Tag Archives: phrase
Building Links is like building with Legos
Consider this: Your child gets a huge set of Legos that when put together resembles a Castle. If you, an adult male or female, were told to put the set together and your business would improve (more potential customers would find your website which statistically means more sales) but . . . there were no instructions included, how long would it take you to put the castle together? Do you think you could do it? Would you take one look at the daunting heap and shake your head as you walk away thinking to yourself, “There is no possible way, so why waste my time trying?” Would you give up without even trying!?!
Do you remember how good it felt just to have a website? Did you build it yourself or pay someone to do it for you? It really doesnt matter. What matters now is that no one is visiting your website. Why? How do you go about letting potential customers know you are online and ready to do business?
Statistics show that 90% of individuals begin their online time by searching on search engines. They start by inputting a word or phrase to start a search. These search words are called “keywords”. Keywords are a good place for new website owners to start the optimization of their site. Research what keywords potential customers use to find a business like yours. Make a list of all the keywords you can find that pertain to your business. It is these keywords that you will do some culling to rid the list of those that are the most common. You know the ones that get mega amounts of searches. Narrow them down by going to Google and type in “Adwords keyword tool” and click on the link. In the space under “Enter one keyword or phrase per line” type in a keyword you have identified and click “Get Keyword Ideas.” You will want to look at the column that shows the search volume. You want those keywords that are getting volume under say 15,000. Its these keywords that you want to try to dominate on the major search engines to try to improve your page rank.
It is a known fact that online searchers dont usually search beyond the third page for a given keyword. There are only ten listings per page that come up when a search is done using a keyword or keyword phrase. Only 10! This translates into only 30 listings ever being viewed by online searchers. There are potentially hundreds, even thousands of listings that could and do show up for a search term. Do you see why it is so important to rank highly on top search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing to name just a few.
What does it all mean in terms of your website? It means you have to either hire a company to try to improve your rank on the major search engines or you have to try to learn how to put it all together on your own. So . . . take another look at that heaping, daunting pile of Legos. Now decide how badly you want or need those customers or should you shake your head and walk away? Will you give up without even trying?
Defining Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research is without a doubt, the single most important factor of any SEO campaign. Picking a good keyword phrase can mean the difference between generating hundreds of interested extra visitors per month and a wasted effort.
The first question on everyones mind is, just how do we know what a good keyword phrase is? Thats where the various keyword tools on the market come into play. The purpose of this short article is not to advertise the various keyword tools available, but to explain their purpose and functions and to give you some ideas and resources to enable you to determine the best keyword research tool for your needs.
What do Keyword Research Tools do?
Sounds like a rather silly question they do keyword research! But lets look more specifically into what information the tools generate:
– They build hundreds of keyword ideas around one source keyword
– They generate “long tail keywords” that are easier to get ranked for
– They show you the competition levels of each keyword phrase
– They show you monthly search volumes for each keyword phrase
– Some even tell you in pure English whether its a good choice or not
In short, they come up with more keyword suggestions you or I could ever think of, and give some kind of indication to how easy it will be to get ranked high in the search engines for those keywords and keyword phrases.
Note – all the keyword tools I have used require you to have a Google AdWords account (free), and uses that account to interface into the Google network to pull keyword information. The difference between the tools is what information is pulled and how it is presented to you.
Criteria for Choosing the Best Keyword Research Tool
Determining the best keyword research tool can differ person to person. For example, some people like things simple, some prefer more advanced options and granularity at the cost of a steeper learning curve. Here are several considerations I thought about when choosing a keyword tool:
– Cost this is very dependent on the individual. There are hundreds of keyword tools to choose from and can cost from $0 to thousands per year! Generally speaking, the more mainstream keyword research tools are somewhere between $75 and $150.
– Ease of use YouTube is your friend here! There are some very good video walkthroughs on all the major tools. Most vendors also offer a free trial period where you can test the tool out yourself before committing to a purchase.
– Effectiveness both cost and ease of use are irrelevant if the tool does not work. Use Google to search for reviews on the various keyword tools you like the look of, find some step-by-step real world examples of the keyword tool in use.
Conclusion
When starting out in the SEO world, I used the free Google keyword suggestion tool. Indeed this tool is often better than some of the premium tools out there, and the information is pulled directly from Google (no middle man so to speak), so you can assume the information is as reliable as you can get.
I had relative success with the Google Keyword Tool, but the one downside to the Google tool is it still leaves a lot of guesswork. It wasnt until I started using a premium keyword research tool that I started getting my articles on the front page of Google.
Defining Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research is without a doubt, the single most important factor of any SEO campaign. Picking a good keyword phrase can mean the difference between generating hundreds of interested extra visitors per month and a wasted effort.
The first question on everyones mind is, just how do we know what a good keyword phrase is? Thats where the various keyword tools on the market come into play. The purpose of this short article is not to advertise the various keyword tools available, but to explain their purpose and functions and to give you some ideas and resources to enable you to determine the best keyword research tool for your needs.
What do Keyword Research Tools do?
Sounds like a rather silly question they do keyword research! But lets look more specifically into what information the tools generate:
– They build hundreds of keyword ideas around one source keyword
– They generate “long tail keywords” that are easier to get ranked for
– They show you the competition levels of each keyword phrase
– They show you monthly search volumes for each keyword phrase
– Some even tell you in pure English whether its a good choice or not
In short, they come up with more keyword suggestions you or I could ever think of, and give some kind of indication to how easy it will be to get ranked high in the search engines for those keywords and keyword phrases.
Note – all the keyword tools I have used require you to have a Google AdWords account (free), and uses that account to interface into the Google network to pull keyword information. The difference between the tools is what information is pulled and how it is presented to you.
Criteria for Choosing the Best Keyword Research Tool
Determining the best keyword research tool can differ person to person. For example, some people like things simple, some prefer more advanced options and granularity at the cost of a steeper learning curve. Here are several considerations I thought about when choosing a keyword tool:
– Cost this is very dependent on the individual. There are hundreds of keyword tools to choose from and can cost from $0 to thousands per year! Generally speaking, the more mainstream keyword research tools are somewhere between $75 and $150.
– Ease of use YouTube is your friend here! There are some very good video walkthroughs on all the major tools. Most vendors also offer a free trial period where you can test the tool out yourself before committing to a purchase.
– Effectiveness both cost and ease of use are irrelevant if the tool does not work. Use Google to search for reviews on the various keyword tools you like the look of, find some step-by-step real world examples of the keyword tool in use.
Conclusion
When starting out in the SEO world, I used the free Google keyword suggestion tool. Indeed this tool is often better than some of the premium tools out there, and the information is pulled directly from Google (no middle man so to speak), so you can assume the information is as reliable as you can get.
I had relative success with the Google Keyword Tool, but the one downside to the Google tool is it still leaves a lot of guesswork. It wasnt until I started using a premium keyword research tool that I started getting my articles on the front page of Google.