"The Hard, Cold SEO Secret They Don't Want
You To Know About"
This next piece shouldn't surprise you at this point...
MSN is different from Google and Yahoo.
If you look at the MSN searches and compare them to Google and Yahoo here's what you find:
80% the results are UNIQUE to MSN alone. MSN and Google only share 3 results in common.
So What? How Does This Make Me Money
Oh ye of little faith. Here's the takeaway to all this - keywords that are hard to rank for on Google may be easier to rank for on MSN. And that means more money. Ding! Ding!
If you're not on board yet you're probably thinking that you have to try and rank on Google - that's where "all the traffic" comes from. Right?
Nope.
This is a lot like the whole Firefox and Internet Explorer debate. People love to hate Microsoft. I don't know why and I don't care. Here's what I do know:
- Microsoft is a big, well run company
- Internet Explorer "is" the internet to most people
The average housewife trying to lose 25 pounds before the high school reunion is spending her time on Facebook using IE. The 27 year old guy who dropped out of college and can't attract a girl to save his life is using IE.
Marketers use Firefox.
Mac users use Firefox (or Safari).
Geeks use Firefox.
College kids use Firefox.
But 70-80% of the Western World - the world with credit cards and disposible income - use Internet Explorer.
Bank on it. And don't forget it. Know your freakin markets before you snob to one thing or another.
Which brings us back to Google, Yahoo, and MSN...
MSN and Yahoo Are Portals First
And Search Engines Second
THIS is the point that really makes you money because it gets you into the mind of your visitor. Imagine that.
You want traffic that converts. It doesn't matter where it's from. Take bread to where the hungry people are.
The truth is there are 1000s and 10s of thousands of good quality clicks on MSN and Yahoo. You just have to align with the visitor.
Yahoo's portal is my wife's homepage. What does she see?
This is a custom portal experience. Something tailored to her wants and needs. Now, I am using the default but still...look at what the average visitor sees on Yahoo:
- Celebrity Stuff (Lindsey Lohan, Hayden Pantierre, etc.)
- Best Places To Raise Kids
- Foreclosures & the economy
Here's MSN's portal experience:
Look at this stuff...
- How to show her you really care
- 8 hearty, make ahead breakfasts
- Britney's son released from hospital
- Flattering plus sized styles
- 5 funds to help you fix your 401(k)
This is gold level nich marketing research and it reflects THEIR visitors and what they are interested in.
Again, there's tons of traffic here and it is largely traffic targeted at pains people are having and how to address them.
So the question comes down to...
How Do You Rank?