Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

SEO Keyword Research

M.-J. Taylor, Cyber Key Web Design

What’s the SEO Buzz on Keywords?

Why and How to do Keyword Research

You think you know your product and your market – but do you know the mind of your buyer? What words does your typical buyer type into a search to find a product or service like yours? And why do you need to know?

Keyword research is not just about finding the most searched phrase to target your market – keyword research helps you to

How do you find what keywords searchers actually use?

Make a List and Check It Twice

Start with a list of obvious phrases – your product or service – brand names you sell – and have a look at other sites that sell your sort of product. Take that initial list and type each word, singly at first, into a keyword research tool such as Word Tracker or Keyword Discovery (both have free research tools or you can subscribe for more in depth analysis of keyword competition or longer phrases).

The free search tools:

http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

Make a table or spreadsheet and record each keyword and the number of daily queries, ignoring words and phrases that clearly don’t apply. Do a search on each variation to find longer tailed phrases and other variations. Leave the list alone for a few days and then revisit it.

Second Opinion? Get a third.

When you think you have found all the relevant terms and weeded out the irrelevant research results, share your list with colleagues, associates and friends, and let them tell you what they think. Don’t stop there – go to the source: the customer. Ask people who call or email you how they found you and if they say through a search engine ask what words they typed into the search box. Don’t be shy about asking. Most people love to be helpful and you may be surprised by how much people remember. You will learn a lot about your customers and how search terms are structured, particularly for your market.

Refine Your Keywords Again – And Again

Edit your list down to 10-20 phrases (or one per page of content) that will guide your content, SEO copywriting and on site optimization initially.

Never stop refining your list and optimizing. And do arm your site with a strong traffic program (I like Google Analytics, which is free. Traffic analysis will allow you to track what keywords searchers used to land on your site – you may discover some new ones!

Next – Onsite SEO Basics

M.-J. Taylor

SEO Design Consultant
Cyber Key Web Design

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Stay Main Stream

David Grenda, Founder, Grenda Computer Consulting

The basis for this week’s discussion is the reminder that I approach my technology consulting from the business owner’s perspective. As a business owner the keys to technology are dependability, ease of use and cost effectiveness. When you consider implementing a business technology solution, I always recommend a route that stays in the main stream. Like it or not, main stream in the world of small business generally means Microsoft. I’m certainly not in sales for Microsoft, but here are a few things to consider.

Staying main stream in technology means that you have options. If you part ways with your technology provider, it’s much easier to find credible Microsoft support. I’ve seen all too many examples of systems implemented in one platform, only to be migrated to Microsoft when the business owner and technology provider parted ways and qualified assistance could not be found.

Business to business computing interfacing is easier when both parties are using the same platform. There are problems to be had with conversions and filter processes needed to move information between disparate system platforms.

Growth is a problem we all hope to have, and you have to consider the scalability of a technology solution when you implement it. A small non-standard software system may work well for the application at hand, but what happens when you want to build upon it and expand capability? Realizing you have had wrong software platform when you are on the brink of growth can stop you cold as you regroup to get on the right track.

Remember that by nature, we technical types have never gravitated toward team play. We were always off looking for another or better way to do something ourselves. Many grew up into IT providers who carry that “better way” philosophy forward in the solutions they want to implement for your business. Stay with the main stream and you’ll eliminate one big potential headache for the future.

www.grenda.com

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