The Only Article You Will Ever Need To Read on SEO

SBOCTeam — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 18:44:00 GMT

by ZekeLL

Do you think that SEO is rocket science? What if I gave you a step-by-step plan that has worked for us and our clients time and time again? What if it was so easy than even a computer-idiot could do it?

This is going to be a long article so I will break it into parts and post one part every day.

Today we will talk about the very first step of SEO, keyword research.

Step 1: Coming up with a list of possible keywords
Let's say you sell furniture online. Some of the keywords that I could think of are: wood table, metal dresser, kitchen furniture set. Make this list a lot longer. Add as many keywords as you can think of.

Step 2: Use a keyword research tool to get even more keywords
I love WordTracker and even the free version provides priceless information. When I enter "furniture" on WordTracker I get a lot of suggestions: dorm furniture, patio furniture, storage furniture, office furniture. This will give you a lot of keywords you didn't think of before.

Step 3: Check search volume
You can use WordTracker (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/) or/and Google Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) to find out how many searches your keywords have. You don't want to waste your time optimizing your website for keywords that are searched for once a month.

Step 4: Check competition
After you've found relevant keywords with a good search volume you have to make sure that they are relatively easy to rank for. The less competition, the better. You can go to Google and type "allintitle:patio furniture" (without the quotes) and it will tell you how many websites are competing for that same term.

At this point you should have 5-10 keywords that are highly relevant to your business, have a lot of monthly searches, and are not too competitive. For some markets this is a very easy task. For others, such as financial services and real estate, coming up with the right keywords can be a daunting task.

If this is the case, break down the market into micro-markets. For example, if you own a national chain of car dealerships, ranking for the term "cars" will be extremely hard. But by breaking down the market into locations, car brands, and models, it will be a lot easier. Take a look at how it should be done:

Toyota Prius Cleveland Ohio
Ford Focus Denver Colorado

Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur. The Outsourcing Company, his 6th endeavor, is a creative web design and Internet marketing agency with offices in Aspen, CO and New York.

Zeke writes Let's Do It!, one of the most prestigious and popular entrepreneurship and Internet marketing blog. Check it out: www.TheOutsourcingCompany.com/blog.

InterneteCommerce

The Only Article You Will Ever Need To Read on SEO