Keywords and SEO – A helpful checklist

There’s no doubt about it, getting your keywords right is an important part of establishing a new website. While it’s easy to get carried away with the look and feel of your site, it’s actually the written content, or ‘web copy’ that will be directing traffic to your web pages, and doing much of the selling for you.

If you’re not a proficient writer, or don’t have the time to spend researching keyword trends online, then employing a professional copywriter who specialises in SEO webcopy is a good idea. However, if you’re keen to give it a go yourself, there are a few useful rules to keep in mind:

• Know your audience. Understanding your target market is the first step to success. Think carefully about your intended client base, and think about the words that they are likely to use when searching for your products or services. They’re probably going to be simple terms and phrases, and they may not be the ones you use in your daily business activities.
  
• Avoid excessive jargon. Being an expert in your field can sometimes be detrimental to the way you think about your own webcopy. Websites that use industry-specific terms (or jargon) run the risk of missing potential traffic because they don’t use the everyday search terms that key customers are using. Take a good look at your current webcopy, are you sure that it contains the user-friendly terms that are actually being used in the majority of searches? If not, then you need to do some research.
  
• Think like the end user. If users aren’t searching for your products and services in the way you describe them, it can be useful to take a step back and asses the situation. The easiest way to do this is to think like a customer and begin your SEO research from there.
  
• Ask your sales team or receptionist what words customers use when they describe your products and services. Potential customers will probably use the same keywords when they come to search for your services online.
  
• Understand what keywords are being used in your industry. Take some time to investigate the keywords that are already in use in your industry. Check out industry press, newspaper articles, and competitors’ websites, and compile a short list of common keywords.
  
• Use keyword tools. There are numerous online tools which can be used in developing an SEO keyword search list. If you’re not sure where to start, things such as keyword cost estimators and keyword suggestion tools are an excellent point of departure.

Right. Done all those things and want to know what to do next? -Once you’ve finished compiling your keyword list you’re ready to start thinking about the information architecture of your site, and which web writing style best suits your business.

Go on... jump to it!