The Biggest Mistake People Make When Choosing Keywords (And How You Can Do It Better)
By Christine OKelly | May 3, 2010
I run a press release distribution site that is designed for SEO — we offer people the ability to add anchor text links within their press releases because building backlinks in keyword rich anchor text links (within relevant content on quality sites) is an important component of SEO.
Day after day, I am continuously blown away by the keywords I see people choosing — keywords that will not help their SEO campaign at all.
The biggest mistake most people make when choosing keywords — and it is a critical one — is that they choose keywords that are far to broad or that do not directly relate to either the services they offer or the problems their customers are looking to solve.
In this post, I’m going to show you a process for not only identifying profitable keywords, but also discovering ones that you actually have a shot at ranking for.
I’m also going to show you a few pictures of my Scottish Terrier Molly modeling Kai’s new marketing product.
Tara and I do our best to educate every customer, providing personal one-on-one SEO counseling to every person who submits a press release using one of the upgraded packages that includes editing. It is one of my personal missions to show as many people as possible how to choose effective keywords that will increase their search engine visibility for their target audience.
And that leads us to this week’s Mission: Laser Targeting Profitable Keyword Opportunities For You To Dominate
This is Mission #2 in “Mission Possible SEO Challenge.” If you’re just finding this post for the first time, you may want to start with Mission #1: Analyze Your Site Through the “Eyes” of a Search Engine.
Step One
Est. time to complete: 5-7 minutes
When choosing keywords, there are several layers of consideration:
- The conversion potential of the keyword
- The search volume of the keyword
- The estimated time required to dominate the search engine results page for a keyword (more competition for a keyword means its going to take more time and effort to rank for it)
Choosing profitable keywords is a process that requires a combination of common sense, gut instinct, keyword research tools, and some smart analysis.
ACTION ITEM:
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Open a Word doc and list 5-10 keyword terms that relate to the services you provide and the solutions you provide for people. Use your gut instincts and common sense when compiling this list. Do yourself a favor — don’t just think about these keywords and not commit them to paper. Not only does it help solidify your thoughts — but you’ll be using this doc in the next step.
When Choosing Keywords to Jot Down:
Think from a customer’s perspective
Before you open any keyword research tool, think about the SOLUTIONS you provide for people. What are people really trying to accomplish when they are searching for what you provide?
If you’re a graphic designer, your first instinct may be to target the word “graphic design.” Not only is that term so broad that it will likely be an arduous battle to the top of the search engine rankings, but it may not be what your customers are looking for. Specific terms like “flash animation designer” or “freelance website graphic designer” often prove to more lucrative and to be easier to rank for.
Be Conscious Of The Type of Customer You Want to Attract
In just about any industry, there are terms and phrases that only those ‘in the know’ use. For example, in the CD manufacturing industry, industry terms are “CD duplication” or “CD replication.” Someone who has at least some level of familiarity with the process might search for these keywords. On the other hand, someone who is not in the industry might search for a term like “how to make a CD.”
If your business sells products and solutions applicable only to a more sophisticated industry buyer, it’s best to target industry specific terms. Using too general of keywords can bring you unqualified leads. However, if your business provides solutions for people newer to the industry, it might be more lucrative to avoid industry jargon.
Step 2: Expanding The List
Estimated Time to Completion: 30-45 Minutes
Next you are going to use a keyword research tool to expand on or narrow down the list of terms you’ve created based on your common sense and gut instinct.
ACTION ITEMS:
- Download this keyword research worksheet
- Open the Google Keyword Tool in your browser
- Enter the ROOT phrases of your common sense terms. For example, if one of your common sense terms is “freelance website graphic designer “graphic designer” — and you’ll likely discover some new possibilities.
- When you find a term that is relevant to what you offer, enter that term in column A
- Enter the Global Monthly Search volume number in Column B (this number represents the approximate number of times that this keyword is searched for in Google during a given month. Keep in mind that Google accounts for about 70% of search engine use the last I checked, so the actual number of searches for these keyword terms across all search engines is actually higher.)
- Do NOT enter the “advertiser competition” number (I’m going to show you a better way to analyze the real competition next week.)
NOTE!! A broad term that has a HUGE volume of searches doesn’t necessarily mean that it is a “money term.” How often have you done a broad search and then narrowed your search term because the results were just too broad? Broad terms are often where people begin their search, but not where they finish.
NOTE!! Do not get hung up on search volume! A graphic designer that structures their business correctly can generate years of profitable work by attracting one solid client. For businesses that don’t rely entirely on new business volume, it can be more important to dominate several laser specific, lower volume keywords than chase search volume.
It’s also important to note that NO keyword research tool is perfect. Search results for keyword phrases will be swayed by many things like advertisers and keyword researchers doing keyword searches to evaluate potential terms.
