In the world of marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) continues to be one of the most mysterious and misunderstood techniques but it has also been the most effective way to generate MORE leads.

While there are tons of organizations getting interested to include SEO as their online marketing campaign, there are still few aspects of it that remains to be elusive or sometimes even difficult to execute correctly.

Most of our clients always seem to struggle with one thing – i.e. choosing the “right” set of keywords to rank better in search engines and build their brand.

Selecting the “right” keywords isn’t a one time job where you begin an SEO campaign, set it, and then forget about it.

Keyword research is an ongoing process!

It is continuous, something you would constantly analyze, tune, re-assess, and then, frequently update because the “right” keywords will help bring high quality traffic (relevant leads) to your site, while “unattainable” and “ineffective” keywords is simply drain of efforts.

So how do you choose “profitable” keywords for your business?

1. Ignore your brand keywords for a moment

First, just get one thing straight: you don’t have to target for your company name keywords in your SEO campaigns.

“Company name rankings” happens automatically so you can skip this step.

2. Select keywords that you have high chance for ranking

I have seen most organization making the same mistake: they attempt to shoot for the moon by targeting the most “broad” keywords that have high competition and impossible to rank for very quickly.

As a result, most firms end up in “disappointed” when they never see any footing in their SEO campaign.

For example, if you have been ranking lower than, let’s say, 100th position for a set of keywords, it is high-time that you look for better alternatives.

You may want to find keywords that have a …

1.    Decent ranking for, although it may not be on page 1, and

2.    Those that isn’t highly competitive

You can use free tools, like Google Keyword Tool, to analyze these attributes of keywords you choose.

Don’t know where to begin? Simply, contact a professional SEO consultant!

3. Go for keywords that are “in demand.”

I get upset when I find many so-called “ethical” SEO consultants use “unethical” SEO tactics in order to rank their client’s site/blog on Google’s 1st page.

Yes, these keywords may land you on the Google’s first page, but it will have little or no benefit for your organization when you realize no one is “searching” for them.

Instead, don’t you think you would have a better chance to bring quality traffic if you could go after keywords that are in “high demand” (high search volume) so that you are certain people will actually search those targeted keywords?

4. Choose Keywords Your Customers Use, Not Some Internal Jargon

Over the years, I have found that many organizations make a HUGE mistake: They target keywords that are known as “industry jargon keywords” as they’ve been used to it, however a first time reader won’t have a clue to its meaning.

Instead, try to find out keywords that your customers talk use while searching for your products and services and target those keywords!

5. Take a “Holistic” view with your keywords

Many companies “choose” keywords and sprinkle them all over their website – title and Meta tags, page title, headers, and so on – and they think their SEO work is “complete.”

Hardly! In fact, it’s only the beginning in your SEO work.

You still need to use these targeted keywords in other places as well, like your blogging campaigns, guest posts on partner sites (using proper anchor text), your landing pages, other inbound links, videos, and even in your social accounts.

And SEO doesn’t stop there too.

It’s an “ongoing” process and MUST be an important part of your overall online marketing strategy.

As you have already seen, the “right” keywords for you may not be “right” for your customers.

In this guide, we discussed why you need to avoid using brand keywords and internal jargon keywords, but go after keywords that are “relevant” and are in HIGH demand (means your customers are searching for it) so that …

You can hope to bring traffic (lead) to your site and increase conversion but also remember to tune, measure, and optimize your SEO campaigns so that over time you will improve the lead generation efforts for you business! Got that?

If going over these steps seems overwhelming to you, or you simply don’t have time or don’t want to put effort, then you can hire a professional SEO consultant, right now!

Okay, over to you!

Share us few tips on how to choose the right keywords for SEO (mention any tools or techniques) … any comment/idea is welcome and we’ll reply to each of them. Promise!




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