This week, we're taking a look at the "the winner takes it all" problem in search marketing. If you make your website slightly better than the other websites, you can dramatically increase your sales.

Tip: A new IBP beta version is available. The new beta version has a much faster keyword tool and it offers many improvements.

In the news: Yahoo is testing a new search layout, Google now supports anchor links in Sitelinks, Cuil is now a real-time search engine and more.

Table of contents:

• Facts of the week
• Search engine news and articles of the week
• IBP 11.6 beta version
• Success stories (this could be yours!)
• Previous articles

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One of the main problems in Internet marketing is that it is often a "the winner takes it all" game. That means that the best website will get the deal and all other websites will get nothing, no matter how good they are.

Suppose someone wants to buy a green widget. He searches Google, takes a look at the top 10 results and then decides to buy something on one of the sites. That means that one site gets the sale and the other sites get nothing.

You can dramatically increase your sales by being just slightly better

The above has an important implication: you just have to be slightly better than your competitors to get many more sales.

If you make the change from being one of the discarded sites to the site that is chosen by the searcher then your sales will increase dramatically. You'll make the change from getting nothing to getting everything.

Three rounds: how to be better than your competitors

Your website has to survive three rounds in the fight for the customer:

1. Choose the right keywords to survive the first round

Being better than your competitors starts with choosing the right keywords. If you target keywords that aren't used by the people who want to buy then you might get a lot of visitors but no sales.

Your web pages should be optimized for keywords that attract people who are looking for the products and services that you sell on your website and who are ready to buy.

IBP's keyword tool can help you to find the best keywords for your website. Further information on different keyword types can be found in the IBP manual (PDF).

2. You must be in the top 10 results to survive the second round

While it is important to target the right keywords, your website must also be found on the first result page of Google, Yahoo and Bing to attract customers.

Most people only take a look at the top 10 results on the first result page. If your website cannot be found on the first result page for your keywords then potential customers won't find your website.

Use IBP's Top 10 Optimizer to optimize your website so that it will be listed on Google's first result page for your keywords. This is crucial if you want to get the sale.

3. Your website must be convincing

It's not enough to be listed on the first search engine result page. Your website must also be convincing. It should give the customer what he is looking for, it should have a professional design and it should make it as easy as possible to buy.

That is why it is so important to work on improving the conversion rate of your web pages. By improving your conversion rate, you can generate more money "out of thin air" from your existing rankings.

A trustworthy and professional website with a good conversion rate also has positive side-effects. Your customers probably will stay longer with your company and people are more likely to link to your website.

The winner takes it all

It takes some time to optimize your web pages, but it is worth the effort. Even small changes can have a huge impact on the number of sales that you get. Make the change from being one of the discarded sites to the site that gets the sale and your sales will go through the roof.

Remember that your competitors are also working on their websites. Even if you are better than your competitors you have to continue with the optimization to stay ahead.

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