An interesting aspect of the work Appletree does for many clients is keyword research and recommendations.  In a previous blog I advised careful use of keywords in your website and blog copy, in order to improve organic search rankings.  Be careful in terms of how many times you use the keywords, or you?ll be penalised by the search engines and lose ranking. By using the right keywords, you?ll increase the visibility of your content and drive even more traffic to your website.

So, do you think you know what keywords your customers are using?  What about those that your competitors are using?  In our experience, what you and your colleagues think of as keywords may not necessarily be what your prospective customers are using when they perform their searches.

Use social media to monitor conversations ? and get keyword ideas.

Monitoring social media for topics that interest your audience has two advantages:

? If you?re paying attention to what is being said around some of the topics and concepts that directly and indirectly relate to your business, you?re more likely to be aware of the subtle differences in how your intended customer might phrase a search request.

? You can get immediate insights into trending topics affecting your business. By understanding what?s going on in conversations of potential customers, you can develop rich answers to their most pressing questions.

Brainstorm a list of possible keywords. 

Before you can start monitoring conversations and doing keyword research, you need to brainstorm a list of possible keywords. Keep these ideas in mind:

? Don?t get stuck inside your own industry?s jargon – write from the reader?s perspective.

? Think about topics that interest your audience in general, those that both directly and indirectly relate to your business.

? Most people are looking for knowledge to address their concerns, so it?s helpful to look at a search request as a question. If you can provide useful answers to them, you?ll soon find that the likelihood that these visitors will become customers or clients increases greatly.

In my next blog we?ll look at the tools available to use to help with your keyword research.  There are a number of great tools available for both the novice and the expert search engine optimizers to use that can make the process of researching keyword phrases easier and more effective. How should you use these types of tools to create your content strategy? Why does knowing how many searches there are for a specific keyword or phrase help you outline what your blog should be posting about?  It will all become clear…