Once you have developed a website, your next step is marketing that website to achieve the highest visibility, the greatest number of site visits and conversions. Finding relevant keywords is the most fundamental building block towards successful internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, keywords are the search words or phrases your potential customers are likely to use when searching for your product or service. It isn’t enough to just develop a list of words that seem related to your business. Instead, you must employ a strategy to continually research to find and uncover unique and relevant keywords.
First, remember that, in this case, your competition can be your best friend. Do a search of your own and review the top three to five sites that come up (not directory sites or Wikipedia, just direct competition.) By looking at the HTML or source of each of these pages, you can see what keywords your competition is using. Keep a running list of words that are used. Don’t forget that occasionally in the blogging world or in web 2.0, keywords may be referred to as ‘tags.’ This is your first step towards finding relevant words for your own site.
Once you have compiled this list, it is time to turn to some powerful Internet tools to determine which words will work best for you. Google Adwords is an excellent tool that will help you to determine how relevant a particular word is, while Google Fight tells you which of any two particular words is better, and even displays animation. Yahoo has several free tools available as well. For those with a bit of a budget, it’s always a good idea to have an expert help you with keyword research. Having the right keywords in the beginning can save you a lot of time and effort down the road. You will be amazed at the length and breadth of keywords being used by searchers. It’s never obvious and our clients are always amazed at the keywords / phrases that are uncovered that have obvious value based on the stats.
Once you have compiled all of this data, its time to take a hard look at your list. Many marketers forget that the most ‘popular’ keyword is not necessarily the best. Remember, you need keywords that are not only relevant, but also unique. At this point it is a great idea to sit down and brainstorm about your particular niche, product or service. Determine what makes your site different from other, similar, sites. By using the information gathered from your earlier research, along with your customized list of keywords, you should be able to begin to narrow down your list.
Keep in mind the process the typical searcher will follow when searching. Typically, they will first search for a generalized term related to their interest. After viewing between three and five sites, they will move on to a more refined search and will continue this process until they find the site, product or service they are looking for. Your keyword list should be created with this in mind. For example, if you want to sell dog sweaters for small breed dogs, you can make a huge list of highly unique keyword phrases, like “Chihuahua Sweaters” or “Sweaters for Yorkies”. Further, keep in mind the following rather telling stats: (1) Over 60% of Google Searches are 4 words which is a testament to the fact the searchers have grown into the realization that the more specific they can be, the more targeted the search results. You need to be there! (2) 68% of all searchers DON’T go past the first page; 98% of searchers DON’T go past the third page.
There are many keyword research tools to help you discover profit making keywords to target. Google Keyword Tool and Word Tracker are 2 of the best known. There are many more. However, keyword research is so fundamental to your ultimate success that serious consideration should be given to hiring a Professional SEO or Internet Marketing Company to conduct this research. It is important to re-visit the tools you used during your research phase again with your new, revised, list. These tools will help ensure that the words you are using will be the most effective words for your site. Finding the most relevant keywords for your website can be a long process, but when properly done, it can be very rewarding, and increase traffic and conversion rates. If you’re not sure where to start, work with an SEO company skilled in keyword research.
Lastly, as we emphasize all of the time, this will be of no use to you unless you also understand that you must constantly add new content to the website that are highly relevant to those keywords you are promoting. It is not enough to say the least to just stuff your keyword research into the keyword metadata and expect page 1 results. Remember keyword research is just the foundation of SEO. 1st page SEO results come from all of the things that must be done based on keyword research.
Need help with ranking high for those keywords? Contact us for a no obligation initial consultation.
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