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Do you want to discover conversion paths to on-line prospects, or maybe get a leg up on your competition?
Those entering the on-line marketing environment for the first time really do not understand the amount of competitive intelligence that can be gleamed from looking at keywords. Keywords are used by your friends, followers, and customers when they go to to search for a service or complain about a brand on Facebook. Keywords are what people ”talk” or blog about and keywords are funneled into general trending topics or specific trending topics based on the venue they are interacting within.
Keywords are created by on-line users, businesses, governments, or competitors to find a particular person, product, company, or service category. Some keywords stand alone while others contain multiple words. Some keywords are created as advertising ploys. Now, keywords are the basis of all on-line activities: messaging, sharing, search, organizing, research, conversations, social media content distribution, social networking, etc. How we develop and find many Social Web activities is based around keywords or tags.
Keywording is not a new concept. Keywording sites is one tactic deployed as part of Search Engine Optimization . Also, for many who entered the Internet frontier back in the nineties, keywording concepts allowed users faster access to information. The first keyword based document was the telephone book.
Presently, an on-line browser doesn’t have to look to far to find on-line pages stressing the importance of researching targeted keywords for digitial resumes to a Twitter tool that allows one to target keywords on Twitter User profiles. Lest, we not forget the building social bookmarking endeavor . Social bookmarking is the concept of chosen keyword subject matter by content creators based on the information being shared. In social bookmarking and many on-line venues, these type of keywords are called tags. On Twitter, hashtags mean the same concept. Hashtags are built around keywords that allow tweeters to find or research one of the many conversations erupting across the Twitter timeline. Both tags and hashtags create large libraries of content that can be easily found and consumed by anybody with a computer and a desire to do research.
Keywording concepts are broken up into general, specific, research, and competitive.
- General- These type of keywords are what typical on-line users decide to use to find a product or information. Very much like keywords in our telephone books, these type of keywords are based on a wide funnel of searching. General keywords are one word searches and called short-tail searches by SEO personnel. Examples of general keywords are Internet, Dogs, or Travel.
- Specific – Specific keyword searches are focused searches. They can be made up of one or many more words. The keywords are entered by searchers looking for a certain service, brand or company. Sometimes these are called long-tail searches by SEO personnel. Specific keywords are used to reduce time in an on-line search. Examples of specific keyword searches are hair dye, roof repairs, or car dealerships.
- Research- Ever wonder how some brands, businesses, or causes come to attract new prospects or customers. These businesses are using keyword research ideas. This is a new concept to the world of keywording. Keyword research uses on-line trending websites like the above trending topics and on-line tools such as Google Insights . Keyword research allows businesses to learn what consumers are thinking in real-time in any subject and topic. Research keywords creates better product improvement for businesses and determines what future needs a product could fill . Also, research keywords allow for great social media tags or hashtag ideas to induce more consumers. Simple Idea: Bring up a Google Search Page and type a keyword describing your business or product. Hit search. On the first page of your search results, go down to the end of listings a look under “Searches Related To…” (located on southwest corner of page). Those other search suggestions give insight into how and what a on-line consumer could be looking for in and around your product or business service.
- Competitive- Competitive keywords are created by business marketing and PR departments. Sometimes called evergreen campaigns. These campaigns are created to allow a product or company’s name to develop into a word used by the media and the masses. When we hear the names Butterball, Corvette, Jose Cuervo, United Airlines, or Twitter, we have come to know what these products are and their brand personalities. True competitive keyword success comes with building a separate identity for each product and brand name in on-line environments. Think for a moment…How many of these proper nouns do we use in daily conversations or communications? Think..how many of the proper nouns do not translate into foreign languages and the proper noun has to be inserted into the particular foreign language? This is keyword placement at its finest!
What have you discovered about keywords? What are positives and negatives with tags or hashtags? What types of keywords do you use the most? Are these the correct keywords or have they changed?
