed! Words, and the exact way they are used, are all they have to go on when routing that important query of yours to a handful of those 3 billion web pages!

The solution is writing for the web, making frequent reference to important keywords, and writing like the customers you want to attract would ask for you.

The solution is really not rocket-science, or should that be rocket science!

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We all have some sense of the extent online research for product purchases and recent research in the US shows that 6/10 people make the internet their first choice for research items ultimately purchased in the brick-and-mortar-store. More an dmore retailers, therefore, are eliminating web-exclusive prices or extending them to instore pricing.

Some stores such as Staples, are offering kiosks where shoppers can peruse their websites and garner product information and reviews. The opportunity this offers is an ‘infinite aisle’, where shoppers are exposed to the stores full inventory regardless of what the store might currently have n stock. In response to this, it’s interesting to note that loss of sales to competitors due to stockouts measures $93 billion in 2008. Two reasons to have kiosks in store: 1) offer more information and empower your customers and 2) avoid losing customers.

The question this beckons is whether response policies, particularly regarding shipping and handling, need to be in place to ensure that custom is not lost, even with the ‘infinite aisle’ and, perhaps perhaps more importantly, whether retailers should consider how their website are planned and designed to allow easy or even seamless transition to an in-store kiosk application environment. The users extended cognitive architecture is completely different in this situation and as we research the psychographics as part of determining site strategy, instore browsing and researching probably should be properly taken into account.

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After enjoying a lovely weekend in the Hudson Valley with my wife, we stopped by our old Friends Sean Nutley and Gregory Triana at their kitchen accessories store ‘bluecashew - Kitchen Pharmacy‘, tucked away in the beautiful town of High Falls. I first met Sean and Greg back in ‘99 when we were sharing a space in Chelsea Market; me with my old company Deepend and Sean and Greg as SBN, an event production and PR company. We got along instantly and decided to barter services; they threw our launch party, which was awesome, and we helped re-brand them as bluecashew and develop their first website. They still use the logo that my best designer of the time Angela Lidderdale created.

So, as usual, our vist turned into a shopping extravaganza. We’re no different from many people in modern day America, we take great pride in the stuff we own and enjoy the shopping experience itself, granted, but the fact is that every time I visit bluecashew, I find products that I have longed to find but couldn’t as well as many products that are simply better than the bulk standard utensils I’ve purchased from Bed Bath & Behind. Viking products are not easily come by in my local stores and are bloody awesome. Beautifully designed and built to last. But, Joseph Joseph, being from my home country and fantastic, utilitarian designers create true objet d’arte for the home. I almost don’t care what ‘it’ does, I just want it!

Sean and Greg have assembled a phenomenal shopping experience for all kitchen fiends out there by assembling the very best products based on functionality,durability and quality and of course, beauty. They’ve recently launched their inventory online and are currently wading through the sea of search engine optimization. Go check out the online store and let me know if you agree. Better yet, take a short vacation and drive (just 2 hours) up to the Catskills and see the store for itself, while enjoying one of the country’s most beautiful national parks.

OK, like the car posting not strictly in market but, Hey, I mentioned their website didn’t I?

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