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How to Find a Good Keyword Phrase?

Posted on 10-04-2010 | By: Kevin Crawley

Category : Internet Marketing, Search Engine

Tags: , , , , ,

Any successful internet advertising and marketing campaign hinges upon good use of keywords.  Basically,people find your website by typing into Google a keyword phrase.  To begin to identify the best keywords for your website, you need to brainstorm on what would the ideal user of your site type into Google that would enable them to get to you.


Personally, I use the Google Keyword Tool when I start looking for keyword phrases and begin my research.  First, type in a broad/generic keyword phrase. As an example, if I were using a website  to sell graduation invitations, I would start by entering in the keyword phrase ‘Graduation Invitations’ and click the ‘Get Keyword Ideas’ option.

What Google then does is to list information about that keyword and a variety of combinations involving your keyword phrase.  Adjacent to the phrase is the average number of times that phrase has been searched on a monthly basis through Google.  Our phrase, “Graduation Invitations” receives an average of 165,000 searches per month.  As you continue looking at the list, you will come across several other words like, “Graduation Invitation” and “Graduation Party Invitations” that garner an additional 120,000 searches per month.

As you look at this, you will begin to realize that this tool also helps you see the demand online for a product.  On average, no less than 250,000 people are looking for Graduation Invitations on a monthly basis.  These people are  looking so that they can research/compare prices or make a purchase.  In other words, you could have access to over 250,000 potential customers each and every month!

Now, what I have found is that the more powerful, effective, and useful  phrases of keywords to use and position within your website  are the ones that are less competitive and generally involve 3-5 words in the keyword phrase.  The benefit to using theses less competitive phrases is that you will find more highly targeted traffic coming to your site.  Why?  Consider this… Which is more advantageous, a customer looking for “Graduation Invitations” or “Blue and White Graduation Invitations”?  The person that is very specific about the type of invitations for which they are looking  is more likely to be ready to buy and past the window-shopping/research phase.

As you brainstorm your keyword phrases, it is best to try a wide variety of combinations.  Don’t be afraid to use both plural and singular spellings. At the end of your brainstorming session, you will likely have a list of at least 100 keyword phrases.  It is from this list that you will begin to plan your website and its content.   Use this list in your article writing and in your Meta tags.

As a reminder, don’t try and fool Google by using the same keyword phrase over and over.  Google is a little smarter than that.  A good keyword density is approximately 4-7% of the article and it should look and sound natural.

A well thought-out and planned keyword strategy will position your website for a truckload of highly targeted traffic.

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Tips, Tools and Strategies for Internet Marketing

Posted on 19-03-2010 | By: Kevin Crawley

Category : Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine

Tags: , , ,

You are probably very anxious to spread the word about your awesome business, product, service or website.  Chances are you are overwhelmed with all of the information and resources available, not to mention the various methods and your competition.  However, the truth is that Internet Marketing is fairly simple when ou stay focused on the basic principles and ideas.


At the end of the day, when it is all said and done…Internet Marketing is simply about the page views.  Maybe you have heard the term before, but to an internet marketer it is a key phrase and vital to our success.  All of your actions, every posted link, every blog comment…everything should be done to increase the number of people that are viewing the information you have posted on your website.  Because of that, it is highly important that the page to which you are sending people is functional and user friendly.  Your site should look clean and neat.  While it doesn’t have to be professionally designed, it shouldn’t look like something your 3 year old put together with a box of crayons and magic markers.

Now, there are several ways for you to go about getting more page views and traffic to your site.  Creating links to your site is the most common way of generating traffic, but does take some effort.  Comprehending how search engine optimization (SEO) alongside the correct ways to use keywords will greatly improve the effectiveness of your internet marketing.  Keep in mind, all keywords are not created alike and you have to ensure that your site gets traffic from the major search engines for a variety of keywords.   The tool that I use is Traffic Travis.

Now that you have your keywords, you have to widen your areas for internet marketing.  On your list of venues, you must include blogs, articles, social bookmarking (OnlyWire), your site itself and many others.  To increase the opportunities to gain traffic to your site, you must have your links placed in a number of places.  Your site and its content must have a healthy keyword density or sprinkling of your keyword throughout the content.  But keep in mind, there is overkill.  Having a keyword density that is very high will signal to the search engines that your site is likely spam and will lower your ranking.  This is known as keyword stuffing.  Generally, the optimal range for keyword density is between 2-5%.  The tool I mentioned earlier, Traffic Travis, has a component that will analyze your site and tell you the density of your keywords.

Bear in mind, volume is extremely vital to your links.  A higher number of links in, is directly related to the amount of traffic that you can have for your webpage.  Additionally, the more links that you have coming in (backlinks) tells the search engine that you are a potentially useful and informative site and will rank you higher.  Posting links on sites that have a high PageRank will also greatly increase the reputation of your site, as will links from .edu and .org sites.  Therefore, quantity is great, but you can’t forget about quality.

Granted, this is not an exhaustive list internet marketing tips and tools, but they can be beneficial when used.  Internet Marketing is a huge field.  No one can claim to be THE expert, however there are many gurus that have learned a few things and are happy to share what they have learned.

