Why keyword research is absolutely crucial to the success of your website.

Keyword research is crucial to the success of your website’s optimisation campaign. Choosing the right website keywords can produce a lof of traffic and get your website ranked high in search engine listings while choosing the wrong website keywords will leave your website on page 100 or worse, with barely any visitors at all.

Many website owners think they know which website keywords are best suited for their search engine optimisation strategy. But unless you know exactly who your target market is and what terms they use to find businesses like yours, chances are you need to undertake some serious keyword research to find the most effective search terms. Keyword research will give you an idea of what keywords your potential customers are searching for, how much competition there is for any given term, and which website keywords are the most popular.

It is important for you to know what search terms your potential customers are looking for. The keywords your customers are likely use when searching for your product may not be the ones you would think, especially if your business is one that has a lot of industry jargon. You may be tempted to use website keywords that don’t relate to your business just to bring in traffic, but this technique will always backfire, because the traffic it does generate is not interested in your website.

Keyword research will also give you an idea of how great the competition is for any given keyword or keyword phrase. It is important to know how many other websites use the same keywords and how many people are searching for them. The most effective website keywords for your optimisation strategy are the ones that are searched for the most with the least amount of competition. Weigh each keyword’s popularity with the amount of other websites already using it. You should always include the most popular ones but concentrate on getting ranked for the website keywords that have less competition.

Investing time in keyword research for your website will help you to increase traffic and get ranked higher by search engines. There are many tools available to help you find the right keywords. Google and Overture have some of the most popular website keyword research tools and there are many others that are free as well as paid keyword research programs such as Wordtracker.

The key considerations in keyword research

The key considerations in keyword research

Why do you need prudent keyword decision?

It is great on your part that you have rendered a web space to your business, or you are just planning to go online to leverage your business. There is no point regarding your reservation on the immense potential advantages of optimizing your web site because the Internet has taught one and all that web site should show up in the top pages or results in the search engines. The Internet today has unfathomable depths, and it is quite easy to be buried in its vastness. Online searches by users are keyword driven, and it is almost as good as not having your web site in the first place in case your web site does not figure in prominent search engine results where your target customer is on the look out for products or services your company specializes in.

This is probably because you have selected the keywords that do not define the nature of your business, or the specialty of offerings. Or, chances are that you have gone for the keywords that are not so often used by your target market. Hence you confront discouraging online business equations because you are simply not able to get qualified leads, effective sales, or in other words, you are witnessing your utter failure in driving quality traffic to your web site. This is a precarious situation in one’s business wherein investments in web initiatives are not met with the intended results

. Therefore, choosing the keywords for optimizing your web site must be prudent decision with a little research and in the best possible systematized and logical manner.

A systematized process of keyword selection.

Here is brief elucidation on right process of going for the right keywords:

• Explore your keywords. Prepare an exhaustive list of keywords that you think can go well with your business. Seek others’ opinions and also elicit their suggestions to add on to your list.

• Go for technical assistance to refine and validate your selected keywords. There are many assistive research tools available on the Net, like, Keyword Sandbox, Wordtracker etc. which can give you an insight into the frequency, popularity of your keywords or similar terms.

• Then comes the turn of finally selecting the keywords. With the information at your disposal while undergoing the above two phases, you might select the keywords that seem to be the right choice.

• Remember that the process of selection of the right keywords is not that simple, rather it takes continuous learning and experimentation even after you have settled for certain keywords. You have got to keep an eye on the performance of selected keywords in terms of leads and conversions. This is the assessment phase of keyword research which can help you to revise your keyword selection.

This article basically deals with the first three phases of keyword selection as the fourth phase would need to be discussed at greater length, maybe as a full ledged article in times to come to do justice with its intricacies.

Let’s understand how to go about the initial phases.

While exploring keywords, it is wise not to be too simplistic.

When you start thinking on your keywords, make it a point to think along the lines that define your business, or the USP of your offerings. This is to be kept at the back of mind along with essential consideration that you have to think the way a typical customer tends to think. Obviously, a customer who wishes to get certain products or services on the Net associate the search query with some customer centric attributes. To make it clear, if anyone is searching for, let’s say, Day Care Facilities, he or she well type onto Google toolbar things like best Day Care Facilities, economy Day Care Facilities, or top Day Care Facilities and so on. So, you should ponder over this aspect as well when you are accumulating your keywords.

