Want to beat the other stations? Buy keywords
Steve Safran May 30th, 2007
(This article originally appeared in the May 29 edition of the AR&D Media 2.0 Intel Report) Here’s a humbling exercise for you: go to Google, and enter the name of your city and then the word “weather.”
I can promise you that your station won’t come up first. It probably won’t come up in the top ten and it likely won’t even be on the front page. And if you’re not on the front page of a Google results list - forget it. You won’t get the traffic.
There is an easy and inexpensive solution to this, however: buy some Google (or Yahoo or other search engine) keywords. You know those paid results that come up at the top of your search? That’s what we’re talking about. You want your result to come up first. That’s worth a little bit of money. You spend plenty of money marketing your weather - and the incremental amount to add or shift online will be an excellent investment.
Pick the name of your city, along with the top 10 or 20 communities around you and purchase them along with “weather,” “news,” “sports,” “information,” and other keywords. Almost nobody is doing this - and it’s easy.
There is a catch: you have to deliver.
It’s not enough to have the repurposed video forecast or five-day graphic on your site. That’s false advertising. You’ve told the Google searcher who is looking for a custom forecast that you have it. So make sure your site gives the user plenty of options to customize their forecast. Make sure they can drill down to their area. Make sure they’re getting the exact information they want. Make the visit worth their time, and you will earn a loyal and regular customer.
That’s worth a few pennies in online advertising, isn’t it?
19 Comments Add your own
1. Anonymous | May 30th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Of course, since Google gives you the forecast automatically for “city + weather,” this particular ad buy may not be so effective.
2. ! | May 30th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
it’s a great idea, steve.
unfortunately, here it is nearly 10 YEARS into the net and we are talking THE ABSOLUTE BASICS.
3. JoeMo | May 30th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Well, 50% of the stations come in if your search Minneapolis, weather on google so I think your theory is wack!
4. Steve Safran | May 30th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Good for Minneapolis - that’s better than many. Still, WCCO comes up third and KARE comes up seventh. You don’t want to be below the fold. Look at who bought the ad: weather.com. Google searchers go to the first result usually. We try to offer suggestions for everyone, and most cities are behind on this one.
And yes - absolutely, that four-day comes up in a Google search, which is very cool. And I say all the more reason to be the first result right next to that. For those who want more detail, you may as well be the first choice. I say buy the keywords. Buy ‘em for weather, sports, and whenever a big topic hits the news in your market. Seriously - what can it hurt?
But again - as Cory has pointed out, often: TV weather sites need to deliver more. A Google ad will bring in the traffic - but it’s up to you to keep them coming back.
5. Jason | May 31st, 2007 at 5:42 am
I’ve been buying keywords on Google and Yahoo since Apr. 2006. Not only do I buy city+weather, I buy the keywords for every competitor’s web site in town.
It’s given a great return. I get a 15-20% CTR on my main competitor keywords. For weather+city we get a 13.79% CTR on Google.
It’s been so successful, we keep increasing our budget every year.
6. Hussman | May 31st, 2007 at 6:38 am
My city and station comes up as the #2 result, and I spent no $$$, so good for us I guess.
I have to ask though, will web surfers really click through if Google already has the four day forecast up there? I consider myself a pretty normal when it comes to things like that, and if I get my results right there, I’m not going any further. I’ve received my instant gratification, so now it’s time for this American to move on to the next thing.
7. Don | May 31st, 2007 at 6:42 am
so for those of us that haven’t dealt with this in the past - what does it cost to do this?
8. Liz Foreman | May 31st, 2007 at 6:59 am
my old station (wcpo) comes up as #1 but we did a lot of careful planning/SEO and a bit of SEM to get there. cool article, saf.
9. ! | May 31st, 2007 at 6:59 am
funny how a simple properly worded page title can get you listed right near the top… and it costs zip.
learned that 10 years ago.
the problem is when your competition figures it out…like some just did.
10. Anonymous | May 31st, 2007 at 7:44 am
typed in our city and our website came up number 3. This is not all about spending money. There’s a lot to be said about the strength of the site and the depth of content in the community you serve.
11. Scott | May 31st, 2007 at 8:46 am
This is bogus.
The chances of you making more money than you pay out is very slim.
Unless you get every person who clicks through to sign up to RSS, this is completely bogus.
You would have to paying a very very low amount per click.
12. Steve Safran | May 31st, 2007 at 9:42 am
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is, of course, the first choice here. But most stations don’t do it. And organic SEO takes time.
And it’s not all about spending money. There’s no silver bullet. This is one more idea in a long list. Compared to what stations pay to advertise their TV product, this is a cheap and cheerful addition.
For those of you who find the idea bogus, so be it. That’s the marvelous thing about ideas - some agree, some disagree. It’s not about the immediate payoff of each click. It’s about getting your name associated with the weather in your market every time people search, and then showing them that you have the goods in the hope that they will come back. That’s what advertising does - you don’t expect me to watch the news every single time you run an ad on TV. You want to get me as a viewer. Same idea.
13. Don Day | May 31st, 2007 at 10:22 am
Some stations are doing a pretty decent job with SEO - and ARE on the first page of results. This is just a spotcheck of some western cities:
Seattle weather: KOMO #3
Portland weather: KATU #4
Spokane weather: KREM #3, KXLY #4
Los Angeles weather: KCBS #9
San Francisco weather: KPIX #3
Denver weather: KUSA #3
Boise weather: KTVB #3
Salt Lake City weather: KUTV #5
Sacramento weather: KCRA #4
Phoenix weather: KPNX #2
14. ! | May 31st, 2007 at 11:11 am
i still think boiseweather.com that resolves to ktvb’s weather page is a better investment.
$7 for a whole year @ godaddy
imagine the possibilities.
15. ! | May 31st, 2007 at 11:23 am
guess i should have checked it before i spoke; someone already has it registered.
16. aidian | May 31st, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I don’t know how much it would cost — my impression is not a ton — but if money’s that tight I’d consider two things:
a) the keywords would probably produce a better ROI than the TV spot inventory we spend promoting our site and
b) time to update your resume, ‘cuz if management won’t spend the cash to promote the online platform than that organization’s going down.
Also — i think a lot of users would click through after the google four day — my wife (the perfect in demo viewer) asks me for the weather every day and I give her the basics. Then she logs on to check the details. The worst part? She usually logs on to the local newspaper’s site!
17. John | May 31st, 2007 at 6:15 pm
whoa… we’re #98.
18. James Cridland | June 2nd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
There’s a (better) way of using Google AdWords.
Um.
I’d link to my blog post here, but “the spam filter will block me”, so instead, click my name and discover what it is. (No, seriously.)
19. Bob | September 28th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
area login member myfreepaysite
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