Keywords are the conduit that funnels new visitors to your web site. The search engines use them to connect potential readers (i.e. people with questions) to your web pages (i.e. answers). If you take the business of researching keywords and catering to search engines just as seriously as scientists take their laboratory research, then you will be helping out as great a number of people as that scientist in the laboratory.
Appropriate keyword usage can affect your site in a variety of ways. Off-site and on-site advertising, your search engine rankings, and the amount of actual business that takes place on your site are all influenced by the keyword architecture of your web pages. Of course, you should investigate what like-minded web masters are doing in their pursuit of the same markets. There are universal strategies and niche-specific tidbits of wisdom that are waiting to benefit you. All that remains is for you to find them.
Never forget the value of the markets themselves. Market behavior on the Internet, down to the very last Google, is within your analytical grasp. Learn your audience. Imitate your audience. Become one with your audience. Think critically about the problems and desires of your intended market as if they were your own problems and desires, and come up with real keywords that real human beings would use to try to satisfy those desires.
The little bit of attention that you do get from your audience even in the beginning should not be ignored. Analyze this attention and look for leads. Pretend that you are a police detective investigating a gruesome murder case; even if you only have one or two little phrases to go on, check out that lead! There are a variety of web tools, free and for-pay, at your disposal, so you would be remiss to not use them to really farm the already luxuriant keywords for all they’ve got.
You should have a mindset characterized by empiricism and persistence. Don’t limit yourself to experimenting with keywords. Experiment with research and analytical tools also. Just as you wouldn’t think twice about abandoning a particular keyword venture if it underperforms, so you shouldn’t think twice about abandoning a shoddy or ineffective research tool. Be just as empirical and persistent as you are in your offline life.
Dedication and hard work have a special tendency to snowball over time with this kind of work. The payoff may be small in the beginning, but the few breakthroughs that you make over time in broadening those keyword conduits toward your site will pay for themselves many times over. Think of the process as keyword capitalism or keyword investing. There’s a degree of risk involved as far as both time and money. Sometimes you might not know whether to focus more on advertising or creating a better product. You’re bound to make some poor decisions, and you can play it safe or high-stakes. In the end, however, it is consistency, dedication, and hard work that determine your accomplishments.
Summary
Research methods and keywords with fervor and perseverance. You can have the greatest product in the world, but, if no person or search engine knows about it, it doesn’t really matter. Taking time to research keywords for your business will allow you some insight into potential customers so that you can better market to them.
