A Case Study – Help! I Can’t Find What I’m Searching For

How do you search and how do your customers find you?

My graphic design friend said “just look for a swoosh.” my first look for a “swoosh” retrieved a lot of the Nike symbols.

Well that didn’t work out, so after much frustration I began to narrow down my search to “a slender artist brush stroke” (this yielded models not so slender).

Then I tried the following terms:

-       Long thin wavy line

-       Thin artist brush stroke

-       Long thin wavy color line

-       Arty wavy line with color

-       Artistic brush stroke

-       Wavy color line fabric art

-       Long wavy line of color

-       Artist wavy color line

-       Long thin multi colored zig zag line

So let’s turn the equation around. What are people searching for to get to your website? Is it all about the words and the methods you are “hoping” people will find you for?  If so, your word choices should be tested, re-tested, and tested again. But first and foremost the keywords and phrases need to be within your site – not just on the home page.

Have you outlined the aspects of your business which are unique only to your company?  If you are a big brand name like Rolex you may not need to worry about search terms. But small businesses are caught in the search engine drag line and although your business is unique, it should still fall within your industry category terms.

Another way to see what terms people were searching for when they landed on your various pages is to study your Google Analytics.  This will help you learn how others think of your products and services.

So how did I finally find what I was looking for and how long did it take me?
I spent between :30 and :40 minutes conducting this search (which ended up turning into a research project).

The final term I tried was “abstract brush stroke.” How did i end up with this term? Basically I was educating myself along the way to terms which brought me back to art classes I had taken in the past.  

The item I found was a description through the eyes of the artist. Abstract brush stroke is obviously an artistic term – not something the average person would know.  I think the owner of the stock art I discovered should consider naming their piece something else to get people to purchase their design(s).

I invite you to think of the end user of your product or service in terms of “how does my product match up to a need someone may have”?  This may open up new horizons for you.