I was talking to someone the other day about how supermarkets often employ a marketing strategy called the “The Loss Leader Model”. This is where they sell products at a loss, knowing that it will entice people to come into the store to buy these products at the bargain price, while they also buy other items when in the store.
This is a clever marketing ploy, and you’ll notice it’s often the products they advertise on T.V. that are these “loss leaders”. Anyway, you might be asking what this has to do with online marketing, so let me explain now. Although not exactly the same as the ‘Loss Leader’ model, what I refer to as ‘lateral keywords’ is very similar. A lateral keyword is one that is closely related to another keyword, being in the same family of keywords, almost like cousins you could say.
Here’s an example. Take these three sets of keyword phrases:
“Domains” and “Hosting”
“Dog Collars” and “Dog Training”
“How to stop a baby crying” and “baby clothes”.
It’s pretty clear that the two keywords in each set are related to each other, the first one “websites” is the common theme and the second group “baby”, and the last one with “dog” being the common denominator.
So if we look at the first one, if you wanted to sell hosting as an affiliate, which is very competitive, you could try and get people to your site on ‘domains’ related keywords instead, as they will need hosting at some point. The same for ‘dog collars’, you might not make much money selling dog collars, but a certain percentage of people looking for dog collars may well need dog training.
Perhaps a closer relationship might be ‘dog muzzle’ which someone could be looking for if they had a problem with their dog biting people. These people would most likley be interested in a dog training course, especially if the ad on your ‘dog muzzle’ page was targeted to ‘stop dog biting training’.
Keywords for Websites
So when it comes to keywords you’re choosing for your websites, often a good strategy I have used and continue to use, is to look for keywords that might be much easier to rank for and hence get traffic to my sites on, even if that keyword won’t directly make me great money, because I know that this visitor will be interested in other products/services I’m promoting on the site. So I’m getting people to my sites from one keyword set, but then pushing them to the product/service I really want them to take notice of.
The advantage of doing this, is that if you find a lot of the keywords in your niche are super competitive, or there simply isn’t enough search volume for your products, then this technique can make it easier for you to get more targeted traffic. I 
call this technique using “Lateral Keywords”.
It shares some similarities with the “Loss Leader” model that supermarkets use, which I mentioned above, because we’re using one thing to get people to take action at another.
What I encourage you to do is think of keywords for your niche that your target market is typing into Google, but that you might not have thought of before, and ask yourself if someone typing these keywords into Google would also be interested in what you’re really wanting to sell on your site.
You can do this with websites and also Youtube videos as well. Here’s another example for the IM niche. If someone was searching for “clickbank gravity” I could do a video on that or blog post on that topic, as I know that this is someone who knows about affiliate marketing and would be the sort of person who might like to be on my email list. So although I’m not selling them anything, I’m thinking laterally and widening my scope of keywords to grow my list.
Using a Blog on Your Site
Another way you can target these lateral keywords, is by installing a blog on your site. This is more for ecommerce stores, but I also see people using blogs in this manner for info sites. With the blog you target keywords that are these ‘lateral ones’ and direct people to your money pages from the blog posts. Very simple, but highly effective if done well.
Without giving away my niche, I’m planning a lateral keyword approach for a new drop shipping store I’m building right now and have done this for many affiliate marketing sites also. With the store, I’ll be targeting 100’s of keywords that are not really what I want to sell, but are in the same family as the products I do really want to sell in my store. So I know I can massively wider my reach by doing this. I really don’t care if I make profit on those other keywords, my main goal is getting this related traffic to my store.
Hope you found this tip useful, if you did I would really appreciate it if you would share this post around via the social buttons below!
Regards
Matt Carter
Related articles
Great post, Matt, but actually, the term is “loss leader”, not lost.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:28 am
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Ah doh!! Thanks I corrected that now.
Ross Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:42 am
Hah, the error actually worked to get me here… I know about loss leaders, but thought “hmm, what is a lost leader?”
