Following on from my recent blog “I want to do my own Search Engine Optimisation SEO“, this series covers each of the seven areas in a little more detail so that you can actually boost your rankings online to increase sales and revenue.

Keywords

Keywords if you don’t know, these are the search descriptions that your potential customers will type into search engines to find what they’re looking for. Depending on how well your website is optimised and coupled with the hunt you tackle to ensure there is demand, this will help to focus the time you invest in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). A keyword can either be a single word or a group of words that create a keyword phrase.

E.g.

A single keyword : “SEO”

A keyword phrase: “Search Engine Optimisation”

1. Research – Is anybody searching my for services or products?

Before you start out with SEO and its other components, research is your first step. Without establishing if there is demand for your products or services, or if your products and services match phrases and keywords that already have demand on the major search engines, this should be your precedence.

Here’s a story I see all too often.

I can get you to number one for your company name in your town or city. Or I can get you to number one for a specific key phrase in your town or city. How egotistic are those statements?

Note this down!

If there is no actual demand for your company name or a key phrase related to your geo graphic location, why would you want to be number one any way? The best thing to do before any ranking is targeted, is to research based on actual Key Performance Indicators from the search engines. One of the first steps to this research can be done through using Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

1. Google Adwords Keyword Tool

See for yourself what Google is recording. Check this website out : https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal now you can start checking to see if there is demand for the key phrases you wish to target, on yeah almost forgot as well as researching what you think you should be targeting Google will also give you suggestions! Now isn’t that interesting? Yes.

So type in your keywords and not only will you get suggestions but you can see how many searches there are monthly for your key phrase, you can export the key phrases to an excel spread sheet, or text file which is useful for saving to your computer.

So now you have key phrases for which you know there is demand now you can start to think about your competitors and find out who they are.

So you’ve well-tried and tested Google Adwords Keyword Tool, but there’s actually lots more information available to you when researching your Keywords.

There are a few tools I really recommend you try, SEO Elite and Web CEO. Both offer further information on key phrase searches along with further information combined to give you some crucial information on your competition at the same time. The one thing with these tools is that they not only pull data from Google searches but they can also retrieve data from other leading search engines which can be of great use to you and your Online Marketing / SEO

1. Deciding on your keywords

Now you have your list of possible key phrases that you wish to rank well for, you need to check on a number of factors and not smallest of all, your competitors.

What you can do next:

Read the follow up to this blog: SEO 2 of 7: Your SEO Competitors.

Resource Websites:

• Google’s Keyword Tool
• Google Search Based Keyword Tool
• SEO Elite
• Web CEO

I would love to hear from you and your views on this subject , if you’ve got any good comments or recommendations to add to this please do below now. Good luck with your online marketing.

Leon.

Do you want Tips from a ‘Super-Consultant’ ?
He earned $5.4 Billion in extra sales and profits !
Click here to read …

Search engine’s ranking strategies were, at one time, quite simple and relatively unchanging. Today, ranking strategies change all the time so that you need to keep a constant eye on, and change your SEO plan continuously to keep your site at the top of the search engine list. Sometimes websites begin to fall in search engine rankings and website owners are clueless as to the cause. As sites fall, the owner helplessly watches the volume of traffic to his or her site fall and sales begin to suffer. Search engine optimization specialists carefully watch search engine rankings, changing your site to keep it at the top of the search engines results. While other website owners are fighting to keep their website from failing, your website will consistently be found at the top of the search engines. Suppose that your website is currently not doing well in the search engines. If this is true, it will not be attracting the right traffic needed to keep up sales volume. Once the traffic is gone, sales will fall dramatically. Hiring a search engine optimization company will increase traffic to your website and increase the volume of sales because SEO companies keep a vigilant watch on your site to ensure that it stays at the top of the search engine listings. SEO consultants virtually pay for themselves as they increase your profits, help you collect information for a sales campaign or drive visitors into a sales funnel. What a freelance SEO consultant brings to the table is a set of specialist services. Those services include, amongst others, keyword research, link building, online reputation management and social media optimization. Some are also able to manage your pay-per-click campaigns for you if you want to take the paid advertising approach for your online marketing campaign. Your site may not actually need that much work done to it, as it could just be one seemingly small factor that is holding back your progress. That is why an SEO consultant will review your current website and your goals and design a tailor-made internet marketing strategy for you. Any professional SEO consultant that you hire should have several years of experience in the search industry. As well as experience, tactical and strategic foresight are attributes that you should look for. They should not only be able to monitor the current state of the search engines’ algorithms, but also be able to predict what the near future holds. The ability to accurately track results and report are also important, as is the range of tools that they have at their disposal. Does your company need to hire a professional or not? What is your internet niche? Is it a niche that experiences very little competition? If so, you are in a good place and perhaps do not need the services of an SEO consultant. On the other hand, if you are constantly fighting for good keywords and to keep in the top search engine rankings, a freelance SEO consultant may be just what you need.