It’s somewhat like a secret code to the Internet. Choose the precise words or phrases, and “vwah-lah“ (voila)! Like magic, tons of internet travelers will be making a stop at your address. However if your keywords are too broad, vague, or just worn out from over use, the possibility of having lots of visitors make it all the way to your site - or of actually realizing any substantial profit - decrease dramatically.
The very foundation and core of your Internet marketing strategy is your keywords. A very aggressive marketing campaign could prove to be completely ineffective if your keywords are not chosen with extreme precision. Simply because the people you are targeting, or the general web surfer, may never get the chance to find out about how great your business is, or how it can benefit them, or that it even exists. Gathering and evaluating keywords and phrases should be first on your list of priorities.
It sounds simple enough right? I’d bet you’re probably thinking you already know EXACTLY the right keywords for your search phrases. I don’t want to rain on your parade, but you’re probably wrong. Especially, if you haven't followed certain specific steps. Wouldn‘t you agree that it‘s difficult to maintain objectivity when you’re in the middle of any particular situation? The reason it may be a little difficult to choose the most effective keywords, is because you‘re on the inside, in terms of being an insider in your industry. Here’s where it’s most important, if not most profitable, for you to think like your customers. Considering you’re the business owner, and not the customer, isn’t it better to go directly to the source for keywords and phrases?
Here’s what I mean. Rather than you diving in and jotting down a list of potential keywords and phrases yourself, ask as many of your potential customers as you can for keywords associated with your product or service. Most likely you’ll discover that your understanding of your business is significantly different than that of your customers.
I’m sure there is no need for me to tell you that the customer is an invaluable resource. The words you accumulate from them are words and phrases you most likely would never have considered from deep inside the inner realm and complexities of your business.
After gathering as many keywords and phrases from outside resources as you can, you should add your own keyword to the list. Armed with this list, you’re prepared for the next step: evaluation.
The purpose of evaluation is to narrow down your list to a small number of keywords and phrases that will effectively direct the greatest amount of quality visitors to your website. "Quality visitors" are those consumers who are more likely to make a purchase, as opposed to just cruising around your site and eventually leaving. Popularity, Specificity, and Motivation are three key elements to remember when evaluating the effectiveness of keywords.
The easiest element to evaluate is Popularity. Simply because it is an objective quality. The popularity of the keyword determines how many times it will be typed into a search engine which will then bring up your URL.
There is software that you can purchase that will rate the popularity of keywords and phrases by giving keywords a number rating based on real search engine activity. There is this software called WordTracker that will even suggest variations of your keywords and phrases. The higher the number this software assigns to a given keyword, the more traffic you can logically expect to be directed to your site. The only drawback is, the more popular the keyword is, the greater to the search engine position you will need to obtain. Most people will probably never scroll down find you when you‘re at the bottom of the rankings. I said that to say this, Popularity alone isn't enough to declare a keyword a good choice.
Let’s move on to the next criteria, which is Specificity. The more specific your keyword is, the greater the likelihood that the consumer who is ready to purchase your goods or services will find you. Let's look at a hypothetical example:
Imagine that you have obtained popularity rankings for the keyword "shoe company". However, your company specializes in orthopedic shoes. The keyword "orthopedic shoe company" would definitely rank lower on the search engines than "shoe company". However, instead of getting people interested in everything from running shoes to work boots, you will get only those consumers with an interest in, or with a need for orthopedic shoes being directed to your site. In other words, consumers ready to buy your orthopedic shoes are the ones who will immediately find you. Here’s the best part, the more specific your keyword is, the less competition you’ll face.
The third and final factor is customer Motivation. Here again, we put ourselves inside the mind of the consumer in order to figure out what motivation prompts people looking for a service or product to type in a particular word or phrase. Here‘s another example: you’re a consumer who is searching for a job as an accountant recruiter in a new city. If have to choose between "Seattle job listings" and "Seattle professional recruiters" which would you choose first? If you were looking for a specific job, which keyword would you type in? The second one, right? Using the second keyword targets people who have decided on their career, have the necessary experience, and are ready to enlist you as their recruiter, rather than someone just out of school who is casually trying to figure out what to do with his or her life in between beer parties. You want to find people who are ready to act or make a purchase. This is much easier to achieve with subtle tinkering of your keywords until you find the most specific and directly targeted phrases to bring the most motivated traffic to your site.
After choosing your highly specified keywords, your work is not done. You must continually evaluate the performance of your keywords across a variety of search engines, all the while remembering that time, trends, and popular lingo change. You cannot rely on your log traffic analysis alone because it will not tell you how many of your visitors actually made a purchase.
The good news is there are great new tools have been invented to help you gage the effectiveness of your keywords in individual search engines. There is software now available that actually analyzes consumer behavior in relation to consumer traffic. The cool part is this allows you to discern which keywords are bringing you the most valuable customers.
Remember this. Numbers alone don‘t necessarily make a keyword effective; profits per visitor do. You need to find keywords that direct consumers to your site who actually buy your product, fill out your forms, or download your product. This alone is the most important factor in evaluating the efficacy of a keyword or phrase, and should be the criteria by which you determine which keywords to discard and replace with keywords that bring in better profits.
The key to search engine success is ongoing analysis of tested keywords. I know it may sound like a lot of work, and it most certainly is! However, the good news is, the amount of informed effort you put into your keyword campaign is what will ultimately generate your business' rewards. Isn’t that what you’re in it for anyway?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=T_Taylor
