How to choose the right keywords for your business
If you’re just getting started with any type of internet marketing or website development, you’ve probably heard you need to make a list of keywords to best describe your product or service. Believe it or not, this is one of the more challenging tasks. Why? You need to think like your customer which can be really difficult. The keywords you’re about to choose is how people will find your business when they do a search for your product or service.
“How many keywords should I choose?”
That all depends on the type of business you own but here are some tips to help you get started:
- As a personal preference, I choose what I like to call an “umbrella keyword” one keyword that best describes your business. Many people will tell you not to try to optimize for 1-2 word keywords because you’ll never rank for them. I believe if you don’t, you fail without ever trying. It is possible, I’ve done it.
- Choose 2-3 long-tail (3 words+) keywords to describe each product or service. This helps to keep focus on the keywords you want people searching for you to find.
“How do I know which keywords to use?”
There are several tools available to help you find keywords.
One of my personal favorites is Google’s Keyword Tool. Enter in a keyword and the “I’m a human” code, click enter and the tool will shoot out 100 keywords that are close to the keyword you entered. You can use advanced options to determine the amount of traffic each keyword receives monthly, include/exclude terms, language, categories, etc.
Another interesting tool is the Wonder Wheel. You can access the Wonder Wheel by entering a keyword search into Google, click enter and on the left hand side it will have the Wonder Wheel link which will automatically give you the Wonder Wheel results upon clicking. There are various levels of keywords that branch off into different areas.
With each you still need to be cautious of the keywords you choose. Just because it’s an option doesn’t mean you need to choose it. Use keywords that will help people find you.
Other ideas for choosing keywords -
An idea one of my client’s used to determine their keyword list for their website design was asking their customers how they search for their products. It was amazing the answers they came up with.
Also, if you already have a website, you can find out which keywords people use to find you provided you have analytics set-up.
A few more tips on keywords:
- If you are a brick and mortar business or only do business locally, consider including your city name. Example: Flower Shop Dayton, OH. This will help you to be found by people searching for your product or service in your local area.
- Don’t go crazy! It’s easy to choose thousands of keywords that are closely related to your business but many of them will not be effective in converting. This can be an extremely costly mistake in Pay Per Click Campaigns.
- Do a search for keywords you’re interested in using and see if your competition is there. That is one of the easiest ways to determine whether a keyword is going to help drive the kind of business you’re looking for.
