How to choose SEO keywords
The English language is incredible. There are hundreds of different word combinations that can be used to communicate a single idea. And every combination is a possible SEO keyword phrase for some website. Maybe yours.
So how do you decide which words and phrases to use when you’re optimizing your website to increase search engine traffic? Do you choose the keywords with the highest search volume? The ones that you’re already using on your site? Do you pick keywords with the least competition?
All of these questions must be addressed through the course of developing a comprehensive SEO plan. But for a small business website, one question rises above the rest: Which search terms are your customers using?
SEO Keyword Choices
Putting together a proper SEO plan requires making sensible decisions about which keywords you’ll target and which ones you’ll ignore. Sounds easy, right?
Not so quick. As you conduct keyword research and start developing your ideas for an SEO plan, you’ll be faced with infinite choices regarding which keywords you should include in your SEO campaign. Many (too many) website managers make their decisions in a rash manner, often without giving any consideration to why one keyword might be a better choice over another.
I’ve actually witnessed small business owners and bloggers tackle the decision-making process in an arbitrary, freewheeling manner. So I thought I’d put together an article that addresses some of the considerations that should be involved in making choices among all of your keyword options. And chances are, you’ll have a lot of options.
Synonyms
A synonym is a word that has the exact same meaning as some other word. If you want to find synonyms galore, just open a thesaurus (or visit an online thesaurus). Look up the word buy and you’ll find out that one of its synonyms is purchase. This raises the question: Should you optimize your site with the word buy or with the word purchase? You’ll find that the synonym dilemma arises for every single SEO project. The ongoing challenge in the keyword selection process often involves deciding between synonyms and synonymous phrases.
Search Volume
Search volume refers to the number of searches a term receives in a given time period. For example, the word buy was searched about 68 million times on Google in January. Purchase only received about 6.1 million searches. Still, that’s a lot. A knee-jerk reaction might be to decide that you’ll use the word buy in your SEO because it gets more searches. But there are many cases in which it’s much better to target a keyword with a lower search volume (although you don’t want to go too low!).
Competition
If buy gets more searches than purchase, then more people probably use the word buy. Therefore, it will probably have greater competition, which means you have to work harder (publish more content, obtain more links) to see results. That’s something to think about. Maybe you could optimize for purchase and get a big chunk of the 6.1 million searchers within a few months whereas you could spend years optimizing for buy and never see a single visitor as a result of your efforts. Don’t worry about which keywords get the most searches. Worry about which keywords will draw your customers and which ones will realistically lead to success.
Customers
The best way to start narrowing down your list of synonyms is to determine which words your customers use when referring to your products. For example, many musicians refer to their recorded music as “records.” They’ll say something like “We made the record for our fans.” But fans don’t search for records. They don’t buy or purchase records. So records are not what music lovers are looking for. The fans — the customers — the searchers — are looking for music. They want to buy or purchase music. Or songs.
Existing Keyword Traffic
Let’s say you sell music on your website. Should you optimize for purchase music or buy music? If you find that you’re already drawing a few visitors every month for the term purchase music but you’ve never drawn a single visitor for the term buy music, then you might be better off working on the former term. Whenever possible, leverage keywords that are already drawing traffic! For example, if purchase music brought in five visitors and you find your site ranked on page 35 of the search engine results pages, you should optimize and try to move up a few pages. Then, you should keep optimizing and try to move up a lot more pages.
Writer-Friendly
Some potential keywords and phrases don’t lend themselves to written content. This includes odd phrases that people will enter in search engines but that they wouldn’t normally say or write while communicating with other people. It also includes keywords that are misspelled (many searchers misspell their search terms). Keep in mind that when you finish your research and finalize your keyword selections, they will have to be implemented on your website, which means they will be written into the text. If you want the language on your site to be readable and correct, then you want to choose writer-friendly keywords.
Narrow the Search
Let’s face it, there’s a whole lot of music out there. You can get more specific about which music you’re selling. If you’re a full-service music store, you’d do well to choose a bunch of keywords with each one targeting a different genre or artist. You could optimize for purchase rock music or purchase pop music. Sometimes you’ll see better results optimizing for a larger pool of keywords that are highly specific and that have less competition.
