cfpa
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
# Posts: 203
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Posted: 01/30/2008 08:55 am
I have sort of a marketing question - I realized why our overall bounce rate is so high and this is because we offer training courses on hundreds of technical topics and many people enter our site with a general topic keyword like "Cleaning Validation" but then the bounce rate is 90% because I assume they are looking for information not a $2000 course. However, the bounce rate is low when people enter our site with keywords like "pharmaceutical training courses".
So my question is do we not worry about all these bounces since they are not our target customer or do we add in the META tags that this is a 3 day course and that it costs $2000 to deter people from clicking??? I can see this idea making more sense with a PPC ad than an organic result but I wonder is it better to deter people who are not our customer or just not worry about it?
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bhartzer
Administrator
Joined: Jun 08, 2000
# Posts: 7033
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Posted: 01/30/2008 10:17 am
do we add in the META tags
Changing your meta tags really won't do anything. You will need to change your rankings for the keywords, and meta tags are really only one small part of overall rankings.
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cfpa
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
# Posts: 203
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Posted: 01/30/2008 10:37 am
Let me clarify: We rank well for the topic keywords where maybe people want to just get information so we wouldn't want to change our rankings and rank worse (although I don't think this is what you meant). I'm thinking adding META description tags that clearly explain that this is a course and it costs $2,000 so this way people know that our site is not what they are looking for and our overall bounce rate would lower.
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Quadrille
Insider
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 986
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Posted: 01/30/2008 10:42 am
I agree with bhartzer; successful optimization should be attracting appropriate visitors. So you need to consider why you attracting disappointed visitors in their place.
Some degree of 'wasted' optimisation is inevitable, as your offering and their needs will overlap - but this is telling you to do more for the people who are NOT coming, rather than less for those who are 
You might consider new pages that focus more clearly on the courses - but remember that some of these 'bouncers' may need you one day, if not this time, so it may be worth catering to their current needs, so that they consider you when that day comes (if that's possible).
But avoid doing anything that turns people away if you can - maybe some of those 'general visitors' are converting?
(edited slightly as you posted while I was writing!)
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cfpa
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
# Posts: 203
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Posted: 01/30/2008 10:53 am
We rank well for "ICH Q10" as well as for "ICH Q10 course" because the title of our course is ICH Q10. I think when people want information they just type in the topic and see what they get so they click on our site not knowing until they get there that it's a course not a Wikipedia type information site and we get a high bounce rate.
Here's a real example - the SERP listing for ICH Q10...
ICH Q10: Pharmaceutical Quality System
The draft of ICH Q10 is the latest document that aims to define the requirements for a quality system for pharmaceutical operations. ...
www.cfpa.com/200803272131-11a/2131/d/courseSummary.aspx - 36k -
So in here it does not clearly state that this is a course. My question is do you think it would be beneficial to change the META description to:
ICH Q10: Pharmaceutical Quality System
This two day course $1475 has been designed to benefit those in the Pharmaceutical industry with responsibilities related to the design, operation or management of the overall Quality System or any individual quality system used by the industry....
www.cfpa.com/200803272131-11a/2131/d/courseSummary.aspx - 36k -
If we changed the META description tag do you think this would be helpful??
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Quadrille
Insider
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 986
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Posted: 01/30/2008 11:46 am
I don't think the meta description is a the issue, and I'd advise against any change intended to put people off.
Think Positive!
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cfpa
Joined: Oct 20, 2006
# Posts: 203
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Posted: 01/30/2008 12:10 pm
I'd advise against any change intended to put people off
Is trying to clarify our services putting people off?
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Quadrille
Insider
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 986
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Posted: 01/30/2008 04:10 pm
Your stated concern is those people who have arrived by mistake; what will your suggested solution do other than put people off?
I'm simply suggesting that a more positive approach would be to cater to those people, who may - or at least some of them may - one day be customers.
But hey, it's your site, and I'm only suggesting
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Dinkar
Moderator
Joined: Aug 12, 2001
# Posts: 4268
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Posted: 01/30/2008 08:26 pm
imo, there is one simple solution.. just add 'course' to your title; so people can see it in SERP and click only if they want a 'course.
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kg84
Joined: Jan 28, 2008
# Posts: 24
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Posted: 02/06/2008 09:45 am
many of these people might not be interested in the course, but couldn't there be a few who decide to take the course. If they are not interested at worst you are at least creating more awareness for your business and they could refer someone else to you.
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excell
Moderator
Joined: Mar 19, 2001
# Posts: 14495
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Posted: 02/12/2008 08:15 am
I'd change the page title...that way I would clarify that the page was about and attract more key phrases.
Add - Training or workshop or seminar or whatever it is you are selling to the page title.
It doesn't matter about excess traffic, what matters is reaching the specific traffic and you will have an advantage if you are descriptive of what exactly you are offerings.
(Obviously the page title would be indicative and precise to the actual page content.)
Adding: Errm - sorry Dinkar already gave the exact same advice...
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