The “loss” part of it comes from physically losing money on the deal.
To the point of the post, it is solid info and good strategy. You may very well “lose” time or money building the content, but make it back and more through the actual revenue generators.
The hard part (like in the stores) is really moving them to take the desired action once you get em to the site.
Thanks for the post,
Ross
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:45 am
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Thanks Ross
Matt
Jason Royal Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 7:31 am
Hi Ross
That Lost Leader headline got me here as well so perhaps Matt actually used that as a legitimate ploy 🙂
Nonetheless, the value of the post is unquestionable. Even for guys in the carpet cleaning industry like me, I can see there is great mileage in targeting related keywords to the very competitive obvious terms like “carpet cleaning Sydney” or “upholstery cleaning Gold Coast.”
Almost like a restaurant giving away a free entree just to get the full freight on the main meal, the drinks and maybe some dessert – only smarter. That’s probably a stretch, but yu know what I mean yeah?
Cheers
Jasroy
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:09 am
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Hi Jasroy
Thanks for your comment here, hope your cleaning business is going well
Matt
Peter Sundstrom Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Ah, but Matt was our ‘lost leader’ until he realized he was offering a loss leader.
Great idea, Matt. One of the challenges facing newbie marketers is ranking in the search engines, and I think it makes sense to target low-competition keywords first, just to get some traffic going.
Moe
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:28 am
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Thanks Moe
Matt
Hi Matt. I love your posts. Ever since i got your rapid formula, I haven’t stopped learning about seo and affiliate marketing. I have been using this technique for a while now. Cheers!I wanted to ask you, is the seo from rapid profit formula much different from seo academy?
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:35 am
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Hi Edward
Glad you are enjoying my coaching.
The SEO in RPF is similar to the academy, just not as much info.
Matt
eduard Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:36 am
So, there isn’t much added in terms of back linking to the seo coaching programme then ..compared to the rpf.
Looking forward to your next emails and posts!
You always provide the highest quality!
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:41 am
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Oh there is a lot more in regards to backlinks
Matt
I love the way you share your genuine ideas. Do you have any opinion on SOPA. I would like to be optimistic in new year but wanted to know your opinion about SOPA effect on IM and affiliate marketing?
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:46 am
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Hi
I think this SOPA thing could be an issue, just means we have to be more careful of the content on our sites and the comments people make.
Matt
Very True Matt,
This is one strategy I often use when starting off on a new niche.
it’s much easier to rank high and get traffic to those long tail, low competition keywords, even if it means less potential traffic. Then once traffic picks up and reputation buillds, you can start aiming at more competitive and rewarding keywords.
Tobi
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 6:45 am
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Good points Tobi
Matt
Hey Matt,
do you think theres to much competition in the affiliate game
and thats why your getting into dropshipping??
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 7:03 am
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Hi James,
I am still doing affiliate marketing, I just like to do lots of things, so I try drop shipping, lead generation, adsense etc…
There’s heaps of money to be made in affiliate marketing, don’t worry about that. In fact the webinar I am holding this Thursday will explain a lot about that.
Hope that helps
Matt
Hey Matt,
Great post, I’ve heard this term before but never gave it much thought until I read this. It just make since that it would help.
Randall
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 7:02 am
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Thanks Randall
Matt
Hi Matt. Great post. I too was intrigued by the typo in the email.
Another thing that is worth pointing out is that LSI keywords (related keywords) are a great way to keyword stuff, without keyword stuffing. (Hope that makes sense).
A wide variety of LSI keywords on a page adds more weight to your main keyword. The technique can also be used with inbound links. This improves page rank and relevance. A technique employed by many SEO experts.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 7:24 am
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Hi Steve, thanks for sharing your insights.
Matt
Hi, Matt, thanks for another great tip! I’m going through your RPF a second time and still enjoying it, and learning more the second time around.
I’m hoping to get my site up and running soon thanks to you.
Looking forward to the Webinar tomorrow.
