Keywords, the select words and phrases you focus on in your website name and copy, blog posts, and even social media, are a vital part of your brand’s online marketing strategy. Choosing the right keywords and developing a keyword strategy are among the first steps to building an online presence around your brand – it helps potential customers find you, know who you are and what you do.
Why Keywords Are Important
Content is king, but keywords are the crown jewels. When you choose a domain, develop website copy, and write blog posts, you’re not only telling the world who you are, but you’re also leaving breadcrumb trails for your potential customers to find you.
When search engines, such as Google or Bing, crawl through your website (as they do with every page, on every site, on all of the Internet), their bots will index your pages based on the terms and phrases in your copy. The headlines in blog posts, the alt tags on your photos, and the meta data on your site should all be written with your brand’s keywords in mind.
This isn’t to say that keywords are the only important part of your copy. Search engine rankings have developed algorithms to detect the difference between keyword repetition with poor quality content and keyword usage with well-informed copy. Your keywords should be backed up by your wealth of information and great product offerings in those areas.
Great keywords and well-written copy also give influencers in your industry a reason to link to your pages. If someone who ranks highly for particular keywords links to your blog post or website from their site, your ranking for those keywords will improve as well.
Social media messaging should also use your keywords. When your followers share or engage with your posts, your keywords show their friends and followers what your brand is all about.
How to Identify Your Keywords
Keywords are not just about SEO. They are at the heart of a company’s marketing campaign at its most granular level. ~ MICHAEL MOTHNER
One of the biggest mistakes that an entrepreneur or marketer can make is to develop keywords using the company’s internal terms. We each have a deep knowledge about our area of expertise and it’s easy to forget the types of words and phrases a layperson might use when searching online. Keywords help them to find you when they conduct a search.
You want to rank for the problem you solve, not just for the solution you offer. That’s why it’s vital to develop a marketing campaign with potential customers’ needs in mind.
So how do you find the words and phrases? A great place to start is with words from the customers’ mouths (or keyboards!). Go to Amazon or Yelp and read through the reviews for a book you wish you wrote or would give to a client as a gift. Look for the words and terms happy customers use in their reviews, the words that are emotional triggers will pop out, these are very likely your keywords. Try using them on social media, and see how customers and potential customers respond. If you have a book, product or business that is reviewed online, read through your reviews too.
Have a long list of potential keywords? The Google Keyword Tool is a great, free way to research searching patterns on Google and determine the best words to use in your content.
Once your keywords are in line, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to develop an online marketing strategy around your business.
Donna Cravotta is the CEO of Social Sage PR and the creator of the Total Social PR System™ and Publicity Prowess™. She helps entrepreneurs and small to mid-sized businesses maximize their online presence with a very different approach to social media and public relations. Her commitment is to ensure that her clients are empowered to amplify their unique voice and share their purpose, without overwhelming their schedules.
A natural connector of people and a relationship builder long before Facebook even existed, Donna has created a simple, yet strategic method to reveal hidden opportunities online that create authentic situations for her clients to grow their networks, gain loyal followers, connect with the media, and do it all with ease.
Donna knows a thing or two about creative (and cost-effective) social media and online strategy, the best part is… she teaches her clients how to build these strategies into their own businesses in an ongoing and sustainable way. Her techniques can be easily implemented in just a few minutes each day to create valuable business connections, resulting in lasting relationships that lead to mind-blowing opportunities and endless possibilities.
You can reach Donna at SocialSagePR.com.