Boost Local Visibility – How to Write Killer Product Descriptions

by | Sep 14, 2011

If you think you’re free from worrying about local internet marketing and optimization because your site is mostly ecommerce, you may want to revisit your marketing strategies.  With every update made by the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, they grow ever closer to a web functioning on the concept of unique and useful content.

And everything else has to go.

Just because your site is sporting a massive catalog with little else (that’s another problem entirely) doesn’t mean you don’t local internet marketinghave to optimize it.  It’s quite the opposite.  Any internet marketing service will tell you; you should do everything you can to optimize your product descriptions for a number of reasons.

1. Google indexes each individual product page.  Because of this, each product could potentially be a landing page for a customer.  When they start searching for product related keywords, they’re far more likely to find you if each product page has great, valuable and informative (as well as optimized) content.  If all you’ve got is a price, a picture and a few buttons to ‘add to cart’ then the odds of showing in organic search are slim to none.

2. Search engines like Google show off relevant product pages at the top of the search, much like they do with current news feeds.  With optimized product pages you have to do less work to get to the top of search results.  For companies doing local SEO it’s even easier thanks to a lack of competition.

3. With optimized and valuable product descriptions, you’re providing customers with reasons to buy the products, including clear benefit statements.  If they can make an informed decision from reading your product description then they’re far more likely to make a purchase after finding you online.  SEO isn’t just about organic search visibility, it’s about helping you build conversions.

How to Write the Perfect Product Description

Before you start putting content together, take some time to research what it is you need to write.  What do your customers want to hear?  What are the most common questions surrounding those products?  In addition to that information, what are the strongest benefits to owning those products and what problem do they solve?  Factor all of this information in when you’re prepping to implement SEO services and strategies.

Keyword Research – You need to know the keywords people use to find your products.  The product name is the most obvious but consider other variations that can lead someone to your product pages.  This includes terms and phrases that are more general.  For example, several different customers might be searching for tires using the terms “winter tires” “new tires” “firestone tires” “run flat tires”, etc.  They’re using different terms but they’re all looking for relatively similar products.  How can you leverage that to your advantage in product descriptions?

Mind your length – You can’t expect to sell a product with a single paragraph.  Not only is that not enough room to strategically use keywords but it also gives you no room to provide substance.  A great example of quality product descriptions that sell is in Brookstone.com  Their content stands out, it has personality, it’s optimized and customers love it.  You don’t have to write a book for each product, but it needs to be long enough to be effective.  If you can’t swing all that writing then considering hiring a internet marketing specialist.

Be Original – You can’t just optimize the content that came from the manufacturer and call it good.  You need original, quality, optimized product descriptions.  Otherwise you’ll be flagged with duplicate content and your content is far less likely to show within the search results.

Think that’s a lot to manage on your own?  Content production isn’t easy but it’s something you have to tend to if you want to compete online.  Always remember the benefits of outsourcing, because an affordable SEO service like Internet Marketing can help get you get your products visible online.

Contact us today and let us show you how you can boost visibility and profits with killer product descriptions