Search Engine Optimization – Keywords are Key Using the Internet to market a business or service has become one of the best ways to accomplish this task. It is some of the most targeted traffic you can obtain for your advertising dollars. When people search on the Internet and find something related to what they are searching for they are in a buying mode, or at least an investigative mindset. And, they are investigating a certain thing.
However, with advertising like TV or Radio, you just hope to catch a few interested parties out of thousands of people. It reaches more people, but it is not very targeted. One of the key methods to use the search engines to get this targeted traffic is by using a tactic known as search engine optimization.
Search engine optimization is the process of doing various things to get your website to rank in the search engines on specific terms. There are various things that need to be done, and it is a moving target. The reason it is a moving target is that the search engines are constantly tweaking the search algorithm to make it better. That means you, or your SEO consultant needs to keep in touch with the latest developments.
The first thing that needs to be done with SEO is doing proper keyword research. Not only is this the first step, but it is also the most crucial step to do. Keyword research, basically, is finding keywords that are relevant to your niche. The goal is to find keywords that have a good deal of search volume with low competition.
There are various tools on the market, both paid and free, that will help find this data for you. The best thing to do, however, before using any tool is to just do some brainstorming. Sit down and make a list of words you think your prospects would use to find you on the Internet. Do not worry about volume and competition at this point. You want to try to get in the mind of your prospect and think of how they would use the search engines to find you.
Once you have a list of keywords from your own brainstorming, you can then plug those into the tools to generate massive lists of keywords. You can then use their data collection capabilities to find the search volume and competition metrics. By entering a few seed words from your brainstorming session, you can create lists with thousands of words in them. Do not forget to incorporate buying words into phrases either. These can include phrases like, “best”, “inexpensive”, “cheapest”, etc. These are even more targeted and indicate the searcher is more in a buying mode rather than researching.
Search engine optimization is an important task for anyone wishing to use the Internet to market their business. By using the search engine’s power to reach targeted customers and prospects you are making the Internet work for you all the time. It is like having a tireless salesperson who never takes time off or needs a vacation.
