Choosing and Researching Keywords - Don't Get Too General
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If you have had anything to do with marketing, you've probably heard the phrase "think like a customer." You'll need to do that when you think about what keywords you want to use for your website. If you wanted to buy the product and/or service that your business offers, what words would you type into the search engine? I'll give you one hint: chances are it won't be the name of your business, or the name of a competitor's business.
You could do worse than to start your brainstorming by looking in a business directory phone book. Those yellow pages are already divided into various categories, and users have let their fingers do the walking for decades. The trick is, you certainly can't end your brainstorming there.
Keywords, unlike listings in a business directory, aren't something you buy and don't depend on factors such as the cost of ink and paper. Therefore, they can be as specific as you wish. Remember the six million plus results for "juggling" in Google? What do you think the odds are that your little juggling and magic shop could make it to the top of that list? Choose keywords with a narrower focus; you'll face a lot less competition. Besides, now that the web has been around for ten years or so, most savvy users know that the best way to get good search engine results for their queries is to be very specific and search for phrases rather than single words: "Silver Saturn Ion with sunroof" instead of "Saturn Ion," for instance.
If you're having problems coming up with keywords that are specific enough, don't panic. Start with your list of general keywords, then add specific words to each one. Using our earlier example of juggling, you could try "juggling balls," "juggling lessons," "juggling with fire," "juggling performances," or whatever would fit, based on your particular business.
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