Your goal with using a keyword tool is:
- To use this to get ideas that slipped by you in the common sense phase
- To get an idea about search volume
As I mentioned above, I am going to show you how to analyze the organic competition for these keywords next week. This, I believe is the most exciting part of the process. But — you’ve got to get through this step before moving on to the next!!
Share Your Progress, Questions, and Frustrations
The keyword research step is so critically important that it should not be overlooked. If you just have general questions, by all means post them! My goal is to help you get a firm grasp on these concepts and dominate your niche on the search engines.
Today, after many, many, many long months of preparation, Kai Rostcheck has launched Free Marketing Made Easy. I’ve had the opportunity to review it before hand and I highly recommend it. I didn’t just ‘review’ it — I consumed it.
While I do have some bias because I’m an expert contributor and affiliate, I believe that this kit is an ideal compilation of resources for anyone who is a beginner to internet marketing or who is skilled in some areas, but wants to branch into new areas.
Contributors to the Free Marketing Made Easy Program Include:
- Denise Wakeman, online Marketing Advisor, and Founder of The Blog Squad.
- Lou Bortone, The Online Video Guy
- Michael Martine of Remarkablogger, a consultancy focused on helping businesses get more sales and more customers with blogging, social media, and Blog SEO
- Adam Weiss, Podcasting and interactive media consultant
- Paul Clowe, Sr. Manager of Training & Certification with Marketing Experiments
- Ben Cope, professional Dotcompreneur, Web Designer, and Internet Marketing Consultant
- David Cutler, the brain behind the Eat Media blog and Creative Business Development
- Amy Ellis MailChimp brand manager
- Jay Goldman, Head of Marketing at Rypple
- Jesse Goldman is Head of Business Development at Rypple
- Tracey Lawton, an Online Business Manager & Office Organization Expert
- Mike McKinnon is the Sr. Demand Generation Manager at ReadyTalk
- Christine O’Kelly, founder of SEO Content Solutions, cofounder of Online PR News, and Self Made Chick blogger
- Susan Payton, Managing Partner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an Internet marketing firm specializing in blogger outreach, social media, and PR
- Joe Pulizzi is the Content Marketing Guru of Junta42 and public speaker
- Seth Resler, Founder of New England Social Media, which creates comprehensive campaigns using all of the leading platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and more
- Kai Rostcheck, Founder and Co-Creator of Free Marketing Made Easy
- Mike Samson, co-Founder of crowdSPRING and Emmy Award® nominated Producer and Production Manager
- Mindy Sanderson of Vistaprint
If you think you could learn from some of these folks, take a look at Free Marketing Made Easy.
To celebrate the launch the program is being offered at 50% off between May 3rd and May 7th only.
Awesome job Kai and Team!
Topics: 90 Days to Higher Search Engine Rankings Challenge |
11 Comments »
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Awesome suggestions Christine. You are right, choosing the right keywords to target can really make a huge impact in your overall online marketing success. It is not always about choosing the phrases with the highest volume — but it sure is easy to fall into that trap.
I will definitely be pointing people to this post for guidance!
Thanks Tara! I hope this post is helpful for our PR clients - it’s amazing to think how much more effective most people’s press releases would be with just a little bit of time invested in strategic keyword research
Thanks, Christine! Great stuff. And Molly is a doll!
Thanks Jan! Molly is pretty darn cute - but I think I’m biased
Your artwork is AMAZING! Wow….
[…] The Biggest Mistake People Make When Choosing Keywords (And How You Can Do It Better) […]
Christine,
I think a more challenging part of the process that begins before the keyword step is getting inside your customer’s heads. You talked about that in the beginning and I’m still struggling with that.
The challenge for me is trying to not only picture what the ideal client would look like but trying to understand how they would search for what I offer.
Part of it is the curse of knowledge…not being able to unlearn what I know about my business to approach it from the perspective of someone who needs my services but doesn’t know the lingo.
That’s a really good point Brian. I think that a useful approach is to start by thinking about what problems your target audience is trying to solve. They don’t always know how to describe what they need to solve it, but they do know their problem. That may be a good place to start!
[…] post was inspired by Christine O’Kelly’s series discussing keyword research. It’s an important part of optimization. Choosing the right keywords […]
[…] blog. I also highly recommend reading SelfMadeChick.com Christine O’Kelly’s intensive series about keyword research for a more in-depth lesson. Focused Article […]
Great article. It’s always good to read about other tips in how to choose the right keywords. People still have problems in selecting the right keywords. Thank again for this great article
I like how you explained everything in detail. Would be checking out the other related articles about this topic. It is very important to any of us to know how to do SEO. That’s the most critical part in order to get the desired result you want.