when searching for gun stuff, what words?

[Monkeyleg]

I hope the moderators will consider this thread sufficiently firearms-related.

For the past year I've been taking care of a website for a friend's gunshop. Once he sees that his site is starting to pay off, then he will want to start selling stuff (range bags, ammo, cleaning supplies, knives, etc) directly online. Once his site starts to pay off, then I get something: gun(s).

To that end, I've been tweaking the site so that it ranks highly on the various search engines for a variety of terms. For example, he's the only Wilson Combat master dealer in the state, so I've got his site pretty well optimized for the term "Wilson Combat pistols," as well as several other manufacturers.

My question: when you're surfing the web looking for gun stuff, how do you phrase your search terms? Do you type in the make and model (ie, "Wilson Combat CQB") or do you use other terms? If you're looking for something about CZ's, what would you type in for your search terms?

Thanks much for any replies.

 

[keyhole]

Anything to help out another to get more guns is a good thing.

On that, I usually will do searches with different words, and change them around, as that will produce diff results.

 

[Standing Wolf]

When concocting key words, it may be worth your while to do them this way:

Wilson, combat, pistol, Wilson Combat, Wilson Combat pistol, Wilson Combat pistols

and so forth: better too many words and too many combinations than too few. The extra text bulk will slow down page loading infinitessimally, so don't worry about size.

 

[10-Ring]

I try to be specific w/o severly limiting te search or try multiple searches starting w/ general topics (ie, 45 acp handguns) and get more specific (1911 45 acp custom) until I find what I'm looking for.

 

[S_O_Laban]

When I want something specific I use the model number and name, IE S&W 4006. YMMV

 

[txgho1911]

Searched for "marlin 1894FG" and this was on the first page.
http://www.gunshopfinder.com/marlin/marlin1894FG.asp

Good catch on model specific intel.

 

[crazyXgerman]

in case you haven't done this yet:

check out http://selfpromotion.com and use it to promote the site. it is a great tool. i used it successfully back when i was running a small website, trying to get it more exposure.

 

[Lucky]

I've read that the duration of your 'lease' (whatever it's called when you get a domain) influences how high Google rates you. The shortest ones (6mo?) are sort of considered to be trash, and ranked lowest.

When I search for guns the first thing I type in is Where, the city and state and country should be prominent, then What (if there's a hyphen do it both with and without please), and to get a store I add a 'price' or '$'.

And make the price very prominent, I hate it when you have to scour for the price, or when it's not posted. I don't care about $20 or so, if one place is a bit higher I'll still buy it if it's convenient. In that category, vague promises are also comforting. "We promise to do our best to make sure you are completely satisfied."

 

[rockstar.esq]

I'm with Lucky on the price thing. It's so aggravating to screw around looking for prices on retail sites! My other pet peeve is when the homepage is some picture laden tribute to esoteric photography with little to no hard info on what precisely they do. Personally I avoid sites that don't put the contact information on every page in some obvious location. One thing that'd be utterly awesome is if holsters & other revolver specific gear could list S&W's FRAME sizes NOT the never ending list of models! It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is to find sites that organize things by simple sizing; Long action, Short action etc.

 

[Monkeyleg]

Lucky, there's a whole slew of factors that Google takes into account when ranking sites. Problem is, nobody outside of Google knows what they are.

I've read threads that mentioned that Google may look at the Whois directory to see how long a domain name has been registered for, so as to factor that into the equation. But, with folks being able to keep the domain registration information secret, I question whether Google can access that data, or even factors it into the equation.

Seniority of sites, though, does play a big factor in rankings.

And I think that's enough said about Google on a gun forum.

rockstar.esq, Lucky, perhaps the two of you should call some of the gun shop owners I talk to and explain to them why their sites suck. Most of them look like they were designed by somebody's 15 year-old nephew (and many of them actually are).

Many, if not most, gun store owners are just like other retail business owners: they know they need to be on the internet, but they don't understand why.

When I started my site back in 2004, I was cold-calling gun shops. And, often, I get the reply: we already have a website. To which I would reply, "Ok, how do I find it?"

"Well, you just type in www.bobsguns.com."

"What if I don't know the address to your site, or even your shop's name?" I would ask.

"Well, I dunno. What does it matter?"

Lost causes.

There's a lot of gun store owners who are getting it right by realizing that the online business is an entirely separate business from their brick-and-mortar stores, and that they need to have a separate staff that knows the online business.

Impact Guns has been criticized here on THR, but I think they've grown so fast that they need some time to adjust. Able Ammo is another store that's doing well in their entry into the online business.

I know my posts are often long and rambling, so feel free to skip to another thread.

Many shops with web sites don't provide contact information, because the owners don't want to be bothered.

I've been struck by this fact in the last couple of years while talking to owners of stores on my site.

"Yeah, I get emails from people from your site. But they're just asking if I have this or that gun in stock, and what my price is."

"Hmm," I reply. "How does that differ from the phone calls you receive? What are the people who are calling you asking about?"

"Well, they're asking if I have this or that gun in stock, and what my price is."

:banghead:

The store owners I really appreciate are those who've been in the business for years, and don't make up poor excuses for not renewing. One owner recently told me that he'd been in the business for 30 years, was sick of it, was 67 years old, and just wanted to hang it up.

That I can understand.

 

[MattC]

I search with the manufacturer and model number typically. If I'm looking for a local store, I type in "gun madison wi".