Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [62]
One company that was able to get beyond the easy label of “enterprise solutions” is TDCI in Columbus, Ohio. In a beautiful bit of evaluation, the website evolved from the typical business-to-business website reliant on overstuffed terms and over-arching content (see Figure 6-4) to a site that provided a very specific, solution-based architecture and content structure.
The terminology of the earlier home page focuses on the corporate-style language, and the solution is unclear. Even in the “what we do” paragraphs, the content does not provide a specific descriptive phrase that can be distinguished within a few seconds of evaluation.
The new page provides a repeatable, descriptive phrase—“Guided Selling & Product Configuration Software”—that is immediately available to the reader. The content structure also supports the primary purpose and benefits the searcher. Within seconds, a searcher can quickly discern that they are at the right destination for their search, because this page ranks significantly better in the search engines for the services the company provides.
a
b
Figure 6-4: Corporate jargon (a) vs. customer-focused solutions and clear language (b)
Tuesday: Develop Keyword-Research Skills
Some basic principles underline the goal of your keyword research. The primary principle is to find the phrases that are popular search phrases; utilizing those phrases in your SEO will naturally increase your website’s rankings, thereby increasing visitors to your website.
Beyond rankings, keyword research also provides insights into the mind of the searcher by providing context and themes to the searches. By looking beyond simply popularity, a good researcher can find opportunities and trends that will provide business intelligence beyond the rankings. Used properly, keyword research provides insights for more effective online and offline marketing, content development, product development, and better response to market trends.
Initial Evaluation
A number of tools are available to online marketers (see the “Keyword Research Tools” sidebar). It is really a matter of finding the tool with which you are most comfortable. I always recommend using at least two separate tools, because there will always be differences in reporting, and some words will need to be double-checked.
Keyword Research Tools
An amazing number of keyword-research tools are available online. Although this list is not meant to be exhaustive and I certainly don’t want to leave out many good tools, I have decided to limit the list to the primary tools recommended by many people in the online marketing industry.
Google Search-Based Keyword Tool
www.google.com/sktool/
The premise of this keyword tool is simple; type the keywords or phrases relevant to your business, and Google will display keyword ideas for your site. Even more, if you already have an AdWords account, the keyword list will be customized to your website. I find this an extremely quick and easy tool for fast searches. In addition, you can easily manipulate the columns to list the suggestions in terms of popularity, suggested bid, or competition.
Google AdWords Keyword Tool
www.adwords.google.com
This tool is the next step to working within the AdWords system, but it provides slightly more data insight with the “Global v Local” monthly searches and the “Local Search Trends” reports. The Global number is the 12-month average of searches, while the Local number is the 12-month average based on your match-type selection. The Local Search Trends reports show the number of searches as a 12-month trend. Again, the columns are sortable, which provides many different approaches to the data.
Google Insights
www.google.com/insights/search
When Google released this tool, I didn’t get any work done for a week. This allows you to compare the search demand for up to five terms. In addition, you can also filter the results by the type of search, country and region (state), timeline, or category. The country and region are highly useful for developing regional-based