You’ve heard the statistic – 80% of shoppers research products online before going into a store to make a purchase. Consumers looking for the Mom’s Choice Awards Honoring Excellence seal are doing their research in the Mom’s Choice Awards Shop.

And they’re using the same search strategy they’d use at Amazon.com and other retailers.  They aren’t necessarily typing a product name into that search box. They enter words and phrases that best describe what they’re looking for.

Try it yourself. Enter a term or phrase relevant to your award-winning product or service in the box, then click the magnifying glass.

• [Children’s Picture books category] search: preschool boys
• [Toys Games & Puzzles category] search: educational
• [All categories] parenting autism

Does your product or service show up in the search results? If not, it is because your MCAS Record is not complete.

Why does that matter? Because it means shoppers aren’t learning about your MCA award-winning product or service when they’re looking to buy a product just like yours! You’re losing sales.

If this is you, then now is the time to look at the keyword strategies you’re using for marketing your product in the Mom’s Choice Awards Store. You can easily fix this gap by reviewing and updating your MCAS record.

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Log into the MCAS system and go to the Entry Tab. Review all of the fields on this page to make sure all of the critical elements are complete and accurate.

1. Include the link to your website / product page.

2. Verify (or add) author, illustrator, and/or company names.

3. Add intended audience.
This should be descriptive and inclusive of the age group. For example: preschool, Ages 3 to 5.

4. Check appropriate boxes for the Age Groups category.

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Next, go to the Marketing Tab. This is where you will find the spot to enter words that describe your product, aka keywords.  Think of keywords as the terms people would use in researching your product.

In setting your keyword strategy – selecting the words you would use – you want to pick the words that best fit your MCA award-winning product. Answering these three questions will help ensure that you are using the best practices for keyword strategies.

1. Is [word] relevant to my product / service?  

Accuracy is critical. Consumers can see through [??]. Padding your list with words that aren’t related to your product or service is not only a huge No-No, it impacts your integrity.

In looking at relevance vis-a-vis keyword strategies, use the words that DIRECTLY describe your product to look for concepts that are tangentially related to your product. See below for some of the free tools that can help with keyword research.

2. Is [word / phrase] helpful to decision making?

Consumers enter search terms that help them quickly hone in on THE product or service that best meets their needs.  They aren’t thinking about the best marketing phrases, they use “living my life” terms that help them answer key questions.

• Who is this product for (age, gender, phase of life)?
• Will this product help me [as a mom, dad, grandparent, teacher, et al]?

Carefully select keywords that will guide them to your product page. Once there, they will learn more about what your product does, how it works, and when they would use it.

Keyword Strategies
Tools to help with Keyword Selection

Selecting keywords for shopping within the Mom’s Choice Awards Store is similar to – but not the same as – the keyword strategy you might use for your website. Consumer keyword strategies are not about SEO (search engine optimization) or being #1 in search results.

Our goal is to offer the most useful, helpful guidance to potential buyers that lead them to our products. Here is a shortlist of keyword research tools that can help you identify those secondary words and phrases to use in the Keyword section of your MCAS record.

Keyword Tool – This is an excellent, flexible tool. Not only can you type in a keyword and get 750 recommendations from Google, you can also use those terms to see how people are searching on YouTube and Bing. There is an “App Store” search, but I didn’t find it very helpful.

Wordstream – Like other tools, you can enter a keyword (or better yet a phrase) to see related ideas / concepts. What makes Wordstream stand out is its free “Keyword Niche Finder,” a tool that helps you find “pockets of most profitable  keyword opportunities.”

WordTracker – In addition to keyword suggestions, you’ll also get SEO competition data. The higher the competition, the more the word is used for searches. Very helpful for your purposes in the store. Note: WordTracker comes with a 7-day free trial.

Another option is to ask some of your customers. How would they describe your product? What do they think is the most important or unique aspect of what you’re offering? Their input can help you narrow down your list to the more valuable keywords vis-a-vis marketing.

Going through the process to identify your keyword strategies – whether it is for the MCA Shop, your website, blog, or other outlet – not only helps with consumer discoverability online, it can also help you frame your marketing materials in ways that are both useful and attractive to retailers who feature your product in their stores.