Targeting your niche market via search engines can be a very efficient and effective way of pinpointing your visitors with most potential to buy your products and services. With a little planning, you can determine exactly who visits your site and who doesn’t. How? Well, by using search terms throughout your site that are geared specifically towards your own niche markets. We’re going to show you how to do it right now.

Take a minute to write down specific markets your products and services are aimed at. Now drill down even further. Do you service only one country, State or city? Are you mainly targeting men in their twenties? Parents? Low-income earners?

To give you an example, let’s take a fictional florist located in Miami, Florida who specializes in wedding bouquets. Their target markets would be something like this:

- women in their early to late twenties - people living in Miami and surrounding suburbs - brides-to-be living in Miami and surrounding suburbs - dating males - couples (especially around Valentine’s Day)

There are probably more potential markets than this, but let’s stop there. Ok, now that you have narrowed down your target market/s, try to get inside their heads. If you were a single parent/ frequent traveler/ retiree, what would YOU type in to search engines to find goods and services offered on your own site?

Start writing down these search terms as they come to mind. Using our florist example again, relevant search terms could include:

- flowers - roses - bouquets - Valentine’s Day - wedding flowers - florists - gifts

However, making a few mistakes can just as easily lose you a nice chunk of cash. Are you making these common mistakes?

__1. Trying to market to as wide an audience as possible.

You can't be everything to everyone, no matter how hard you try.

Who did you originally create your product for? Assuming you did your research and know that there's a demand for your product, then you also know who your audience is. Focus your efforts on reaching these people and showing them how your product or service will benefit them. Don't worry about pleasing everyone else.

__2. Focusing too much on you or your company.

How many times have you seen a site that says something like, "We're an established, 100-year company listed on NASDAQ with over 10 billion dollars in sales, powered by our cutting-edge, state-of-the-art blah-blah-blah technology..."

*Yawn*. So what? As a prospect, I don't care. I want to know how your product or service is going to benefit ME.

Focus on your customer. All details about you and your company should be background information, not focus of your marketing efforts.

__3. Sticking with a marketing strategy that doesn't work.

Don't get caught up in idea that 'things will get better' if you're not seeing results with your current marketing strategy. If you do same things, you can expect same results. If you've put in an honest effort and it's simply not giving you results you're looking for, then it's time to try something else.

__4. Changing or discarding a strategy that works.

It's easy to feel 'bored' with same old thing... but if you have a winning marketing strategy that consistently gives results, then why change it?

The desire for 'something new' isn't a good reason to discard a great strategy. Sure, you can keep experimenting and testing new methods to see if you can improve upon your results... but be aware that your profits may suffer. Be sure to keep backups of all your marketing materials; if your new strategy doesn't work, you can always go back to old one.

__5. Inconsistent or no follow-ups.

Although some people buy on impulse, many prefer to think things over first. There can be any number of reasons why a prospect doesn't buy right away: money's tight at time, they have other pressing concerns, they were distracted before they could purchase... whatever reason, be sure to follow up with your prospects. You'll be much more likely to catch them at a time that they're ready to buy.

__6. Taking a passive, rather than pro-active role.