Joanna.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:08 am
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Great to hear from you Joanna and glad you like my training course.
Matt
Great information, looking forward to your dropshipping course !
Very insightful post Matt. Sounds like the amazon strategy for kindle fire that is cutting into ipads market share. Long tail or lateral, it is certainly worth the try. Many thanks.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:07 am
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Thanks Cluade
Matt
Hi Matt,
Absolutely agree with your approach.
Once you gain some authority for your site from the search engines, you can go for more competitive keywords and it will be easier to get high rankings afterwards as before targeting less competitive keywords.
Cheers,
Csaba from Hungary
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:07 am
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Thanks Csaba
Glad you found this post helpful
Matt
Great post. Thanks Matt. I will have to use this technique for my e-commerce store.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:06 am
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You’re welcome Owen and nice to hear from you
Matt
Hi Matt,
I know this question is a little off-topic, but I noticed you place a banner ad for hostgator on this site. This is obviously a high-traffic site, so I imagine you use a dedicated server, do you use hostgator for this site? If so would you recommend them for a high-traffic site?
Thanks!
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:06 am
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Hi Ali
I use http://www.vps.net
Cheers
Matt
Matt, thanks again for the tip.This makes a lot of sense. I get a lot out of everyone’s comments also.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:42 am
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Thanks Kim
I think this was an excellent post and a terrific idea. The only thing I wish is that you had shown an example of a website using this so that
I could see what it looks like and how it is used. I like the visuals as well as the post because at least I can see with my own eyes, and I love ah ha moments too…….lol
Thanks again for a wonderful clue as to building this business.
Paul
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:42 am
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Thanks Paul
Matt
Hey Matt,
I see a lot of affiliates who don’t widen their scope of thinking enough. A lot of affiliates tend to focus and target on just ONE product per site and don’t think about “related products” or “related keywords”. If you don’t widen your thinking, then you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.
Let’s take an example in the health niche. Let’s say someone wants to target people who have “diabetes”. What do most people do? They go to Clickbank and try to find a “diabetes treatment” guide and that’s all they advertise on their site.
That’s fine, but think about your market for a minute. What type of person typically has diabetes? A lot of people who have diabetes are also overweight. So why not also promote a weight loss guide on your site?
A lot of people think “weight loss” terms are too competitive, but when you understand your audience you realize A TON of health problems are related to being overweight. So you can still sell weight loss products to people by targeting these less competitive diseases/niches.
I’ve greatly increased my profits by using this type of thinking on my sites.
Derek
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:42 am
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Great input there Derek,
Thanks
Matt
A good example of this is the Thanksgiving Turkey. Stores actually sell them at a loss so you will come in and buy everything else needed for the meal while you are there.
Marketers of digital products refer to selling an informational product at little or no profit as a self liquidating offer, the money is to be made in the back end, so they “give up the front”
Hey how did that experiment go with G+1 on the dropshipping post?
Love your blog.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 9:34 am
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Hi J.C.
Thanks for your input. The Google +1 experiment went well, the post ranked at the top as more and more people added the social votes. Hard to tell if it was just Google +1 though, as there were a lot of Tweets and Facebook likes also
Thanks
Matt
When I was in the shoe bussines we did this all the time.
Thinks for helping us think out of the Box.
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 9:33 am
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No problem Dan
Matt
You will not believe that I can to this site through a collateral keyword, in other words your loss leader strategy is working.
Great post again, thanks
Thanks for the great tips. I knew something about LSI keywords, but had not really thought about just targeting related keywords–even if they aren’t even necessarily profitable–to get the relevant/related traffic to my site. Cool idea. Just get ’em in the door right!
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:11 am
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Thanks Matt
I was thinking of something like this before I read your article. Sounds like I’m on the right track.
Thanks for your enlightening info!
Hi Matt.
I think this strategy alone has the ability to solve a lot of problems for beginner IM’ers, in getting traction early with traffic.
