Keywords Make the Difference
Posted on 27. May, 2009 by Jeff Lambert in Services
So, you now are full steam ahead on your blog, that’s great. What’s next? Well, if you are trying to drive traffic to your site and have not yet jumped into the fray that is Search Engine Optimization (SEO), then you need to start reading up.
Educational SEO Resources
There are a lot of these out there and I don’t presume to know the best ones, but I do know some very good sites for learning more about Search Engine Optimization. The first is Wordtracker, with Wordtracker Academy being their primary section for educational information on the subject of SEO keywording.
Another good site for finding more SEO topic coverage is HubSpot. If you would like to get some WordPress specific SEO information, check out the Yoast website by master WordPress plugin author Joost De Valk.
Tools and Methods for Selecting Keywords
So, how does one research keywords? Well, one free tool is the Google’s Adwords Keyword Tool. It will generate statistics around the keywords you provide as well as provide related keywords that may be applicable too. Information is provided on the number of searches the keyword is specified in within a given month (on Google) and the advertiser competition for those keywords.
Another tool available for selecting keywords is that provided by Wordtracker. This service is a subscription service but trials are available so you can get a feel for its utility.
What else is there? Well, remember you can use Word’s thesaurus if you want to think of other related words and then maybe run those through Google. You also can do some searches that you think would be applicable for your content and review some of the pages that pop-up on the front page of the search engine. Look to see what their content contains as well as how they defined their meta title, meta description and their URL. Meta data is available when you select “View Source” or “Page Source” from your browser’s menu, typically the View menu. Then look for the <meta name=”description”> and <meta name=”keywords”> tags.
Selecting the right keywords is really a skill that one develops over time and is important for driving traffic your way but don’t forget your message. It is still critical that the content you are providing is interesting, informational and helpful. Generating inbound traffic still relies on good old word-of-mouth. You want to bring your visitors back for more and also have them bring you to the attention of their social network by generating links back to your Posts. Inbound links are really what is going to drive your search engine page rank higher.
About the authorJeff Lambert is the President and Founder of JVHM, Inc., a software development business located in the San Francisco Bay Area but serving clients around the globe. Jeff's expertise includes Corporate Blogging and website development, CRM systems and database design and development.
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