www.miogps.net Build a Niche Store Site Review

August 30, 2007

Since this is the first Build a Niche Store site review for one of our readers, I will likely get into some detailed descriptions of each section. The goal of these reviews is for the BANS community to grow as a whole and realize success with each site. Please keep in mind that the suggestions below are only what I would do to further develop a BANS store, from its already strong, “Out of the Box” capabilities.

Build a Niche Store Site: www.miogps.net
Target Niche: GPS Products
Date Reviewed: 08/29/2007
By: Mark Hansen

Overall Score: 5 out of 10 (10 being the best)

• Domain Name: 9
  (This would have been a 10 if it were +1 years old, and strictly focused on the Mio brand GPS systems)
• Use of Keyword Meta Tags: 3
• Use of Description Meta tag: 3
• Use of Targeted Articles and Information: 8
• BANS Default Menu Optimization: 0
• Niche-Specific: 6

One of the first things I always do when reviewing a website for a prospective client, a friend, or even just for my own morbid curiousity, is look at the age of the domain and the whois history. (http://whois.domaintools.com/miogps.net) In this case, I can see that the name was originally registered on 04/17/2007, just over 4 months ago. In theory, as your domain name ages your site will have a bit more weight with the search engines. Knowing that the site is 4 months old makes me wonder about the reach and/or effect of your traffic from Google. Google is known for throwing newer websites into what is commonly called, the Google Sandbox. There will be an article on the sandbox effect posted soon…

Current Ranking Status

The first step of deciding a path to success for any website is to first get an idea of the current status. I pulled 20 top-level keywords from the GPS Products website and ran them through a ranking check with WebCEO.  The keywords used for this report were the exact words you have in the site as of this report.

Keyword Ranking Table (In no certain order)

Keyword	Alexa	Google	Yahoo!	MSN
Automotive GPS Devices	21	-	-	8
DigiWalker	-	-	-	14
DigiWalker H610	13	-	-	9
digiwalker mio gps	7	-	-	4
Garmin	-	-	-	-
Garmin eTrex Legend	-		-	-
Garmin eTrex Vista	-	-	-	-
Garmin Forerunner	-	-		-
GPS Accessories & Cables	-		-	36
gps handheld	-	-		-
handheld gps	-		-	-
Magellan	-	-	-	-
mio 310 gps	-	-	13	20
mio c310 gps	-	-	-	15
mio c310 gps review	27	-		8
MIO C520 review	10	-	-	14
mio c710 gps	-	-	-	17
Mio C710 Review	1	-	-	3
Mio DigiWalker C220	31		-	10
Mio GPS	12	-	-	1
nüvi 200W	5	-	-	20

The most glaring portion of this report is the noticably blank second & third columns titled “Google & Yahoo”. The site has mild exposure in both Alexa and MSN, but Google and Yahoo are not playing too nicely! I immediately jumped over to Google to see if the site was indexed.. sure enough, a total of 44 pages in the google index, many are the same pages that these keywords were obtained from. At Yahoo, 27 pages are in the index… so why arent they doing better?

After you have the current rankings with the keywords the site owner has targeted - its time to see if they are the right keywords! When I pulled these terms into WordTracker to check out both demand and competition, some of the terms have very low search demand, and in turn, very high competition! For instance, the term “Garmin” while it is a very popular term (4535 searches), the competition, or KEI (Keyword Efficiency Index), shows more than 3,300,000 pages in the Google index with the term in the title and a KEI of 0.623. Click on the image to the right to view the full KEI table of the terms the site has targeted.

Summary: By looking at the current ranking score, I would want to focus on getting the right search terms in place to reach deeper into the niche by finding and exploiting a much more focused group of keywords and phrases. At the same time, expanding on the few terms that currently show fair ranking and higher potential.