Long-Tail Keywords
How specific can you get? I already mentioned artists and genres. What about format? Do you sell music downloads? Maybe instead of purchase rock music you should optimize for download rock music. As you add more words to your keyword phrase, it becomes a long-tail keyword, which is simply a keyword that consist of several words. These can be effective when used thoughtfully.
SEO is About Asking the Right Questions
When you start compiling a list of possible keywords, your head might spin. It’s truly mind-boggling how many words and phrases can be used to search for one product or service. As you go through your list of keyword possibilities, avoid making arbitrary or meaningless selections as much as possible. Try to cite a reason for every decision you make. If you eliminate a keyword from the list, make sure you have a reason why.
As you go through the process, asking the right questions is essential to informing your decisions. Think about each keyword and determine how many ways that term might be used by people searching for it. Are they more likely to be looking for your offering or is it possible the search term is even more applicable to something you don’t sell at all:
- If I optimize for download rock music, I might draw searchers who are looking for free downloads.
- If I optimize for purchase rock music, I might get visitors looking to buy sheet music or CDs.
- Should I optimize for buy rock songs online?
Sometimes you end up back at square one, and you have to go back and do more research. But it’s worth it. If you’re going to invest in a serious SEO campaign, you want to get the research and keyword selection right the first time.
Here’s a summary of considerations to keep in mind when making SEO keyword selections:
- Synonyms: Do you have a nice, long list of keyword possibilities to choose from?
- Search Volume: How many searches are conducted for each of the potential keywords?
- Competition: Which keywords are highly competitive in the SEO field?
- Customers: Which keywords do your customers use when looking for your products and services?
- Existing Keyword Traffic: Are you already seeing low volumes of traffic for some of these keywords?
- Writer Friendly: Lean toward keywords that are correctly spelled and fit naturally into written communications.
- Narrow the Search: To attract customers looking for exactly what you offer, narrow your language. Be specific.
- Long-tail Keywords: Be more specific. Use a larger number of keywords that have lower search volumes and less competition.
- Finally: Ask the right questions. Make sure you have a reason for each elimination or selection from your list.
SEO is a tedious process, especially the research and keyword selection phases. But once you get past the nitty-gritty grind of poring over lists of words, phrases, and statistics, you get to move to the next step: keyword implementation. And that’s when SEO gets fun.
Build brand familiarity with online marketing
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Branding and marketing professionals understand the power of image. Think about the Apple logo, the Nike swoosh, and Starbuck’s emblem. These symbols are burned into our minds and they immediately trigger brand recognition as well as the feelings and attitudes we hold individually or collectively toward the companies and products that they represent.
We’re used to seeing logos and image-based branding on business cards, television and print ads, and product packaging. However, there is no medium more powerful for propelling brand recognition than the internet.
In today’s technology-driven world, online marketing is the foremost method for promoting your company’s brand. Any small business can use the web to build brand familiarity by depicting a logo, maintaining a consistent image, and sharing a clear message across all online marketing channels.
Logo Placement
The core component of your small business image is its logo. The first and most obvious placement for this image is on your website. What comes after that?
As you travel the information superhighway, there are countless opportunities for displaying your logo – that key symbol that identifies your brand. And the more you display that image, the more familiar and recognizable it will become to your associates, competitors, and customers.
Put it in your email signature, use it in all your social media profiles, upload it to your directory listings, and make sure it is prominently displayed in all your marketing and advertising collateral (online and off).
Social Media Outreach
Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube provide ample opportunities for logo display and other online marketing efforts. Some social media experts make a living using these platforms to promote businesses on the web.
Many small business owners and independent professionals sign up for social media networks but forget to brand them or keep them updated. Embed your brand into your custom Twitter background. Use your logo as your Facebook page picture. Make sure you’ve included a link to your website on your LinkedIn profile.
And as you engage with social media, always be conscientious of how you’re representing your business brand in all of your communications. If you want your business’s tone to be upbeat and positive, refrain from complaining, ranting, or posting bad reviews. If you want to project a sophisticated, cutting edge image, keep your focus on current trends and developing technologies.
Two Ways to Build Your Brand on Blogs
There are two ways to build your brand on blogs. First, launch your own blog and incorporate your company image and tone in posts, images, feed footers, and email subscriptions. Be careful not to overdo it, though. Next, use your image when you visit other blogs. You can do this easily by using Gravatar, which automatically inserts your image beside comments you leave on other blogs. If you publish posts or articles on other blogs or websites, make sure to include your logo.
