Your Keywords
Keyword research is just not a very sexy subject, but any project you undertake on the web is pretty much doomed to failure unless you understand the importance of doing proper keyword research.
Remember the Golden Rule of Using Keywords: "If people are not searching for it, it doesn't exist."
Meaning that all of your efforts in putting a website or blog together will not get any search engine love if you are not using the right keywords.
What Are Long Tail Keywords?
Long Tail Keywords are generally three or four word phrases, that people type into the search engines to find very specific information. So what does this mean? It means that, especially when people are interested in buying something, that they are very close or ready to follow through on a purchase.
This is the general search - buy pattern
A. Person becomes aware of a product
B. They seek out information
C. They evaluate the information. Prices, features guarantees, etc.
D. Decision time. They decide to make the purchase.
So if a person is searching for 'pet food', they do a bit of investigation and then maybe become brand specific or pet specific. As in your pet breed: "pet foods German shepherds", or a brand: "alpha dog food". These are long tailed keywords which indicate that a person is getting really close to making a purchase.
Reducing Keyword Congestion
The simple fact is that that the shorter the keyword the greater the competition, and those keywords words can be often quite general and vague, such as "dogs". Now millions of people when looking for information about their dog, just type "dogs" into the search engine. They click around and gradually realize they need to get more specific to their particular breed. And that is how long tailed keywords start becoming more prominent in the search engine results.
The idea for you, the internet marketer, is then to create pages and pages of content around those particular keyword phrases that fit your niche. What happens then is that you have zeroed in on what a person is searching for, you have quality content which inspires their trust, and the best bonus of all, is that you will get search engine love. Google loves sites that have pages and pages of quality content, and this will lead to your site having a very good chance at getting on the first page of organic keyword searches.
You Still Have To Do Your Research
Don't just grab any long tailed keywords and start building a site around them. You can make your own judgment call here, but any keywords with less that 40 - 50 search a day, you might want to put at the bottom of the list when building your site. I'm not saying don't use them, just invest your time at first with using keywords that have a bit more people searching for them.
Do you want to rank highly for a keyword that has a potential thousands searches a day and maybe 10% of the people are ready to make a purchase, or a long tailed keyword that gets only 20 searches a day and a potential 2 buyers?
Another thing to consider is whether you want to use a manufacturer name as your main keyword. Generally speaking, many manufacturers websites rank quite highly for obvious reasons, one being that they are the products source, and so why would people trust you over the direct source? Why would the search engines trust your site over the manufacturers site, especially when it comes to organic searches?
Feel free to have some content within your site that gets manufacturer or supplier specific, but do try and keep your visitors on your site as much as possible. Of course if you are selling products as an affiliate they will have to go to someone elses sales page or their ordering page, but you need to be the trusted bridge, so that you will get credit when the sale is finally made.
You Will Rank Higher More Quickly
It just a fact that long tailed keyword phrases are easier to rank for than those single or double keyword phrases. So focus on building your main site as well as your satellite sites around as many long tailed keywords that will directly fit your particular niche.
By using keywords that people are already doing searches for, and which indicate a 'ready to purchase pattern', will make not only make your bottom line more profitable, you will be building long term customer trust and they will be more likely to return again and again to you website.
Be Fearless
Billy Ojai
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