I must confess… I didn’t (gasp!) do keyword research before writing the copy for our website. And the truth is I should have. But better late than never. So let’s pretend we’re writing our website content today (maybe you are)… and then take it from there!

First of all, why is keyword research so important?

Search engines (i.e., Google) are the number one way that people find your website. Your job is to make it easy for them. There’s much you need to do to make this happen… but it begins with figuring out what words and phrases (keywords) your prospects use when searching the Internet for what you sell. Then you need to make sure your website content includes those keywords. Do it right… and your website shows up in your prospects search results!

Here’s how to get started:

1.  It’s all about your target customers. You really need to understand who they are, what they’re looking for, and why they’d buy from you in particular.

2.  Think about what keywords they’ll use when searching on Google for your products and services. (If you already have customers… ask them!)

3.  Then make a big list of all the keywords you come up with.

4.  Add qualifying terms to your keywords that help better define your market… such as your product features and business location.

5.  Boil your list down to the keyword phrases you’re going to use with your website content. These phrases should best reflect your product offering and be search terms your prospects will use often.

6.  Now write (or update!) your website copy with these keyword phrases in mind.

Simple enough?

For example, let’s say you have an Italian restaurant located in Long Island, NY. You want keywords that target customers will use to find your restaurant. The keyword “restaurants” isn’t specific enough. Maybe: “Italian restaurants”? Better for sure. But we need some qualifying terms to make it even more specific. How about “Italian pizza restaurants” or “Italian restaurants on long island”? Now we’re talking! Just include these keyword phrases as often as you can in your website content.

You should target 5 to 10 keyword phrases depending on how many products or services you sell, and the different types of customers you serve. Have lots of products and services? Then you’ll need more keyword phrases.

The good news is there are free tools to help:

• Google’s keyword tool makes it easy to come up with hundreds of keyword phrases to consider. Plus it’ll show you the number of monthly searches for each phrase.

• Wordtracker is another good keyword tool for generating ideas. And it will also show you the popularity of each keyword suggestion.

• Google Analytics is free web analytics software that gives in-depth data on your website traffic… including which keywords send visitors to your site!

Now it’s time for a few cautionary comments (sorry!)

Spicing up your content with good keyword phrases will make it easier for prospects to find you… and also make generic website copy more specific and interesting. But don’t go overboard. Remember, it’s all about making your website helpful and informative for your target customers… not about stuffing your pages with keywords for the search engines. (see our related post)

And the process of keyword research never stops. You need to keep an eye on what keywords are driving the most traffic to your website… since your prospects are changing how they search all the time!

Don’t forget to keep your keyword phrases handy. You’ll not only reference them for your website copy but also for your online advertising campaigns, social media efforts… and even your offline advertising (which also influences what people type into a search box).

Let’s get started with your keyword research!

Btw, did you notice the keyword phrases I’m using for this blog post? Let us know which keywords you used to get here. Thanks!

Just started your blog? Or maybe you’ve had one for awhile but now it’s time to get serious. In any case, we probably don’t need to convince you of the benefits of having a blog. For example, creating more awareness for your business and developing a relationship with prospects… maybe generating leads too!

But how do you get more people to read your blog?

Exposure is critical to building readership… which will eventually result in sales. It really will. So let’s start with the basics. You need to get your blog to show up in search engine results. You also want prospects to stumble upon your blog. What’s an easy and cost effective way of doing this? List your blog with the best blog directories.

Listing with blog directories creates links to your blog. Google and other search engines really like these links because it says your blog is important. The more important your blog the higher up it will show in search results. Not to mention, the best blog directories have tens of thousands and even millions of visitors every month… some of which are potential readers (prospects!) for your blog.

Here are three blog directories that we recommend:

• BlogCatalog is a blogger community and directory which makes it easy for visitors to find, save, and organize favorite blogs… and it attracts millions of visitors every month.

• Blogs.com has a team of editors on the lookout for the best blogs and posts to feature on their site. Maybe your blog will get featured too!

• Blogged is a blog social network and directory with 100+ plus categories to choose from. Its editors will rate your blog and users can “follow” your posts with the click of a button.

Other blog directories to submit to include: Best of the Web Blogs, BlogFlux, Bloggeries, EatonWeb, and BlogTopList.

It only takes a few minutes to submit your blog. You’ll register with the blog directory, type in your blog’s URL, choose categories that your blog fits, and provide helpful keyword tags to make it easy for directory searchers to find you. That’s it.

Best of all, most blog directories offer free blog submission.

In a few cases, you may be asked to pay a fee but even then it’s affordable (e.g., $35 per year)… and some offer advertising opportunities that may make sense for you to consider.  But don’t be surprised if the blog directories ask that you link your blog back to them. Why not as they need promotion too.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s start marketing your blog!

We’ve been led to believe that being number one is what it’s all about. But sometimes that isn’t the best strategy… especially when we’re talking about paid search rankings. Don’t agree… Read on. Agree but not sure what else to do? Read on.

The number one page rank costs too much. Many marketers are bidding for the number one ranking for your favorite keywords. So what happens when there are lots of bidders and only one number one spot? You end up paying too much! Especially, when compared to the cost of the number three, four, or five ranking.

You get lots of traffic but few conversions. There’s no question that you’ll get the most traffic. But, surprisingly, you’ll get fewer conversions. The reason is simple: everyone clicks on the first position to figure out what they really should be clicking on. And you end up paying for every wasted click… making the number one ranking much less effective.

For popular keywords, the top ranking is just not available. For many popular keywords, especially those that define product categories (e.g., digital camera), you’ll be competing against the marketing budget of a Fortune 500 company. You might as well consider these keywords unavailable since they are beyond costly.

So what should you do instead? Here are four strategies to consider:

• Focus on rankings 2 to 5. You’ll get lots of traffic plus generate truly valuable clicks. Why? Because, there’s a better chance that people clicking on these rankings are researching a purchase or shopping around for the best buy. Did we mention that these positions cost a lot less than the number one spot?

• Make it about profits. If you’re not focused on the number one ranking… what should you focus on? Profits! Figure out how many clicks it takes to generate an order, and what your profit per order is. Then calculate your profit per click and compare against your cost per click. Just make your keyword strategy about maximizing profits… and everything else will start to become clear.

• Test, test, and… test! Test lots of keywords. Try targeting keywords for people who are in research mode, and some for shoppers. Also, test different offers and copy in your keyword ads. And try out both Google and Yahoo…and maybe even a few smaller search engines. Test search versus contextual based ad placements. You get the idea!

• Put more emphasis on your “natural” search ranking. Natural search is what the search engines were made for… so update your website to make sure your favorite keywords show up often. And have a good site map to make it easy for search engine “spiders” to access your site, and understand what you’re all about. You’ll improve your ranking and Web traffic… and you won’t have to pay for a single click!

Good search practices will get you results. But as you can see, it’s really not about being number one… instead, it’s about getting the most bang for your search engine buck!