We have all done it, especially early on in our IMing days, targeting a bunch of keywords which have good traffic levels, but are a little more competitive. Then after writing these KW articles etc, becoming frustrated that we didn’t get the results that we had imagined.
I can see that by targeting lateral keywords that are less competitive, we can not only get earlier successes with traffic, but make it easier for ourselves to rank for these other more competitive KWs (& higher traffic), down the track.
What are your thoughts on taking this concept one step further with inner-page backlinking. After you have posted, ranked and are getting traffic for these Lateral Keywords, and you are ready to start specifically targeting the High Traffic/High Competition KW’s. Is there any value in going back to your old “lateral keyword” posts, and add some inner-page backlink to the new High Traffic/High Competition KW posts, after its posted.
Thanks for another thought provoking post.
Cheers,
Cade
Matt Carter Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 11:42 am
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Hi Cade
Nice to hear from you.
What I do when using this strategy is go for the easy lateral phrases and also the tougher ones at the same time, and eventually you will rank for both kinds of terms. The other advantage is that your site looks more natural to Google as well.
Matt
Thanks Matt – hook, line and sinker! I always fall for that loss leader tactic…kids gotta eat right?
Hey, I’m now building/testing an e-commerce store as well. Which cart are you using?
Rich
Nice post Matt, Good tips on the Loss Leader marketing ploy. We really need to widen our scope of thinking; think outside the box with our marketing
I agree with this tactic as most will Matt.
Implementing this method can take some considerable work, particularly if you are using anchor and contextual linking to build your backlinks.
This can tend to put people off particularly if they are doing it alone, despite the obvious long term rewards.
If you are not outsourcing, then this method of attracting visitors/buyers is a big job. What did you use to do this before you started outsourcing.
Matt
This makes sense and I will try to figure out ways to apply it. It was a good informative post.
Scott
Lucky for any newbies to gain knowledge from you but not so lucky for me.
I have lost momentum in internet marketing, tired and frustrated.
I worked very hard ,struggled many years but still not making money.
Buying hundred of ebook and courses still no hope.
Thanks
owen@10minutetrainerreviews Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 8:35 pm
Hi Sara
I’m in the same boat as you but I would encourage you not to give up. If you have bought Matt’s courses then just stick to what he teaches and don’t get side tracked.
Make 2012 a new start and remember the only ones that fail are the ones that give up. All the best
Thanks Matt.
I am still jumping from one way of promotion to another. This does tend to clear things up a bit more.
I will soon start implementing this version of marketing.
Hopefully it will work – most of the others dont, or only have minimal success.
Good stuff Matt,
The loss leader approach is definitely applicable to Online Marketing. By funneling traffic that are most likely to be interested on the stuff you are marketing. This is such a important concept as we all know that most of the obvious buyer keywords competition is very fierce and unless you do heavy SEO, the chance for you to get ranked is slim.
The loss leader approach will solve this problem. Critical thing is to qualify the keywords in the first place 🙂
Hi Matt,
Thanks for another great idea. This technique is also very applicable to online auctions by driving the traffic to your listing, such as listing at very low reserve price or even at $1 reserve and inviting them to view your other products.
Hi Matt,
Thank you for the post. I provides new insights for me to widen keywords and get the traffic…
Hey Matt,
I had used this method in a construction / service business I used to own and operate. My service call would be so affordable that I would get a lot of business from people who were bargain shopping. Up-selling was a breeze, due to the fact that if the customer had more work done while I was there, the more they would save over having the needed work done on future trips. If they couldn’t afford to do all the needed future work done right then, I sold a future care package for 24.99 that gave them a 25% discount on future work for the next 12 calendar months. It was too good to pass up for most people, since the average service call was between 200 & 400 dollars.
I made money, if they never used the discount of course, but people will look for reasons to spend their money if there is a promise of savings / value as well.
Which is why i keep buying Matt’s products, excellent value.
