Keyword research determines which keywords you should be targeting with the SEO. Most people think that they know which keywords they should target. Instinct can be a great resource, but it can also be misleading and is almost always not enough. For example, “search engine optimization” gets an estimated 16,000 searches a day while “search engine marketing” gets an estimated 8,800 searches a day. If your gut tells you to target “search engine marketing”, you may get great rankings, but it would only get you half of the traffic that you could have had if you had targeted and ranked well for “search engine optimization”. There are also keywords that you may not be able to rank well for without a lot of time and significant amount of link building regardless of how well you optimize your site. In addition, there are keywords that other people will use to search for what your site offers that you would never even think of. So, in addition to letting you know which keywords are more popular, the research can also provide new keywords to target.
Drawing on the analogy in our search marketing parable (found on the Church Marketing Online blog), optimizing your website without first doing keyword research is like trying to pick apples from a tree without first checking to see if there are any apples on it or if the apples are within your reach. You could end up putting in a lot of effort but going home with little fruit from your labor. So it’s a key component of search engine optimization.
What Do I Research?
There are two main aspects to keyword research. The first is popularity, how often are keywords actually searched for. Unfortunately, Google, Yahoo, and MSN don’t share the actual number of searches for specific keywords; however, there are a few tools online which are generally thought to be pretty accurate and Google does offer a free tool that gives the “approximate” number of searches for some keywords. The keyword popularity tools (other than Google’s) use the search data from a number of other smaller search engines along with a few algorithms to predict how many searches are being made for specific keywords. It’s not perfect, but it gives you an idea of which keywords are most popular. Since Google’s figures come from…well…Google, they are probably the most accurate, but even their figures are only estimates and I’ve found that many keywords return a “Not enough data” result. You may wish to use both Google and another keyword popularity tool.
The second aspect to keyword research is competition research. Competition research starts with analyzing your web pages to determine how competitive your site is both in general and for specific keywords. This is sometimes referred to as page strength. I should note that there are really two aspects to page strength, the general strength of a site and the specific strength of a page within the site. For the sake of simplicity, in this article I will use “web page” for both. The next step is to examine the keywords themselves to see how competitive they are. This is sometimes called keyword difficulty. Determining keyword difficulty is done partially by examining how competitive the pages are that rank well for this keyword, though other methods can be helpful as well. This can be tricky for two reasons.
Category : Blog &Marketing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a fairly hot topic these days. Every business wants to know how to get found online.
Anita Campbell from Small Business Trends is running a short information-packed webinar entitled:
Getting Found in Search Engines, for Beginners
These two bullet points jumped out at me, since I have clients who are trying to navigate this new frontier:
- Simple techniques you can do yourself to improve your website so you can get found by potential customers in the search engines more easily
- When and how to hire SEO professionals — over the years I have hired a number of search optimization and marketing experts and I will share some tips for what to look for
I’m planning to listen in and tweet about it. Please join in, if your schedule allows. If not, you can check the Twitter feed using the hashtag #SMBTOOLS. I’m a fan of TweetChat.com for these sorts of events, so you can use the hash tag to enter the room, as they call it.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &search engine optimization &SEO
I think this is a really informative article, especially if you are trying like everyone else to get your site listed higher in the search engines. It is small things like this that always takes you over your competitors.
In great news, Google, Yahoo and MSN have agreed upon a XML sitemap standard.
What’s this mean to you? Well, you just need to create one XML sitemap and you can submit it to all three engines. I’ve been doing that for a while and didn’t seem to have any problem but now it’s official.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Business Cards &Marketing &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO &Sitemaps
The secret to success in the new year may lie in divining the right keywords. As Christine Churchill says at Search Engine Land, the words you buy in pay-per-click, the terms you target for organic, the phrases you focus on in your images and videos, all depend on making good keyword choices up front. Yet, “the process of identifying keywords is wrought with pitfalls,” she says. She identifies a few common mistakes companies make, and offers some advice:
Targeting keywords that people never use.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &search engine optimization &Search Engine Ranking &SEO
Running a small business can be a risky endeavor, but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to marketing. Taken from The Reach Group’s Free Agent Formula–created by Cheri Hanson, Lisa Johnson and Cassie Pruett–here are the top five mistakes made by entrepreneurs:
Creating a business that follows money instead of your strengths. Without a passion for your product or service, you’re already at a disadvantage. Says Hanson: “If you’re unhappy or out of sync with your natural strengths, you may be diluting your main marketing tool.”
Matching your competitors instead of differentiating and finding your niche. “In so many industries, all the competitors are bobbing in a sea of sameness,” Hanson correctly notes. “Get out of the dogfight by serving unmet needs.”
Working one revenue stream instead of creating multi-faceted revenue models. From Hanson’s perspective, this means operating like a larger company in which your entire income is not derived from the hours you work and the fee you charge.