Using WordTracker to Drill into the Niche

The most influential factor for increasing site traffic is knowing the terms real people are using to find what they are looking for. I use wordtracker, but there are other tools that help with this process as well.  Another great residual effect of looking at these terms is that you will usually spot phrases and mis-spellings that you never considered! For this portion of my own reviews, I use only the Google KEI, as it is the hardest to rank in the SERP’s most often.

Open the pdf table on the right side, it contains approximately 500 terms that are being searched for every day, by users like you and I. These are the real words that are being typed into search engines, as well as the mis-spellings.  Just to clarify the definition of the numbers:

• Searches, represents the 60 day average of exact term searches, from many search engines in the wordtracker database. (May be 1200 from one, 200 from another, etc)
• Predict, is a trend estimate of daily searches across all engines. This does not mean there will be XXXX searches in Google alone, but a combined sum across all the indexes associated with wordtracker.
• Google, represents the approximate number of pages in the google index, with the term in the title tag.
• Google KEI, represent the Google Keyword Efficiency Index. (or Keyword effectiveness index, depending on who you ask)  It is a measure of the word or phrases popularity, compared to the number of competitive sites. A HIGHER KEI is what you want to target! (Higher than 1.0)

Now that you see the terms and there individual KEI, you want to re-sort the table and place the highest KEI ranked terms at the top! (Click the image at right) You will likely find that many of the terms are just too generic to target in your niche, and even though they do present opportunities for high ranking and sales prospects, they may not fit into your Build a Niche Store menu and still look natural. We dont throw these out though… because they can be used later in the game as bait to bring in visitors, THEN direct them to the product they were looking for!

Looking through the pdf you just opened, you will notice that the easiest terms to rank for are mostly “Long Tail” phrases. These are what you want the most! If you target a generic term like GPS, even though it receives many searches, the competition is just too high to make it a lucrative target with BANS. Remember, we want our BANS store to generate sales as quickly as possible with a minimum amount of invested time. Targeting the right terms in the beginning is the best way to achieve success!

Keywords Alone are not Enough!

So… now that you know the best terms, where do you go from here? One of the most common mistakes I see is when a person decides to fill the keyword meta tag with all of these terms on every page, or not enough terms to provide bait. Search engines like to direct people to specific pages that are full of specific information! Imagine going into the hardware store for a 1″ long, 5/16″ diameter bolt… the clerk in front says… Aisle 5, and you are on your way! Well, you get to aisle 5 and sure enough, there is one large bin in the middle of the floor filled with every single size that is available, and you have to spend the next 30-45 minutes weeding through the junk to find exactly what you wanted. I think you will agree - not too effective! Now walk into a Lowes or Home Depot… Aisle 5 has each size and length completely catalogued into its own smaller, niche sized bin, and clearly marked for you find exactly what you wanted within 1 minute. That is what you want out of your website! Search engines will reward you for organized and exact content!

Fortunately, Build a Niche Store has all the tools to categorize your store in a very efficient and timely manner! Starting with your main categories, go back in and rename them according to what your KEI report tells you people are looking for! For example, I can see that nobody really searches for your first category: “Accessories & Cables”… However, if you were to rename that to “GPS Accessories & Cables” it would immediately narrow the exact information people are looking for! For the keywords, all your information is listed directly below in the subcategories! Try this:

• New Page Title: GPS Accessories & Cables
• Keywords: gps,accessories,cables,adapters,antennas,chargers,holders,mounts,memory cards
• Description: GPS Accessories for all your GPS Devices. We offer a full line of GPS cables, antennas, chargers, and much more! Shop today at Mio GPS for all your GPS Accessories.
• Page Name: GPS Accessories & Cables
• File Name: GPS-Accessories-and-Cables

As you can see, this can be completed for each MAIN category in less than 5 minutes each! Spend a few hours each week optomizing your categories. Start with MAIN categories one week, work you way into the first level sub-categories the next, then finish by completing ALL third and fourth level catagories until you are done!

