Posts Tagged ‘keyword research’

If you’re using SEO or Google AdWords, here’s a rule you must follow:  aim for the bullseye, first.

This rule is so critical to success with search engine marketing… and yet most people don’t follow it.

And in this article, I’m going to explain what “bullseye” keywords are, why they’re so important, and how you can find yours today, so you attract more customers.

What Are Bullseye Keywords?

In our SEO Jumpstart class, one of the major concepts we teach is search intent.

There are basically two categories of keyword phrases: buying-intent keywords and research-intent keywords.

Bullseye keywords are another name I use for buying-intent keywords. When a prospect searches a bullseye keyword, then there is no doubt that she is an A+ quality prospect. Your products or services are providing a perfect match for their search intent.

Here’s an example…

Let’s say you own a knitting store in San Francisco.  A bullseye keyword would be something like “knitting store San Francisco.” If someone searches that in Google, they’re a perfect prospect for you. You are hitting the bullseye.

On the other hand, a non-bullseye (research-intent) phrase in this case would be “knitting.” Someone who searches “knitting” might be a good prospect for you, but there’s a very good chance that they would NOT be a good prospect. They could also just be researching some knitting ideas.

Why Aim at the Bullseye?

A lot of people want to focus on the generic “research” keywords because they get so much more search volume. But don’t get distracted by the big numbers. Instead, focus on what actually matters: 1) getting more customers and 2) minimizing your risk.

Here are 2 reasons why I always tell people to start with bullseye (buying-intent) keywords, first:

• Faster rankings. When it comes to SEO, bullseye keywords tend to be easier to rank for in Google because they are longer phrases — and longer phrases typically have less SEO competition. Generally speaking, a 3-5 word phrase is going to be much easier to rank for than a 1-2 keyword phrase.

• Higher conversion rates. Your goal with SEO or PPC shouldn’t just be to get rankings or clicks. Instead, your goal should be to get more customers. And buying-intent keywords typically convert much higher than more generic research keywords.
  

Now, I’m not suggesting you should avoid research keywords altogether. Research keywords can be valuable for both for SEO and PPC. But I  recommend you start by aiming at the bullseye, because that’s usually the lowest-hanging fruit.

How to Find Your Bullseye Keywords

Here are 2 quick methods for finding bullseye keywords…

1. Brainstorm

The simplest way is to just brainstorm. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes, and think: What would I search if I was shopping for company’s products or services? And then cross-reference your ideas using Google’s free keyword tool to make sure you are targeting phrases that actually get some search volume.

2. Spy on The Competition

You can check out what keywords your competitors are targeting. Look at their websites and also look at what keywords your competitors are advertising on in Google, using Keyword Spy.

Here’s What To Do Now

If you’re just getting started with SEO or Google AdWords, then start by identifying your bullseye keywords.

And if you’re already using SEO and paid search, then take another look at the keywords you’re targeting. Are you aiming at your bullseye keywords? If not, then you’ll want to add them to the mix right away. By focusing on buying-intent keywords, you’ll attract more qualified leads and paying customers.

The last week or so, I’ve had several conversations with our clients about their 2012 marketing plans, goals, and challenges. And a few things have stood out.

Overwhelmingly, the #1 goal they have, when it comes to their online marketing, is to get more traffic from Google. And specifically, they’re interested in getting FREE traffic from Google (non-advertising clicks) by using search engine optimization (aka “SEO”).

That’s why, in today’s post, I thought it’d be helpful to provide a quick and broad overview of what you need to know about SEO. And there are 2 types of SEO that every small business owners should be taking advantage of…

1. Local Search Engine Optimization

The first type is local SEO, which means getting listed in Google Places. We recommend small business owners start with local SEO, because it’s the easiest and fastest to setup and start seeing results.

Recently, Google has made local business results much more prominent by displaying local business results at the top for millions of searches. For many searches, the local results are even more prominent than the regular “Top 10″ results.

If you’ve been stuck on the sidelines and haven’t been investing in SEO because you thought it was too complex or too expensive, you no longer have that excuse. It’s much faster and easier to break onto the 1st page of Google with local SEO.

Here are the 3 main ingredients for a successful local SEO campaign are:

i. Demand

What keywords are your potential customers searching to find your type of business?

You don’t need to guess. Google has a free keyword research tool, available here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

ii. Relevance

You need to edit and optimize your Google Places page to make it relevant to these keywords, so Google knows to display your business listing when people are searching for your type of services.

C. Authority

You need to prove to Google that you’re a credible, trusted business. And the 2 main authority ingredients are citations and reviews.

Related articles:

• How to get citations
• How to get online reviews

We created a step-by-step training program (The Local SEO Formula) that shows you exactly how to do all of this, so you rank at the top of Google’s local results.  Learn more about it here: http://www.thelocalseoformula.com

2. Traditional Search Engine Optimization (‘Top 10′ SEO)

The other type of SEO is the type you’re probably already familiar with. We call it traditional SEO (or Top 10 SEO) because these are the techniques to get you listed in the regular (non-local) Top 10 results.

