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7
Nov
It doesn’t matter what kind of business you are starting, if your plan is to make money online then you need to understand how keywords work. Rather you are selling a service or product choosing the right keywords can be the difference in turning a profit or losing money. You have to attract website visitors that are interested in the product or service that you are selling.
Let me give you an example of how a search takes place online.
Let’s say that Rick lives in Atlanta Georgia and just bought a car.
Now, before Rick can drive that car he has to have insurance. So Rick goes to Google and does a search for insurance. The problem is he gets all types of results life insurance, health insurance, Obama insurance, flood insurance and the list goes on and on. So he goes back to Google and types in car insurance.
Now as Rick starts looking through the car insurance companies it dawns on Rick that what he really wants is the best price on car insurance. So Rick goes back to Google and does a search for best prices on car insurance. Now Rick is getting and idea on the prices and he’s ready to make his purchase but before he does he will do a search for best prices on car insurance in Atlanta Georgia.
The one that comes up in the top 10 for best prices on car insurance in Atlanta Georgia is the one that gets Ricks business.
The guy that is spending $19 a click on the keyword insurance not only didn’t get Ricks business but he also wasted Rick’s time.
It doesn’t matter if it is pay per click or the organic search engine, ranking for the right keywords is the difference in a profitable business and a business that is losing money.
Another example;
A couple years ago I started a template site. We wanted to rank it for website designers in the organic results. After a lot of hard work we discovered that people who were searching for website designers were not looking for website templates. It was both a painful and expensive lesson to learn.
Don’t get me wrong.
I am not saying don’t rank for the broad keywords, because even visitors who initially have no interest in what you are selling could be convinced to do business with you anyway. However, most of your sales and success will be based on targeted keywords and your landing page.
This is why keyword research is so important when it comes to turning a profit online.
I’ve even heard people say that your success online is determined by how successful you are in targeting the right keywords.
I’ll show you a couple free ways to find good keywords however, keep in mind that there are more advanced keyword tools that cost money. But due to the importance of good keyword research to the overall success of your business, any money spent should be money well spent.
Keyword research is all about driving targeted visitors to your offer.
Most people who search the internet do so using Google!
Google is always changing however, at this time they mainly look for text based information. Don’t get me wrong, Google also ranks video material, which shows that they are constantly adapting to match the ever-changing markets.
However, search engines are overwhelmingly text based.
Search engines use ‘algorithms’ to decide where things should rank. Algorithms are programs that can ‘read’ the words on your page, and then index that page based on the words on the page. So a webpage should be focused on a particular keyword or phrase.
This is why the first step in the SEO process is finding the keywords and phrases that are going to drive the best targeted visitors to your webpage. This makes Keyword research the most important part when creating webpages that are able to drive targeted visitors to your website.
Now there are three types of searchers, those looking for entertainment, information, and to make a purchase.
Let’s take a look at two of these groups now;
• If someone is looking for information on websites then they might type in something general like websites.
• However, is someone types in a phrase like ‘custom website designers in Atlanta Georgia’, than they have indicated a more specific requirement and are therefore more likely to be in the purchasing mind set.
This means if you are a web designer working out of Atlanta Georgia then this is the type of person you want landing on your website.
Most searchers start out using broad phrase (‘insurance’) before narrowing down to more specific phrases, as they get closer to their purchasing decision.
Most broad searches do not provide the information that they are looking for, so they refine their search term until the webpages that contain the information they want start showing up.
In most cases it is unrealistic to expect a website to rank for a broad generic phrase. This is because the broader the search term, the more competition in the results. And this makes it difficult for new websites to show up in the results for broad search terms.
However, all this changes when going after specific search terms.
According to Google’s statistics, more than 40% of search terms used daily are brand new. These are phrases that no one has ever searched for before. This means that just because Google does not have statics showing a keyword has been searched on does not mean that it want start being searched on in the future.
Also keep in mind that every page you add to your website is also adding more PR to your website. I am not saying build a website around phrases that nobody has ever searched for however I am saying don’t try and compete for the ultra-competitive broad generic keywords or phrases.
It’s much better to focus your attention on finding phrases that are more targeted to your customers, as opposed to general information seekers.
It does not matter what your business is about. You need to find the terms and phrases that people use when searching the internet for your products or services.
Trying to drive traffic to your website by focusing on broad generic terms is going to be a waste of time. It is extremely unlikely that a new website will have any success at all in this method.
In other words, the most popular search terms are rarely the ones that will generate business for a web site.
It has been shown over and over again that most business is generated from the thousands of website visitors driven by search terms outside the top 30 most popular keywords.
Let me say that one more time.
If you take all the traffic driven by keyword terms and phrases outside the top 30, it would amount to far more visitors than those driven by the phrases that are the most popular.
And there is far less competition and your conversions will be much higher.
You also need to keep in mind that 70% of searchers never go past page one. So if you are not able to rank in the top 3 for your keyword phrase then you are losing out on traffic. It is much more likely that you could get a top 3 ranking from beating out a couple hundred sites vs. a couple million.
When a search engine tool like Google, WordTracker, etc. says there is not enough data it does not mean one is searching for a keywords. Chances are someone, somewhere has most likely searched the keyword at some point, but there is not enough data to post any meaningful results.
Basically it is telling us not to build a whole website around that keyword because chances are there will not be enough targeted visitors to make it financially worthwhile.
Tags: Making Money Online, Traffic, Website Designers, wedsite designsnone
