Keyword Marketing does not have to be difficult
What do keywords, keyword optimization, keyword stuffing, keyword ratio, and more do for your business? Why the hype and what is so important?
Keywords are important plain and simple. They are the words folks might use to locate your information.
For example, a person researching cell phones might use the following keywords typed into Google, Yahoo, Metacrawler or any number of the available search engines.
- Cell phones – Wireless phones – Cell phone planes – Prepaid cell phone – Best cell phone – Cellphone – Cell phone deals – Cell phone reviews
When choosing keywords for a business the first step is to consider what terms people will use to find you. It takes three steps to accomplish this.
1. Brainstorm ideas. Sitting down with a pen and paper to brainstorm keywords may seem silly at first however brainstorming is a successful strategy. The brainstorming exercise will be a success if you are creative and think like a potential customer. Try to think of 50 potential keywords. Even misspelled keywords, like the ‘cellphone’ example used in the above list.
2. Consult with associates, friends and family, current customers. Step two is to start asking around. Ask people what keywords they would use to find information on your business topic. Generally the best places to go for advice are your family, friends, and associates but a business should not hesitate to ask key customers with whom it has a close relationship.
3. Keyword popularity tools are used for research. This third step is where business owners often skip right to. However if you don’t attack a keyword popularity tool with a plan, you can end up with thousands of potential options ‘ a real mess. Instead, take a look at keywords – for example, electric blanket – that you are confident in and comfortable with and then use the keyword tools to tell you how often those keywords are used. This will help business owners determine what their primary keywords are and what keywords to use in their content or on secondary website pages.
Here are a few free keyword tools:
a. https://adwords.google.com/select/ Keyword Tool
b. https://www.wordtracker.com/trial/ Free trial
c. inventory.overture.com/
d. http://keywordspy.com Free Trial
That leads us right into a very frequently asked question…where are keywords used? Several places actually…The home page and index page of a business website is where the primary keywords are located. This is the page people land on when they come to a website. Maybe it has sales copy, maybe it tells a bit about the company’s products or services, or maybe it offers informational copy. A basic rule is to find one or two primary keywords. They should be placed in the headline, first and last paragraph and then distributed throughout. Keyword stuffing or jamming your copy full of you keywords makes the copy read like a phone book and the search engines don’t like it.
Secondary keywords can be used on subsequent website pages, articles, press releases, press releases, advertisements, blog posts and so on. Using the example from earlier a primary key word might be “cell phone” or “cell phones” and a secondary keyword might be “cell phone reviews”
Keyword hype is justified. They are a huge influence on a company’s profitability. Keywords help potential customers find the information, products, and services they’re looking for. Your business is found with them. Taking the time to choose the right keywords, the most commonly used keywords, and then setting up your business to highlight those keywords will help drive traffic to your business website. More traffic and bigger profits are the end result.
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Joan Finholt is a retired teacher and loves using the internet. She is co-owner of Bound and Determined books and yes, the domain name spelling is correct.
http://www.boundanddetrmined.com