Not long ago in this column was discussed a subject on niche marketing. It was discussed that the concept of "Differentiate or Die" was also true for internet businesses albeit worded differently. Niche or Die was what it was referred to.



It has not been long since, that Chris Anderson's book 'Longtail Marketing' became a highly recommended read within the ecommerce fraternity. The book delves deeply into the same concept of niching. It further goes on, on how searchers are becoming more sophisticated. And that they are now using more specific keyword to look for what they want. For example a surfer who is more ready to buy will more likely search for the term "Siemens AX 75" an exact brand rather than "mobile phone" or "siemens" for that matter.

Niche marketing on the other hand is a concept that takes advantage of the longtail. It involves targeting very specific related keywords and optimizing your website and internet marketing for those specific terms. This practice can help a business, even one in a very competitive online category, to gain an advantage in the search listings. In a nut shell, for small businesses, it is best to master a niche or segment of a market rather than try to compete with the more established mostly branded competition. For example you are better of providing exclusive East African Music on your website rather then take on itunes.com head on. Why punch a wall?

Now you wonder what CMS have to do with niche marketing and longtail. The answer is everything. It is not obvious and that's why there was a reference to those "in the loop". You see, the CMSs have not only made managing the backend of the website easy, it also has made making a niche optimized website second nature. The structural design of a CMS makes it nearly automatic to take advantage of the longtail marketing.

Those currently understanding the synergy arising from this are working quietly around the clock to take advantage of this already proven fact. Simply by employing the CMS with a few considerations, your website is nearly guaranteed to do well in the free Search Engine market. And what more can light up an internet entrepreneur eyes than free targeted traffic.The basics of the CMS edge lie in two concepts recently coming to light. These are Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) and Silo structuring. We look at each start in next week.