More importantly, your keywords should be specific and have a narrower focus. Too general a keyword is likely to have an intense competition, and chances are that you are about to be buried in obscurity. But remember that specific keywords that you choose should be descriptive of your specialty so that you may stand a good chance to be listed in the top results.

How to be specific in keyword selection

Apart from the specialty of your products or services or attached customer benefits, there are other things that help you be specific when it comes to prudent keyword selection.

One of these is the linguistic habits of the target customers. It has been observed that when users perform an online query, they tend to use short forms of the words, or type in misspellings, or geographical equivalents of the keywords.

Therefore, while deciding the keywords for web site, geography and linguistic patterns of target audience cannot be overlooked. First thing first, you have to predetermine who your target market is and what is the reach of your product or service offering. There can be certain geographical constraints in the delivery of products or services depending on your delivery capability. So, it is always a better idea to optimize your web pages for particular geographies.

For instance, if you happen to run an automobile maintenance firm, you can optimize web pages for keywords that denote the reach of your service capability. What I want to emphasize here is that it is up to you to optimize your web site to global audience, or to a set of several geographies, or you can go for local searches.

Getting driven by technical help on offer

Internet is a powerful medium to enhance your business. What is most important is the fact that there is a plenty of information on the Net on how to use the Net to leverage value to your business. The domain of keyword is no exception and you can well expect expert advice and useful tools which can assist in the selection of right keywords.

www.wordtracker.com is one of such online tools which can be of immense help to you while you are progressing with the research on keyword selection. It requires simple registration to avail its services and the insight it provides is much, much valuable for your keyword efficacy.

The moment you type in your keyword and subsequently opt for the detailed analysis, it takes you to a nicely presented set of information related to your keyword. Essentially, the information displayed is accumulation of related keywords extracted from Dogpile and Metacrawler searches over the last four months as existing in its database.

Wordtracker offers keyword related information under four headings: keyword and its variations; the number of times of occurrence of keyword; prediction relating to maximum traffic for the keyword options; and in the last, dig option for a selected keyword which measures its effectiveness and reveals its frequency of occurrence and number of competitors vying for it. Hence, it provides a wholistic picture to make an informed keyword selection.

Search engine giant Google also offers online help to assist you in profitable keyword selection. Known as Keyword Sandbox, though it is primarily meant for Google Adswords, you can use it for your web site optimization. Upon entering your keyword you would like to research on, you get two lists: one which mentions specific terms used in the searches related to the keyword, and other enlists the keywords used by the users while performing similar search operations.

Overture also features keyword selection tool wherein you can see the list of similar or related keywords. This is not all; you can also have a look at the number of occurrences of such keywords in the last month. This is instrumental in assessing the popularity of your selected keywords, or similar terms so that you can form a better idea with regard to the final selection of the right keywords. To sum it up, a methodological approach is imperative for the selection of right keywords so that you end up reap the rewards of web site optimization.

Keyword Research – A Necessary But Worthy Evil

If you want to rank well in search engines, then you absolutely must understand how to do market research and build your keyword lists. Why? Because keyword research determines your market’s profitability and competition.

If you skip this stage, you could wind up doing a lot of work following dead ends. There are some markets that just are not worth pursuing. You don’t want to end up chasing a market that isn’t profitable.

You need to decide what the market is looking for and bring yourself to the market. Many small business owners do just the opposite. They come up with a product or service they think the market needs and then try to go after and convince the market of their product value.

There are plenty of markets available that will suit your tastes. Once you find the market that you want to reach, then you will build your keyword or key phrase lists.

In this article, I assume that you already have a target market in mind. Therefore, I will give you a high level overview on how to do proper keyword research. I’ll start with the benefits of keyword research.

The Benefits of Keyword Research

What are the benefits of doing proper keyword research? Listed are four benefits of the power of keyword research:

1. It drives traffic to your site; just by simply using the words your target audience uses in their searches.

2. It helps you write more effective copy (sales copy) for your website; knowing what terms to incorporate into your copy helps your target audiences identify with your side immediately.