Complementary Traditional Marketing
Make sure your offline and online marketing efforts complement and reinforce each other. Many of the same rules apply across different mediums. An ad in a magazine or newspaper should include your logo. The attitude or voice of your radio and television commercials should convey the tone you want to establish. Whether you’re using billboards, fliers, signage, or postcards, all representations of your brand should be consistent.
Using Online Marketing for Brand Building
The key to building brand recognition through online marketing lies in identifying opportunities as they arise and then seizing them. Keep a copy of your logo handy and use it in situations where you are asked to upload and display images online. Always insert your company name, tagline (or slogan), and website address (URL) in signatures and profiles that you use around the internet.
Tip: Create a folder with all the information (don’t forget your elevator pitch and company bio) and store it on your desktop for easy access! Be prepared at all times, and keep copies in traveling media (like a flash drive) or stored in your inbox, so you can access and use it anytime, from anywhere. That way, you’ll be able to propel your brand at a moment’s notice.
Start finding those opportunities now by looking for innovative places on the web where you can display your brand. Go through all your online profiles and cyber haunts and make sure you’re promoting your business appropriately.
How do you incorporate your business brand to expand your online marketing strategies?
Who's writing your home page?
You can write your own home page. After all, how hard could it be?
You can also hire a website copywriter like me to write it for you. Either way, you should know exactly what goes into crafting a home page that is purposeful and effective.
Think for a moment about the role your website has in contributing to the success of your business. Think about how your site works toward helping you achieve your goals. Your home page is your store front, your magazine cover, business card, brochure, and television commercial all rolled into one. It is your number one marketing tool, and it has an enormous job to do.
The Purpose of a Home Page
The visitors that come to your website are like window shoppers. They’re standing there for just a moment, checking out your sign, peeking at your inventory, and wondering if they should step through the door. You have that one moment to capture their attention and convince them to come inside.
Each home page is unique but they all have one common purpose: convert visitors into customers. A customer can be defined in many different ways — someone who subscribes to a newsletter, a person who purchases a product or service, or anyone who signs up as a registered user.
A website copywriter has to understand how to dress up that window so people want to come in and become customers. If you can do that, convert visitors to customers, then you’ve written a killer home page.
The Five Cornerstones of a Killer Home Page:
So how do you get passersby to come in? Start by applying the following website copywriting techniques:
- Understand the Problem – Customers patronize a business because they have a problem or a desire. Show that you understand their problem, and then…
- Offer a Solution – Tell people what you offer on your website by clearly describing your product or service.
- Explain the Benefits – It’s not enough to solve the problem. You also have to identify the benefits. In other words, explain how solving the problem will improve the customers’ lives.
- Show Off Your USP - At this point, customers are wondering why they should buy from you and not your competitor. This is where your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) comes in. What makes you so special?
- Issue a Call to Action - Lead the visitor to the next step using links, buttons, or clickable images. Take them to a registration page, catalog, or to the online store. Direct that traffic! This is where the conversion from visitor to customer happens.
To put it simply, you tell people what you’re offering and why it will make their lives better. Then, you explain why yours is the best place to get it and nudge them toward the cash register.
Website Copywriting That Makes People Want to Come Inside and Buy
Once you’ve established your five cornerstones, you’ve got the foundation for your home page, and all you need to do is develop the structure. Laying the groundwork is as easy as pouring cement, but building rooms and hallways, putting up windows and doors — doors that customers will want to walk through — that’s the tricky part.
Good website copywriting is a specialty all its own. There are specific techniques for writing a killer home page, an intriguing about page, or a compelling products or services page. And then there are skills that apply to all of the written content on a website.
Truly great website copywriting achieves the following:
- It is clear, concise, and compelling and looks good on the screen.
- It speaks to customers in a language they can understand.
- It incites visitors to take some action so they become customers.
- It focuses on benefits for the customer rather than features of the product.
- Good website copywriting always maintains the company brand and image and adheres to the company mission and philosophy.
There are plenty of other factors too, like search engine optimization (SEO) keywords, which draw visitors to your site organically through search engines. When keywords become part of the equation, website copywriting becomes SEO copywriting, and that requires even more skills, because specific words and phrases have to be worked into the text and formatted accordingly.
