It might seem like common sense to figure out which words people will use to search for your business online, but in reality, there is a very real science behind keyword research. Finding the keywords and phrases that are going to help you achieve higher sales is big business on the web–and has become extremely competitive.

You want to make sure the keywords and phrases you choose are relevant to your website content, so that whatever the searcher is looking for will be found on your website. There is a huge difference between getting a ton of traffic to your website, versus getting the right traffic, those people who want to do business with you.

If you want to do this on your own, it will take time and research on your part, but it is well worth the investment. The words you choose will serve you over the long term, and you’ll use them not only on your website, but also in your online press releases, advertisements, links, and many other venues.

Write it Down!
The first thing you want to do is make a list of your keywords.

• the goal of your website, including your product and/or service words and phrases you think people will use to find your product/service
• the questions you think people will ask about your product/service
• the needs your product/service meets
• what you think visitors want to accomplish by visiting your website
• the problems your product/services solves
• local and geographic phrases people might use when searching for you (city, county, state or other references such as city districts or zip codes)
• information people might search for that pertains to your industry (for example, search phrases that begin with “how to..”) that you can provide on your website (if you provide valuable content, visitors are likely to bookmark and/or share your website, and remember you when they are ready to make a purchase

Next, use a keyword research tool such as Google Adwords Keywords Tool and find:
Google Analytics Keyword Tool
Google Insights for Search

• related keywords to add to your list
• search volume (how often a keyword/keyword phrase is searched daily, monthly, or yearly)

Conduct a search for your keywords and key phrases. If you see a lot of ads along the top and right-hand side of the search engine results page, you know the words on your list are competitive, but also high value. You probably won’t rank very high for these words in the beginning, but with time and persistence, these words will bring you qualified traffic down the road.

Check out your competitors. The websites that are ranking high in the search engines results for your keywords are worth investigating. You want to discover what they are doing to achieve high ranking for your key words and phrases.

WHERE TO USE YOUR KEYWORDS In Your Web Site, In Business Directory Listings, In On-Line Social Network Accounts, Press Releases & E-News and anything else you can think of.
•Title Tag
first thing indexed by search engines and shown in search results
short and descriptive – identifies your business
use 70 characters or less
•Website Copy
you can use bold or italics to place increased importance on keywords/key phrases
•Meta Description Tag
brief description of your website, business and services
use 155 characters or less
•Link Text
use less than 100 unique links per page

Double CHECK
•misspellings
•keyword stuffing (putting too many keywords/key phrases on your website – use no more than 1-3% of your page content)
•plural and singular forms of the same phrase linked into a single page

KEEP This in Mind
•more people search using phrases, and the more specific the search, the more highly targeted traffic to your website
•two-four word phrases are a good rule of thumb
•single-word searches get the highest volume of searches, but the lowest targeted traffic

Of course there is a lot more to the subject than can be covered here, but if you follow these ideas, you are going to be doing much better in searches than you would be otherwise.

My Best,
Kathy Kane
Market Insights, LLC