3. It helps with content development; it helps you create content that your target audience needs and avoids wasting your time on irrelevant topics.

4. It helps you understand your target audience better: you will know how and what your target audience is searching for.

5. It helps you measure the size of your market: just by determining the number of searches, you can target huge pools of untapped potential and avoid many pits.

6. It helps you to develop and diversify revenue streams: by using keyword research that exposes and employs popular keywords, you can be inspired to innovate and create new product and service ideas.

7. The bottom line: the results of keyword research are that your website copy, business strategies, and online marketing will be successful a great majority of the time.

Keyword research is the foundation to proper linking. Why is this important? Sometimes we assume we know what our audience is searching for. This is a common mistake many professionals make. They assume that since they are an authority on a topic they should know what their audience is searching for.

The only correct way to know what your audience is searching for is to do proper keyword research. What you think your audience needs or is looking for may be completely incorrect. I can guarantee that you will be surprised by the keywords your audience searches on to find your topic.

95% of websites are caught in the trap of bad keyword selection. High correlations of the keywords you use on your website and the words your target audience uses in their searches actually moves the website toward the audience and attracts many more targeted visitors.

Keyword links + keyword content on your site + keyword searches = solid search engine traffic.

Building Your Keyword Lists

Step One: Understand Your Target Audience

To start an effective keyword list, consider your potential customers’ motivations and intentions.

What kind of questions will they ask? What are they trying to accomplish? What problems do they need solutions to?

Step Two. You Must Understand the Types of Buyers and Your Target Audience

There are two types of buyers. The first type of buyer is the logical buyer. They will normally ask “how” and “what” questions when considering purchases.

However, 70% of all buyers are emotional buyers. These types of buyers are normally more spontaneous and concerned with the user experience and end results when considering a purchase. They asked the typical question, what’s in it for me?

Step Three. Think Like Your Target Audience

Remember, most of your buyers are emotional buyers. So, use the emotional slant to convince this type of buyer. Use emotional keyword anchors in your text. For example, if you had a website about running shoes, an emotional buyer is interested in the “best” running shoe or the “healthiest” running regime. They wouldn’t necessarily want to know the benefits of running shoes. They want to know what’s in it for them.

Step Four. Think Broad and Wide for Your Target Audience

Start with a broad list of keywords around your topic. Make sure they are specific enough to fit your target audience. Include terms that match closely with your visitors’ intent in relation to what you sell.

Note: traffic costs money! Think about quality not quantity. Your conversion rate is the most important factor. You don’t just want traffic, you want converting traffic!

Step Five. Prioritize Your Keywords Based on Conversion

If you don’t have conversion data, you’ll have to make your best guess as to which search terms you think will convert the best.

Consider these points:

1. Make your product or services’ intention clear. Don’t hide what you’re trying to sell.

2. If your keyword phrase is “blue high top basketball shoes”, make sure a visitor can buy “blue high top basketball shoes” on your site. Better yet, make sure you link to a page about those shoes.

3. Consider your ability to present value. How does your product present value?

4. Consider the amount of traffic you will generate using your keywords. If you’re using a cheap hosting provider, you may want to switch to something that can handle higher traffic counts. It’s frustrating to have a website go down because you can’t handle the traffic. This is something that you have complete control over. Make sure you don’t ruin your first impression by having a website crashes more often than not.

5. Consider the probability of conversion. If you are highly niched and know precisely what keywords or keyword phrases your target audience searches for, then use your highly niched keywords.

If you don’t know what the probability of your conversions will be, then you need to track this metric. There are several analytical tools that you can use to track this information. Don’t skimp. Make sure you know this information.

Keyword Research is the Most Important Step

The most important step you can take in marketing your website is keyword research. You not only need to know the keywords you want to get ranked for but also which keywords are converting the best for your website.

It makes no sense to drive a large amount of traffic to your site and not be able to stay in business because the conversions just aren’t there.

So, focus on quality NOT quantity. Start with your best keyword/phrase and begin your linking campaigns. Move down your keyword list, each time promoting and linking with the next keyword phrase.

In time, your site will not only move up in search rankings but move up based on the keywords that YOU chose. Don’t fall for the myth that more traffic you get the better.

Take control of your traffic and get ranked well for the keywords and phrases that are most profitable your business.