A website copywriter has a job that combines the skills of writing, marketing, and design with an understanding of how people use the internet and respond to web content. Anyone can write a home page, that’s the truth. But writing a killer home page, that just might require a specialist.
Scribizzy offers a full suite of website copywriting services.
Seven tips for your small business website design
Your website is your number one marketing tool, and your website is a premium opportunity to communicate your company’s offerings.
When visitors come to your website, they’ll sum it up in a flash based on what they see. Content is important, but aesthetics are a close second.
Whether you’re designing your own website or hiring someone to design one for you, you should have a solid idea of how you want to portray your business. If you have already started establishing your identity with a logo and marketing plan, then you’ve got the foundation you need for your small business website design.
However, there are still many considerations to keep in mind, and throughout the process of designing a new website (or redesigning an existing one), you will need to make choices about how your site will look and feel so that it represents your business appropriately.
Here are seven small business website design tips that cover the core components every website needs in order to succeed. These tips will help you make smart design choices so that your site captures visitors’ attention while maintaining the integrity of your company’s identity.
Small Business Website Design Tips
1. Build Your Brand with a Logo
Your small business website design is an excellent tool for brand building. If you have a logo, it should be prominently displayed on your home page and all subsequent pages as well. If you don’t have a logo, you should get one immediately. If you’re an independent entrepreneur using your name to do business, consider developing a signature-style logo, using a particular font and possibly your photo or some other simple visual emblem. Logos help to build familiarity, association, and reputation, and they are essential in developing your business’s identity.
2. Make Thoughtful Color Choices
Often the color choices you’ve made for your logo will drive the design of your website. However, simple logos, or brand designs that are flexible enough to adapt to a broader color scheme may lend themselves to a wider variety of choices. You should already know the objective of your site, so choose colors accordingly. If you want visitors to feel calm and relaxed, go with cool colors (blues and lavenders). If you want them to feel energized or passionate, go for warm colors (reds and oranges).
There are an unlimited number of color combinations available; a good way to determine what direction you want to take is to spend some time surfing around the web looking at sites that target the same audience you are going after, and make note of designs that strike your fancy. Keep in mind that selecting two or three different colors in varying shades will generate a better design.
3. Font and Text
There are so many exciting fonts out there, but don’t be tempted! You can use fancy fonts for your title, logo, and headings, but use a very simple, easy-to-read font for the bulk of your content, and remember that fonts are stored on visitors’ computers locally, so if you’re using a font that’s not web-friendly, turn it into an image. For your content, make sure that you use dark text on a light background for better readability. Too many people get overly excited about all the font and color choices and go to great lengths to make their small business website design look extraordinary with typography, but if you make the text difficult to read, visitors will click off to some other site that puts less stress on their eyesight. Lastly, make sure your font size is not too small… or too big.
4. Clickable Header
The header is located at the top of a web page, and it’s usually the area where you’ll find the title or site name. This is where your logo should appear. It should be prominent, clear, and easy to read. And it should be clickable. Clickable headers have become standard and modern web users expect that when they click on the header, they’ll return to the home page. The header should also provide clear indication as to what your site is all about. You can always use a tagline in the header to broadcast your site’s purpose.
5. Images
The more images you have on any web page, the longer it takes to load. Generally, web surfers will wait just a few short seconds for a page to load before they go off in search of speedier delivery. Make sure your images are optimized for the web and don’t clutter your page with them. Keep in mind that videos and slideshows take even longer to load than regular images. However, you should have at least a few images on each page. Images break up long strings of text and create spatial interest, which is attractive to the eye. Of course sites geared toward art, photography, film, etc. are exceptions to this rule!
6. Layout & Content Planning
Before you design your small business website, you should have a good idea of what its content will be. This is achieved through thoughtful web content planning and development. Once you have a plan, you or your designer can start to establish a formidable layout and small business website design that is built to hold your content. There’s nothing worse than putting a site together only to discover there’s not enough room in your navigation menu for all the content you want to include.
7. Navigation
Your main menu or navigation bar will act as your site’s table of contents. It is here that you want to display simple links to key pages within your site. There are a few pillar pages that almost every website should have, which include home, about, and contact. Most business sites will also include products or services pages. Take a look at other sites within your niche to determine which other key pages warrant a link on the navigation menu. This menu should be clearly labeled, easy to find, and should appear in the same spot on all pages across the site. This makes your website more user friendly.