Packaging products from your perspective, not that of your customers. Today’s savvy consumers tune out spin and interruption. They’re looking for something that adds tangible value to their lives, so focus on real solutions.
Waiting for established media to cover you instead of creating your own. “Publishing is the new PR,” says Hanson. “Whether you create articles, checklists, resource guides, blogs, podcasts, video clips or quizzes, there’s a content strategy to fit your communication style and business goals.”
The Po!nt: Identify the pitfalls before you begin, and your business will stand a much better chance of finding success.
The more you focus on SEO strategy, the more you might begin to think you can outsmart Google. But Dharmesh Shah argues in an article at MarketingProfs.com that gaming the system with sneaky SEO techniques is, in the long run, a losing proposition: “It’s safe to assume that if you try to exploit a hole in the algorithm today, your advantage is going to be temporary,” he says. “More importantly, you carry a significant risk of having your Web site penalized or banned.”
According to Shah, some slight-of-hand tricks you should avoid include:
Link farms. Most SEO professionals agree that the number of inbound links plays a critical role in search rankings. Some less scrupulous practitioners, therefore, create a group of dummy Web sites for the sole purpose of linking to the actual Web site.
Keyword stuffing. Once upon a time, the constant repetition of certain keywords might have manipulated rankings. But no more–search engines got wise to this practice, and it’s now a wasted effort.
Hidden text. Placing white text on a white background–visible to spiders, but not to humans–is a seemingly invisible way to load a page with rank-improving content. But, he notes, “Regardless of how sophisticated the approach, it is still going to be detected at some point.”
The Po!nt: “An Internet strategy that is predicated on outsmarting Google is not a smart strategy,” says Shah. “Working with search engines instead of trying to exploit them is the only approach that works in the long term.”
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Design &E-mail &Internet &Marketing &SEO &Websites
- Product is what you sell, whether it’s a physical product or a service, idea, or yourself (like when you search for a new job).
- Price is not only the list price or sticker price of a product, but its also any adjustments to that price, such as discounts.
- Placement is where and when you present your product to customers.
- Promotion is all the sales activities, advertising, publicity, special events, displays, signs, web pages, and other communications designed to inform and persuade people about your product.
- People – Referral Marketing is a powerful marketing force where your customers serve as a sort of “mini” sales force for you. They refer others to you because they’ve had a positive relationship with your people.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Design &Internet &SEO
Both lines of credit and borrowing money on your credit cards can be effective ways to finance small business operations. Both are revolving, and charge interest only on outstanding balances. And both have predetermined borrowing limits. However, there are big differences in terms of cost, convenience, and risk.
The major difference is that credit lines usually have lower interest rates and higher available limits. Commercial lines of credit are therefore more cost-effective than credit cards. But that’s not to say that credit cards don’t have advantages — especially in terms of convenience.
Instead of asking your bank to transfer funds from your credit line to your checking account — to write a check for office supplies, for example — you can just whip out your plastic and charge it. Another credit card plus is record-keeping. Monthly statements are a handy way to track expenses for general record-keeping and tax purposes.
Credit cards also frequently come with perks like air miles, travel insurance, warranty extensions, and discounts on rental cars, hotels, and gas. If these extras are valuable to you and your company, credit cards make a lot of sense.
Additionally, credit cards offer grace periods on purchases, usually 25 days. That means you can avoid interest charges altogether if you pay your balance in full each month.
Fortunately, credit lines and credit cards aren’t mutually exclusive. You will certainly want to obtain at least one credit card for business expenses. But you may also want a line of credit for larger purchases and to draw upon during periods of irregular cash flow.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Business Cards &Business Credit &SEO &Websites
Advertising does not have to cost a lot of money. Some of the most effective ads can be very inexpensive.
Word-of-mouth advertising is often misunderstood. It cannot be passive if it is to be effective. You have to ask customers and friends and acquaintances for referrals- ask them to tell their pals about what a good job you do.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &E-mail &Marketing &SEO
An important form of communication that can inform and attract must-have customers is your advertising. Keep in mind that all of your communications and interactions with customers are forms of advertising.
Sadly, most business advertising of the traditional sort doesn’t work very well. That’s because many people mistakenly think the purposes of advertising should be to strengthen brand awareness, or win awards for creativity. In fact, advertising’s only goals should be to:
* Give your core customers a reason to keep buying from you.
* Give your must-have customers a reason to start buying from you.
* Increase your sales and profits.
If your advertising isn’t doing those three things, you might as well be throwing your money out the window. Some advertising is really just egotising — it makes management and the agency’s creative people feel good, but it doesn’t add to the bottom line.
In too many cases, companies work hard to establish a certain image, such as elegant department stores designed for affluent core customers. Then, they disseminate advertising filled with price-reducing offers directed to the bargain-hunting crowd, which certainly isn’t their core group.
Category : Advertising &Blog &Business &Marketing &SEO &Websites
