Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

This article by WSJ writer Lee Gomes refutes some of the claims made by Chris Anderson in the new book, "The Long Tail". Gomes basically says Anderson overstates the value and size of the long tail. The long tail is kind of a big buzz topic right especially with the book coming out and perhaps even more so among online marketers related to the long tail of search. I think it's good to have opposing viewpoints to keep people honest and to encourage discussion about things (Anderson's response on his blog). I think Chris Anderson has obviously thought about this and researched it a lot more than Lee Gomes, and I think Lee is just trying to be controversial about a book and concept that everyone else is raving about. I haven't read the book, but I plan to read it soon and will post a review when I get around to reading it.

The truth about the long tail is that it certainly does exist and will continue to grow--perhaps more quickly in some industries like music, movies and other media--as more and more people realize the breadth of what's available online. This is an important part of search marketing because as consumers begin to search for these "tail" products, if they can't find your site, you'll miss out on all those sales. I'm talking about the products that you'll only sell one or two of, but in aggregate it becomes a significant part of your business. I think another way the numbers can lie about the long tail is if you look at retailers who don't actively optimize their business to sell the long tail items. If all they offer is the "hits" that's what they're going to sell. To get an accurate idea of the real impact of long tail sales, you need to look at numbers from retailers who get the long tail concept and who actively target those keywords in the search engines as well as make them available through their internal site search.

It's not like Chris invented this long tail thing, he just brought the concept into our collective awareness. As online marketers we need to be aware of it and do all we can to (1) offer those products and (2) make them accessible to potential customers.