Internet marketing term of the week:
Longtail keywords
By Derek Gehl

In Nicole Ephgrave's article on Yahoo Search Marketing's "Panama" upgrade,
she mentions the strategy of bidding on "longtail keywords" as an effective
low-cost way to drive targeted traffic to your site.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this term, here's the IMC
definition:

Longtail keywords are 3 to 5-word phrases with a very specific meaning that
applies directly to the product or service you sell.

The more specific, the better! That's because people who are searching on
highly specific phrases are closer to making a buying decision. And that
means they're far more likely to purchase your product than people who are
searching for more general information.

For example, if you sell custom-made hubcaps for antique cars, who do you
think is more likely to buy your product:

... someone who does a search on the keyword, "antique car info"

-- or --

... someone who does a search on "1935 Chevy truck hubcaps"?

The second person, obviously!

So when you run your own pay-per-click ads, make sure you try to target as
many highly specific phrases as possible. There'll be fewer people searching
on those phrases, but they'll be far more likely to buy your product.

And the great thing is, longtail keywords are cheaper than more popular
ones -- which means you'll get more converting customers and save money on
your ad campaigns at the same time!