Long time web marketing consultant Gerry McGovern, author of Killer Web Content, has never liked the term keyword.  He thinks it better describes what search engines require than what users want.

Instead, he uses carewords.  A careword phrase is meant to delve into the mind of the searcher to understand what’s truly important to them.  When you connect through a careword phrase, you’re tapping into what motivates action.

It’s possible to rank for all types of keyword phrases that drive traffic to your website.  Some are specific to your service, others are better at connecting with people early in the buying cycle.

But often, it’s just a small handful of carewords that really drive conversions, particularly when you have a niche offering.

This case study demonstrates how driving traffic through just a few carewords can equal success in search marketing.

Case Study:  Veteran’s Pension Program

A business that helps veterans with a pension program call “aid and attendance” came to Marketing 360® looking to grow their online lead generation.

We did keyword research and came up with a plethora of keyword terms that related to veterans pensions.  We could have spent years trying to rank organically for them all, or spread our TPA budget so thin we would have rarely ranked for any of them.

But as we dug into what the service really entailed, we realized that the only thing anyone really cared about was “aid and attendance” benefits.  It was the business’ main service, it fit the client’s main need, and was a niche that would give focus to their marketing.

After some initial analysis and testing, we realized that this was the only keyword we needed to target.

The Advantage of Focus

Focusing on limited carewords has a number of advantages.

First, it allows you to funnel your paid search budget into fewer campaigns, ad groups, and keyword types.  You can put more budget into dominating the careword phrases that are really going to work for you.

Likewise, you can focus your SEO efforts to gain ranking more quickly on your careword phrases.  It’s just logistics.  You’ll have an easier time creating content, gaining links, and building a story around just a few related terms.

Last – and probably most important over the long-term – is how you can begin to associate your brand name with the careword phrase.

In the case of this business, their brand name is now another important keyword target.  Over time, their reputation as experts in aid and attendance pensions developed to the point that their brand name drives as much traffic as “aid and attendance”.

This also results in a lot of direct traffic to their website.  All of this traffic has outstanding conversion rates.

Here is a recent breakdown of their conversion traffic:

Their cost per conversion for the paid channel, TPA, is $35.31.  But with the NLA and Brand channels, the overall cost per conversion is $1.98.

Clearly, they are targeting the right audience with a compelling message.  That – instead of trying to reach as many people as possible – is the goal of marketing.

Find Your Carewords

Not every business has an offer as focused as this veterans pension service.  In many cases, carewords are more varied and broad.

But focus on what really matters to your core audience as much as possible.  As you start a marketing campaign, it’s to your advantage to target the smallest viable audience.  This is a core audience you can truly delight with your offer.  They become fans of your brand and spread the word, growing your audience in a natural way built on trust.

That’s when you can see growth like this:

Trying to delight everybody is a mistake in modern business.  It leads you to average solutions with diluted, weak marketing campaigns.

Target what people really care about, and overwhelm them with your service.  In the end, your brand name – which is a keyword you totally own – will be the term people care about the most.

*Results are based on past client performance. Individual account performance may vary. Results are not guaranteed.