The Glen Campbell SEO Songbook

I’m a huge Glen Campbell fan. I remember watching the “Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” as a very young kid and growing up in the 70’s, Glen’s music was very much the soundtrack to my youth. Even now, from time to time, I queue up all of Glen’s old records on my Rhapsody Unlimited player and totally grove to his classic country pop sound.

I also realize that his best claim to fame in the last 25 years were these particularly embarrassing drunk driving photos.

I knew nothing about “Meet Glen Campbell” until it appeared up in the new releases list on Rhapsody Unlimited. Being a huge fan of his, I gave it a courtesy listen having absolutely no expectations of the record.

I was absolutely amazed how much this album totally rocked. Clearly, Glen took a page from the Rick Rubin / Johnny Cash collaborations in returning to his classic sound while still retaining a somewhat contemporary feel. Glen also smartly chose more up to date songs that were easily adaptable to his vocal and musical strengths.

In honor of Glen awesome new record, I’m going to use the titles of some of his songs to bring out some useful SEO tips that webmasters can use to help drive visitors and sales.

“Sing” (Originally covered by the band “Travis”. Glen’s version is killer. Glen, not “Travis”, owns this song now): In order to generate a sale or lead, your website content needs to “sing” to your visitors. It needs to reach them emotionally but not scream or preach. Let your site visitors know why your product or service will enrich their lives. Connect with their feelings. Understand their needs and concerns. Don’t talk about how great your company is…talk about how your products and services can solve their problems and address their needs.

“Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife”: Lots of online commerce happens because the web surfer feels emotionally driven to purchase something. If you can create an all-around excellent user experience that can captivate ordinary people, you will make a lot of sales.

“Galveston”: If your business has a local audience, you need to make your service location prominent throughout your website in order to rank well for local search terms. Make sure your business address is on every website page. Prominently feature your city name in page title tags and header tags. Make sure your locally focused keywords have an optimum keyword density. Try to get your inbound links to contain your locale as part of your link text.

“By The Time I Get To Phoenix”: If your business attracts customer visits, make sure driving directions are prominently featured on the website. Offer links to Google Maps / Mapquest on each website page.

“Try A Little Kindness”: The best website in the world won’t get you sales and leads if you don’t have excellent customer service. Make sure your answer inquiries promptly and professionally. If you sell goods on your website, make sure items like return policies and shipping information are easy to find and easy to understand.

“Wichita Lineman” (a “Lineman” works on telephone / power lines): Sometimes, conversations are necessary to make a sale / generate a lead. Don’t make it impossible for customers to talk with you. Prominently feature phone numbers throughout the website and when a prospect calls, make sure the person answering the phone adheres to high standards of professionalism.

“Rhinestone Cowboy” (about a guy stuck in New York City dreaming of living out west): Make sure your website content matches visitor expectations. If you draw visitors to your website who are interested in “widgets”, show them “widgets”. Talk about “widgets”. Don’t make them feel like they’re in the wrong place. Don’t try to get them to download your “Make Money Online Ebook”.

“Gentle On My Mind”: Website privacy policies are very important to consumers. They need to know that once they give you their personal information, you aren’t going to share it with others. A clear, easy-to-understand, prominently placed website privacy policy will give your visitors the peace of mind to comfortably purchase your goods and services.

I encourage you to give Glen’s new record a listen…it’s really excellent.