(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?
