Making SEO Work For You
Using SEO is a fantastic way to get your site jump started and ahead of the game, though there are a few mistakes that can be avoided so that you are not wasting your time on any methods that may be working against you. There are numerous experts out there constantly working on the newest SEO ideas that are cutting edge and advanced, so you have to keep in mind that the concepts in SEO are subject to change depending on the newest finds and discoveries to date.
With all of that being said, your first plan of action should be to research your keywords that you are using with a keyword research tool. These tools have large databases of keywords that will help you find the right keywords that will best benefits the searches for your site. You can then dedicate each page of your site to a primary keyword, while using secondary keywords sprinkled throughout your page’s content. Another good idea to remember while using these keywords throughout the pages of your site is that, though you may be loading the content full of great SEO keywords, your pages still need to be user friendly to draw the necessary traffic to your site and keep it there. Make sure that you can get to every single page of your site in an easy way so that when people are linked to your site searching for their specific product, then they will go directly to that page and not have to “re-search” once they get to your site. This error will significantly lower your traffic conversion rate since many people will become frustrated at having to look again for the product they are searching for when they have been linked to what should have been the appropriate page of your sight. Make sense?
From there, make sure that your site has a clear site map since search engines will prefer to index your site map page since that is what introduces the context of your site as a whole. Stemming from there, you can then seek to pump your site full of content that can be well accessed from your clear site map. If you are selling gardening tools, then you can create many articles and blogs on gardening and gardening tools, all the while sprinkling your content with SEO friendly keywords and keyword phrases. You can then add links from these articles back to the corresponding pages of your site.
After that, you can look to sites that are in your like topic and field, though not your competitors, and you can seek to exchange links with them in a fair way. This is a very important practice since it establishes your site as authoritative and current in its field, but you must watch for exchanging irrelevant links since this is not organic and can be picked up by Google. If Google disapproves of your link exchange practices, then you are looking at your site being potentially banned, and then you are back to square one. Yikes!
What you have to remember is that there are many SEO practices being implemented as we speak, but it is in your best interest to stay away from the black hat practices that may do you more harm then good. If you are using tried and true SEO principles, then you will be rewarded by seeing your site succeed organically and for the long run. And that is what we are all looking for!
Research Your Targeted Keywords
When you are looking to optimize for specific keywords that will draw traffic to your niche marketing site, it is vital that you take the time to actually research the keywords that you have chosen to invest your time and money into so that you are not utilizing keywords that not enough people are searching for or that may be too broad in their scope.
For example, if you are selling fitness equipment through your site, you would not want to optimize for keywords like “workout”, “fitness”, and “exercise” because the users looking for those keywords are probably looking up a variety of subjects, from the best workout for women to what to eat before you work out. If you are out there promoting your fitness equipment site, then you must ensure that your keywords have been well researched and will give you the right resulting traffic to your site.
Start by optimizing for long-tail keywords, which have the brand and the model specified within the keyword itself so that you can know that the people searching for that term are most likely going to be looking to buy since their search is so narrow. Also, you can easily rank as number one for that keyword, such as “yoga fitness mat”, and you can link them directly to that page of your site instead of your home page.
If they are searching for a “yoga fitness mat”, then they want to be taken directly to that page to purchase and not back to your home back, where they may have to relocate to find what they were looking for all along.
On the flip side, you also do not want to be too specific in your keyword that you are optimizing because then you will be putting your effort into something that virtually no one is searching for. To research your keywords, go to sites like keyworddiscovery.com, wordtracker.com,and Goodle Adwords keyword tool. (See our step-by-step video tutorial: How to use Google’s Keyword Tool properly.)
There you can type in the keyword you are looking for to see how many people search for it on a monthly basis and how big the competition is based on people who run ads on those specific key words. Note that all three of these sites are prime for finding the best keywords for you because they will give you suggestions based on the keywords that you enter. So helpful!
So in conclusion, you will see that there is a delicate balance in finding the most useful keyword to rank your site higher. Do not just be careless in your selection of keywords that you are optimizing because you may find that you are barking up the wrong tree, and how disappointing is that to spend your time and effort on something that is not even working for you or your business? I’m just trying to save us all some time here.
When you are able to locate the best keywords that are both long-tail, yet broad enough, you will begin to see an immediate increase in traffic to your site because it will be like you are finally casting your net into the right waters. If people out there are looking to find the highest quality yoga mat, then you need to make sure that your site is ranking at the top every time. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya!
