Completed So Far:

With everything up and running, I have begun preparing a list of powerful keywords that I can use to build my blog’s content around.

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New Developments:

Keywords and Keyphrases are the words and phrases that people use to search with when they do an online, i.e. Google or Yahoo! search. The more people who search using the same keywords you have used in your blog, the more likely it is that you will have visitors to your site.

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Note:

When using keyphrases, you should limit the number of words used to between 2 and 5 words. Using more than 5 words reduces the effectiveness of your keyphrase.

For the rest of this series, I will be using the word ‘keyword’ to mean both keywords and keyphrases.

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Selecting powerful keywords or keyphrases is not always an easy task but, in the long run, is worth the effort.

Once you have identified the types of pages you will be adding to your blog, and have some idea of the content for each page, it’s time to make a ‘seed list’ of potential keywords that you will build into the content.

Some tips for selecting powerful keywords include:

Brainstorming: Brainstorm possible words and phrases that describe your product or service either by getting ideas from other people, or mind-mapping, etc .

Finding powerful keywords requires a bit of research.

1. Using Non-specific keywords, that identify general categories, e.g. digital cameras or cars;
2. Using product specific keywords, that identify specific products, e.g. Nikon D80 or 2005 Honda Accord;
3. Using location specific keywords, that identify a specific city or region, e.g. Toronto Nikon Dealer, Guelph Honda;
4. Using word variations, e.g instead of car use truck, van, SUV, or auto, automobile, vehicle
5. Check out your competitor’s websites, what words or phrases are frequently repeated.

You can usually generate a fairly extensive list of potential keywords just by brainstorming, or you can also dust off the old thesaurus, see what word variations you can use to expand your list with. At this point, you can either begin integrating words from this list into your copy, or  you can go one step further and use a keyword analysis program.

Keyword Analysis Programs: A keyword analysis program determines which keywords people are already using to search for your products or services, and which of these keywords are being used most often. Some keyword analysis programs will even provide you with alternative keywords that can be used instead of your original keyword. Most search engines have some kind of keyword analysis tool that you can access.

At Google there are three tools that you can play with:

1. Google Search-Based Keyword Tool: http://www.google.com/sktool/
2. Google Adwords Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
3. Google Trends: http://www.google.com/trends

Another great keyword analysis tool is SEO Blogger by Wordtracker. Wordtracker is a company that specializes in keyword tracking, analysis, etc, and offers several ‘tools’ that you can use to do keyword analysis with, some free, some not so free. Free downloadable tools include a Wordtracker toolbar that works with both Microsoft’s IE browser and the SEO Blogger that works on Firefox. Basically the SEO Blogger plugin sits as an icon at the bottom of the Firefox browser page. When you click on the icon, a column appears on the left hand side of your browser window. Just type-in a keyword and the program generates a list of alternative keywords plus an indication of how popular both your keyword and the alternative keywords are. This plugin is very easy to install and use.  You can download a copy of SEO Blogger at http://labs.wordtracker.com/seo-blogger/

Wordtracker publishes a free online tool, Keyword Questions, found at http://labs.wordtracker.com/keyword-questions that is also fun to play with. You type in a keyword and Keyword Questions provides a list of questions that have been used over the past year to research the market your keyword represents. You can easily pull new keywords from the questions listed here.

There are other keyword analysis tools available, like KeywordDiscovery at: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com and ClickTracks at: http://www.clicktracks.com but both of these are subscription-based services and cost to use.

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Next Step:

Now that you have generated a dynamic list of powerful keywords, it’s time to start using the keywords and keyphrases. Monday’s post will look at how to effectively integrate keywords into your blog.

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If you liked this post, you can read this series on Search Engine Optimizing Your Blog from the beginning by going to the Introduction post.

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