Moving Forward
Small business website design projects can be stressful but can also be a lot of fun. It’s exciting to see the whole thing come together, especially for the first time. Redesigns will breathe new life into a business and will often ramp up sales, even in a down economy.
A few final small business website design tips:
- Keep your design flexible enough so that you can add and change content later.
- Include a plan for website maintenance and regular updates. If your budget allows, consider hiring a website manager.
- Make sure the site is thoroughly tested on various operating systems and browsers to ensure full functionality.
Scribizzy offers small business website design services. All projects are tailored to your business needs and specifications.
Find out what a website manager can do for your small business
Back in the 90s, businesses realized that the internet provided a viable and profitable marketing opportunity. By the new millennium, businesses big and small had realized that a website was an essential marketing tool. Back then, you bought a domain name and hired a designer. When your website was done, the project was over and you went about your business.
But things have changed.
In today’s business world, a website is one of your most important marketing assets, a platform you can use to promote your business and its offerings.
The content on your site and your peripheral online marketing campaigns can strategically draw targeted traffic to your website, making a significant and measurable contribution to the success and growth of your business.
But in order for that to happen, someone has to oversee the site. That person is your website manager.
Today’s Small Business Website
The web has been growing exponentially. Ten years ago, it wasn’t difficult to set up a website and then make sure customers could find you online. But with today’s overpopulated internet, it’s not so easy.
Websites are no longer the digital business cards or billboards that they were ten years ago; they have become fully functional business outposts. They are still key components of any marketing campaign, but because the internet itself is a virtual universe, small businesses need to treat their websites like storefronts in that universe. Now, instead of just using a website to market your business, you also have to market your website.
It may sound like a hassle: now, in addition to any print, TV, or radio marketing, you also need an entire campaign to market your website. But there are actually numerous benefits to online marketing that traditional media cannot provide:
- Your website can capture statistics, giving you full visibility over your online marketing efforts and ROI.
- Space on a website is practically limitless, and it can hold text, images, audio, and video, making it more versatile than any other marketing tool in the world.
- E-commerce means your site can double as a checkout point, a virtual cash register that generates real money.
- Search engine optimization means you can advertise to highly targeted prospective customers (more for your dollar).
The increasing complexity of the web and improvements to website development technology means that an effective website in today’s marketplace requires a considerable investment. It’s not enough to hire a designer, have your site built, and then forget about it. Someone needs to take on the responsibility for managing the website.
Website Manager Duties and Responsibilities:
There is no fixed set of duties that a website manager performs. Some webmasters spend an hour or two a week managing a site, others work at it full time. Some are solely responsible for the site’s technical functionality and code or content updates while others oversee every aspect of a business’s online marketing campaigns.
Here are a few common duties and responsibilities of a website manager:
- Ensure website functionality and perform software updates
- Monitor, assess, and report on website performance
- Ensure domain registration and hosting are current
- Develop and/or update content
- Handle online marketing projects ranging from SEO to social media marketing
If you have employees, one of them might be able to take on the role of website manager on a part time basis. You could have an IT professional who provides these services or your website designer might continue to manage your site for you after the initial build. You may even decide to do it yourself. But the best website manager is a professional website manager, someone who is experienced in all aspects of running a successful website and who can work effectively and consistently toward helping you realize your business goals.
Every Small Business Needs a Website Manager
Thanks to content management systems, many small business owners are now able to manage their own websites. The do-it-yourselfer can spend some time learning the ropes of website management and online marketing. This model is especially effective for technophiles and web-based business owners.
But for most entrepreneurs, taking on the vast duties of a website manager is not feasible. As the internet continues to expand, it’s becoming more complex. Sure, you can log into your website and update the content, but you have to know what type of content your site needs. If something breaks, you need to be savvy enough with code to fix it. And you need to be able to interpret statistical data and make smart decisions about which opportunities are worth investing in. You need to be a web expert.
Website managers spend years mastering the internet. Most small business owners are busy running their businesses; they don’t have time to take on another full-time job, or even a part-time job. For them, hiring a professional website manager is the best course of action.
Want to hire an experienced website manager? Scribizzy is at your service.
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