So you’ve grabbed a pencil and dashed down all the keywords that you associate with your business. You’ve been frugal in your choices though – words like invigorating are probably more associated with how your business makes you feel so they don’t make the list. You keep the list simple by keeping the list general. Take as an example the sporting goods store – the first item on the list should be…sporting goods. Once you have your list of key words you might expect to be buying the Dallas Mavericks at any time, but there is another job to be done before we can go any further. You need to see if your lists of keywords match the phrases the seekers are typing into the search bar. This is where phraseology comes into play.
Phraseology is basically a branch of linguistics that instead of examining the meaning of single words examines word groupings and associations such as phraseological units and idioms. This distinction between the literal meaning of a word and its many figurative applications is the key to building strong keyword lists. This distinction in mind, you need to find out how seekers are most likely to look for you. Do they look under Sporting Goods or Sports Store? If they try Sports, are they likely to get ESPN? How many searches are conducted by just typing a brand name in the search bar? A simple search for hockey sticks could potentially return a list pock marked with customer reviews, documented injuries, and autographed collectables, but you’ll never appear on the list if you don’t put the phrase “hockey stick” on your list. Keyword research can be a very time consuming endeavour, but the effort has a great return on investment by providing reliable targeted traffic to your site. In this uncertain economy there is going to be a new catch phrase for surviving the economic down turn – back in the recession of the 80s it was tighten your belt – but in the days ahead you are going to hear the phrase reach for the low hanging fruit. In other words, reach for the easy stuff first. So, to use an expense-friendly strategy for keyword research, start with a feedback form that asks visitors to your site to specify how they found you – if they searched for you, what words did they use. That’s low-hanging fruit.
If you like the taste of it, try reading your logs or your keyword stats to get a flavour for what keywords are pulling for you. Be ambitious – read the whole thing. If you’re feeling like spending a few bucks, treat yourself to a Wordtracker tool to get a string of useful suggestions. Remember, what you’ve done here is to sync your keywords with the phrases on the tip of customers fingers, and by doing so, you have effectively positioned yourself to be the first one to tell the seeker that you have what they are looking for. Trouble is, language keeps slipping – you’ll have to stay on top it.
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