You know, there are a few things that you just really, really want to do right because it will make such a positive contribution to your business results.
When it comes to building a productive website and Internet presence for your business, the one thing you really want to do right is identify a high performance Keyword Master List that consists of phrases people use to locate information, products or services online.
Why is this so important?
Two reasons: people find you online through keywords and a significant portion of your marketing success relies on those words as the foundation to shape your success.
Those are two very important reasons; that makes your Keyword Master List a Critical Success Factor for your business.
Choose your words wisely; many companies do themselves in at the starting gate by not getting this right. Avoid these common errors and your list will be the strong anchor for successful marketing activities that you want:
- Low Volume of Search Activity
- Overly Generic Keyword Phrases
- Non-converting Keyword Phrases
- Degree of Difficulty Too High
Developing a list that is free from these errors will provide you with an advantage that is not so easy for your competitors to detect. How so? Because most businesses remain in the dark about the importance of keywords and how easy it is to go wrong at the outset.
Let your competitors continue to squander their money and resources.
With this guidance, you can build a high performance Keyword Master List where every initiative that depends of them and returns more powerful results. Before we cover what you should avoid, I would like you to remember this phrase: “with reasonable effort on your part.”
Low Volume of Search Activity
This is the most common problem I observe. Businesses quite often spend misguided resources to gain visibility with keyword phrases that just aren’t searched very often. Many different things can conspire to produce anemic search activity, including:
- Using overly-precise keywords that searchers would not use
- Failing to factor in basic human motivators and behavior
- Not quantifying the value of keywords
Often, keyword phrases that companies think people will use to reach their website are not what an average person would use to locate information or products. People (such as you) who are experts in their field know the precise words to use; your prospects and customers frequently do not.
Furthermore, searchers are practical and less formal about what they actually use for search terms. Terms like “how to…” “tips for…” and variations on those themes that help them get the Cliff’s Notes version of the information they are seeking. Misspellings are also commonplace.
Tap into what motivated searchers in the first place – usually it is driven by a want or need.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that the keywords you identify have strong search volumes. Just as frequently, they do not. Make sure the group of keywords you are focusing on has sufficient search volume to make your efforts pay off. Quantify everything.
Overly Generic Keyword Phrases
Searchers have evolved since the beginning of the Internet. In early days, most searchers used 1 – 2 word keyphrases to drive their search. They learned that the generalized information that came back did not provide them with the answers they wanted. The trend now is to use more precise 3 – 5 word key phrases.
Companies likewise have also found that gaining a high enough position on 1–2 word keyword phrases with reasonable effort on their part is not possible and that these shorter key phrases drive in a significant amount of non-relevant searchers for all that effort.
Don’t do it. Accept the fact that it is better to have the lower volume of fewer searchers using 3-5 word phrases that align with your interests.
You want to strike the right balance between higher volume/lower relevance keywords and low volume/high relevance ones. Your conversion rate will improve and you will spend far less money and resources gaining visibility on the Web with longer phrases.
Non-converting Keyword Phrases
A lot of work goes into building a Keyword Master List with phrases that your best prospects search frequently and are spot-on relevant; there is one more step that is essential: you need to determine if these keyword phrases actually convert visitors to do what you want.
Test to determine which keywords convert; adjust your list with this learning.
It could be that a specific keyword phrase represents more of an early-stage research term. That may be OK from the standpoint of getting them into your orbit. Yet, that keyword needs to either set up a chain of events that ultimately leads to conversion or directly convert.
If a keyword phrase does not produce a sufficient conversion rate, move on to another.
Degree of Difficulty Too High
Once you develop an initial list of prospective keyword phrases that convert, are relevant, and have sufficient search volume to justify your blood sweat and tears, determine the degree of difficulty you will face in gaining visibility with them. Pragmatically, that means that you want to be on the 1st page of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) – above the fold.
Determine which keywords, with a reasonable effort on your part, deliver the best web visibility.
This means you need to understand the Web strategy and tactics it will take to get good visibility in Search Engines and Social Media. Plan the tactics required to gain the online visibility you want.
Avoid putting yourself in the middle of a competitive firefight for ranking positions.
If your competitors have too much of a head start it may be too difficult for you to “with reasonable effort” obtain a high ranking. Your competition may have too many resources (monetary and people-power) devoted to maintaining their visibility on those terms for you to break through.
You may find that the price is too high in terms of budget, resources, expertise or time required to gain traction of some keywords with those tactics. If the price gets too high, go for other tactics or move on to other keywords. If you can’t go in the front door, there is usually a side or back door.
The Grand Finale
Now you know why you will have a competitive advantage if you develop a high-quality Keyword Master List using these guidelines: it’s a lot of work. Few have the knowledge or willingness to do this. Yet, as a critical success factor to your online marketing, it has exponential value beyond most other elements in your marketing process.
Is it worth this effort?
You bet. Getting your online marketing on the right track from the outset means that everything you do that stems from or relates to your keyword phrases (which will be a lot) will deliver much more powerful results for your business with less expense.
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