(photo Ǭ© J2Soft solutions)
By Russ Ward
Why miss the boat?
Recently a friend I know in the pharmaceutical business told me his company had no clue how to compare their actual web site traffic with the numbers of people that were looking for health-related information. But with some well-placed research and analysis, its not hard to uncover the enormous numbers of web searches that people conduct to find help, relief and information about their diseases and aliments.
Take a look at this comparison of an actual web sites monthly traffic, shown against number of natural language searches per month for terms relevant to the disease for which the company has an approved drug:
This is current data from an actual pharmaceutical web site. These Google search results are for a specific condition (two keywords only).
Current statistics show that in the United States, 61% of adults use the Internet as a primary source of health-related information. So when my friend saw these statistics regarding the number of aggregated searches that people conduct for information about specific diseases, he was shocked. Apparently, his company web site routinely receives under 10,000 visits per month, while there are millions of natural searches by the public in a month. His company is missing the boat when it comes to providing search-relevant results for people looking for information and help.
Pharmaceutical companies make large investments (sometimes upward of $500M) in new drug development, testing, regulatory approvals, and very significant investment in marketing campaigns. However a large majority of companies drop the ball when it comes to implementing Search Engine Optimization, Web Directory Submissions and Back Link building programs.
So what do these terms mean?
Search Engine Optimization: Embedding into your website the keywords that are commonly used in searches.
Web Directory Submission: A yellow page listing for the search engines to use.
Back Link Building: Getting endorsements from other websites that connect to your site. Its like it was in High School – the more popular you are, the more invitations youll receive to the dance.
Complex rules apply to the implementation for these processes. However there is a lot to gain by optimizing your web site, as the traffic numbers above reveal. At the very least get a basic SEO, Directory Submission and Back Link building program in place.
| Condition | Keyword | Monthly Search Volume |
| Cerebrovascular accident | Stroke | 5,000,000 |
| Cardiac Arrest | Heart Attack | 1,220,000 |
| Sleep Disorder | Insomnia | 1,830,000 |
| Cholesterol | Cholesterol | 2,240,000 |
These keywords attracted this many searches in June 2009. What are your keywords and how many hits did your web site get?