Today, let’s talk about a simple search engine optimisation technique. I’ll be discussing how to target the right keywords for your SEO campaign. In his interview with Gideon Shalwick, Dave mentions “SEO is all about making sure that you are targeting the right keywords to come up in the organic search results”.  When you target the right keywords you target the right audience.

A successful SEO campaign starts with good keyword research. People fall into the trap of looking for keywords with the highest search volume thinking that it would bring hordes of traffic to their website. What these people do not realize is that keywords with high search volume also have very high competition.  More competition means investing more time and effort to beat all the other websites competing for the same keyword only to get visitors on your site who are not interested in buying your product at all.

But how would you know if the keywords you are targeting are the keywords your potential customers are typing in the search engines?

One good search engine optimisation technique to follow is to put yourself into the shoes of the searcher. Don’t think like an SEO expert, think like a customer. If you were a person looking to buy your product how would you Google it?

Keyword Research Tips – Browsing vs Buying Keywords

To bring targeted traffic to your website you need to choose keywords that people are using to find products and services similar to yours.  Studies have shown that 40% of searches are done via local based keywords.  To put it simply, people are adding locations to their search queries.  When people add a location to their search they are actually looking for a specific product in a specific location.

For example, if I were a small business owner in Melbourne looking for SEO services for my website what keywords would I use?

a. SEO

b. SEO services

c. SEO services Melbourne

Someone searching for “SEO” can just be looking for information about search engine optimisation. They are probably conducting a research for school or doing a presentation at work about SEO. A person searching for “seo services” is deeper into the search process. They are looking for more specific information.  Now, somebody searching for “seo services Melbourne” is looking for a specific product in a specific location. These people are more likely buyers than researchers.  (And if you answered “c” you are more likely to have a more successful SEO campaign than those who answered “a”).

For more keyword research tips watch this video of our recent search engine optimisation workshop to learn more about the keyword research process. In this video, Dave talks about browsing vs buying keywords and how it would bring targeted traffic to your site.

Let’s face it, SEO is a huge undertaking: it’s complex, fast-paced and time consuming, especially when you’re developing a business. It’s hard to keep up to date with exactly what makes a website rank. It’s a lot of work and requires a dedicated presence. It’s what we do, so we can tell you first hand, being an SEO strategist is not just about keeping up to date, it’s about multi-tasking as well. So let’s get down to the raw, burning question here…

How Can An SEO Strategist Help You Develop Your Business?

Let’s divide this up into two separate tasks. The first involves you developing your business, and we’re sure there is no one better suited to develop a concept than you. You know the direction that your business is going, you have your goals to achieve and an ideal income you’d like as well. This task is in itself massively time consuming; one wrong decision can divert you from your path for a very long time.

When it comes to our business, we like to plan ahead. We develop ideas for content, base these around what is winnable in the search engines, then power through the creation of that content, whilst applying our SEO principals. In essence, SEO is part of our business, regardless of whether the concept is virtual or physical. However, we’re sure you would prefer spending more time actually developing your business than learning the complexity of SEO.

Develop An SEO Strategy For Offline Business

It’s a home truth that the internet is quickly becoming the new sales front. Offline businesses now understand the power of being online, and how this can really put them in the limelight. With this in mind, they want in, however a lot don’t quite understand that the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy doesn’t exist online. This is where hiring an SEO strategist can be an integral part of your business.

In fact, we will refer to a recent experiment that occurred here in Melbourne. The company that owns the Yellow Pages (Sensis) recently opened a Pizza restaurant called “The Hidden Pizza Restaurant”. They launched a website, created a Facebook page, created some viral videos on YouTube, and told people “If you want to find us, just look us up where you normally would look up a business”. As such, their contact number was in the Yellow Pages, and this is how people found them. Once this project was completed, they had a large number of sales, and generated a lot of interest. Their claim was that the Yellow Pages still attracts customers.

Our response to this is that without the Social Media element to find the customers where they hang out, and without the SEO video marketing that spread like wildfire, no one would have known that the “Hidden Pizza Restaurant” ever even existed. The proof is in the pudding. We even hit the streets to compare Google Vs Yellow Pages. We can almost guarantee that behind this whole viral marketing campaign was an SEO strategist who knew exactly what he or she was doing, and although their claim is that a combination of offline and online marketing was what made this venture a success, we can guarantee that if they had the contact details for the restaurant available via a Google search, their profit would have doubled. Even tripled. In fact, we didn’t even receive a new copy of the Yellow Pages this year, strangely enough.. but that’s OK because we rely on Google 99% of the time, and the rest of the time, we refer to a local business directory, which isn’t owned by or affiliated with Sensis.

Did we get a pizza in the end? No… but we did hire a gardener a few weeks ago, (found on Google) which resulted in a sale of $1000+. We also used Google to find cheap air fares, ($200$+), interstate car hire ($300+), hardware for the Macbook ($500+) and even a graphic designer to create animated images of the team ($90+). That’s just to name a few. And this was without the power of any viral marketing, or even so much as a Yellow Pages listing.

Start Applying This Theory To Your Business Or Brand

Now imagine if you could have this power of online marketing behind your business or brand, whilst you are given the space to focus on important business development. This is why people hire experts to develop and implement strategies for them. You then have more time to give your customers what they want. A background SEO campaign will complement what you’re doing by helping your customers find you.

Potential customers don’t carry a Yellow Pages in their back pocket, but a lot of them carry devices with internet browsers that allow them to search for you in Google. Remember this the next time you consider exactly what it is that an SEO strategist can do for your business. Ready to learn more? Don’t be afraid to contact us for an SEO quote.

Keyword And Market Analysis

First things first, you’ve got to plan your SEO campaign. It all starts with getting to know the landscape of your market. What searches are your clients typing into Google? Who are you competing against and what are they doing? The aim here is to build a list of potential keywords to further analyse and at this point, the more the merrier.

Start with a common word or phrase that is appropriate to your business. Your starting point doesn’t need to be clever or creative, just relevant to your business niche. For example, a good starting point, if you were a dentist, might be ‘dentist’. Search this keyword using one of the following keyword research tools:

- Free Google Keyword Tool

- Wordtracker

- Market Samurai

These tools are designed to help you expand your keyword list by offering a number of derivatives or suggestions related to that keyword. They will also tell you how often those

keywords have been searched and how competitive they are. Document all those keywords you think are appropriate and run any additional searches on any newly discovered phrases.

Now with a big list of keywords, you need to identify the top ten to twenty keywords to start targeting for your SEO campaign. You should identify those keywords that represent the best opportunities for your niche. You want keywords that are ‘buying phrases’ with a good balance between low competition whilst also being highly searched.

*Buying phrases (as opposed to browsing phrases) are more specific searches that indicate the customer is ready to purchase. For example, a user searching ‘Sony Handycam HDR-SR11’, as opposed to just ‘Sony’, is much further down the buying funnel. They know what they want and their choice of keyword search will reflect this. You want buyers… not browsers.

Watch the video below to find out more about planning an SEO campaign:

• Are You Creating Blog Commenting Spam?
• The Simple Way To Increase Your Conversion Rate
• A Simple Search Engine Optimisation Technique To Target The Right Keywords
• Will Social Media Trends Kill SEO?
• Our Gradual Link Building Strategy