Like I had said in my last post, I wanted to go a little more in depth on how you choose keywords for your online campaign that will give you the best ROI with Search Engine Optimization. There can be a lot of instances where companies will promise you the world, and it is my goal with this post to bring us back to the ground and get a more realistic expectation.
I used a plumber as an example in my last post so let’s continue with that. Do a quick Google search for “plumber” and take a look at the results that you get.
I got over 49 million results. I don’t know about you, but when I look at that, I think that sounds like hard work to rank if you are a plumber! Now you might ask if it is even possible to rank for this search term on Google. The answer is yes, but the budget and time it would take to get it all done is insurmountable! The majority of local and small businesses aren’t going to want to rank for this term anyway because they aren’t trying to reach everyone across the country.
One of the easiest and best ways to decide what kind of keyword you want is to go local. So moving back to our example, we would much rather try and rank for “San Francisco plumber” than just “plumber,” since that is your geographic location and is where you provide your services. This would be much easier and more beneficial for you than trying to rank nationally. We even could be more specific and try to rank for “San Francisco plumber clog removal.”
It can sometimes seem strange to business owners to be so small and specific online. You would think that going for a much broader audience is going to get you more people to your website and increase sales, but in all actuality it’s actually quite the opposite. In a recent study sponsored by Google it states: “Some 84 percent said they use the web to search for information on products and services before making purchases.” Source
The more specific and localized you are, the more likely the searcher is going to buy or use your services, since you are going to be exactly what they are looking for. There are a lot of factors that go into you being one the top results for a specific keyword, but making sure that you target the right ones will make all the difference in the world.
Before you start any online campaign be sure you feel confident about the keywords you are going to be using. I can’t stress this enough. Aim high, but also be realistic. Talk with your Account Manager and see what suggestions they have. They have vast resources of knowledge and data that can help you determine what would be the best for your online campaign.
As always, we here at Boostability are here to help and assist you with any questions or concerns that you have. Think of this as a small but major step in increasing your visibility online. It can make or break your campaign. Don’t treat it as something with little significance to your overall goals.