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SEO for Blogs – Internet Marketing 101

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Posted on 27-02-2010 | By: Kevin Crawley

Category : Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine

Tags: , , , , , ,

Image representing WordPress.com as depicted i...
Image via CrunchBase

“How do I get traffic to my website?”  Quick answer…Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO for short) is the  mechanism by which you use the search engines to generate traffic to your site.  Word of mouth is great, but how would you like to have 4 out of 5 visitors find you simply because they are looking for what you are offering.  We’re talking about people finding you and your site NOT just because they heard the name. They found you they were searching for a product, service or information that you offer and the internet told them you were one of the best sources for it!

Today I will walk you through some simple steps that will help you optimize your website.  Much pf this is geared towards blogs since they are my tool of choice, but many of these tips can be used for a standard website as well.

Blog Design and Theme

This is your chance to make a great first impression.  Personally, I’m a fan of Wordpress.  However, no matter the blog publisher or website host…NEVER go with just the standard/default template that is available.  Search for templates and themes that are “clean” and fresh looking.  If you are using a lot of pictures and videos, you may want a theme that is darker in presentation.  Lots of text and information, lighter colored themes seem to work best.

Keyword Selection

We could really spend all day talking about this topic, but for the sake of the article we’ll keep it short.  Effective keyword usage is your way of telling the search engines what information your website contains.  If you are marketing a dog training course, your blog/site should be peppered with the phrase “dog training” through the site.  Never, EVER…do keyword stuffing (using the same phrase over and over) it is a quick way to get your website sent to the bottom of the pack.

META-TAG Optimization

In all honesty, there are some people that say this is unnecessary.  My opinion is that every little bit helps.  Plus, for the most part, once you do this you rarely, if ever, need to go back and update it.  This is the area that you can put your top 10-20 keyword phrases.  Additionally, use a MetaTag description that is a 4-6 sentence description of your website.  Make sure you place several of your keywords in this description.

Link using Keywords

No website should be an island to itself.  No links in or out is a surefire way to make sure you don’t get any search engine traffic.  Whether you are linking to or from your site, use one of your relevant keywords as the anchor text.  Simply using “Click Here” does very little for your SEO and internet marketing.

Link within your blog/site

As you create more articles and post more content, its safe to say that you will discuss the same or similar information in different postings.  Link to other articles and postings within your blog.  Give the search engines every piece of help in indexing your site.

Good Permalink Structure

Again, using every opportunity to get our keywords involved in our internet marketing…make sure that you are using good permalink structure.  What’s a permalink?  The URL for this post is http://kevincrawley.com/2010/02/27/seo-for-blogs-internet-marketing-101  With this URL, my keywords “internet marketing” is getting another opportunity to shine.  Had I not made the change, my URL by default would have been something like http://kevincrawley.com/?p=5

Get a Domain Name

If you are on a budget…fine, get the free option of a blogger.com or wordpress.com site.  However, if you really want to make some headway with any type of marketing strategy for the internet, invest the few dollars and get a domain name.  There are several hosting companies out there.  My personal preference is Global Domains International.  I’m an affiliate and it allows me to build an income by sharing the service which makes my hosting FREE!

These are just a few steps that you should take if you want to improve you search engine optimization.  No, you will not jump to the top of Google rankings on day one, but consistent effort and actions will bring you results that will pay off.

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4 Tips to Improve Your Internet Marketing

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Posted on 27-08-2009 | By: Kevin Crawley

Category : Marketing, Search Engine

Tags: , , ,

Okay…so I was sitting here thinking of a subject matter to write about, when the phone rings.  It was an advertising rep for a new search engine.  Her pitch was that they wanted to feature me on their website, i.e. pay for sponsored listings.  Essentially they wanted me to pay thousands of dollars to secure a keyword with them forever.  My answer?  Thanks, but no thanks.

See, when I went to their site to see where I landed in their search results for many of the keywords I am using… I was on the first page.  Look for my name and my business (Traverus)…there I am!  So why would I pay someone to do for me what I am already doing for myself?

So, you’re in luck today because I want to give you 4 quick tips for improving your visibility within search engines, primarily Google.

  1. Identify your keywords – What words describe your site?  What search terms do you want people to find you under?  To help you best determine your keywords and how competitive they are, I use Google AdWords KeyWord tool.  I look for words that have a lot of searches but not a lot of competition.
  2. Content is king – Now that you have your keywords, your site needs a reason for Google to send people there.  As you are filling your site with content, make sure that you use your keywords throughout your page.  But don’t keyword stuff!  An example of that is pages that have the same phrase repeated over and over.  Google doesn’t like that and will blacklist your site.  Keep your site updated with fresh and relevant content using your keywords.
  3. Don’t be an island – It’s called the interNET as in network.  Your website alone is an island out in the middle of a vast ocean.  For your site to be visible, there must be other sites that are connected to it.  Build links to your page to connect them while building links FROM your page.  Post comments (NOT SPAM) on other blogs…place your link in a signature on message boards and forums…post links to other relevant sites, etc.
  4. Announce yourself – Don’t just wait for the world to find you.  Tell the world where you are.  Submit your website to many of the top search engines.  It will speed up the time for them to find and index your site.  If your site has good content and strong keywords, you will begin to find yourself in the search results.  You may not hit page #1 all the time, but begin to track your progress.

Honestly, this is just a start there are a host of other tactics and strategies that can help you score higher in the search engines.   These tips are a good start and you should see yourself moving up the rankings.

Success and Blessings,

Kevin

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