| STEP II: IDENTIFY KEYWORDS
You must find the keywords that
your customers use to find your products/services through search
engines.
Your customers will typically
find your products or services by searching for a particular keyword
or key-phrase on search engines like Google, Yahoo & MSN.
Internet users are getting more
sophisticated every day, and have learned to use keywords that
give them the best results for what they seek.
Small businesses with a local
presence and prospects can be found by using keywords or key-phrases
and adding their locality. For example, keyword “Realtor” is
very generic and would probably bring websites of national players,
or organizations related to the Real Estate business. However,
a consumer is typically looking for a real estate agent (Realtor)
in a specific area like Irvine, CA, and they know that they do
not need a “Realtor” but a “Realtor in Irvine,
CA”; hence they are more likely to use “Realtor in
Irvine” key-phrase for their search rather than “Realtor” as
a keyword. These help a local Irvine, California Realtor plan and
compete for the “Realtor in Irvine” key-phrase.
Here are some ideas to build a
massive list of keywords for your website:
A. Visit competitors’ websites
and check their titles and meta-tags.
(Meta-tags help search engines index a website for specific keyword podcasts
sending contents (text/video/audio to specific equipment (cell phones,
Ipods, etc.) through the internet.)
B. Check your customers’ testimonials to see what keywords they
use. This will also help you build a customer-centric keyword list.
C. Check all synonyms – use a good Thesaurus
D. Use both singular and plural keywords.
E. Use hyphenation and variation – I.E. Off-shore, offshore.
F. Use domain names of other businesses – I.E. CNN.
G. Use tools available for keyword identification.
Some tools are:
• Fee Based (for most comprehensive
list of key words and key
phrases used for your products/services:
1. Word Tracker (www.wordtracker.com)
2. Trellian (www.keyworddiscovery.com)
• Free Services (adequate
for most small businesses needs)
1. Yahoo Search Marketing (www.inventory.overture.com)
2. 7 Search.com (www.7search.com/KST)
3. Use abbreviations and misspellings of popular keywords
4. Use acronyms.
You can find acronyms at acronym generator, www.acronymfinder.com.
5. Combine keyword phrases to one – Ex. Vitamins and
herbs, vitaminsand herbs and vitaminsandherbs
6. Use “+” with keywords – Ex. vitamins+herbs
7. Visit crossword compiler, plug keywords and identify
additional words.
Check www.crossword-compile.com
and other similar websites.
8. Use permutation/combination of keywords – Ex.
Affordable website design and design affordable
website. Check sites like www.keywordtumbler.com.
Building a keywords list is not
a one-time process; it changes with consumer usage behavior. Focus
on the keywords being used currently to start your website and
make adjustments as the usage behavior changes.
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