Effective Keywording: Learn To Speak To Your Audience

This post was written by Crystal of SavvyPracticality fame, an awesome down-home DIY blog.

Who are you talking to?

The answer to that question might be a bit different than you think. The easy answer is “I’m talking to my customers, readers, fans, etc.”

Are you really?

Today, I’m going to help you find out. We’re going to play a game I like to call “pick a post, any post.” I just made that up, and I’m sure I’ll figure out a better name over time, but that’s exactly what I want you to do. Go into your website archives and pick a gem to put under the microscope.

Let’s examine the keywords you used when you published this piece of content. To do that navigate to this handy tool known as Google Insights. Type in one keyword you used for the article. Target your audience, whether it be global, or region-specific. Click on search.

Focus on the data in the search terms section of the screen, specifically the rising searches area. If you’ve not used a single term from that area, your original keyword research is outdated. People change, trends change, circumstances CHANGE and, your content should change with it.

Use Effective Keyword Strategy That Works For Business AND People

Who you’re talking to today may not be the audience of tomorrow, but effective, targeted keyword research gives you an optimal chance at having a voice. SEO is important to your business; it’s a search engine’s way of saying, “Go here to find fabulous information on what you’re looking for!” Its the way Google, Yahoo and Bing DIRECTS traffic to you. Your SEO should tell search engines what you have and exactly where to find you.

If you pulled over and asked for directions, wouldn’t you want someone to say, “Sure, I know where Home Depot is. Drive to 2^nd street and take a right, and you’ll see it directly across from Hooters.” You’d be happy you chose to ask someone helpful instead of someone who says, “You know I really don’t know, I mean, Home Depot is so vague these days, and I heard they camouflaged the store front.” <— That last part is probably ridiculous, but then again, so is much of what people consider SEO.

Before you type random words into that very important field labeled “keywords” you need to know who you’re targeting and the words they use to find you. Someone looking for, “Redneck fishing lures” isn’t looking to find information on diy-hill-billy-bottle-cap lures, he’s looking for a specific product. So if you’re using “Redneck fishing lure” to describe that fascinating masterpiece you crafted on the river bank, you’re using the wrong words, in which case, feel free to use the hyphenated text above.

Being transparent and keeping happy customers on a website will take any business further than the approach of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. The way you do that is to target specific people in the first place. The keyword box isn’t meant for random gibberish. If you need more proof, consider this: SEO is the first picture a customer sees of your business.

Let’s hope its not a shot of you with your pants down.

If you’re having trouble with SEO contact us, or stick around for a fresh breakdown. You can do that by subscribing to our feed and following us on Facebook and Twitter. I promise, if you keep coming back, we’ll keep the information crunchy, and in byte-size portions you can easily digest.

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