Traditional SEO is a little bit more complex than local SEO, but has the same 3 main ingredients:

i. Demand

You need to do keyword research to find what words your potential customers are using to search for your services. Same as with local SEO, use Google’s keyword tool as the starting point.

ii. Relevance

You need to make your website relevant to your keywords. And specifically, you want to focus on 1 keyword per page. So, if you offer a bunch of different services, then you should have a page for each of those services.

iii. Authority

The main factor Google looks at when judging the trustworthiness of your site for the Top 10 results is your incoming links (or hyperlinks). Links are like positive votes in favor of your business.

If you include these 3 ingredients in your traditional SEO campaign (keyword research, content, and links) you will begin to rise in Google’s Top 10 results and start getting more visitors to your website.

A Note About Building Links…

Most of the small business owners I’ve been speaking to have only been focused on getting reciprocal links by setting up link exchanges with other websites.

Reciprocal links can be OK, but in some instances they can actually be counterproductive. Overall, link exchanges really aren’t the best way to build links, so I don’t recommend spending too much energy there.

You want to get a lot of different types of links to your website. And instead of focusing on link exchanges, you should focus more of your time on building one-way links to your website (where other website link to you, without you linking back to them). One-way links are much more helpful for building up your website’s authority.

Why would another website link to you? Maybe it’s because you are providing a helpful resource on your website. Or perhaps you write an online column for a local newspaper’s website, and they let you place a byline link back to your website. There are many ways to build links, and that’s outside of the scope of this post.

But based on our recent conversations with small business owners, it’s clear there’s a lot of interest in traditional “Top 10″ SEO. So, we’re planning to create training material in the coming months that will explain exactly how to do all of this.

What Do You Want to Know About SEO?

If you have any questions about SEO, comment below.

Whenever I’m speaking with a potential client about an online marketing,  I almost always recommend they start out with pay per click (PPC) advertising.

Why? Because it’s the fastest way to get your marketing message in front of a laser-targeted group of potential customers. (And I usually recommend starting with Google AdWords because it’s the largest source of PPC traffic.)

When setting up a new PPC campaign, there are 3 key ingredients:

1) Your keywords

2) Your ads

3) Your landing page(s)

Today I want to share my 5-step keyword research methodology.

Step 1. Cast a Wide Net

First, I start by brainstorming and thinking about the obvious keywords a prospect might search when looking for a product or service. I enter these keywords into the Google Keyword Tool to create a big list of related phrases, typically hundreds of keywords in an Excel spreadsheet.

Step 2. Spy on Competitors

Next, I look at what keywords competitors are advertising on. Many people don’t even know you can do this, but it’s possible with paid subscription keyword tools like KeywordSpy.com. If you see that 1 or more of your competitors have been advertising on certain keywords for months, then there’s a good chance they’re worth bidding on, too. You’re basically piggybacking off their efforts.

So competitive research usually adds some more keyword ideas to the list, and gives you an idea for some keywords that may be especially worthwhile to test.

Step 3. Rank By Relevance

Steps 1 and 2 were basically a discovery process. Now it’s time to start narrowing down the list. I go through the list of keywords and rank them  based on relevance.

When I’m thinking about relevance, I think about it both positively and negatively.

• Positively: how well does this match the product or service I’m advertising
• Negatively: Is there any chance I could misinterpret this person’s intent? How could this search go wrong (in terms of relevance)?

I create a new column in my spreadsheet for Relevance and I give grades like A+, A, B, C, etc. An “A+” keyword is when you believe that person is a looking for EXACTLY what you offer.

During the ranking/sorting process, I also group my keywords into categories, so I can easily create ad groups in Google AdWords.

A Few Words About Creativity

Recently, I’ve had a few clients request creativity during the keyword research process.  Here’s my take on the role of creativity in keyword research.

When you’re launching a PPC campaign, you don’t want to take big chances with your keywords. You’re not going for creativity at this stage – you’re going for relevance. You want to minimize risk of financial loss. Keyword creativity comes later, when you’re trying to think of ways to expand your market reach and think more laterally. At this stage, you just want to see if you can sell your product to people who are already looking for exactly what you’ve got.

At this stage, you want to hit the bulls eye. And you want to watch out for instances where the intent of a keyword is potentially vague (e.g. there’s a chance they could be looking for more than 1 thing).

Step 4. Narrow Down Your Keywords

Next, I narrow down my list of keywords to create a smaller list of highly relevant phrases that I’m confident will convert because they have “A” quality relevance.

How Many Keywords Should You Test, Initially?

That depends on keyword search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), and your budget. Google’s Keyword Tool gives you an estimate of the approximate CPC that you can use as a rough guideline.

As a rule of thumb, you’ll need at least 100 clicks per keyword to get a sense for whether it converts or not. So, if you want to test 20 keywords and the clicks are $1, and you need to get 100 clicks per keyword, your test budget should be at least $2000.

Step 5. Brainstorm Negative Keywords

Before turning on your ads, it’s a good idea to think of the keywords you want to AVOID paying for. For example, if you’re selling a high end product or service, you’ll want to avoid showing your ads when people search  related keyword phrases with the words “cheap,” “affordable,” or “discount” in them. When you’re setting up your Google AdWords campaign, be sure to set those up as negative keywords, so you don’t blow your test budget on unqualified clicks.

Those are the basic 5 steps I take. This methodology has served me well for many years – I hope you find it useful!

Questions?

Post a comment below and I’ll do my best to help you out.