In addition to optomizing your current structure - why not take advantage of the terms people are using to buy them?! One of the highest KEI terms is a perfect choice for a new store page! In your admin/store pages/, choose “Create New Store Page” with the following:

• New Page Title: Garmin 3210C GPS
• Keywords: garmin,3210,3210c,gps,buy,for sale,deal,discount
• Description: Garmin 3210c GPS Systems for sale. Shop today for deals on discount Garmin 3210 GPS Marine Chartplotter Systems!
• Search Query: Garmin 3210
• Parent Category: GPS Devices
• Page Name: Garmin 3210c GPS System
• File Name: Garmin-3210c-GPS-System

Essentially, you have created a NICHE PAGE, that has a very targeted focus on one specific type and brand. The WordTracker search and KEI report tells us that people are searching for it… it is not very competitive, and should be a top selling category in the shortest amount of time! There are several other phrases that should be set to their own “Niche” pages, here are just a few:

• Apollo GPS For Sale
• Viewsonic V36 GPS Receivers
• Prime Pilot GPS
• GPS Auto Trackers
• GPS Navman Systems (with a subcategory page of: Navman 100 Portable GPS)
• Glamis Dunes GPS
• Discount Garmin GPS

Another thing you notice in the KEI report is just how many times these terms are mis-spelled. ALL of these errors are what actual humans typed into engines and should be taken advantage of in your keyword section of the meta tag. Garmin & Magellin are commonly mispelled:

• garman
• garmon
• garmen
• magellen
• megellan
• magellan

What to do with all the other Terms?

Build a Niche Store has the great ability to write your own content pages. You have already done so with several interesting articles! The next step is to take advantage of the KEI list, and write articles that are keyword rich and link to the products people are looking for! For example you see the highest KEI term being: 1540 mhz amplifier gps. Why not take those terms and turn them into an information article titled: “1540 mhz GPS Amplifiers”. Within the article, you could have several internal links to search queries within your BANS store.  Do a bit of external research to find the most popular types of 1540 mhz gps devices, and write a short paragraph about each one, including a link back to the product name in your BANS store.

On and Off Site SEO Factors

Onsite factors that could help with indexing and overall ranking. Along with restructuring the entire catalog system mentioned above, follow the guide in the Build a Niche Store tips section titled: Add a Link-Back to the Bottom of your Store . It can be titled Permalink, or if you want to get creative, place a bit of javascript next to it and make it a “Bookmark this page” type link.

You currently have about 30 pages with backlinks to your site. This is good! The links all seem to come from directories you have submitted the site to, with the exception of a few backlinks listed in Craigslist. I have to commend you for being creative and finding different ways to promote the site! Google on the other hand has only 2 back links to your site. The common thinking is that you will not get backlink credit, which equates to Google PageRank, unless the page providing the link is a PR4 or higher. How do you get these?? I use the Google toolbar for starters… it will show the current PR of any page you are visiting. To find the highest quality links, go to Google and in the search box type:

• GPS Navigation Systems + Add Link

Alternatively, WebCEO has a function that allows you to find many pages in one quick check. Either way will work, the key thing you want to is locate higher PR pages and obtain one way inbound links, or exchange links with them if it is required. A good example:

• www.advantrack.com : PR4 and all about GPS devices. Even the link page carries a PR2.

Another way to get good backlinks is by finding a GPS related forum and create a signature that has your targeted anchor text. Make it a point to post once a week about new articles or newly released GPS devices.

Strength of site in Niche Summary

While you may be seeing good traffic and moderate sales on your BANS site, it really doesnt drill into the GPS niche as well as it has the opportunity to do. At this point, the site has a focus on GPS units in general, which is a very competitive market! By optimizing the menu, expanding on your keywords and descriptions, and following the current search trends by delivering a few well targeted articles, you could easily double your site revenue within 30-45 days, and look for even higher rewards as the domain matures.

Please dont hesitate to ask questions if there is more I can explain, or if you need additional help.

Mark

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