Search Category

I come across a lot of people who are under the assumption that a website must be optimised for their one main keyword phrase only. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Your website should contain hundreds of keyword phrases all targeting variations of the sorts of words people would use to find the products and services you are offering. As a rough guide focus on one or two phrases per page.

You can also use this approach to target both competitive and not so competitive terms. For example the keyword phrase “blue widgets” may be extremely competitive whereas “buy genuine blue widgets” is far easier to rank well for. By combining both on a page you can effectively target both competitive and non-competitive keyword phrases. You may rank quite quickly for the non competitive phrase, whilst ranking well for the more competitive phrase might take more time and effort.

So now you know how to approach distributing your keyword phrases but how do you know what the right phrases are? This is where keyword research come in.

Start with reviewing your marketing materials and talking to staff to get an initial list of phrases used to describe your products and services. You should also look at what industry jargon is used and what words your clients and customers use to describe your offerings. Use these words to form a seed list.

You now need to research those phrases. There are a number of keyword research tools out there that can help you do this. This research can help you determine how popular and competitive a keyword phrase is and help you choose the best ones for your website. Here are some great keyword research tools you may want to try:

• Word Tracker - offers a free trial as well as paid subscription options.
• Keyword Discovery - also offers a free trial and monthly subscriptions.
• Google also have a great free keyword tool to help you find relevant phrases for your website.

These tools will help you come up with a comprehensive list of appropriate keyword phrases for your website.

Finally nothing beats testing. Analyse your website’s visitors and work out which keywords are performing for you. Ongoing tweaking and adjustments will help ensure you are targeting the right keyword phrases and getting targeted traffic to your website.

I had the pleasure of meeting a new client today. He told me a little about his history (he’s been on TV) and I mentioned I had read some of it after Googling him. He hadn’t heard of being Googled before. Which I also hear from many clients, friends and family.

So question: do you Google yourself?

A new study by Queensland University of Technology, in conjunction with Pennsylvania State University, has determined that business and e-commerce have trounced sex and pornography searches online.

Their research analysed “up to 30 million search sessions from search engines including Alta Vista, AlltheWeb.com, Ask.com, Excite and Dogpile.”

Alta Vista? Excite? Dogpile?

Now I’m all for online commerce, and I do know it’s on the increase, however one can’t help but wonder if the vast majority of those searches are from automated ranking reports run by by scammy SEO firms for unsuspecting clients. “Hey John, we’ve ranked you #1 on Alta Vista for red widgets melbourne australia!” Right.

Welcome to Widgets Online! We offer a wide range of widgets including red widgets, blue widgets, green widgets, pink widgets, black widgets and white widgets as well as cheap widgets, discount widgets and fast widgets plus many more widgets at great prices. For all your widget needs contact us.

Hardly compelling is it.

Sure you need to include keywords in your copy in order to help rank in the search engines but what use is ranking at number one if your sales copy reads like above? It’s hardly going to compel your prospects to purchase from you.

Your web pages need to be written to cater to both the search engines and your users. Keyword rich copy that is compelling should be your focus. Why should people buy from you? What is your Unique Selling Point (USP)?

As you read over your pages keep those questions in mind. If your site reads like a laundry list of keywords it probably needs a re-write.

One of the definitive guides to promoting your website is the just released 101 Ways to Build Link Popularity in 2006 by Andy Hagans and Aaron Wall. This is a must read for anyone serious about building a successful website in 2006.