Hey Matt,
I am impressed by the mails you send to me. I have two queries…
1) can I get rapid rewriter free with rapid profit formula as one package & at what cost ? thru clickbank ?
2) How do you compare rapid profit formula with niche profit classroom ?
Regards,
Manoj Nirkhe
Great piece of work… I’ve just started thinking about this but, have not put it into action.
Thanx Matt
Once again, Matt, you’ve hit the nail on the head. This is exactly the approach I’m taking with the latest site I’ve built, as well as for the video marketing campaign that goes with it. Thanks for all your guidance; following your tips lead to the first money I made online =)
Hi Matt,
I found it quite interesting. I am also contemplating on something similar in nature for quite some time but really have not clue where to start from. I have taken a domain name and am currently looking for ideas to give it a start. Thanks for the post!
Look forward for the webinar.
Regards,
Somen
Matt,
I have several ecommerce stores and was preparing the articles to add to the store. Do you suggest.
1. Using a WP blog instead of the article section built into most ecommerce stores.
2. Would this be on subdomain or sub-directory if WP Blog is used.
3. I assume you backlink to the articles or post just like the training in SEO Academy.
Thanks
RG
Cool post, Matt. I think someone ring this idea to me before when I started doing online marketing and…failed, so I stopped a few weeks and totally forgot about it. Now I came back with more knowledge in online marketing and you just reminded me again about the idea, I’ll surely try this on my niche site this time. Thank you.
A After reading this, it make sense to apply this technique. Another great plot and keep it coming Matt.
just given u a social vote matt, u deserve one!
just given u a social vote matt, u deserve one, nice stuff!
Hey Matt,
Thank you for the simple yet AMAZING outside of the box idea man!
You just gave me a lot to re-think about some micro niche sites I was planning on building.
Really appreciate this, shared! 😉
Sergio
What I do is use the plugin shortstat to see what kind of lateral keywords I am picking up organically and then check the value of that keyword and do a small backlinking campaign for it.
Has worked well for the keywords I have put the effort into.
Thanks Matt
This is very funny, I actually using this method in one niche and successfully but never thought to implement on others.
Maybe because I didn’t know that what I was doing has a name?
Thanks Matt for educating me, this will change the whole game.
Every time I learn something new from you.
Thank you.
Great post Matt as always. This happens all the time on the Warrior Forum. A product will be sold at a very low price but 9 out of 10 there is an upsell or links to other products that enhance the product you bought which the vendor then earns commission on.
Hi Matt, clever idea indeed.
How do you deal with Panda though? you are giving the content related to the KWs they type, don’t you? and then you lead them to another product, right?
Thanks
PaoloG
Matt Carter Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 8:37 am
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Yes always give the user what they want, but just expose them to what you really want them to see, either by banners, email list etc…
I’m with Anatoli on this Matt, been doing this for a while… Never knew I was been a wiz kid 🙂
Hi Matt
Thanks for this useful post. Earlier last year I read and really took on board some similiar advice you had given in a previous article. We operate in a hugely competitive real estate sector and have already used related keyword with considerable success as part of our ongoing SEO
Good work and thanks for the valuable advice
Tony
Great informative post. Now I would be using this to get more traffic on my website through lateral keywords. Lets hope I succeed.
That’s a good post Matt, I used to work for a supermarket chain Sainsbury’s in the UK and this was always the case, bread milk and sugar were on every ones shopping list, so these were sold at a loss inticing customers into the store, and the kicker here was that their location was continually moved around the store so people had to look for them!
I use such keywords myself with local business sites and the do increase both traffic and sales.
Thanks again
John Robbins
Seo Cardiff
Very useful technique, I think I may want to use a lower competitive keyword and direct the visitors to other pages they might interested with. Thank you
Matt, with Google’s recent emphasis on quality in mind, would you now recommend a “magazine” style website (covering several topics/niche subjects under one brand) or still use one site per niche?
Matt Carter Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:44 am
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I would do site per niche, so you come across as an authority on that one topic. UNless you have the resource to do a giant site and be an authority on multiple topics.
