How To Make A Keyword Strategy

Keywords. Everybody has heard about them, but did you know they are the foundation of a website that generates sales?  Search engine optimized webpages have a keyword strategy as their backbone. Each page is directly focused on one word or phrase a target customer is searching for online. These keywords should determine the titles of your web pages, how the content is written and what you offer. Other than understanding who your customers are and what they are like, which is the foundation of inbound marketing in general, keywords are the basic building blocks of online success. 

What Is A Keyword? 

In their most basic form, keywords are a topic of importance in your industry. These are terms your prospects type into search engines to find you, or your competitor’s, products and services.

A solid keyword strategy plays a huge part in helping your website get found by potential customers. Search engines are the bridge that connect qualified prospects to your website; and search engines have less than a second to figure out what your web page is about. 

With the millions of websites talking about almost every product and service out there, you need to make it as easy as possible for search engines to rank your site at the top of results. This all starts with including relevant keywords on your web pages and blogs. Beyond the almighty Google, keywords also tell your visitors they’re in the right place. A proper keyword strategy helps you attract the right visitors and convert those visitors into qualified leads or sales.

So how do you know which keywords will drive the most prospects to your website? How do you know which keywords will increase your sales?

4 Steps To Creating An Optimized Keyword Strategy

Step 1: Identify Your Buyer Personas

Before slapping a bunch of industry terms all over you website, you need figure out the type of person that is searching for your products and services. These generalized personalities of your target customer are called buyer personas. Figuring out what your personas are looking for and how they think is the way to begin an effective keyword research strategy.

Search engine algorithms are way too smart for the average, or even the above average person to trick. Search engines try to find user-centric pages with genuinely helpful content. Therefore, your keyword strategy must focus on your buyers, not the search engines you want to rank highly on.

Google becomes successful when they provide the best quality results for searchers. So they do everything they can to provide the best solutions based on the perceived intention of the user. You need to do them same thing. Your personas have two main questions they expect answered by search results: 

• What do I need/what do I want?
• Which of these search results is most relevant to my need or want?

As a business, it’s critical that you identify the context of these two questions for your casinoscraps personas. Why? Because these questions are actually your keywords! It’s also essential that you answer these questions immediately on your webpage so it’s perceived and relevant and given attention by your visitors.

Step 2: Identifying Long Tail Keywords

Once you know which terms your buyer personas are searching for, its time to figure out if you can rank for them. Some keywords are just too competitive to rank for and others are much too general. 

Lets say you sell shoes. You’re probably never going to rank for the keyword “shoes”, unless you have a bigger marketing budget than Nike. The word, “shoes”, is also not a good indicator of the intention of the searcher and how qualified they are to become a customer. 

The next step in your keyword strategy is to turn the industry words your buyer personas are searching for into long tailed keywords. Your long talking keywords should directly relate to the problem your company solves for your customers. For example, instead of creating a keyword strategy around “shoes”, creating a page for each particular type of shoe, like “men’s summer hiking boots”, will attract visitors searching for that exact product to that exact page.

Long tailed keywords are easier to rank for because they typically have less competition. They also help ensure you have qualified prospects visiting your website, which in turn will help you close more sales without doing more work.

Step 3: Create Optimized Content

Now that you have your long tailed keywords, its time to start creating search engine optimized content. The two main places for this content to live are your website pages and your blog. 

Your website pages should have keyworded content relevant to your business and sales goals. This content should be more sales based, intended to push visitors deeper into your buying process.

Your blog should have relevant content that attracts visitors to your website from search engines. This content should be more educational, answering questions and solving problems for your prospects. Tip:don’t pack your content full or the same keyword phrase over and over. This will affect the quality of your content. Feel free to use variations of your long tailed keywords and phrases. You can actually start ranking for these variations as well as your intended keywords.

Step 4: Measure Results 

Once you create your optimized content, track the keywords that attract the most traffic. Start compiling a master list of the effective keywords and continue blogging with them to get found.  Also, track which pages and posts convert the most visitors into leads and sales. The keywords on these pages are indicators of what phrases your personas feel are most pertinent to their buying decisions.

Get Keywording!

These simple steps to increase the effectiveness of your website are the essential for online success. If you’re a little more technical, your can use free tools like the Google Keyword Tool to help identify the best keywords for you business goals. And as always, if you need some more help, feel free to give us a call. Happy keywording!