Matt
Interesting post that got me thinking about the relationships between keyword phrases and markets. For example I could add social media marketing products or website design on the thankyou pages of companies selling corporations, because anyone setting up a company probably needs a website and marketing. Good to brainstorm thinking outside of the box!
Good information and something I’ve been thinking about. I currently have a drop ship website but recently added new product and looking for ways to get people to learn about it. Thanks
Great Tip Matt as always. Looking forward to the webinar Thursday. Learning a lot in SEO Experts Academy and ready to roll on the Offline consulting. Thanks for all the high value information and coaching.
Avi
Matt Carter Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:44 am
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Thanks Avi
Great post Matt. Only just geting into IM but im gutted i cannot make the webinar. Your info is brilliant and i love what you have taught me so far. Would it be possible to get a link to a recording to the webinar for subscribers in the uk who cannot make it at 2am gmt?
Hi Matt! Great post!
I am using technique “Lateral Keywords”. I “sell” juicer recipes, advices about juice and juicing, but in fact I sell juicers and others related to them :).
To Avi, who write above me: you have no rights to use word “Breville” in your domain name. Amazon will penalize you…
Look here:
https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/agreement
Matt, you must writing an article about “dead words” (how, to, and etc.) and “trademarks” words, using in domain names.
Hi Matt thanks as always my question is is it ok to promote one product with different keywords I mistakenly made affiliate links using one product and I managed to rank for them all a they we all low traffic key words that are not competitive ,the downside is I get less visitors like 6 or 10 a day I even think of changing the keywords and replace them with other products .your input is highly appreciated .
Thanks once again and compliments of the new season!!!!!
Thanks again Matt for great info! Having worked in the advertising industry for all my working life I was interested to see your take on loss leaders and its a great idea that you have come up with. …….as always 🙂
Thanks
Linda
Matt: Thank you for all of the valuable information. Are you planning to offer anything on lead generation? I would love to learn more as it is very applicable to my business (insurance).
Thank you,
Chris
Matt Carter Reply:
January 5th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Yeah sure I can do a post soon on Lead Gen for you
Matt
Hi Matt,
Great stuff.. i often find myself trying to scramble around looking for any additional visitors or keywords that can generate more visits.. especially in an online casino industry – it is one heck of a competitive industry.
Good post, look forward to your following ones as always!
While I’m on that note, i remember reading your post on social media, i’m waiting eagerly for the webinar/product you have arranged this month… – can you give me a rough estimate when you think this will be released to us? I’m urgently looking for top notch social media video trading and techniques (FB, Twitter Google + etc.) that you recommend from your proven marketer friends.
Regards
Jeremy
That would be awesome. Thank you so much!
Happy webinaring tonight!
Chris
Hi Matt
I must be the ‘Lateral King’ but I never knew it!
My main keywords are so competitive that I have no chance of getting them at all.
But I use lots of other keyword phrases and have got many no. 1 positions in all top 3 search engines.
Latest was no.1 out of 38 million… I was really chuffed.
Although I don’t comment often, I always read your messages, watch your webinars when I can, as they are always helpful.
Have a great new year!
Great advise about the lost leader and this is something the company I work for uses. On a personnel note, targeting lower competition keywords to get traffic to your site is something that works well for me.
I was already familiar with the “loss leader” advertising method but had never considered it’s use in the online realm.
My friend John at Get Instant Payments just did a similar e-mail ad today where he gave away a video training course on niche marketing and then I saw a Micro NIche Finder ad at the bottom of his e-mail.
John’s also a sharp guy so I’m sure he was successful with this advertising ploy.
Thanks for the tip Matt. Always good stuff!
Mark Owen
Hello Matt, you always give out the best information for us to grow really like this one specially that of creating a blog site
Matt Carter Reply:
January 6th, 2012 at 6:42 pm
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Thanks so much Austin, I really appreciate your kind words
Matt